Eyeworld

(6& partment heads" allows you to read- ily undo a selection that turns out to be inappropriate. This is an excellent way to try out a manager when you—or they—are not yet 100% committed to the change. 8. If you are uncertain about who to select in a department as its new leader, sit down with each staffer in the group individually. First say, "We have decided that the tech department needs a department head." Then ask, "In your view, should we choose this person from inside or outside the practice?" If the answer to the first question is "in- side" then follow up with the ques- tion, "If we had a vote today, who would the team choose?" The result- ing consensus answer doesn't have to be your final decision, but more often than not ends up being the right direction to take. Even if you override staff preferences, you gain points for your effort at listening and consensus. 9. When a manager is selected, make sure he/she is publically intro- duced as the leader, ideally by both the practice administrator and the managing partner (or sole owner). Make it clear, with a new copy of your organization chart, a copy of the position description, and a gen- eral orientation that the new middle manager has your total confidence. 10. If department members for- get the new chain of command and run directly to you as the adminis- trator or managing partner with an issue (instead of going to their new department manager), gently re- mind them by asking, "Have you discussed this with your supervisor?" A few rounds of this and everyone will settle down into the new rou- tine. 11. As the practice administra- tor, you will probably have five kinds of meetings with your depart- ment heads throughout the course of a year: • A weekly, informal "check-in" meeting with you—just a few min- utes is often enough • A roughly bi-weekly "manage- ment committee" meeting with you, their middle-management peers, and the lead doctor of the practice • They will of course participate at monthly (or bi-monthly or quar- terly) all-hands meetings, present- ing current events in their department • At annual or semi-annual per- formance reviews • In larger practices with formal owner board meetings, depart- ment heads should be called in to address the providers at least once or twice a year 12. Give your managers more opportunities to succeed than op- portunities to fail. In addition to routine hour-by-hour oversight, each of your department heads should take on special projects and get involved with task force leader- ship. Make sure that you take every opportunity, publically, to cite each manager's "above and beyond" con- tributions to the practice. 13. Middle managers should have a strong working command of the benchmarks and dashboard met- rics in their individual areas. Head techs should know the normative number of tech payroll hours per pa- tient visit in your setting. Billing de- partment supervisors need to know the appropriate percent of open ac- counts allowed to be out over 90 days. Reception team leaders should know that the practice's perform- ance standard is to pick up a phone within two rings, not four, and so forth. 14. Middle managers need to at least generally understand the con- tent—and intent—of the practice's written business plan and know the company's growth targets, service expansion goals, succession plan- ning, provider recruitment aims, and the like. 15. There must be a match be- tween a supervisor's resources and authority and the operating stan- dards you hold him/her to. If no- show patients are to be called within an hour, the lead receptionist needs enough front line staff to handle this. If all techs are supposed to be able to refract patients, then a regu- lar training schedule has to be main- tained. 16. Most middle managers and even many administrators come up through the ranks. They have little formal leadership training and even after a decade as a leader, their cur- rent position may be the only con- text in which they have led others. Provide sufficient on- and off-the- job training to help your mid-level managers continue growing. At the very least, consider an informal monthly manager's "journal/grand rounds club" where you buy lunch and discuss pearls gleaned on the job, from colleagues in sister prac- tices, and from readings that you provide. 17. I talk to hundreds of oph- thalmic practice staff each year. When they tell me they work for a great manager or doctor, I usually follow up with the question, "What makes your supervisor so great?" The most common answer is along the lines of, "Dave is the toughest boss I've ever worked for, but he's also the fairest." People do their best work for leaders who they perceive to be tough but fair. As the practice administrator or owner, be a model of this sometimes subtle, always ef- fective, tough-but-fair management style. EW EW Ophthalmology Business 96 October 2011 How continued from page 95 ABOUT THE AUTHOR Mr. Pinto is president of J. Pinto & Associ- ates Inc., an ophthalmic practice manage- ment consulting firm established in 1979, with offices in San Diego. He can be contacted at 619-223-2233, pintoinc@aol.com, or www.pintoinc.com. ASOA Friday Focus Surveys Focusing on the BUSINESS of Ophthalmology Topic: Patient discharge Respondents: 453 Friday Focus Surveys are a member benefit of the American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators. For membership information, contact asoa@asoa.org or 703-788-5777. Do you have a standard protocol to discharge a patient from your practice when the patient's account is turned over to collections? Response % Yes 30.5% No 69.5% 94-99 OB_EW October 2011-DL2_Layout 1 9/29/11 4:26 PM Page 96

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