How To Become A Practice Management Consultant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a practice management consultant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Angela Grotto Ph.D.

Practice management consultants work with offices to help them improve their business and workplace efficiency. They can work in the financial industry or in healthcare, where they help medical practices work better. The day-to-day duties of a practice management consultant depend on the needs of their clients. They might use their project management skills to develop a more efficient workflow, implement new financial services in the office, or create a business development plan. Practice management consultants usually work for only a limited time with each client, swooping in to reorganize an office or practice before moving on to the next client.

Practice management consultants have pretty lucrative careers. On average, they earn $136,353 a year. However, they need to put in a lot of work before they are qualified.

Most practice management consultants have a bachelor's or even a master's degree in business, health care administration, or a similar field. They also need many years of office management experience before they can consult for other businesses.

What general advice would you give to a practice management consultant?

Angela Grotto Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Management, Manhattan College

When job searching, be active and persistent - Network by setting up Zoom informational calls with professionals (alumni, people with whom your family work) to learn about jobs that you are interested in or to learn about organizations where you would like to work and then follow up with them; have someone you trust who is a professional review your resume and social media profile pages; carve out time every day to apply to jobs; use Handshake and LinkedIn as a resource; keep sending out applications; while job searching, volunteer or start your business project that showcases your skillset and then discuss it during your interviews.
When interviewing, be creative - Use experiences from your academic career to demonstrate your capabilities. There are many skills you learn in class that are transferrable to the professional world. For example, as a student, you likely had to pivot to full remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rather than seeing this as a disadvantage, discuss how the new learning format has prepared you to work remotely as an employee, how small group projects have primed you to collaborate on a virtual team, and how small classes have equipped you to use technology such as Zoom.
When deciding on a job offer, be open-minded - Your first job may not be the one you had imagined or hoped for upon graduation. Still, it may be a stepping stone to your ideal career or a way to build your network of professional connections. You create meaningful and valuable relationships with others who may one day help you get the job you want.
When you land the job, be flexible - Show your employer or your boss that you're willing to step outside your comfort zone and do tasks that you were not necessarily trained for or are unrelated to your degree. Also, when circumstances at work change, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, show that you are willing to step up and do a different job, do someone else's job, or work on another project or team. This flexibility will demonstrate your versatility and how you can adapt to new and unpredictable situations. Lastly, embrace the "gig" economy - be willing to start as a temporary or contract worker with a company to get your foot in the door and build more professional connections.

ScorePractice Management ConsultantUS Average

Salary

7.2

Avg. Salary $92,700

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

6.8

Growth rate 11%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%

Asian 11.84%

Black or African American 8.30%

Hispanic or Latino 9.06%

Unknown 4.52%

White 66.12%

Gender

female 49.69%

male 50.31%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

6.8

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.7

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

2.2

Work life balance is very poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a practice management consultant

Explore practice management consultant education requirements

Most common practice management consultant degrees

Bachelor's

62.6 %

Master's

18.4 %

Associate

8.7 %

Start to develop specific practice management consultant skills

Skills	Percentages
Financial Services	14.71%
Project Management	14.05%
Business Development	8.04%
Human Resources	7.93%
Client Relationships	7.01%

Complete relevant practice management consultant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New practice management consultants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a practice management consultant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real practice management consultant resumes.

Research practice management consultant duties and responsibilities

Manage a team responsible for designing service-orient application architecture, standards and best practices guidelines, security and data access frameworks.
Provide overall implementation of AllScripts EMR; develop and oversee implementation project milestones.
Solve lab EHR interface problems.
Implement all billing software upgrades and HIPAA compliance.

Apply for practice management consultant jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a practice management consultant job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams