Only
1 physician in 90 really makes it.
And they could have made it better.
Nature
selects random men and women, endows them with special abilities
or perceptions, and unleashes them into a waiting world.
In time these people become successful. They are surgeons
and internists and family practitioners. They are radiologists
and ophthalmologists, oral surgeons and cardiologists.
They are the best in their fields.
It's
constantly surprising, then, how frequently so many of these
physicians fail in one area: achieving their full personal
and practice potential.
They
are so busy taking care of others that they fail to take care
of themselves.
We
meet them every week. Men and women, who, at the height
of their careers, come to us and say, “Something's missing,
I can do so much more.”
The
same story applies to the physician who is moderately successful
– the emergency room physician who hasn’t quite
made department director – the family physician
without his own clinic –or the young cardiologist who
isn't a full partner yet.
These
people may not be the leaders in their specialties, but they
work just as hard as the leaders, and care just as much.
And
they find themselves in the same sort of personal and financial
doldrums. They suffer, as do their peers, from insufficient
attention to developing the necessary infrastructure to support
optimal quality and success.
They’ve
been so busy being physicians that they haven’t taken
enough time to make their practices and lives run as smoothly
as they can.
Many
of these people, both the successful ones and the not-yet-successful
ones, can still take action that might change their lives.
..And
so, perhaps, can you.
We
help you start all over again.
Only the right way this time.
The International
Council for Quality Care, Inc., and our certified facilitators
have one goal: to help you achieve your full potential.
To accomplish
this we utilize three unusual and valuable capabilities: first,
a unique best practice approach to addressing your situation,
with the most comprehensive set of practice and personal diagnostic
instruments available, second, the development of a practice
success plan that benchmarks your strengths, hopes and challenges
against some of the finest physicians in all specialties,
and finally, the education and tools to help you get there.
We have
been studying the most successful physicians in the world
for over 25 years. Through research and experience,
we have isolated the processes and strategies that yield the
highest efficacy – the ones that really contributed
to building the success of these physicians.
Before
you become actively engaged in our process, we review your
ambitions, your dreams, your earnings, your potential and
your determination.
Then,
using our special approach of practice and personal analysis,
we develop a logical and viable plan for your future.
This plan
is designed specifically for you. It is created to meet
the objectives we have laid out on your behalf.
It shows
you where you could go wrong, and how to avoid it. Where
you should spend your overhead dollars and where you should
cut back. How to maintain positive staff morale and
how to keep patient satisfaction high. It shows you
how to make your practice work twice as hard in a planned
way that feels effortless, all through a process of continuous
quality improvement.
And when
the plan is completed, we show you how to put it to work.
Because the execution is as important as the strategy.
…..We’ll
help you make it happen.
If
we published a list of our physicians, you would very likely
recognize a name or two.
This,
however, will never happen. Our dealings on a physician’s
behalf are as confidential as those of the physician/patient
relationship.
But
it could be valuable to you, in your assessment of the International
Council for Quality Care, Inc.’s certified facilitators,
to know the types of specialties of some of our physicians.
Our
lowest-income physician is a family physician who could one
day, we believe, become the managing partner of his own large
group.
Our
highest-income single physician is a multi-million dollar
surgeon whose patients come to him from all around the world.
We
do work for dozens of cardiologists, cardiovascular surgeons,
a number of orthopedists, radiology groups and large internal
medicine groups.
We
set up networks with a number of multi-specialty group practices,
pediatricians, hundreds of hospitals, a series of primary
care networks, oncologists, several gastroenterologists, quite
a few ophthalmologists, specialty institutes and several internationally-renowned
clinics.
In
addition, our certified facilitators offer help to health
systems and hundreds of hospitals, on matters that relate
to medical staff development, practice quality improvement,
physician relations, strategic development, and long-range
planning.
We
are experts in measuring and implementing Quality at the Point
of Service™. We help practice grow.
…..We help balance quality with efficiency.
Use
us once. Or twice. Or
forever. Single Interventions
We
will solve specific problems or investigate specific opportunities
on a one-time basis.
