What Are the Duties of a Medical Office Manager?

What Are the Duties of a Medical Office Manager?
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What Does a Medical Office Manager Do?

A medical office manager is an administrative professional in the health care field. This person is responsible for the operations of a physician’s office, clinic or other medical facility. This person will oversee many functions of the office. The medical office manager is expected to keep the medical office running efficiently and profitably. The exact duties of a medical office manager can vary greatly depending on the size of the practice, the management structure and the needs of the practice.

The duties of a medical office manager can include the following:

Human resources - A medical office manager can be in charge of any or all human resources functions. This can include hiring and dismissing employees, maintaining employee files, developing an employee manual, and handling payroll and benefit administration. It can also include supervision, training and coaching of employees.

Billing and collections - The medical office manager must be responsible to oversee billing personnel or perform billing duties on his or her own. This can include coding and submitting billing claims to insurance companies and invoicing patients for any amounts not paid by the insurance company. This can also include collection activities on past due accounts.

Marketing - The medical office manager can be assigned to oversee the marketing of the practice. This can include creating marketing materials or advertisements and patient education pieces that help to grow the practice.

Budgeting and finances - This involves overseeing all financial aspects of the practice. This can include daily accounting as well as creating a yearly budget. The financial duties can also include paying bills and making deposits. The manager can be responsible for making sure the practice runs efficiently to stay within this budget.

Regulatory compliance - Health care is a highly regulated field. The medical office manager might be responsible for ensuring that the office is in compliance with all laws and regulations. This can include maintaining physician credentialing, medical records compliance, and patient privacy laws.

The education requirement for a medical office manager varies depending on the needs of the practice. Some hiring managers look for a medical office manager with a college degree, while others value experience over a degree. A medical office manager should have great problem-solving skills, organizational skills and flexibility. This person should be able to function well in a fast-paced, constantly changing environment. Attention to detail is very important as well as written and verbal communications skills. Superb interpersonal skills are also necessary to deal with the many personalities encountered on a daily basis. The medical office manager will need to interact with patients, physicians, employees and other health care professionals; and therefore he or she must be very self-assured and decisive.

A medical office manager position can be very rewarding yet challenging. It requires someone with very wide-ranging skills to be able to perform the varied duties in each area of responsibility. Above all the duties of a medical office manager, the most important function is ensuring superior customer service to keep patients coming back.

Reference: Bureau of Labor Statistics. Medical and Health Service Managers. https://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos014.htm