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For a seamless recruitment process, this article will provide you with everything you need to know to hire an office manager for your healthcare practice.

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Easy Steps to Hire the Right Office Admin for Your Practice

Easy Steps to Hire the Right Office Admin for Your Practice

An office manager is like blood running through the veins of a successful healthcare practice. Without one, customer calls don’t get answered promptly, team morale is mediocre at best, and paperwork is piled up to the ceiling.

You need an office manager for everything to flow smoothly, but you’re a doctor—not a recruiter.

So, where do you even start trying to look for one that’s knowledgeable, upbeat, organized, and a perfect culture fit?

For a seamless recruitment process, this article will provide you with everything you need to know to hire an office manager for your healthcare practice.

Let’s dive right in.

What Does an Office Manager Do?

First things first— let’s unpack how an office manager can elevate your ‘just fine’ practice into a thriving one. A competent office manager plays a significant role in how successful your practice will be. They oversee the day-to-day operations of your healthcare practice, leaving you to focus on what you do best; patient care.

The typical responsibilities of a medical office manager include:

  • Scheduling and managing patient appointments
  • Managing billing and collections
  • Completing, checking, verifying, and submitting patients' insurance claims
  • Creating and updating patient records within the EMR (Electronic Medical Records) system
  • Ensuring that the practice's daily operations run smoothly
  • Recruiting and training new office members
  • Improving the overall quality of patient care
  • Making sure that the practice is compliant with applicable laws and regulations

Whereas studies have shown that employing medical and health service managers will grow to 32% from 2020 to 2030, finding the right fit for your medical practice can be a tall order.

Recognizing what to look for during the hiring process can ensure that you get the right person for the job right off the bat.

Healthcare Recruiting 101; The Basics in 2022

Yes, there are specifics you must look for when scouring for your next healthcare office manager, but there are common elements to consider when hiring talent in any industry. Let’s take a quick look at them.

1. Use Social Media to Find Top Talent

Social media is a powerful way to find qualified candidates. But, it could be overwhelming. Which hashtags do you use? What type of content should you post? Trending reels, what’s that!? So, let’s start with the most obvious choice— Linkedin.

Linkedin for Healthcare Providers

First off, think about what keywords a job seeker might type in. Are they looking for a location-based job? Are they hunting for remote job openings? Incorporate these into your profile bio.

Leverage the stories of happy employees on your company profile. When job seekers observe that your current employees are happy, they‘ll likely apply for your open position versus a different healthcare organization without employee social proof. Work environment and company culture are everything — especially after the pandemic and ‘The Great Resignation.’ The top talent is seeking a work-life balance, an inclusive and diverse community, potential remote work options, and benefits package options.

Aside from incentivizing office managers to work for your practice on your Linkedin page, utilize the #openforwork feature to increase your chances of being seen on Linkedin.

Other than Linkedin, you might consider another platform like Instagram or Facebook to attract the best candidate.

Facebook for Healthcare Providers

Optimize your Facebook profile, and join relevant groups that healthcare professionals hang out in for your outreach efforts. Join the conversation, add valuable information, and put it out there that your practice is hiring.

Instagram for Healthcare Providers

Use Instagram if your target audience is between the ages of 25-40 years old. Include video marketing, graphics, and a hashtag strategy to make the most out of your Instagram profile.

2. Aim to Cultivate an Inclusive and Diverse Community

There’s a lot to unpack here, so we’ll start with the most important ways you can be mindful of inclusion and diversity throughout your hiring process.

  • Educate yourself and/or other hiring leaders about unconscious biases that are present
  • Get more than one set of eyeballs on the paperwork of potential candidates — when there are more opinions, backgrounds, and perspectives involved it leads to a greater chance that the new hire will be from a diverse background
  • Make it known in your job descriptions that you’re seeking diverse candidates
  • Recognize that a diverse team will make a more successful practice

Now, let’s focus on how you can work smarter— not harder.

