It’s never easy figuring out if you have the right number of staff to handle all of the patients in your medical practice. There are many different factors that can determine the number of staff that you need.

As a rule of thumb, when things get busy, medical practices tend to hire more people, and when things slow down, lay people off. Obviously, there is more to it than that, but it is worth the effort to find out what the optimum staffing level is for your practice because it can be the difference between one that thrives and one that doesn’t.

Here are a few things to consider.

Look at the benchmarks.

Take a look at other practices that are similar to yours to see what their staffing ratio is like. Organizations such as the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA), the American Medical Association (AMA), the American Medical Group Association (AMGA), and Practice Support Resources (PSR) all provide this type of benchmarking information that will help you figure out how your practice compares to similar ones around the country.

Also take a look at the number of staff who are needed to support one physician. To find out what the physician-to-staff ratio is for your practice, you simply divide the number of physicians by the number of support staff. Then, you can use information provided by the MGMA and PSR to find out how your ratio compares to similar practices.

Who is on your staff?

If you have physician assistants and nurses at your practice, you may need more support staff. Again, benchmark comparisons will give you some idea of what you should have.

Number of locations.

How is your practice set up? Do you have just one location or more than one? Take a look at your operation – are staff members spending time on superfluous activities or spread too thin in certain areas? How much work is given to each staff member? Answers to these questions can also help you to determine staffing needs.

Cash flow.

Another question to ask is whether there is enough money coming in to justify the number of staff you have. Again, you can use the benchmarking information to see what the figures are for other practices.

Team1Medical Staffing has been a reliable source of allied health professionals for many of the best medical practices in Houston for more than 20 years. We provide our customers individual, personalized service, reviewing the practice’s needs so we can place professionals that will fit best.

Call us at 713-590-2980 or contact us today to find out why we have earned our reputation as one of the best medical staffing firms in the Houston area.