Writing Assignment: Physician Practice Differentiation

Writing Assignment: Physician Practice Differentiation

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Physician Practice Differentiation

Ways in which primary caregivers can differentiate themselves from their competition in terms of customers/patients?

Competition is key in the decision-making process for any organization, especially in regard to the use of resources at hand. The primary purpose of the competition, especially in health care services, is to improve efficiency, which leads to the accomplishment of its broader goals (Brekke, Gravelle, Siciliani, & Straume, 2014). Thus, ways in which a primary care group practice of four or five physicians can differentiate what they offer to their customers/patients from what they are being offered by competing physician groups are;

To commit to the patient population and focus of person-centered care as opposed to patient-centered.

Understand the needs of your patients and build a team that is recognizable to them and can cater to their needs responsibly.

Show keen diligence while caring for your patients and be proactive in your approach towards looking after them.

Who are the true “customers” of the group practice the patients to whom it provides medical services or the health plans with whom it contracts to gain access to those patients?

At present, doctors operate under a traditional model of fee-for-service. They are rewarded for providing more care to their patients by the health plan providers. These health plan providers partially pay for the tests and the medication provided to the patient, which gives physicians the freedom to order as many tests or prescribe the medicines they deem fit. On the other hand, these physicians also give health care providers the incentive to restrict the coverage of the expenses laid on patients. Thus, one can regard the health plan providers as the true patients of group practices as opposed to patients ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"Tk34VKUu","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Loewenstein et al., 2013)","plainCitation":"(Loewenstein et al., 2013)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":3,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/0omESN17/items/SAWERBJA"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/0omESN17/items/SAWERBJA"],"itemData":{"id":3,"type":"article-journal","title":"Consumers’ misunderstanding of health insurance","container-title":"Journal of Health Economics","page":"850-862","volume":"32","issue":"5","author":[{"family":"Loewenstein","given":"George"},{"family":"Friedman","given":"Joelle Y."},{"family":"McGill","given":"Barbara"},{"family":"Ahmad","given":"Sarah"},{"family":"Linck","given":"Suzanne"},{"family":"Sinkula","given":"Stacey"},{"family":"Beshears","given":"John"},{"family":"Choi","given":"James J."},{"family":"Kolstad","given":"Jonathan"},{"family":"Laibson","given":"David"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2013"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Loewenstein et al., 2013).

As a primary care physician, how do you balance the two?

According to Porter & Lee (2013), as a primary care physician, a way to balance between the two would be;

To provide the care necessary to the patients that are in accordance with their health plan and its providers.

Not to order unnecessary tests or prescribe the medicines that the patient may be able to do without on the basis of a haunch, as opposed to a piece of medical evidence presented as a result of primary testing.

To go for performance-based reimbursement as opposed to fee for service.

References

Brekke, Kurt R., Hugh Gravelle, Luigi Siciliani, and Odd Rune Straume. “Patient Choice, Mobility and Competition among Health Care Providers.” In Health Care Provision and Patient Mobility, 1–26. Springer, 2014.

Loewenstein, George, Joelle Y. Friedman, Barbara McGill, Sarah Ahmad, Suzanne Linck, Stacey Sinkula, John Beshears, James J. Choi, Jonathan Kolstad, and David Laibson. “Consumers’ Misunderstanding of Health Insurance.” Journal of Health Economics 32, no. 5 (2013): 850–62.

Porter, Michael E., and Thomas H. Lee. “The Strategy That Will Fix Health Care.” Harvard Business Review 91, no. 10 (2013): 1–19.