Running the day-to-day of a medical practice like a well-oiled machine takes time and experience. Every practice is unique and knows which processes work well for them. The medical operations sector employs more than 700,000 people in the US alone. It takes a complex mix of skills and qualifications to become a physician practice operations manager and in this article, we’ll delve into the behind-the-scenes of why it is.
What Are the Duties of a Physician Practice Operations Manager?
Also called healthcare executives or administrators, physician practice operations managers oversee that the day-to-day activities at the practice run smoothly —from the front desk to the revenue cycle. They should be constantly up to date with the latest laws, technology and regulations. In addition, they must be efficiency experts. Efficiency is at the core of operations and in order to run an efficient healthcare practice, healthcare executives must:
- Establish efficiency and quality goals and objectives
- Ensure that the physician practice complies with laws and regulations in place
- Draw and control budgets and manage finances, including contracts, fees and billing
- Recruit, train, and supervise the team
- Create and monitor work schedules
- Keep and organize records of facility services
Not only must physician practice operations managers be extremely knowledgeable of the healthcare industry, their skills align with that of project managers and business leaders.
How Can Physician Practice Operations Improve?
Patients are not customers —or are they? While a customer has certain expectations of the services and products they invest in, a patient is also physically and emotionally committed to the experience. Healthcare facilities and physician offices need to efficiently manage and deal with both the business aspect and the human aspect of the interaction. Therefore, physician practice operations must be incredibly effective in this balancing act.
Here are some ways in which patients find that their experience is worth their investment.
Optimize the Booking and Patient Flow Processes
It sounds as easy as “call or click on a button,” but how do you ensure there is always someone on the other side of the line? How do you decide whether or how to automatize your phone service? Have you made sure your website is mobile friendly? Is your phone number and booking system correctly integrated into your Google Business site? And what software do you choose to actually book the appointments? How do you ensure there aren’t mixups?
All of these things are key when organizing patient appointments. In addition, once at the office, sometimes there are no-shows and, on the other hand, walk-ins, together with those who have booked their appointment. Taking the necessary steps to ensure flexibility and management cannot be understated. Healthcare professional consultants can greatly help in optimizing physician practice operations and the patient flow processes.
Personalize Physician Practice Operations
Customer service is extremely important in healthcare. In order to achieve great, personalized service, communication is key. Whether on-prem or online, before, during, and after the visit, it is important to maintain communication with patients and monitor their satisfaction. A supported patient will not only come back, but recommend your services as well.
An expert healthcare consulting firm like Peregrine Healthcare can offer state-of-the-art customer satisfaction tools. These tools allow, for example, to measure patients’ satisfaction with the services, collect information on improvement areas, and therefore make informed decisions. As a result, practices become more efficient and constantly evolving toward streamlining their processes.
Peregrine Healthcare: Efficient Physician Practice Operations
Peregrine Healthcare strives to help healthcare facilities and providers offer the best quality of services, which inevitably leads to better patient engagement and revenue. Our world-class expert auditors offer confidence and expertise during the optimization journey. Peregrine Healthcare knows first-hand how much everybody’s time is worth and we foster healthy practices, aid growth and drive patient satisfaction.
Contact us for more information about our services and how we can tailor them to your needs.
