Comments for Practice Manager Life

Comment on How to Propose Telecommunicating to Your Owner/Physician by Rebecca Morehead

Rebecca Morehead — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 17:51:28 +0000

Sherry, great topic as always. Timothy Ferriss talks extensively on this subject in his book Four Hour Work Week. It is the chapter on How to Escape the Office.

Many managers find they produce so much more by working from home. Proving that productivity will help to sell that to the physician(s).

Comment on Practice Management: Saving Money on the Little Things by Medical Billing Company

Medical Billing Company — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 04:59:50 +0000

I’ve visited many websites and I can definitely say that your site is my favorite. Favorited, I added this on Digg, and I joined the RSS subscription. Thanks!

Comment on Is Telecommuting an Option for My Practice? A Guide for Practice Managers by Rebecca Morehead

Rebecca Morehead — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:21:00 +0000

I do know several practice managers who work from home a day or two a month. It does require diligence to work from home and not be distracted by home life. Keeping a mindset of work is a must.

That being said, the practice managers that I know of who work from home put in even more hours than when they are physically at the office.

Another thing to consider is a firewall or secure VPN connection for the internet, especially if sensitive confidential material will be accessed from home.

Great Topic!

Comment on Attention Practice Mangers! Week#2 by Charlene

Charlene — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:46:41 +0000

Here is a great website to estimate salaries for any title in any industry. For a medical office manager, otherwise known as “Physician Practice Operation Manager”, Salary.com shows the following:

http://swz.salary.com/salarywizard/layouthtmls/swzl_compresult_national_HC07000277.html

Of course, salary is a very difficult thing to pin down because there are many factors that determine salary, including:

*Region of country position is held
*Rural or Metropolitan
*PCP or Specialist
*Number of Providers
*Number of Staff
*Educational Level of Manager
*Years of Experience of Manager
*Other credentials of Manager

Salary.com states that the salary range for aPhysician Practice Operations Manager in the United States is:

25th %ile $ 80,317
Median $100,465
75th %ile $128,421

Comment on Attention Practice Managers! by Kerry Agler

Kerry Agler — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:18:48 +0000

Our policy is no cell phone usage during work hours, unless on lunch or break. Employees are asked to keep their cell phones on vibrate. We have a large staff, and request personal phone calls be made on breaks only.

Comment on Attention Practice Mangers! Week#2 by Kerry Agler

Kerry Agler — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 19:12:50 +0000

$75K for multi-specialty practice, with bonus up to $15K

Comment on 8 Tips for Keeping Your Staff Happy by physician assistant

physician assistant — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 02:50:23 +0000

Terrific work! This is the type of information that should be shared around the web. Shame on the search engines for not positioning this post higher!

Comment on Managing Employees in the Medical Practice by Business Administration Courses

Business Administration Courses — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 20:53:43 +0000

Nice post…Thank you for sharing some good things.

Comment on 8 Tips for Keeping Your Staff Happy by Rebecca Morehead

Rebecca Morehead — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 14:38:42 +0000

Great Tips! It is so important that practice managers not expect more from their staff than they are willing to give. For example, if they expect punctuality yet are always late it sends a message to staff that this is not really that important. As Ghandi said “be the change you want to see in the world” and I tweak it to “be the change you want to see in your practice.”

Rebecca

Comment on 8 Tips for Keeping Your Staff Happy by Chis Carraway, DC DIBCN

Chis Carraway, DC DIBCN — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:00:22 +0000

Excellent article Donna and several points well made. Keeping your staff happy is often over looked. Some offices think that cutting them a check once a month is enough. Oh so wrong. In a doctors office, more often than not, the pay scale has caps. Face it, a staffer, no matter how long they work in the office, is never going to be the doctor. They can not claw their way to the top. There is no ladder to climb. You get on a step and that is pretty much it.

I tend to over compensate by being super flexible with family matters and insist that they go to school awards and the likes, even if they are right in the middle of a busy office time. My staff know that they can ask for the next two days off and 9 times out of 10, we can make it work.

I also overflow with thank yous and compliments. It they catch and error I have made in paper work or on a letter. I always, tell them, “Sharp eye, thanks for spoting that. You saved me.”

Birthdays and office anniversaries and others are aways recognized. Frequently I find little items that I think they might enjoy, a coffee mug or cute figurine and will pick it up for them. One staffer loves elephants. The other likes unique bird houses. The staffer that likes elephants has four shelves 8 feet long in her office with 40 or 50 elephants of all different sizes and poses. I am a fan of zebras and they pick up zebra items for me.

Something is working. I have been in practice for 24 years and have only had 5 staffers and two of they are still with me. One has 18 years and they other has 16 years in. The national average for a DCs office is staff turning over every 6 months. I would not know how to operate under that kind of stress.

You comment on following policy is very true. Nothing upsets a staffer quite like setting a policy and then randoming changing it off and on. Just this morning I was asked about a new policy we had to consider. I stated emphatically “NO” that we would be doing * fill in the blank *. My front desk told me. “I like it when you make executive discisions.”

Doctors, let your staff know you appreciate them.

Warm Regards,

Christopher Carraway, DC, DIBCN.