3. Healthcare Recruitment Strategies; Utilize Recruiting Software

Recruiting is a full-time job, but it’s 2022, and we have infinite recruitment software programs to make our lives easier. Here are some of the top companies you might consider to do most of the leg work for you:

  1. PeopleScout to outsource your entire healthcare recruiting process, optimize your workforce program, or talent advisers to help you improve your recruitment marketing
  2. HealthCareerCenter is a job board where you can post your open positions with multiple packages available depending on your specific needs
  3. CareerArc specializes in using social media to find top talent for your open office manager position. They incorporate content marketing, automatic publishing, and efficient syncing methods to leverage the power of social media and keep you informed during the entire process.

Already Hired Your New Office Manager? Here are 3 Ways DearDoc Can Help Your Admin Team

4. Other Factors to Consider When Hiring Your Healthcare Workers

Candidate's Education

Most healthcare practices usually prefer a college degree or even an advanced degree, such as a Master's in Business Administration however don’t limit potential candidates based on their education alone.

The ideal candidate might obtain a degree in Health Administration, being educated on topics such as healthcare laws, health service management, communication, and ethics.

The qualifications and certifications necessary will also depend on how big your practice is. A practice that has two to five physicians might look for a candidate with an MBA or equivalent degree. These candidates may be more equipped to handle customer-facing tasks and strategic decision-making.

Ultimately, you must decide how much weight an educational background has compared to say— the personality or work experience a candidate has.

Work Experience

While education is essential, a candidate's previous work experience portrays a true representation of the skillset they bring to the table.

That said, the requisite work experience will vary from one healthcare facility to another. Whereas a solo physician may not ask for previous work experience, a medical practice with approximately 2 to 5 physicians requires an experienced individual.

Ideally, the healthcare talent should have three to five years of work experience to effectively handle staffing, billing, bookkeeping, scheduling, and finances.

Additionally, the candidate should also be tech-savvy to quickly understand your practice's metrics and hardware/software. In case your practice has more than 10 physicians, the ideal office manager would be one with five years of experience or more.

Skill Set

Whereas work experience and education are vital, you shouldn't overlook other attributes and qualities your practice could benefit from. Overall, personality is crucial when choosing an office manager for your healthcare practice. The ideal candidate should be compassionate, friendly, level-headed, and outgoing.

Here are some attributes to look for:

Interpersonal and communication skills

Office managers associate with various people daily, including physicians, patients, and other administrative personnel. They should be able to communicate with these groups of people effectively.

Also, they should be able to clearly communicate regulations and policies to staff to ensure compliance with various regulations. Interpersonal skills come in handy when discussing staffing problems and patient information.

Leadership skills

Medical practice office managers are tasked with running the ship. As such, they should possess the necessary skills to ensure that everyone is doing their jobs and that various procedures are followed. Office managers are tasked with hiring, training, supervising, and solving staff and administrative issues.

Great leadership is crucial to accomplishing these tasks effectively.

Attention to detail

Any mishaps in the healthcare industry can have far-reaching consequences. As such, a medical office manager needs to pay close attention to every detail when preparing billing information or organizing schedules. A detail-oriented office manager will ensure that the paperwork is in order, reimbursement procedures are adhered to, and health records are maintained properly.

Technical skills

Healthcare technology, electronic health records, and data analytics are a big part of a medical office manager's day-to-day operations. Office managers should stay updated about technological advancements in the healthcare industry. They should be not only able to efficiently manipulate these technologies but also be able to explain them and incorporate them into your practice's operations.

Analytical skills

Strong analytical skills can help office managers understand and follow the technical healthcare codes, medical terminologies, medical codes, diagnoses, and procedures.

Bottom Line when Hiring and Retaining Healthcare Office Managers

Medical office managers play a vital role in determining how seamlessly the operations of a medical practice run and how successful it becomes. By showcasing your vibrant work culture, efforts to create a healthy work-life balance, and highlighting your need for diverse talent— the right fit will come to you.

That said, once you hire a new office manager, you also need to provide them with the right tools to enhance their operational efficiency. DearDoc can help you towards this end. We offer a wide range of solutions including AI Smart chat, AI Autodialer, and Web Design and Management. Book a demo: