Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Becoming Best in Practice - Part 1

It has been said that a bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn. Have you noticed that the road of physical therapy practice has acquired more bends in recent years? There are the bends of more regulations, more competition, less reimbursement, more expenses, greater risks, and less time for life’s pleasures. Is your practice on pace and staying on the road?


Practices today need more speed and better traction to compete. Those with notions of appearing in the winner’s circle need a competitive edge. They need to be Best in Practice!


Let’s get something straight. Just because you adopt best practices doesn’t mean you are a contender for Best in Practice. There is a difference!


Best practices refer to business policies, clinical procedures, and operational processes that have been found to be used by top-performing practices through the process of benchmarking. The concept behind benchmarking is simple. Practices compare performance data. Lower performers adopt the practices of higher performers as a means to improve their own performance.


While benchmarking is an important strategic tool for staying alive and in the game, that “game” is follow-the-leader. Followers are not Best in Practice.


The title Best in Practice can be claimed by no more than the top 25 percent of practices. That means, of course, that a practice has a 75 percent statistical probability of not being Best –in Practice. It’s not a title to claim; it’s a title to earn.


To better understand what Best – in Practice means, we need to consider four questions:


What is “best”?
“In” where?
How big is “practice”?
What comes after “best”?


More next post...


All The Best!



Bob



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Performance Builders

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