Practice Administrator

Department/Unit:

Practice Administration

Work Shift:

Day (United States of America)

Salary Range:

$86,650.99 - $134,309.04This position serves as the business and operations leader of the Department of Surgery. Ensures effective communication and implementation of institutional strategies and initiatives throughout all layers of department staff. Provide hands-on leadership to Practice Managers and other department managers to ensure all aspects of the operations including patient relations, staffing, marketing, insurance, and financial activities are successfully managed. Maintains pristine communication channels with the Chair and other Department leaders regarding impact of decisions, strategy and tactics of global financial picture, divisional financial picture, status of specific projects and advises Chair of potential Department problems. Responsible to ensure all department staff and activities are aligned to help the practice achieve the institutional mission of high quality provision of care for patients.

REQUIREMENTS AND PREFERENCES:

                      

A Bachelor’s degree is required; MBA or MHA strongly preferred.

Proven ability to lead with a minimum of five years of experience in medical practice administration or health care operations; three years of experience if candidate has achieved the MBA/MHA degree.

• Must project a professional image and earn the confidence of a broad range of internal and external resources.  Must have pristine verbal and written communication skills and have experience in and a desire to deal professionally with the public.  Exceptional interpersonal and relationship-building skills are required.

• To be able to develop leaders and facilitate groups of individuals that emphasizes quality, continuous improvement, and high performance.

• Must possess a high level of critical and ethical thinking/behavior and be able to deal with difficult situations with a high level of emotional intelligence.

• Must not only be self-motivated, have swift learning ability and a “can-do,” optimistic attitude, but also be able to draw out and develop these characteristics in others.

An excellent working knowledge of personal computers, word-processing and spreadsheet software (such as the Microsoft Suite) is required as well as excellent keyboarding skills.  Experience with medical recordkeeping and billing system is strongly preferred.

oSharp accounting and financial skills and strong problem-solving skills are required.

Must be HIPAA compliant at all times.

ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Human Resources

• Works to achieve the ambitious practice goals for operational metrics and establishes priorities with clear responsibilities to ensure results; manages projects, activities and resources effectively.

• Serves as a mentor to clinic managers and staff offering development, coaching and assuring competency and accountability.

• Ensure timely completion of annual Competency Assessments and Performance Evaluations, providing effective coaching and mentoring of staff in the development of goals that are in alignment with the overall institutional goals.

• Act as central spokesperson and provide supervision of providers, staff and vendors.

• Provide appropriate level of guidance, coaching, and mentoring to Practice and Department managers and staff by giving appropriate feedback on job performance to all direct reports

• Develop new provider business plans and actively recruit, interview, select and onboard provider and management staff. 

• Ensure that practice managers and supervisors provide timely and appropriate performance feedback to all Departmental employees.

• Utilize Practice performance measurement systems to help managers and staff ensure that their day-to-day decisions/activities reflect long-term strategic goals.

• Oversee the MD employment agreement process for the Department to ensure that all formal agreements are appropriate, and assist with the development of all other Departmental contractual agreements as requested.

• Oversee and manage the residency and student education programs and resources within the Department.

• Ensure compliance of all staff requirements including annual health assessments, annual competency assessments, and appropriate training and education.

Financial and Metrics

• Budget

  • Works with the Department Chair to develop and manage the Department’s annual operating budget and assesses Department’s annual capital needs. Administrator and Chair are to report monthly on variances to budget Practice President.

  • Manage unit revenue through development of operational capacity and patient access to enhance service productivity and an improved payer mix.

  • Develop and formulate business plans for the Department or Division.

  • Responsible for budgetary control of the practice activities within the Department; responsibility includes oversight of projected revenues, expenses and salaries.

  • Support the organization’s financial position by helping managers and physicians understand the financial consequence of their tactics and decisions.

  • Implement and monitor the strategic business plans once approved by the Dean and the Operating Committee of the practice.

• Utilize reports effectively to optimize operations within the department and drive quality and financial results. 

• In collaboration with Faculty Practice Leadership, identify, develop and implement practice-wide reporting metrics, measurements, monitoring and auditing.

• With the Department Chair or Division Chief, propose, develop and operationalize strategic business plans for the Department in alignment with institutional goals and objectives.

• In coordination with the Department Chair, Division Chief, and Vice Dean of Clinical Affairs, develop and annually update a Department or Division three-year strategic plan.

• Enhance core processes for gathering, analyzing and sharing information ensuring timely preparation of operations forecasts and analyses as requested.

Operations Management

• In collaboration with the physician leadership, benchmark to premier healthcare organizations nationally, identify and apply the best operational practices that reduce variability and improve the efficiency of the Department.

• Develops operational capacity and patient access to enhance service development and an improved patient mix.

• Identify efficiencies and deficiencies of programs to determine if they are essential plans, recommend and implement changes or solutions.

• Provides project management leadership for multiple strategic and operational initiatives (i.e. acquisitions, mergers, patient mix, facility analysis, DNV, Scope of Practice issues).

• Works to achieve practice goals for operational metrics and establishes priorities with clear responsibilities to ensure results; manages projects, activities and resources effectively.

• Implement and enforce the standards and requirements necessary to maintain state, local and accreditation standards.

• Demonstrate knowledge of key critical operational areas within each Department.  Establish protocols including regular auditing to manage failures of those critical areas

• Promote and develop systems within the department, which improve the efficiencies in service scheduling, access and care delivery.

• Responsible for overseeing of the daily on-going operations of the department as well as coordination of activities with other Departments and managers.

• In conjunction with the Practice Administration Team, responsible for the development, implementation, monitoring and subsequent review of policies and procedures related to the clinical and operational support functions of the Department.

• Solicit and collect management’s recommendations for job description changes, task allocation and compensation and deliver to Director of Operations quarterly.

• Report on Department activities to the Department Chief and Administrator Team on a weekly basis.

• Responsible for the Department sites meeting all regulatory requirements including but not limited to TJC and other regulatory authorities.

• Represent the site as an integrated program in all areas of the Institution.

• Develop, promote, and maintain open communications with all Faculty Practice Administrators, Department Chairs, provider and support staff, service vendors, and patients.

Patient Satisfaction

• Manage elevated patient grievances and coordinate service recovery efforts when needed.

• Ensure fiscal and operational activities are performed in such a manner that they are aligned patient satisfaction.

• Working in an interdisciplinary fashion, champions the development of “the exceptional patient experience”.  This experience aims to improve the access to the operational efficiency of and the satisfaction with the patient’s interaction with the Practice.

• Responsible for understanding consumer service issues within the Department and continually working on tactics to improve patient satisfaction.

• Resolve any patient grievances utilizing appropriate methods and using Albany Med Cares Service Recovery toolkit as necessary.  Participate in Patient Grievance Meetings as required.

Management Support and Other Tasks   

• Actively participate in practice-wide and institution-wide initiatives and projects.

• Institute LEAN processes for improved operational sufficiency and financial results whenever and wherever possible.

Thank you for your interest in Albany Medical Center!​

Albany Medical is an equal opportunity employer.

This role may require access to information considered sensitive to Albany Medical Center, its patients, affiliates, and partners, including but not limited to HIPAA Protected Health Information and other information regulated by Federal and New York State statutes. Workforce members are expected to ensure that:

Access to information is based on a “need to know” and is the minimum necessary to properly perform assigned duties. Use or disclosure shall not exceed the minimum amount of information needed to accomplish an intended purpose. Reasonable efforts, consistent with Albany Med Center policies and standards, shall be made to ensure that information is adequately protected from unauthorized access and modification.