Does this scenario sound familiar: Medical practices delegates all oversight, supervision, and daily office management to the practice administrator yet only to find out later that things are REALLY screwed up? I recently saw this again at a large specialy practice and the situation was familiar to those in the past – the doctors just wanted to practice medicine and leave everything else to the administrator.
This just can't happen; physicians need to realize that a medical practice IS THEIR medical practice and as such need to take ownership of it. To avoid such instances from happening, a physician or physician group should do these things:
1. Have a monthly financial meeting. Review the finances of the practice and engage a formal agenda to review and discuss all other practice issues;
2. Implement checks and balances. Make sure your CPA is looking at your finances on an ongoing basis and is asked to attend your monthly financial meetings;
3. If large enough, implement physician committees. This will keep physicians involved;
4. Survey the employee group. Employees see what is going on each and every day – get their feedback on how the office is running, how they are being treated, and ideas to improve the office.
