title: Understanding medical group financial and operational performance: the synergistic effect of linking statistical process control and profit and loss.
abstract: There is ongoing pressure for medical groups owned by not-for-profit health care systems or for-profit entrepreneurs to generate profit. The fading promise of superior strategy through health care integration has boards of directors clamoring for bottom-line performance. While prudent, sole focus on the bottom line through the lens of the profit-and-loss (P&L) statement provides incomplete information upon which to base executive decisions. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that placing statistical process control (SPC) charts in tandem with the P&L statement provides a more complete picture of medical group performance thereby optimizing decision making as executives deal with the whitewater issues surrounding physician practice ownership.
authors.affiliation: WellSpan Health, York, Pennsylvania, USA. jsmolko2@wellspanhealth.org
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Smolko
authors.forename: D S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Greisler
mesh_terms: D000067:Accounts Payable and Receivable; D019985:Benchmarking; D003626:Data Display; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D005375:Financial Audit; D006123:Group Practice / Q000191:economics* / Q000458:organization & administration; D007182:Income; D008330:Management Audit; D008331:Management Information Systems; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D010414:Pennsylvania; D018511:Systems Integration