How to find a good medical practice manager

 Medical Marketer Jane Worthington from DigiMed, asks top medical business strategist Russell Lee from the Health Business Network, for his top tips on finding a good medical practice manager.

Q Why is the Practice Manager (PM) so crucial to the business?

"I often describe the PM as the person who works ON the business not IN the business,” says Russell, who has set up hundreds of doctors in practices across Australia.

"Yes, typically they know how to process payments and answer the phone, but that part of it is now often performed by the practice receptionist unless the practice is very small.

"Practice managers are responsible for the overarching business operations of the clinic and driving growth, developing plans, and retraining staff where necessary.

"Most importantly, they need excellent leadership and planning skills so they can clearly articulate the "vision” of the practice; understand when the business needs to go and then formulate a measurable plan to drive this. Without a plan, one plans to fail!

"The practice manager is the person who goes in and fixes something where there is a problem, and hopefully retrains staff so it happens without them in the future as they need to be focused on growing the business as well as day to day governance.” 

Q What are the typically practice manager responsibilities? 

❖ Managing/overseeing bookings, scheduling and rostering

❖ Overseeing payments via cash, Tyro, Medicare or direct deposits (often done by receptionist)

❖ Completing paperwork for booking, dealing with hospital bookings

❖ Conversing with patients, specialists, GPs, AHPs and other stakeholders

❖ Diary management

❖ Leading the practice with integrity, passion and drive

❖ Driving change in clinical excellence and revenue generation

❖ Identifying and implementing quality practice improvement. For instance, a practice manager should be proactively identifying issues with caseload – are there too many chronic patients booked in close together which causes delays for other patients? Or conversely too many patients that have easy medical issues that are seen quickly, hence create gaps in the doctors' diaries?

❖ Troubleshooting operational issues with software and IT

❖ Maintaining all relevant legislative requirements and practice accreditation as well as maintaining statutory records (eg AHPRA, Medicare, Certificate of Currency for Insurances)

❖ Monitoring rosters and budgets

❖ Overseeing the practice software, staff training, management and leadership

❖ Participating in recruitment of marketing staff and development of marketing collateral and assisting with social media

❖ Reviewing and requesting referrals

What formal qualifications/accreditations and other skills should a practice manager have?

"Technically, you can work in Australia as a practice manager without any formal qualifications, and quite often you will find many practice managers are former receptionists or nurses,” says Russell.

"However, increasingly practice managers are becoming more qualified with a focus on business development and growth, rather than solely on day to day running of the practice.

"A Certificate III in Administration is common among many practice managers, and one qualification I really like to see is a Bachelor's degree is Business Administration specialising in health. At the end of the day though, it's the attitude that matters most and a lot of training can be done on the job or studying at night while working the day.” 

Q Why are exceptional people skills so important?

"Practice managers need to have exceptional people skills, be skilled negotiators and deal with complaints compassionately, and quickly.

"Being able to manage a complaint or bad outcome well can make the difference between an expensive lawsuit and a problem solved,” says Russell. 

"The bottom line is that a practice manager needs to be efficient AND effective. Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.”

Q How much can a practice manager earn?

An entry level position for a practice manager can start at $60,000 says Russell, while senior practice managers who have formal qualifications can earn $100,000-$150,000 or more.

Q What other specific skills are required to be a practice manager?

 â– An eye for recognising where services can be expanded or improved

❖ A flexible, personable approach 

❖ An understanding of how to maintain stock control 

❖ An understanding of the MBS Item numbers, ECLIPSE claiming, Medicare and DVA claiming 

❖ Confidence dealing with different backgrounds and possibly a second language 

❖ Exceptional professionalism when it comes to personal grooming and maintaining cleanliness of the practice 

❖ Experience with bulk-billing and private billing systems 

❖ Experience setting up policy and procedure manuals 

❖ Exceptional people and communication skills and an ability to empathise with patients and uphold patient confidentiality at all times 

❖ Familiarity with Word, Outlook and Excel 

❖ Good crisis management skills – eg the ability to deal with patient complaints about costs, outcomes or waiting times 

❖ Knowledge of Best Practice or Medical Director software, MS Office suite, MYOB, Genie and Clinic 2 Cloud clinical software as well as data extraction tools such as CAT4 and Primary Sense is highly valued

❖ Strong ability to multi-task

Do you have a keen desire to be a medical practice manager? Please email Russell@healthbusinessnetwork.com.au

If you need assistance with marketing of your practice, or CV or resume preparation please email jane@digimedaustralia.com.au