These
can be recurring problems like improving service quality and
productivity or singular situations like positioning a practice
for success under managed care.
Your
dealings with us, then, will be much like they would be if
you consulted your personal physician for a specific problem.
After
a series of intensive assessments with you and your staff,
and after administering a series of diagnostic instruments,
we will prepare a comprehensive plan, based on our knowledge
of your resources and objectives. We will then advise
you of the actions necessary to put this plan to work.
Perpetual
Service
At
your request, we will provide service in all areas of your
practice, and thus act, in effect, as one of your personal
advisors.
In
doing this, our first task is to design a long-term action
plan on your behalf. This plan is a blueprint for the
next two, five, or 20 years of your life; it covers foreseeable
problems and opportunities, and dictates the best methods
of attack in these areas.
Then,
we recommend the best ways to put this plan into action.
Naturally,
the action plan is built to be flexible. As new problems,
situations and opportunities arise, we can advise appropriate
action.
Thus,
a certified facilitator from the International Council for
Quality Care, Inc. can provide what is virtually a non-stop
service, with you continually receiving our guidance.
…..We
help you achieve your goals on your timetable.
Case
history of a single assignment.
An established family physician in a Kansas primary care network
saw her overhead soaring past 55% of collections because of
extra staff associated with servicing her busy practice.
She felt something was wrong when her employees continued
to complain they were understaffed.
The
network administrator proposed merging her practice with another
physician, with the idea of sharing overhead and management.
He was confident this would solve their mutual problems.
The deal would mean they would merge their practices.
That’s when a certified facilitator from the International
Council for Quality Care, Inc. came in to help.
After
thoroughly analyzing both practices with a set of sophisticated
diagnostic instruments, a profile was developed for each practice.
The results pointed to some interesting findings and some
surprises.
We
told them that both practices could be run much more efficiently
with lower overhead in one, and higher productivity in the
other, if they made one fundamental change – move.
One physician was cramped for space with no room to add support
staff. The other was in very inefficient space that
contributed to her rising overhead.
They
decided they would move to new, well-designed space adjacent
to one another and share call only. We agreed.
When
they couldn’t find an architect that understood patient
flow and efficiency issues, we tapped them into our network
of the best in the world – they made it happen.
Both
practices are thriving in their new quarters. Overheads
are lower and productivity is at an all-time high. Both
physicians are actively involved in a practice quality improvement
process.
…..We’ll
help you establish your fantasy practice.
Case
history of a perpetual assignment.
A
45-year-old cardiologist in a hospital-sponsored organization
came to us one day and said, “I have no problems, but
I see the need to redesign my practice for the future.
I know I need to act now.”
He
was well respected by his colleagues, worked in a storybook
office decorated by his wife, in a building adjacent to the
hospital, with four gracious support staff.
In
spite of his apparent success, he worked 70-hour weeks and
knew little about practice productivity. Staff morale
was okay, but not great. The computer was good, but
not used to its full potential. His day was not effortless.
Our
interactions with him revealed that he was very interested
in developing a heart center of excellence. Expanding
the cardiology service at the hospital where his loyalties
had remained for the last ten years was an idea with a lot
of appeal.
We
decided that it would be wise to start with his colleagues
in his call group and gauge their interest. We then
helped facilitate a meeting with key doctors and the hospital
to establish a Heart Institute.
After
a positive go-ahead, each interested physician was surveyed.
Benchmarks for each practice were developed. The outcome
was that four physicians decided to proceed. Today,
with our continuing input, they have over eight physicians
in the center of excellence in a brand new building.
He
now works 45 hours per week. He takes six weeks off.
His work environment is better than ever.
Today,
the Council interacts with the group on a quarterly basis,
and structures regular communication.
..We’ll
keep your momentum moving forward.
How
we can help the $125,000 physician?
In
many ways, the physician just starting is the easiest for
us to help. The new physician hasn’t had the chance
to form many bad habits or hasn’t had time to make many
mistakes.
This
physician is about to enter the toughest and most demanding
ten years of life – the years that can see a rise from
a professional school graduate to the head of their own clinic
or department – and it is vital that practice and personal
affairs are handled skillfully.
We
provide a total plan, after fully discussing the physician’s
objectives and assessing the current situation.
In
plotting the way, we help to secure the normal things needed
for the practice and private life: a proven plan for success.
But
we also introduce the young physician to opportunities that
probably would not be discovered, left to the physician’s
own devices – opportunities that will help achieve their
potential much more quickly.
We
might recommend the best practice building methods, sophisticated
patient handling techniques, overhead management, managed
care and financing ideas, time management techniques or advanced
human relations skills.
All
of our ideas are based on putting patients’ needs first
and providing the highest quality of care possible.
This physician can embrace new ideas with very little risk,
and with decent potential for improved leverage and personal
success.
Usually,
we’ll also be able to recommend quality improvement
and productivity ideas that will enable the physician to keep
more of what is earned – because in the beginning, every
dollar has to count more.
In
effect, our job is to introduce this physician to opportunities
and ideas that most physicians in this stage of
practice development do not yet know about.
…..We’ll
help you turbocharge your career.
Most
established physicians are over 40 years old, and have already
adopted a life style that is difficult for anyone to change
– including us.
In
many cases, however, we must ask these physicians to reconsider
everything they know about practice and personal effectiveness.
We might ask them to reflect hard on their situations.
Often this self-examination, alone, gives them a new and valuable
point of view about their practice, because it shows them
ways to improve.
Most
physicians at this stage, have an office environment they
are proud of, a high-quality, dedicated, and loyal support
staff, plus a level of patient service and quality that is
second to none.
In
an era of declining reimbursement, with a heightened emphasis
on quality improvement, these physicians have a great deal
to lose and the most to gain.
Our
job, once we have clarified their objectives, is to create
a rational and structured plan that builds on strengths.
The
recommendations we submit could include ideas to improve service
quality, ways to boost productivity and efficiency, methods
to restructure overhead, techniques to re-align support staff
duties and a number of suggestions on how to get the most
out of every day, effortlessly, while improving service
and quality of life.
..We
help you have perfect days.
How
we can help the $500,000 physician?
This
physician often doesn’t know as much about practice
success as people think they do. What they know is cardiovascular
surgery, or diagnosing upper GI problems, keeping patients
and referring physicians ecstatic, or the newest breakthrough.
So
the physician who appears to be there, already knows what
it takes, but also knows how much better it can be.
What they want more of is quality of life, time off, a hassle-free
environment, and yes, a more secure financial future.
They
spend more time with their administration than they would
like to, but most of the activity is done on a piecemeal basis.
They often do not have a clear and integrated plan for their
future.
Our
initial step with this physician is the same as our approach
with the lower-earning physician: help him define his objectives
and aspirations. He may have thought about them,
vaguely. We help him crystallize them.
When
these objectives have been isolated, our job is to recommend
the quickest and safest ways of meeting them. We do
this, in many cases, by showing him opportunities he is unaware
of, ideas that hadn’t occurred to him, and processes
he didn’t know existed.
We
find a surprising number of physicians in this category who
are apparently content to have a modest office, mediocre help,
two weeks off, and $500,000 in the bank. Period.
They could have so much more and be so much happier.
We
help this physician work much smarter and we leverage
his time and his practice effectively, while he is
at the prime of his power and energy.
.We help
you work more effectively.
The
ones we can't help.
For
every ten inquiries we receive, about six eventually become
actively involved with the International Council for Quality
Care, Inc. process. The others, in our opinion, would
not be well served by working with us.
Some
of these are people who do not have the courage to make the
tough decisions, or possess the determination necessary to
commit to being the best that they can be.
Some
are people with a history of “starting over,”
who will never stick to a recommended program of action for
more than a week or two.
Some
suffer from interrelated personal-practice-financial problems
so severe that no amount of counsel will be of significant
benefit.
But
the chances are still six in ten that we can help you make
it, better than you ever dreamed of making it before.
..Aren’t those better odds than you have right now?
