Ask the Expert Answer: Staffing Ratio for Primary Care Practice
Q: Is there data available on the ideal staffing ratio for a primary care practice? Our facility will contain a centralized bed management unit under guest management services. The staff will be both nursing and non-nursing staff. For this scenario, are there established bed management benchmarks that measure electronic request processing times, room usage efficiencies or room turnaround? Are there benchmarks for a centralized bed management unit that would measure unit contributions to decreases in LOS or efficiencies in necessary admissions and transfers?
A: The best place for information about physician-practice issues is the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA). It has relevant resources on its web site (
www.mgma.org). There is also a book you might consider titled Rightsizing Appropriate Staffing for Your Medical Practice (
www.mgma.com/Store/ProductDetails.aspx?id=38578). A quick search on MGMA’s site also yields more than 425 results for “staffing,” which you may find useful.
David Hammer answered this question