What makes a great practice manager?

The right manager can transform your practice. Here’s a guide on the essential qualities of a successful practice manager.

A skilled practice manager is crucial to the success of a Primary Health Care Practice not just for the delivery of quality healthcare to your patients but also to ensure the growth, efficiency and profitability of your Practice.

The Australian Association of Practice Management defines a Practice Manager as someone who performs all or some of the Practice Management tasks in a healthcare setting and states their core principles as being;

• financial management,
• human resource management,
• planning and marketing,
• information management,
• risk management,
• governance and organisational dynamics,
• business and clinical operations, and
• professional responsibility.

Primary Health Care practices be they General Practice or a Specialty Practice, are businesses that require skilled management.

A great Practice Manager will bring to a Practice an understanding of the healthcare system and be open to and informed of opportunities created from:

• Technology
• Patient consumerism and marketing
• Funding
• Legislation and compliance
• Your demographic or health community/population

Developing effective reporting and management systems both financial and non-financial for principals and practice owners will ensure that they have appropriate information regarding the business performance to make decisions and plan for the future.

The complexities and challenges of running a Healthcare Practice increase every day.

Undeniably the skills that were required to run a healthcare practice even five years ago are not the same as the skills required today – it is therefore essential that your Practice Manager has appropriate qualifications and is constantly seeking ongoing professional development and networking with peers to ensure currency and an understanding of the changing face of Primary Health Care.

The right manager can transform a practice into a healthy, thriving, profitable and sustainable business where patients receive quality care, clinicians and staff are happy and operations run efficiently – most of the time!