Whether the title is manager, medical practice manager, physician practice manager, administrator, practice administrator, executive director, office manager, CEO, COO, director, division manager, department manager, or a combination thereof, with a few exceptions, a person managing a practicing physician does several any combination of responsibilities listed here or managing the person performing them.
Human Resources: Hire, fire, advise, discipline, evaluate, coach, orient, coach, mentor and schedule staff. Shop, negotiate and manage benefits. Develop, maintain and manage personnel policies, health programs, pay scales, and job descriptions. Resolve conflicts. Maintain personnel files. Document Worker Injury Compensation. Answering unemployment questions. Recognizing happy events and sad events in the practice and lives of employees. Stay late to listen to someone who needs to speak.
Facilities and Machinery: Shop, negotiate, recommend, and maintain buildings or suites, telephones, handheld dictation devices, copiers, computers, pagers, furniture, scanners, postage machines, specimen refrigerators, injection refrigerators, patient refresher refrigerators, lunch refrigerators staff, medical equipment, printers, coffee machines, alarm systems, signage, and cell phones.
Ordering and Cost Management: Shop for, negotiate and recommend suppliers for medical consumables, office supplies, kitchen supplies, magazines, printed forms, business insurance, and malpractice insurance and services such as transcription, x-ray reading/overreading, consultants, CPAs, attorneys, services grass and snow, benefits administrator, answering service, water service, courier service, mill service, housekeeping, aquarium service, linen service, bio-hazardous waste disposal, shredding service, offsite storage and catering.
Law: Comply with all local, state, and federal laws and guidelines including OSHA, ADA, EOE, FMLA, CLIA, COLA, JCAHO, FACTA, HIPAA, Stark I, II & III, fire safety, crash trains and defibrillators, disaster communications , sexual harassment , universal precautions, MSDS hazards, confidentiality, security and privacy, and providing staff with the same documentation and training. Ensure all clinical staff have current licenses and CPR. Have a downtime procedure for computer accessibility loss. Ensure risk management policies are followed. Alert the malpractice operator to any potential liability issues immediately. Ensure medical records are stored and released appropriately.
Accountancy: Pay bills, create payroll, prepare compensation schedules for doctors, prepare and pay taxes, prepare budgets and monthly variance reports, make deposits, reconcile bank statements, reconcile merchant accounts, prepare Income statements, prepare refunds to payers and patients, and file lots and lots of documents.
Billing, Claims and Accounts Receivable: Perform an eligibility search on all scheduled patients. Ensure that all dictation is completed and all meetings (office, hospital, nursing home, ASC, satellite office, home visits and legal work (depositions, etc.) are charged and all payments, refusals and adjustments posted within a predetermined amount of time. . Submit electronic claims daily. Submit patient statements daily or weekly. Negotiate payer contracts and ensure payers comply with contract terms. Rejection of appeals. Have staff collect deductions, co-payments, and co-insurance and have financial advisors meet with patients scheduling surgery , those with outstanding balances, or patients on high discount or health care savings plans. Ensure scheduling staff know which payers are not contracted by the practice. Relationship with billing services if billing is outsourced. Credential service provider with all payers. Perform internal compliance audits .Load values New RBRVS, new CPT and new ICD-9 every year. Run monthly reports for physician production, ivable old account receipts, net collection percentage and fees and collections per RVU. Attach the appropriate code to the claim for e-prescribing and PQRI. Have plans to receive a Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) letter. Make friends and meet regularly with provider representatives for your biggest payers.
Marketing: Introduce new doctors, new locations, and new services to the community. Recommend sponsors for charities, sports, and appropriate events in the community. Recommend sponsoring patient support groups and keeping doctors giving lectures and performing at events. Thank the patient for referring another patient. Trace referral sources. Recommend the use of Yellow Pages, billboards, radio, television, newspapers, magazines, direct mail, newsletters, email, websites, blogs, and other social media. Prepare press releases about practice events and awards and doctor activities. Recommended doctors practice for television health spots.
Strategic planning: Set up ROI (Return on Investment) and pro forma for new doctors, new services and new locations. Estimating the potential effects of Medicare cuts, contracts under negotiation or over-reliance on a single payer. Discuss 5-year plans for capital expenditures such as EMR, additional services, doctor recruitment, and replacement equipment. Explore outsourcing office functions or ask telecommute staff. Always look for technology that can make training more efficient or productive.
Daily Operation: Do practice rounds at least twice a day to observe and be available for questions. Arrange temporary staff or reschedule staff for shortages, meet or talk to patients with complaints, and meet with vendors, doctors and staff. Open email and recycle mostly. Unplug the toilet.
Stay Current in Health Care: Attend continuing education sessions through face-to-face conferences, webinars, podcasts and online classes. Maintain membership in professional organizations. Pursuing certification in medical practice management. Network with the same specialized community and colleagues. Participate in listservs, LinkedIn and Twitter.
What did I leave behind? Have lunch?
