SOME UNSOUND ECONOMICS

As a consultant at Silkin Management Group, I’m always looking through various articles in a variety of publications to stay on top of important matters that could effect Silkin Management Group clients. In doing so, I recently read that a well known international economist, Joseph Stiglitz, speaking at the London School of Economics, said that the United States and England should not ever have their bond ratings be anything other than AAA because “all we do is print money to pay it back.” “The notion of a default is so absurd”.

I was a bit amazed at this statement by such an expert, but it also made me realize that this type of thought, promoted by an international expert is part of why the national and international financial scene is in such a mess. Last I heard there were two major countries in Europe that were on the verge of defaulting on loans.

Here’s one way to look at this: if you have to print money to pay your debts, isn’t that a form of defaulting on a loan? I sure wish I could just print some money to pay my house off but, last I heard, I’d get thrown in jail for counterfeiting if I did that.

At Silkin Management Group, we try to teach our clients sound, rational fiscal policies like, “don’t spend more than you make”, “follow a budget”, “pay off debt”, etc. We teach all the obvious, fiscally sound and conservative measures that anyone with any sense agrees with. Why these sound economic principals wouldn’t apply to a government is beyond me. I guess, if I follow the brilliance of the economic policies of most governments in the world, as well as “world renown economists” like Mr. Stiglitz, I should add “print any money you need to pay your bills” to the list too. Hey, great idea Mr. Stilglitz! I’ll do it as long as you cover my jail time.


Gary Crawshaw
Silkin Management Group Consultant

For more information about what we do at Silkin Management Group, how we help clients with financial basics and other practice management issues, visit our website at: silkinmanagementgroup.com. You can also contact us at: info@silkinmanagementgroup.com or call 800-695-0257.

METRICS FOR AN OFFICE MANAGER

The various Silkin Management Group blogs have recently been running a theme of how to measure productivity in a health care office. Several examples have been given that are used with Silkin clients to help them manage their office better. So far we have covered possible statistics for a receptionist, collection area and exams. Today I thought I’d cover some ideas on how an Office Manager’s production could be measured.

As previous Silkin blogs have covered, the first thing you need to determine a proper statistic for a job or area is figure out the product that job or area should be producing. Here are some ideas for the product of an Office Manager:

• An office that is expanding and prospering
• A Doctor who only has to wear his/her Doctor and owner hat
• Staff members who know their jobs, are thereby productive, and are operating together as a team.
• Satisfied patients/clients who continue to come in for care and who refer others to the practice.

All of these points could be considered valid products of an Office Manager and all could be used or they could be used collectively.

With these products in mind, one could use the following statistics to measure the overall productivity of the Office Manager:

• Production
• Collections
• New Patients

Silkin Management Group Clients have found the above products and statistics to be very workable in managing their practices. If you are not using some sort of statistical management system, I suggest you start implementing a system using the advice we’ve presented in these blogs.

If you would like help with any of this, please contact us at: info@silkinmanagementgroup.com. You can also visit our website at silkinmanagementgroup.com


Eric Korb
Director of Consultants

Check out our other blogs about managing by statistics at:
Yet More Ideas on Productivity Measurements in a Health Care Office
Here's More Ideas on Measuring Productivity
How Do You Measure Productivity of All Areas of an Office?