23 February 2017 | Clinic Owners and Practice Managers | 2 minutes read
The simple answer is sometimes not too much.
The Kaizen principle highlights that small changes can sometimes result in surprising improvements. In our consulting work we have seen many examples of this.
Big results come from small changes accumulated over time. Read the Kaizen theory.
Our consulting team has had the opportunity to work with Medicare locals, Community Health clinics and private clinics to look at how small changes can make noticeable improvements to GP clinics. Here are two examples:
A highly exclusive private clinic in Sydney was operating with a large deficit and could not sustain the ongoing losses. Within a few months, performance had improved by $300K and profitability was significantly higher than previously. Once again small things made the difference:
We worked with a Medicare Local to help expand after hours clinics (both MDS and non MDS) in SE Melbourne. We demonstrated that small interventions helped to rapidly build successful after hours services:
Within six months, the five clinics involved in our pilot study had increased episodes of care to their local communities by 6230, growing their collective offering by 104 GP hours per week. Three years later, they were still all going strong and collectively grown average weekly general practitioner after hours nearly 250%, up from 104 to 360 general practitioner hours.
The Alecto consulting team are happy to chat to you about the Kaizen Theory and how we can make it work for your clinic.
Here’s to a positive year ahead!
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