title: General business theory applied to the physician's practice.
abstract: In the pursuit of clinical excellence in today's competitive medical market place, practice managers--clinical or non-clinical--can loose sight of standard management and business principles that are key to success. Also, at times individuals are hesitant to identify a physician practice as a 'business,' preferring to see it as a social good. Still, it is a business--perhaps dealing with a product that is a social good, but still, a business. And, as such, benefits can be derived from a review of business management theory. This article provides a brief review of such theory and also illustrates how to apply this theory to the physician's practice. Key factors in building a successful business will be discussed and applied to the clinical practice, such as resource maximization, rate of return and product mix synergy. Some tools to assist the reader in analyzing their practice will also be provided, such as the RVU Analysis and the Ratio of Service Analysis.
authors.affiliation: Brigham & Women's Hospital, 75 Francis St., Boston, MA 02115, USA. Dshaw@partners.org
authors.forename: D V
authors.initials: DV
authors.lastname: Shaw
mesh_terms: D011216:Practice Management, Medical / Q000191:economics*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000191:economics*