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What does a medical practice manager do?

Updated January 8, 2025
8 min read

A medical practice manager is an administrator that runs a medical facility. They are sometimes referred to as medical managers, medical practice administrators, healthcare administrators, or healthcare executives. Their duties include staffing, scheduling, ensuring compliance with regulations, managing revenue cycles, and overseeing data security procedures. They are also tasked with finding ways to reduce overhead, improving efficiency, and providing assistance when the office is short staffed.

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Medical practice manager responsibilities

Here are examples of responsibilities from real medical practice manager resumes:

  • Manage patients' oral chemotherapy medications and oral anti-coagulation medications under physician supervision including any prior authorizations and/patient assistance programs.
  • Bill, post and follow up on all medical claims with knowledge of ICD-9 and CPT coding.
  • Organize, update and maintain patient charts within HIPPA guidelines.
  • Insure compliance with HIPAA and permit passage of all regulatory inspections.
  • Maintain compliance with regulatory standards by Hippa compliances.
  • Establish an active network of internists and hospital-base physicians who regularly refer their patients in need of chemotherapy.
  • Supervise departmental operations and oversight to ensure the practice are compliant with organizational standards, regulatory guidelines and national accreditation.
  • Increase net profitability of the hospital by recommending and implementing better business protocols, financial budget oversight, and accounts receivable.
  • Provide medical case management, vocational rehabilitation and job placement services to people who sustain occupational and non-occupational injuries and diseases.
  • Generate billing electronically/paper for Medicare, MassHealth and HMO insurance plans.

Medical practice manager skills and personality traits

We calculated that 16% of Medical Practice Managers are proficient in Healthcare, Patients, and Patient Satisfaction. They’re also known for soft skills such as Analytical skills, Communication skills, and Detail oriented.

We break down the percentage of Medical Practice Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:

  • Healthcare, 16%

    Submit MDI - IC-10 codes with all insurance procedure codes to Dynasty HealthCare for billing.

  • Patients, 15%

    Established an active network of internists and hospital-based physicians who regularly referred their patients in need of chemotherapy.

  • Patient Satisfaction, 11%

    Resolved patient concerns to ensure patient satisfaction as measured by resident satisfaction surveys.

  • Medical Practice, 9%

    Managed private specialty medical practice of physician board-certified in internal medicine and psychiatry.

  • Patient Care, 8%

    Researched practice area and arranged office locations according to necessity for patient care and proximity to hospital locations.

  • Practice Management, 3%

    Implemented electronic medical records/practice management software.

Common skills that a medical practice manager uses to do their job include "healthcare," "patients," and "patient satisfaction." You can find details on the most important medical practice manager responsibilities below.

Analytical skills. One of the key soft skills for a medical practice manager to have is analytical skills. You can see how this relates to what medical practice managers do because "medical and health services managers review and evaluate healthcare metrics for ways to improve efficiency and meet goals." Additionally, a medical practice manager resume shows how medical practice managers use analytical skills: "utilized financial reports and industry data to analyze, assess and propose opportunities for change. "

Communication skills. Another essential skill to perform medical practice manager duties is communication skills. Medical practice managers responsibilities require that "medical and health services managers must convey information to their staff, other healthcare workers, and, sometimes, patients and insurance agents." Medical practice managers also use communication skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "establish and maintain communication with medical insurance companies regarding contracts, and medical billing process. "

Detail oriented. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of medical practice managers is detail oriented. This skill is critical to many everyday medical practice manager duties, as "medical and health services managers must pay attention to detail." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "developed and oriented staff and patients to the facility business office and policies. "

Leadership skills. Another common skill required for medical practice manager responsibilities is "leadership skills." This skill comes up in the duties of medical practice managers all the time, as "medical and health services managers hire, train, and direct staff." An excerpt from a real medical practice manager resume shows how this skill is central to what a medical practice manager does: "provide supervision, leadership and administrative support of daily clinical operations. "

Technical skills. While "technical skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to medical practice manager responsibilities. Much of what a medical practice manager does relies on this skill, seeing as "medical and health services managers must stay up to date with advances in healthcare technology, such as the coding and electronic health record (ehr) systems their facility adopts." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of medical practice managers: "manage administrative and technical staff including hiring and payroll activities. "

See the full list of medical practice manager skills

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Compare different medical practice managers

Medical practice manager vs. Nursing director

A nursing director's role is to oversee and evaluate all nurse staff in a hospital or organization, ensuring their efficiency at providing care towards patients. A nursing director's responsibilities mainly revolve around administrative tasks such as coordinating with physicians and other consultants, producing reports, conducting assessments, managing the budget and expenditures, and resolving issues. Furthermore, a nursing director must keep and maintain accurate records, ensuring all procedures adhere to the highest health standards and aligns with the hospital's policies and regulations.

