This document discusses the traits and responsibilities of a medical practice manager. It outlines important traits for managers such as strength of conviction, honesty, leadership skills, and communication abilities. It also discusses the importance of understanding physicians, building trusting relationships with them, and providing support. The document provides "Ten Commandments" for communicating with doctors and outlines best practices for conducting physician meetings, managing staff, benchmarking performance, dealing with problems, and seeking outside support.

1. William F. (Bill) Cockrell, FACMPE
March 1, 2012

2. Traits of a Manager
 Strength of Conviction yet Flexible
 Honesty and Loyalty
 Understanding of Their Role
 Leadership Skills
 Desire to Learn
 Vision
 Communication Skills

3. Relationship with Physicians
 Understand Your Doctors
 Internal and External Pressures
 Personal Situations
 Have a Trusting Relationship
 Demonstrate Loyalty
 Demonstrate Professional Confidence
 Support Your Doctors
 Be Clear on Your Role / Authority

4. Ten Commandments for
Communicating With Doctors
 1. Thou shalt have done thy homework!
 2. Thou shalt be brief!
 3. Thou shalt offer proof and documentation!
 4. Thou shalt be organized!
 5. Thou shalt use the most relevant arguments!
 6. Thou shalt use both verbal and visual means for
communicating!
“The Total Service Medical
Practice” Vicky Bradford,
Ph.D.

5. Ten Commandments for
Communicating With Doctors
 7. Thou shalt allow doctors to exert as high a
degree of autonomy as possible!
 8. Thou shalt use comparative data!
 9. Thou shalt not speak “managerialese”!
 10. Thou shalt look the part!
“The Total Service Medical
Practice” Vicky Bradford,
Ph.D.

6. Physician Meetings
 Meet on a Regular Basis
 Prepare and Distribute Agendas Before the Meeting
 Try to Focus on Group, Not Individual Issues
 Solicit Opinions
 Take Careful Notes and Distribute Then After the
Meeting

7. Relationship with Staff
 Be a Role Model
 Hire Well in the First Place
 Train Well
 Keep Employees Up to Date on Their Performance
 Don’t be Afraid to Terminate Thos Employees Who Do
Not Work Out
 Be Visible and Available
 Empower Staff Where Possible
 Show Appreciation

8. Relationship with Staff
 What you don’t want:
 “Doing a good job around here is like wetting your dark
pair of pants. You get a warm feeling all over but no one
notices”
• Charlie Brown
 But do it appropriately.

9. Benchmarking
 State MGMA
 Salary Survey – A Must
 National MGMA
 Surveys are Difficult to Complete
 Information must be Sifted
 But It Is Valuable
 www.mgmadashboards.com
 Specialty Societies
 Internal

10. Dashboard Items
 Monthly
 Charges
 Collections
 A/R
 DRO
 WRVU’s
 Overhead as a Percentage of Revenue
 Budget Variances
 Staffing Levels

11. Dashboard Items
 Collections per Employee
 A/R Aging
 Volumes (E&M, Procedures, Diagnostics, etc.)
 Coding Profiles

12. Dealing with Problems

13. Dealing with Problems
 The HIPAA Example
 The “Touchy” Physician

14. Dealing with Problems
 Don’t Wait Unnecessarily
 At the Same Time – Unless There’s Someone's Life at
Stake – Sleep On It
 Get The Facts – Not Opinions
 Talk to the parties Involved
 Make a Decision – And Follow Thru

15. Outside Support
 MGMA
 Websites
 www.mgma.com
 www.almgma.com
 www.caahms.com
 Literature
 Books
 The Total Service Medical Practice – Vicky Bradford, Ph.D.
 The Travelers Gift – Andy Andrews
 Professional Links
 Blogs

16. Numbers to Knowledge: Using Your Data to Optimize
Decision Making and Improve Performance
 March 15, 2-3:00 pm ET
 This webinar will explore the importance of benchmarking your practice's
performance. You will learn how to benchmark, find the data that are
comparable to your situation, determine what data are important and use the
knowledge gained in the benchmarking process to improve on your practice's
performance.
 This webinar will also teach you the importance of presenting the right
information to the right audience at the right time in order to optimize
decision making and improve efficiencies and performance.
 Following this 60-minute webinar, you will be able to:
 Identify important and actionable information to medical practices
 Implement effective strategies to present data to a range of audiences
 Understand how the benchmarking process can improve your practice's
performance
 Register now

17. Professional
 MGMA
 CMPE
 FACMPE

18. The Seven Decisions
 The Responsible Decision – The Buck Stops Here
 The Guided Decision – I Will Seek Wisdom
 The Active Decision – I Am a Person of Action
 The Certain Decision – I Have a Decided Heart
 The Joyful Decision – Today, I Will Choose to Be
Happy
 The Compassionate Decision – I Will Greet This Day
with A Forgiving Spirit
 The Persistent Decision – I Will Persist Without
Exception
The Travelers Gift
Andy Andrews