After Louis Levitt, MD, graduated he accepted a job at a hospital, but grew tired the rigors associated with a hospital-based practice, so he decided to open his own, The Washington Post reports.
Now 33 years later, the Washington-based Centers for Advanced Orthopaedics is among the largest orthopedic practices in the U.S. Here are five key management strategies from Dr. Levitt.
1. The practice feature 174 physician owners and 1,500 employees including 300 nurses, physician assistants and physical therapists. They're expected to gross around $200 million in revenue in 2017, and rank as 62 on the top 100 private corporations in the regions.
2. The centers faced pressure from the ACA and from hospitals attempting to poach talent. Dr. Levitt answered with analytics.
One stat is striking: there 76.4 million baby boomers, an aging population that has a high likelihood of needing orthopedic procedures in the future.
"The baby boomers are falling apart in record numbers," Dr. Levitt said to the Post, "The good news, we are in a perfect position to take care of them with empathy and kindness."
3. Dr. Levitt also embraced standardization. From vendors to scheduling and bill payments, with all his centers on one platform, he rids himself of the inefficiency associated with too many moving parts. The standardization helped reduce medical malpractice costs by nearly a third and the practice realized a 25 percent savings on supply purchases.
4. Dr. Levitt has also embraced the internet and physician ratings. He ensures his staff is on time and that appointments start when they're supposed to as a way to make sure his centers are highly rated.
5. He attributes his leadership qualities to his wife.
"I would come home and ask her advice and what I should do, and I would go back to work the next day and say we should to this,” he said to the Post. “Everyone would think I was brilliant.”
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