We looked at the average medical practice manager salary and compared it with the wages of a nursing director. Generally speaking, nursing directors are paid $21,295 lower than medical practice managers per year.While the two careers have a salary gap, they share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both medical practice manager and nursing director positions are skilled in patients, patient satisfaction, and staff development.

There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, medical practice manager responsibilities require skills like "healthcare," "medical practice," "patient care," and "practice management." Meanwhile a typical nursing director has skills in areas such as "term care," "home health," "resident care," and "rehabilitation." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.

Nursing directors tend to make the most money working in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $83,602. In contrast, medical practice managers make the biggest average salary, $74,461, in the health care industry.The education levels that nursing directors earn slightly differ from medical practice managers. In particular, nursing directors are 3.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a medical practice manager. Additionally, they're 2.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Medical practice manager vs. Service director

A service director is responsible for managing and implementing customer service policies and ensuring that all staff strictly adhere to reach the highest customer satisfaction. Service directors' duties include identifying business opportunities to improve customers' experience, monitoring the performance of the customer service team, developing strategic procedures on service delivery, creating new promotional offers and services, and coaching the team to increase business productivity. A service director must have excellent leadership and communication skills, as well as extensive knowledge of the customer service industry to lead the team and boost company sales.

A career as a service director brings a higher average salary when compared to the average annual salary of a medical practice manager. In fact, service directors salary is $6,043 higher than the salary of medical practice managers per year.A few skills overlap for medical practice managers and service directors. Resumes from both professions show that the duties of each career rely on skills like "healthcare," "patients," and "patient care. "

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, medical practice manager responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "patient satisfaction," "medical practice," "practice management," and "patient flow." Meanwhile, a service director has duties that require skills in areas such as "customer service," "oversight," "perioperative," and "project management." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

Service directors may earn a higher salary than medical practice managers, but service directors earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $137,415. On the other hand, medical practice managers receive higher pay in the health care industry, where they earn an average salary of $74,461.service directors earn similar levels of education than medical practice managers in general. They're 3.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 2.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Medical practice manager vs. Clinical director

A clinical director is a managing professional who manages the work of healthcare providers to ensure quality patient care is achieved. Clinical directors are responsible for organizational tasks such as adjusting staff schedules, explaining insurance benefits to the patients, and managing financial reports. They can work either in small clinics with a smaller workforce or larger hospitals with multiple departments. Clinical directors may also assist in the hiring process of healthcare providers and should establish a positive work environment.

On average, clinical directors earn lower salaries than medical practice managers, with a $12,441 difference per year.By looking over several medical practice managers and clinical directors resumes, we found that both roles require similar skills in their day-to-day duties, such as "patients," "patient satisfaction," and "patient care." But beyond that, the careers look very different.

Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from medical practice manager resumes include skills like "healthcare," "medical practice," "practice management," and "patient flow," whereas a clinical director is more likely to list skills in "social work," "rehabilitation," "clinical services," and "clinical operations. "

Clinical directors earn the highest salary when working in the health care industry, where they receive an average salary of $79,166. Comparatively, medical practice managers have the highest earning potential in the health care industry, with an average salary of $74,461.clinical directors typically earn higher educational levels compared to medical practice managers. Specifically, they're 18.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 6.9% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

Medical practice manager vs. Manager

Managers are responsible for a specific department, function, or employee group. They oversee their assigned departments and all the employees under the department. Managers are responsible that the department they are handling is functioning well. They set the department goals and the steps they must take to achieve the goals. They are also in charge of assessing the performance of their departments and their employees. Additionally, managers are responsible for interviewing prospective candidates for department vacancies and assessing their fit to the needs of the department. Managers also set the general working environment in the department, and they are expected to ensure that their employees remain motivated.

Managers tend to earn a lower pay than medical practice managers by an average of $50,287 per year.While their salaries may vary, medical practice managers and managers both use similar skills to perform their duties. Resumes from both professions include skills like "payroll," "human resources," and "financial reports. "Each job also requires different skills to carry out their responsibilities. A medical practice manager uses "healthcare," "patients," "patient satisfaction," and "medical practice." Managers are more likely to have duties that require skills in "customer service," "food safety," "financial statements," and "management. "managers enjoy the best pay in the finance industry, with an average salary of $71,781. For comparison, medical practice managers earn the highest salary in the health care industry.In general, managers hold lower degree levels compared to medical practice managers. Managers are 7.2% less likely to earn their Master's Degree and 2.4% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Types of medical practice manager

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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