Hands-On Physician Practice Management
Physician Practice Interim Management
Southwind provides physician practice interim management services that are applicable in several situations:
- To facilitate a physician practice turnaround for a troubled medical group;
- To provide turn-key start-up physician practice management operations;
- To facilitate a physician practice acquisition; and/or
- To fill a void during a time of change in key executive management.
Typically, Southwind provides one or more key executives as part of its interim management team. These may include a CEO, Executive Director or Administrator; a CFO, Finance Director or Controller; and Revenue Cycle Director or Central Business Office (CBO) Manager. Other executive support is available as required, including Chief Operating Officer (COO), senior financial analyst(s) and/or process improvement specialist(s).
Key Advantages of Interim Management
End of Engagement Transition: The Graceful Exit
Ongoing Support Available
Southwind Corporate Operations Team
Typical On-Site Presence
Key Advantages of Interim Management
- During a critical transformational effort, the physician enterprise benefits from a qualified physician practice interim management executive team with broad, deep experience in creating positive change in poorly performing physician practice organizations;
- Southwind's interim management structure ensures strong accountability for performance, including the ability to provide significant financial incentives for its interim executives based on mutually agreed to results and defined targets;
- The physician enterprise benefits from a cohesive team of local practice managers directly supported by Southwind's highly experienced senior physician practice executives;
- Inasmuch as the interim management team is not a permanent employee of the health system nor living in the local community, they are prepared to take more risk in decision making with less fear of making difficult decisions that are disruptive to traditional management practices or existing staff;
- Upon successful completion of the interim management engagement, the newly recruited permanent executive(s) benefits from the tough decisions and positive changes accomplished by Southwind's team and from a framework for success that is already institutionalized; and
- The health system saves the cost of recruiting, hiring and training a permanent executive management team, including salaries, benefits, professional development and other related expenses while Southwind provides its physician practice interim management team as part of its management fee.
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End of Engagement Transition: The Graceful Exit
Southwind has perfected the art of "the graceful exit." Upon completion of our assignment, usually on an accelerated time table, we provide recruitment assistance to source and pre-qualify permanent executives. When permanent executives are hired, we provide timely orientation and a graceful hand-off that ensures the financial and operational gains are maintained. Additionally, physicians and support staff experience a smooth transition and are confident in the continuity of management services.
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Ongoing Support Available
Following the physician practice interim management engagement, Southwind is available to provide continuing assistance if required. Many clients have retained Southwind to provide continued monitoring, coaching and periodic (usually quarterly) on-site visits to help maintain the gains made during the interim management assignment. In every case, the permanent management team that we helped recruit has remained for many years and has succeeded in maintaining the financial and operational improvements instituted by Southwind's team.
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Southwind Corporate Operations Team
The Southwind Corporate Operations Team consists of senior level executives with deep and broad experience in all major disciplines of physician practice management, including financial operations, revenue cycle management and managed care contracting. The team oversees each physician practice interim management engagement.
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Typical On-Site Presence
Our interim management team executives are typically on-site four days per week, three weeks per month. During days when the interim management executive is not on-site, he or she works remotely and is available via telephone and email. This level of on-site presence is a minimum, and at times depending upon the circumstances, the executive will be on-site four weeks in a particular month or five days during a particular week. In addition, members of the Southwind Corporate Operations Team are on-site as needed, typically at least monthly.
We have found that having our interim executives adhere to the above described on-site schedule is a benefit to both the client and the executive, since this arrangement is sustainable for the executive in terms of maintaining a reasonable work/life balance while modern communications technology never leaves the executive out of touch with the physician organization or health system.
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