Your practice manager is much like the conductor of an orchestra, charged with overseeing the various pieces of your practice operations. He or she is a central player in your practice but too often doctors do not conduct a regular performance evaluation of their practice manager's job.
However, before you even undertake a performance review, you need to be sure you have a clear definition of the criteria on which you will evaluate his or her job performance, writes George Conomikes, a practice management consultant, in Physicians Practice. Then be sure your practice manager is clear about his or her job responsibilities.
Absent clarification of their roles and responsibilities, your practice manager may define these on their own, he says. The rub there is your practice manager may see their primary role as personnel management, whereas where you really need their attention is on billing and collections.
One way to review the practice manager’s performance is with an evaluation form. Mind you, this shouldn’t be a “report card”; rather, this tool should isolate where the practice manager is meeting goals and exceeding expectations, says Conomikes. Best practice is to review progress within three to four months of hire and then on an annual basis.
Be prepared to take action if you uncover performance issues. If you find your practice manager is overwhelmed with their own tasks, it’s that much more difficult for them to oversee overall practice operations. In that case, you might want to see if someone else on the team can take on some of the practice manager’s day-to-day responsibilities. Or if it's a crucial job function, such as payroll, that is not getting enough attention, seriously consider outsourcing that responsibility, says Conomikes.