The Journal of medical practice management : MPM
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Anyone with an up-to-date organizational chart can determine the formal leadership roles in a medical practice. What many practice administrators fail to realize, however, is that there is another, complementary leadership model that exists between the lines in an org chart: informal leadership. This article defines the term informal leadership and describes informal leaders' three bases of power. ⋯ This article also offers practice administrators practical tips for dealing effectively with informal leaders who oppose them. It suggests strategies for counseling a reluctant informal leader and for developing the informal leaders in a medical practice. Finally, this article argues that informal leaders can be a source of great help for medical practices that have been downsized or restructured.
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Physicians have been and will continue to be key agents in the health care delivery system. Their relative role and methods of practice, however, are undergoing significant change. This change has been induced by increased competitiveness, continued efforts at cost containment, and changes in reimbursement methods. ⋯ Changes in federal payments to physicians have significant implications for physicians and their patients. Several recent developments, indeed, may become the trends of the latter part of the 1980s. These developments include changes in physicians' practice mode, lower returns to medical education, increased diversification of physicians' activities, changes in relative earnings of physicians by specialty and age, restricted physician choice for some patients, and increased problems with overall access.
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Rituals can cement the identity of and strengthen the bonds between any people, including the members of the medical practice team. This article presents the idea that the medical practice manager is in the ideal position to create and use rituals for team building. ⋯ As well, it describes six benefits of rituals and the hallmarks of the most effective team rituals; describes seven creative and interesting corporate rituals that medical practice managers can study for inspiration; suggests 20 excellent opportunities within the medical practice calendar year for medical practice team rituals; and identifies six kinds of rituals that are used in organizations. Finally, this article provides a four-step action plan for ritualizing your medical practice team's morning huddles.
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Can patients reliably choose a good doctor online? Inevitably, some will. Many doctors are not comfortable being visible online. So if you do not have a blog or a social media profile, what shows up when a patient Googles you most likely will be something from an online rating site. ⋯ As one of authors (KP) noticed, patients are now saying that they found his practice through the Internet, in stark contrast to 10 years ago, when their information sources were the Yellow Pages or a newspaper ad, or from calling the local hospital. Below are five key reasons why determining your online reputation today can pay off in the future. This article will guide you in establishing your social media footprint and includes a personal story of one physician's reaction to conducting a Google search on herself.
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All physicians have mentors, role models, and even historical figures in medicine to whom they turn for advice on everything from treating their patients to running their practices. To be sure, many physicians have learned valuable lessons from Osler, Halstead, Fleming, Pasteur, and a long list of former professors, supervisors, and practice partners. In this article, however, we suggest that modern physicians can turn to a most unlikely source of wisdom and knowledge. ⋯ It may be hard to believe, but modern physicians can learn much about the care of patients and the business of running their practices from the very same books they are reading with their children and grandchildren. The idea that well-trained and sophisticated physicians can learn from Dr. Seuss is not as far-fetched as it may seem initially.