What does a practice manager do?

A practice manager is responsible for supervising daily operations, especially on the side of the medical industry. Practice managers monitor staffing needs, train new employees, and evaluate the employees' productivity and performance. They also enforce strict guidelines and procedures, ensuring that the processes adhere to the legal standards and regulatory requirements. Practice managers also maintain budget goals, creating cost estimates and expense reports. A practice manager must have strong communication, analytical, and critical-thinking skills, as well as comprehensive knowledge of the medical industry practices.
Practice manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real practice manager resumes:
- Secure new engagements worldwide, and lead numerous ERP and CRM initiatives.
- Manage a great team of 7 consultants that deliver outstanding ERP solutions.
- Supervise and manage a staff of 12.5 FTE personnel and 4 FTE physicians.
- Accomplish at applying knowledge of veterinary science and compassion for animals to ensure optimal care.
- Manage all aspects of establishing, setting and implementing standards and work processes to ensure well running PMO.
- Manage the selection process and implementation of the practice's EMR by reviewing and updating the system as needed.
- Apply keen insight into medical history and diagnostics of patients and utilize compassionate listening skills to understand concerns of pet owners.
- Manage a project team to build a large cloud infrastructure that provide online backup services for Mozy's west coast customers.
- Develop and streamline insurance verification interface with Meditech.
- Improve POS collections from approx.
- Handle patient intake, verify billing and ICD-9 codes.
- Monitor and track staff POS collections monthly using SPH tool.
- Design and install systems of servers to support ERP software company-wide.
- Joint development of network-enable cloud technologies; IDS/IPS, DDoS, authentication.
- Abstract clinical information from charge tickets and assign ICD-9, ASA and CPT-4 codes.
Practice manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 17% of Practice Managers are proficient in Patients, Patient Care, and Customer Service. They’re also known for soft skills such as Detail oriented, Interpersonal skills, and Technical skills.
We break down the percentage of Practice Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patients, 17%
Served as administrative back-up for all non-clinical positions- answered phones, scheduled patient appointments and courteously greeted patients.
- Patient Care, 8%
Re-engineered patient throughput and staff responsibilities to ensure high level of customer service and satisfaction while delivering outstanding patient care.
- Customer Service, 6%
Facilitated the application and tracking of Physician certifications and enrollments as In-network providers, while assisting staff in excellent customer service.
- PET, 5%
Order and inventory over $70,000 of supplies, medications, pet food, office, and janitorial supplies each month.
- Practice Management, 4%
Led successful implementation of integrated electronic medical records-practice management-inventory-fabrication tracking system.
- Payroll, 3%
Served as project leader for multiple HR, Payroll and Benefits Administration implementations including management of client relationships.
Most practice managers use their skills in "patients," "patient care," and "customer service" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential practice manager responsibilities here:
Detail oriented. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a practice manager to have is detail oriented. Their role and responsibilities require that "medical and health services managers must pay attention to detail." Practice managers often use detail oriented in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "monitored detailed end-of-the-month financial reports for all group practices. "
Technical skills. practice managers are also known for technical skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to practice manager responsibilities, because "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." A practice manager resume example shows how technical skills is used in the workplace: "managed selection, performance evaluation and contract negotiation of third party technical vendors including the development and review of rfps. "
Analytical skills. For certain practice manager responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "analytical skills." The day-to-day duties of a practice manager rely on this skill, as "medical and health services managers review and evaluate healthcare metrics for ways to improve efficiency and meet goals." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what practice managers do: "worked with external consulting team (international consulting expert) to analyze and implement enhancements to improve overall clinical operations. "
Communication skills. Another common skill required for practice manager responsibilities is "communication skills." This skill comes up in the duties of practice managers all the time, as "medical and health services managers must convey information to their staff, other healthcare workers, and, sometimes, patients and insurance agents." An excerpt from a real practice manager resume shows how this skill is central to what a practice manager does: "increased communications with medical assistants for help with account receivables and insurance denials. "
Leadership skills. While "leadership skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to practice manager responsibilities. Much of what a practice manager does relies on this skill, seeing as "medical and health services managers hire, train, and direct staff." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of practice managers: "provided managerial support to the physicians, through direct leadership of support staff and medical assistants. "
The three companies that hire the most practice managers are:
- Banfield Pet Hospital100 practice managers jobs
- Oracle92 practice managers jobs
- Heartland Dental68 practice managers jobs
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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.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between practice managers and clinical director. For instance, practice manager responsibilities require skills such as "practice management," "payroll," "oversight," and "patient flow." Whereas a clinical director is skilled in "physical therapy," "social work," "rehabilitation," and "clinical services." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Clinical directors really shine in the health care industry with an average salary of $79,166. Comparatively, practice managers tend to make the most money in the technology industry with an average salary of $97,698.The education levels that clinical directors earn slightly differ from practice managers. In particular, clinical directors are 18.9% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a practice manager. Additionally, they're 8.9% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.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.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real practice manager resumes. While practice manager responsibilities can utilize skills like "patient care," "pet," "practice management," and "payroll," nursing directors use skills like "term care," "home health," "resident care," and "rehabilitation."
Nursing directors earn a lower average salary than practice managers. But nursing directors earn the highest pay in the health care industry, with an average salary of $83,602. Additionally, practice managers earn the highest salaries in the technology with average pay of $97,698 annually.In general, nursing directors achieve similar levels of education than practice managers. They're 3.0% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 8.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Practice manager vs. Medical director
A medical director is responsible for handling the overall supervision of different medical departments, managing the coordination between medical teams to ensure smooth operations and achieve high-quality care services for the patients. Medical directors enforce strict guidelines and safety measures for everyone's adherence. They also implement medical care programs, recruit medical staff, inspect the adequacy of medical equipment, respond to patient's inquiries and concerns, and oversee the facilities' procedures. A medical director manages the budget of the department, allocating equal resources to address every need.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a practice manager is likely to be skilled in "patient care," "practice management," "payroll," and "oversight," while a typical medical director is skilled in "medical care," "medical services," "utilization review," and "appeals."
Medical directors make a very good living in the insurance industry with an average annual salary of $242,668. On the other hand, practice managers are paid the highest salary in the technology industry, with average annual pay of $97,698.medical directors typically earn similar educational levels compared to practice managers. Specifically, they're 1.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 26.5% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Practice manager vs. Assistant director of nursing
An assistant director of nursing is responsible for administering quality care services for patients, supervising nursing activities, and ensuring the patients' comfort under the supervision of the director of nursing. Assistant directors of nursing assist with nursing staff training, distributing shift schedules, developing comprehensive nursing care plans, handling expense reports, identifying areas of improvement with the staff performance, and securing patients' medical charts for reference. An assistant director of nursing must have excellent communication and organizational skills, especially in handling patients' medical needs.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between practice managers and assistant directors of nursing, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a practice manager might have more use for skills like "pet," "practice management," "payroll," and "patient flow." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of assistant directors of nursing require skills like "term care," "cpr," "rehabilitation," and "quality care. "
In general, assistant directors of nursing earn the most working in the manufacturing industry, with an average salary of $85,610. The highest-paying industry for a practice manager is the technology industry.The average resume of assistant directors of nursing showed that they earn lower levels of education compared to practice managers. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 5.7% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.5%.Types of practice manager
Updated January 8, 2025











