[FDI and its importance for dental practice management. 3. The FDI Commission for Dental Practice Management].
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This case study is based on research performed by the Bahia State Health Secretariat (SESAB), aimed at analyzing management practices during the implementation of a State government administrative reform. The institutional agenda shows evidence of limited participation by civil society and technical and operational staff in problem selection and prioritization, resulting from a work process pressured by high-level executive government staff. Decisions regarding "output" (projects, services, and activities) were made under the responsibility of subordinate operational levels and did not appear as issues in the institutional routine. Concerns related to "input" (financial and human resources) consumed most of the high-level efforts, with internal and external negotiations and compromises to assure access to them. Meanwhile the possible "outcome", namely public health status, represents the "occult subject" of the institutional discourse. Information emerges in institutional disputes as a technical "power resource" in its medical, epidemiological, health, and administrative dimensions. The issue of government "representation" and allied interests is based on ideological dispositions and authoritarian practices, thus contradicting the need for management transparency and modernization.
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Case management is a service offered in most health care and social service settings, but a universal definition and standards for practice, applicable to the various case management models, do not exist. Without nationally accepted standards and quality measures for community-based long-term-care case management, many agencies are scrambling to create them in order to justify their services to payers. This article describes the method followed by one county agency serving low-income elders and people with disabilities to create process standards and quality measures for case management practice. The project involved experienced case management staff who created measurement tools encompassing measures of 12 case management activities. Their goal was to justify the importance of the service being offered, to set minimum practice standards, and to raise the awareness and level of quality of case management practice.
OBJECTIVES: The precise relationship between practice management (structure) and the doctor's actual performance (process) in general practice is tenuous. Analysis of their mutual relationship may yield insight into the way they contribute to outcome and into corresponding assessment procedures. METHOD: In a cross-sectional study, consultations of 93 GPs were videotaped in their own practice and assessed by peer-observers on medical performance and on communication with patients, followed by a practice visit by a non-physician observer using a validated Visitation Instrument to assess Practice management and organization (VIP). Pearson correlations (observed and disattenuated for unreliability of the instruments) between scores on 22 practice management dimensions and scores of 16 selected cases on medical performance and communication were calculated. The predictive value of specific practice management aspects for actual performance was determined by multiple regression analysis, with performance scores as dependent variables and scores on the 22 management dimensions and GPs' professional characteristics as independent variables. RESULTS: Nine practice management dimensions correlated significantly with medical performance and so did five dimensions with actual communication. Overall, most associations were weak. Combined with demographic variables (age for medical performance and working single-handedly for communication), 26% of variance in medical performance scores could be explained by only three practice management dimensions. One practice dimension (delegation of medical tasks to the practice assistant) explained 11% of variance in communication with patients. Organization of quality assessment activities explained most of the variation in medical performance. CONCLUSIONS: Practice management (structure) and actual performance (process) seem to be largely autonomous constructs. Quality improvement and assessment activities should emphasize that practice management is different from actual performance. Structure and process may contribute to patient outcome independently of each other.
Too often, IT solutions for group practices generate, at best, a quick fix. Forward-thinking group practice managers will evaluate technology for its capacity to enhance long-term profitability.
The article describes a study of the perceptions of three groups--patients, orthopaedic surgeons and the surgeons' practice managers--concerning three types of legal risk associated with the duty of care: failure to follow up, failure to warn and failure to diagnose. The study found there is cause for concern about doctors' follow-up and documentation of patient care. Doctors may be unaware of the Australian courts' propensity to emphasise practitioner responsibility rather than patient autonomy. A further important result is the considerable disparity between the surgeons' views and the views of their practice managers about the duty of care. The article draws out implications for improved risk awareness and suggests further research.
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BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Practice management is an important, but often overlooked, element of medical training, especially for physicians in primary care. The objective of this study was to evaluate our program's practice management curriculum to determine if it meets the needs of its graduates. METHODS: A questionnaire, developed and sent to 1986-1991 graduates of the residency program (n = 76), determined their perceptions of how well the practice management curriculum prepared them to operate a practice. Fifty (65.8%) usable surveys were returned. RESULTS: The respondents perceived deficits in areas of preparing for office management, starting and building a practice, using professional services (especially in the areas of financial decisions and use of professionals), and reimbursement procedures. CONCLUSIONS: Physicians need an understanding of business fundamentals such as economics, organization management, contract evaluation, negotiation and mediation skills, methods of allocation of limited resources, information science, and consumerism. This article offers a process through which other family practice residency programs can begin evaluating and restructuring their practice management curricula to meet these needs.
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A practice management review can be used by a physician practice to identify problems within the practice, introduce operational improvements, and ensure that the practice is being run as profitably and efficiently as possible. Such a review involves scrutiny of nearly every aspect of a practice's operations--from reimbursement to personnel issues. Before deciding to have a practice review performed, the practice's management team must establish objectives for the review and must ensure that physicians and practice staff understand the review process. Once the review process is initiated, the steps that must be taken to identify and diagnose problems within a practice include conducting interviews, collecting data, analyzing data, and suggesting remedies.