Ten patients a day, for the 4 week days each physician was in the office were given the survey during the third week of each month of the quarter. We decided to measure physician behaviors, which our office manager felt were increasing overhead. We have 1 FTE nurse who does nothing but call patients. Sine it was the sense of the practice manager that this nurse did more calls for some physicians than others, the nurse was asked to keep a daily tally of the calls she made for each physician. Physicians with the lower number of calls were rewarded.
Physicians tend to keep patient charts on their desks.
So, the business manager did unannounced spot checks once each week for each physician to determine this number. A mean was determined and physicians below the mean were rewarded. This area was meant to reward physicians who took extra call, worked extra days, and got along with the staff and the other physicians. With the exception of working extra, this became very subjective. In a group of 5 physicians there was no obvious way the feelings of the practice manager and the physicians could be kept confidential.