Type of care provided

Care in this type of setting is delivered by physicians, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and advanced practice professionals. This area of health care is the most widely used, and it is a major focus of the Affordable Care Act of 2010, focusing on primary care providers and decreasing the focus on the utilization of specialty providers.

Scenario

A primary care clinic can be an individual-physician practice or a multiple-physician practice organized as a nonprofit or a for-profit facility. Multiple-physician practices generally specialize in cardiac, women's health, pediatrics, or related services. You are the administrator of a local for-profit, multiple-physician community clinic owned by five local physicians, specializing in internal medicine, women's health, pediatrics, orthopedics, and oncology. The clinic sees an average of 50 patients per day. Scheduling is centralized with two receptionists, and each specialty has four staff members to assist the physicians. All the physicians have visiting privileges at the area hospitals and frequently speak at local and national conferences on numerous preventative health care topics. The clinic is noted for its use of technology and has agreements in place with the local hospitals for web-based exchanges of health information on shared patients.

Action Required:

Your office just underwent an organizational change and one office receptionist was eliminated, saving the office $40,000 per year in labor costs. However, there have been a number of complaints that all patients cannot be processed due to the increased flow of patients. Two weeks later you begin to hear that wait times for appointments have increased, and one specific patient was not able to be seen. That patient now has developed an infection and requires surgery.

Question 1

As an administrator, you need to assess this situation: How would you determine if there was a true need for another receptionist? Do you need to reinstate the position or can you retrain the current number of employees? Why?

Question 2

As an administrator, describe the effects that labor shortages of key personnel and rising costs of labor have on profitability. How would you determine how to allocate your money? Be sure to think critically about the impact that quality outcomes and patient outcomes have on financial resources.

Question 3

Based on what you have learned so far in this course, what would be your plan of action for the next 30 days? What types of reports would you use to help support your decisions?

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