Making Fact-Based Management Decisions
Background
As part of PracticeLight’s research, our team had conversations with more than 250 owners and managers at specialty healthcare practices. They talked with us in detail about what they were doing well and where they were struggling in their efforts to build successful, sustainable businesses. They also told us how they thought PracticeLight could help them accelerate their progress. “Making Fact-Based Management Decisions” became an important discussion topic during those first 24 months. The paragraphs below highlight just some of the challenges and opportunities they shared with us.
How Are You Making Your Most Important Business Decisions?
Despite all the information available to clinic owners and managers, many felt as though their most important business decisions were still based largely on instinct or guesswork rather than facts. Some confessed that they lacked the “skill or will” to approach these decisions in a more sophisticated, fact-based way. Others pointed to the absence of relevant, reliable information from either inside or outside their own practices.
Understanding the Challenges
Nearly every important business decision is made with some level of uncertainty attached. But simply having more information available and taking more time to consider it doesn’t necessarily make for better decisions. Sometimes it just raises the level of anxiety, triggers analysis paralysis or (maybe worst of all) encourages over-confidence. These types of results are especially likely if you’re not working with the right facts in the first place or you’re not sure how they should fit into your own decision-making process.
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“We make a lot of important assumptions about our local market—particularly about potential patients and competitors—without any real facts to hold them up. It makes me wonder why I think what I think…” |
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“I talk to former colleagues and classmates when I’m wrestling with a big decision. Trouble is, their backgrounds are too much like mine. They don’t have many facts or the right expertise either. So I’m basically just substituting their under-informed judgment for my own.” |
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“We think we know how the clinic is doing and what the trend looks like, but just knowing our own numbers doesn’t give us much perspective on performance or tell us where we should be improving.” |
Owner and Manager Priorities
Making fact-based management decisions was a basic priority for owners and managers who wanted to make better, more disciplined business choices for their practices. In particular, they wanted to make choices that reflected the best available business intelligence from inside and outside their clinics instead of just guessing. Creating this business intelligence and making it accessible to Members on a continuous basis would be PracticeLight’s fundamental challenge.
“Fill in the big blanks left by all the annual surveys.”
“Let us see the data, but present some analysis as well.”
“Provide tools that can help us with specific kinds of decisions.”
“Show us trends and forecasts we can use when we plan.”
“Help us understand similarities and differences in how clinics are managed.”
How PracticeLight Can Help
PracticeLight was designed from the ground up to help you see practice performance the way you want to see it. From the data collection process to the metrics we report and the way we display data, our approach helps Members make fact-based management decisions by showing them what’s really happening inside their clinics and giving them the tools to understand it better. And while we’re doing that, PracticeLight also helps Members develop important internal management disciplines that serve them well as their businesses grow and evolve.
| Attracting and Retaining the Right Patients for Your Practice. | |
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Powerful Business Insights. Performance metrics, benchmarks, and analysis tools help you see your practice in a new light. |
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Flexible Services. Solutions that can be tailored to your own information requirements help you get what you need the way you need it. |
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Simple, Secure Process. Common sense approaches to collecting data, managing access and providing support help make it easier to do the right thing for your business. |
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Affordable Pricing. Low-cost memberships with just-in-time access to expanded services help you invest in your practice’s future without affecting your cash flow. |
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Easy to Get Started. Web-based services that don’t require any new technology and let you use your existing systems help you start by building on what you already have. |
Check out our complete Overview and Highlights for more detailed information about PracticeLight’s performance management and benchmarking services.
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Join PracticeLight |
Read About More Reasons Members Use PracticeLight
Achieving and Managing Growth
Attracting and Retaining the Right Patients for Your Practice
Improving Profitability
Making Fact-Based Management Decisions
Setting Goals and Focusing Your Team on Performance
Taking Better Control of Your Practice
Working Smarter Instead of Harder
We offer both Members and non-Members opportunities to participate in events that feature PracticeLight’s performance management and benchmarking work.
