Bayside Orthopaedic has been recognized by the MGMA (Medical Group Management Association) as a Better Performer in the MGMA Performances and Practices of Successful Medical Groups for 2006 and 2007. The national awards are gifted each year in January for the previous business year’s statistics. In 2006 the practice was awarded one award in the category “Accounts Receivable and Collections.” “It had been the goal of our business office staff to achieve a higher percentage of Accounts Receivable collections since 2004. We reviewed our practices and procedures, tweaked some of our efforts, and began to see immediate results in the amount of revenue we were able to collect for our physicians,” states Administrator Deborah Stewart.

In 2007 the group received three awards – repeating in Accounts Receivable and Collections, and new awards in the remaining two categories: Productivity, Capacity and Staffing; and Profitability and Cost Management. Bayside Orthopaedic is one of only 4 practices in the State of Alabama to win one of these coveted Practice Management awards, and one of only 19 practices out of the 432 Better Performing Practices nationwide to be recognized in 3 categories in the same year for 2007.

Benchmarking – comparing one’s performance statistics year by year and against other similar organizations became popular in healthcare in the late 1990’s. “Benchmarking is an excellent way to measure the productivity of staff and physicians. You can see trends in the numbers of patient visits, surgeries, and procedures by clinic location, physician, and insurance type. Administratively this info allows me to see the accountability of my staff and the productivity of our physicians. National MGMA surveys show that we are all contributing heavily to the success of our practice and this is a great evaluation tool for the staff and Administrator,” Administrator Deborah Stewart explains. “These awards prove to be an interesting topic of conversation when meeting with physician and staff recruits.”