Heading Into 2022

By Katie Nunn, MBA, CMPE

What Are The Most Overlooked Areas Of Opportunity
 For A Medical Group Heading Into 2022?

Every medical group needs to have a strategic plan and financial benchmarks.  This doesn’t have to be super sophisticated.  For a small practice, the strategic plan might be a simple list of goals to accomplish in a given period.  The financial benchmarks can be simply tracking revenue and expenses month to month over time to spot trends.  Larger groups may have more advanced ways to track key performance indicators and have big strategic plans, but I am often surprised by groups large and small that have neither of these crucial tools.  These things help keep you pointed in the right direction and keep you on the right path.  

Medical groupIn a tight labor market, what should medical group and practice leaders do to bring in top talent and hold onto their best performers?

This tight labor market is definitely driving up wages; however, there are ways that you can attract and retain staff that is not related to wages.  Having a strong company culture is paramount.  Culture eats strategy for breakfast. If you don’t actively create the culture you want in your practice, a culture will emerge on its own, whether you like it or not. 

There are many ways you can work on your culture, but I like to start with the onboarding process.  Tell your people what your mission and vision are.  Set the expectations.  My mantra is simple for my team member, “show up, and be kind.” Those are the most important attributes I want to see in a team member. 

For practices you’ve worked with, which key traits have helped them recover financially in 2021?

Fortitude and flexibility have been the attributes that I see for practices that have recovered financially in 2021.  Fortitude to keep working during hard times, changing COVID guidelines as they are updated by the CDC, and heated debates.  Flexibility to adapt to new normals and add new services to help your practice continue to be profitable.  Sticking with the status quo isn’t going to work anymore. We have to be open-minded to doing new things.  

When you decide it’s time for your medical group or practice to take on new opportunities, let Bright Ideas Medical Consulting help you optimize each opportunity. Ready to get started? Let’s talk.