Table 2 Comparative group analysis – size, size requirements and general perceptions

Practice Size

Number of physicians (mean)

5.4

4.3

6.5

 < 0.001^a

Number of medical assistants (mean)

12.1

9.7

14.4

 < 0.001^a

Number of non-medical personal (mean)

3.6

2.5

4.7

0.004^a

Specialty

Generalists (%)

37.1

40.4

34.3

n.s.^b

Specialists (%)

61.5

58.1

64.2

n.s.^b

Practice Size that justifies a PM

Number of patients per quarter (mean)

2403

2325

2483

n.s.^a

Number of physicians (mean)

3.2

3.6

2.9

 < 0.001^a

Number of non-physicians (mean)

6.6

7.1

6.0

0.003^a

Agreement with the following statements (6 strongly agree—1 strongly disagree) (means)

A functioning team does not need a practice manager

2.2

2.7

1.7

 < 0.001^a

A PM is important for the practice

5.2

4.6

5.8

 < 0.001^a

A PM can relieve my workload

5.4

5.1

5.8

 < 0.001^a

It is easy to release an employee for training as a PM

3.5

3.1

3.8

0.004^a

A PM should continuously educate himself or herself

5.5

5.4

5.6

0.030^a

I have concerns about delegating non-medical tasks

2.2

2.5

1.9

 < 0.001^a

Agreement with the following statements (Yes in %)

A personal time gain is important for me to employ a PM

88.1

82.3

93.8

0.028^b

A PM should also take on medical tasks

61.1

62.2

59.5

n.s.^b

Management of materials is/would be the responsibility of the PM

88.0

93.8

82.1

0.026^b

Do you prefer to recruit a practice employee as a PM?

77.2

80.1

74.1

n.s.^b

Sharing a practice manager with other practices makes sense

23.7

28.6

19.3

n.s.^b

Risk of conflict with external PMs (6: very high risk, … 1: very low risk) (mean)

3.7

4.0

3.4

0.020^a