Medical Office Manager

One applicant has used your practice management system for years. Another has never worked in a medical office, but asks thoughtful questions about how the front desk coordinates with the clinical team, takes notes during the interview and describes how she learned a complicated process at her last job. Which applicant deserves a closer look? Experience matters, especially when you…

At 8:30 p.m., a physician texts a receptionist: “Can you straighten out tomorrow’s schedule?” The staffer sees the message but cannot tell whether the physician expects action tonight or wants the task handled first thing in the morning. Another provider emails about a referral. A patient sends a portal message asking about an appointment and mentions a new symptom. Before…

January’s coding changes can create problems well beyond the billing department. An outdated code on a charge list, a documentation template missing a necessary detail or a payer instruction nobody has reviewed can interrupt payment for otherwise routine work. November gives your practice time to prepare before holiday absences make training and troubleshooting harder to arrange. The American Medical Association’s…

Somewhere, an office manager is listening to an explanation that began with “You’re not going to believe this” and thinking: You may be right. Late arrivals, unfinished assignments and missed meetings generate a remarkable range of explanations. Technology features prominently. So do pets, relatives and vehicles that apparently reserve their mechanical problems for Monday mornings. Consider these fictional examples, offered…

A candidate arrives for a job interview carrying an iced coffee. Does that suggest poor judgment? A casual attitude toward an important meeting? Or simply a preference for cold coffee? Your answer may reveal more about your expectations than about the applicant’s ability to do the job. Office managers need to assess professionalism, reliability and judgment when hiring. But those…