Can Coaching Help Your Medical Practice Manager?

Many business executives use a professional Coach to enhance their skills and improve their bottom line.  There are physicians in the San Antonio area who have a Coach, and perhaps it’s time for the Practice Manager to have a Coach too.  It doesn’t matter whether the Practice Manager has 2 years or 20 years of experience… having a third-party Coach allows the Practice Manager the opportunity to talk with another medical practice executive in a non-threatening setting to discuss concerns and ideas they may not otherwise discuss with any other staff member,  including the physician.

Investing time in your Practice Manager’s development should reduce the physician’s administrative time.  Signs that it’s time to hire a Coach are:

• You’re stressed out more than you have been;
• You’re asked to make decisions that should have been made at a lower level;
• You’re working longer hours to get the work completed;
• The patients are complaining about the staff;
• The staff is complaining; and/or
• You have a lot of staff turnover.

The physician owner may feel the Practice Manager is doing most things correctly; however, you may have noticed that the Practice Manager doesn’t handle all tasks with the same amount of ease or expertise.  This may be an opportunity for the practice to hire a Coach to work with the Practice Manager to improve their skills sets as medical practice management becomes more complex, which would in turn have a positive effect on the practice’s bottom line.  The ultimate goal of Coaching is to improve individual performance, as well as organizational performance.

When selecting a Coach, it is important for the Practice Manager and Coach to interact well together since they will be spending a fair amount of time each month on various tasks.  The Coach should have skills in the various aspects of medical practice management, which includes revenue cycle management, operations, human resources, and analytics.  The Coach should set a monthly meeting with the Practice Manager to discuss new issues, and those issues that have been discussed at previous meetings.  These meetings are intended to eliminate future problems for the medical practice.

In many smaller medical practices, the Practice Manager may not have received training in the various aspects of medical practice management.  Coaching would benefit this person or a person who was recently promoted to Practice Manager.  The Coach can become part of your team to supplement the Practice Manager’s experience.  The Coach can help define the Practice Manager’s role, analyze the operations and staff of the practice, and set goals for the new Practice Manager. 

Concordis Practice Management, LLC has a Team of Medical Practice Executives with years of managing successful large and small medical practices.  Concordis is eager to learn how we can Coach your Practice Manager.  Contact Concordis today at 210-704-1014 for a consultation to discuss how we can improve your medical practice’s efficiency and productivity. 

Resources:

http://www.physicianspractice.com/blog/using-management-Coach-improve-medical-practice-performance

https://hbr.org/2016/09/every-manager-needs-to-practice-two-types-of-Coaching

https://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/systems/primary-care/Coachmnl/Coach2.html

https://www.opm.gov/WIKI/uploads/docs/Wiki/OPM/training/i4cp-Coaching.pdf