The Office Manager is a key staff member in any private practice. A well-trained, positive and experienced Office Manager is worth his or her weight in gold.
If your practice is not prospering, if the doctor finds they are having to cover jobs in addition to their appropriate doctor and owner responsibilities, if patients don’t feel well-serviced or staff don’t work as a team, look to an untrained (or unqualified) Office Manager, and handle.
The purpose of the Office Manager position is:
1) To manage the staff and office by:
- instituting and maintaining compliance with office policy
- instituting and maintaining compliance with job descriptions
- utilizing statistical management
2) To ensure smooth and efficient patient flow through the office.
3) To create an environment in which your patients or clients feel competently serviced and where staff can work together as a team.
Where the Office Manager is consistently carrying out the responsibilities of the job, the practice will be on a course of expansion and prosperity.
With such an Office Manager on the job, the doctor can focus solely on his/her doctor and owner responsibilities, the staff know their jobs and are productive and operating as a team, and satisfied patients or clients continue to come in and tend to refer others to the practice.
THE PURPOSE AND FUNCTION OF AN OFFICE MANAGER
The primary function of the Office Manager position is the accomplishment of the goals determined by the Owner of the practice. The Office Manager should assist the Owner in developing policy that will achieve these goals and then energetically lead the staff toward accomplishment of them.
The Office Manager should run the day-to-day activities of the office and keep the daily distractions off of the Owner/Doctor’s lines.
It is the Office Manager’s job to ensure that staff are fully contributing to the expansion of the business and that a high level of communication exists between the staff and the Owner.
The Office Manager should be a person who understands the importance of communication and has good communication abilities.
The Office Manager is in charge of seeing to it that all areas in the practice are running smoothly and producing the desired products. This would require full understanding of organizational structure and functionality of the practice. To succeed, the Office Manager should be trained to use key management tools including various report systems, a communication system that really works for the office, and much more.
The Office Manager should have a very strong working knowledge of statistics and their use in strengthening the practice.
It is his/her responsibility to obtain compliance from all staff with regard to orders, projects and program steps. The Office Manager is often responsible for the hiring and firing of personnel and for conducting performance evaluations on a regular basis. The OM should be someone who can really care for the staff.
In considering placing someone in the position of Office Manager, it is important to consider the activities that will accomplish your goals. Be sure that your candidate for Office Manager can be a true leader in such activities.
Look for a person who would understand the ideals and ethics of the business. This person would be a creative and constructive assistant to the Owner in the planning and achievement of his/her highest goals for the practice.