Should I try this? I’ve been trying to find work more lucrative than what I currently have (poker room supervisor), but haven’t had any luck. I am genuinely interested in the work and think it has better potential for relative security as well as long-term growth (there are far more medical facilities than casinos). My intent was to pitch the idea of an internship with some local offices offering my labor in exchange for rotating through all the non-clinical positions in the office. This would both provide me with hands-on, detailed information about work-flow, procedures, terminology and other conventions in the industry. They would have to front a modest about of labor to train me, but would quickly find the work load eased by my contributions. Why do I think this might work? Time for bullet points!
*Non-current, but significant clinical experience. Four years as a combat medic, medical radiographer and telemedicine technician
*Though lapsed, I passed my medical/life insurance exam on the first try
*I play well with technology, my Associate’s of Applied Technology degree is in microcomputer programming and database administration
*I’m educated in business, my Bachelor’s is in Finance with a focus in Economics
*I’m an excellent communicator, with hundreds of freelance articles published on topics like corporate structure, stock options, economics and insurance
Am I just looking at gifting 20 or so hours a week of my time to medical facilities with little or no chance of any gain thereafter or might this hare-brained scheme work? If not, how else could I break into the business?
I’m tapping one of the most vital and powerful resources on the planet right now. I need the wisdom of the teeming millions!!! Thanks in advance!
Sorry to be less than very enouraging but I would be less thn optimistic that your plan would sell all that well.
Sure you could be trained fairly quickly on reception and be of help there pretty quickly but for most offices there is not much else you could be helpful with until you’ve had a fair amount of training. Training new people costs us a fair amount. Why invest that for someone who won’t be staying and who I do not currently need?
Thanks for the response Dseid. BTW, you’re a physician, aren’t you?
My follow up query would be then, how do people become medical office managers? I’m seeking to find a position, but am willing to admit that I’m not qualified for it right this minute. I’m seeking the knowledge and experience that would make me qualified. In this area there are no colleges or universities that offer a degree program in such management and it seems (anecdotally from friends and family who work in the medical field) that most positions are filled by clinical people who apply for positions that come up or gradually get more administrative duties until that’s most of what they do. I’m wondering if I could sell anyone on the idea that instead of grabbing a clinical person and trying to get them to understand business, accounting, insurance and management on the fly, they should hire someone with formal education and experience in business, accounting, insurance and management.
I don’t really think going back to school to get an RN degree would be that hard. But, it’s expensive. GI bill is now tapped and tuition asst. where I work would not cover that. When I do return, it will be for my MBA, but then I would still want to try medical office management.
Related, bu probably no spot-on:
Are those for-profit Training Institutes which offer job-specific training in “Medical Assistant” and he like of any value? Would you look a a diploma from such a place with any more interest than a resume showing 2 years of McDonalds leading to Ass. Mgr? Two years of working the frier?
I’m guessing that office manager (a position worth its weigh in gold, it seems) is a matter of assistant + demonstrated acumen.
Next time in a doctor’s office, ask for a bland work order (marked VOID) - he paper the doc tells you "give to the front desk. See all those codes?
When you know every one of them and why this one doesn’t go with that one, you’re ready to be the one handed that sheet.
I would imagine the same way you would become an office manager anywhere else- which is usually by working your way up from an entry level position somewhere . The office manager at my doctor’s office started out at reception- she was never clinical staff. But she’s an office manager as described here , not a practice manager which seems to be a different job entirely.
My impression is also that most medical office managers (more “practice managers” as defined in doreen’s link, I think that is how our administrators use the terms too) indeed are people who worked their way from entry level positions, who know the office work flow in and out and the personalities of the people involved and who by dint of time in the office have learned about coding and scheduling and customer service and record keeping and who can delegate clinical protocol decisions to nursng and of course the docs. Certainly in my office that’s the case. Our office/practice manager has been with us for twentysomething years, beginning as a receptionist, a job she applied for from being a stay at home Mom who brought her kids to us. And she is amazing. Passionate about our reputation in the community. Has some crystal ball to know exactly how many openings we need to leave for sick patients compared to being filled with the wells. Dealing with trite personality issues between staff with skill when it comes up … which it does. ixing all sorts of issues on the fly, adjusting our schedules and our staff with acumen. She is magical, I swear. We would be lost without her.
But the times are achanged. We are still a site and still need her desperately but we are also part of a much larger medical organization and today delivering care effectively is much more part of functioning as part of that larger organization. The common saying has become that medicine today is a team sport. We do not only concern ourselves with the care of the one person in front of us but are also working to deliver the best possible care to populations as the patient as part of a diverse team of health care providers coordinating care, following protocols, and measuring the results. Physicians have, in the process, lost some autonomy, and have so the office managers. Many of the business functions are now centralized. Scheduling is often becoming a more centralized process, coding, billing, and referrals almost always, even triage of phone calls is becoming “a shared service.” If you get a job in a medical office today with a group that is not part of a larger organization (be they physician owned and operated as ours is, or owned by a hospital system, or otherwise contracting out those services) there is a good chance you will be living through a transition into such. One of our other sites had their practice manager position declared redundant given the nature of those centralized services, the remainder able to be handled by a shared manager with another site, and while she was given a decent severence package it was very hard for the docs to see her go. A very smart very well motivated very good team player hard working person. Was with them for many years. But the business decision was a rational one.
I am not sure if this helps but understanding the changing nature of the business you are considering entering, or at least one perspective of it, might be at least somewhat useful. Open eyes.
A good friend did one of those - cost somewhere around ten thousand for the one year diploma program. I temped at a medical office, leaving when I got offered something in my field, she took over that job at a dollar above minimum wage, I imagine she is still trying to pay off her loans as she waitresses now. The program was NOT worth it. Temp. That’s the best way to get a foot in the door. I got offered a job at every (except one) company I worked with when I temped.
A certified medical assistant is not the usual path to become a practice manager. OTOH it is a decent position. In many offices they function as extenders for the nurses (their certification allows them to do things like give shots) and serve a variety of other functions around the office in a flexible way. They cannot make medical decisions however. Here’s the web site for the major organization. An article about compensation. (pdf)
