3 Ways Reliable Administration Is Vital for Doctors

As important as it is for you to be well-educated and properly trained in your field, diagnosing and treating patients is only one aspect of operations that requires regular attention. Even if you run a small practice and are the only physician, you still need at least one administrative professional. Many medium-sized or larger offices require a full team of experienced administrative professionals to meet all of the office’s needs. These valued employees are tasked with several vital responsibilities that are instrumental in running a successful medical office.

Exceptional Customer Service

As a physician, your work hours are best spent tending to patients by diagnosing and treating them. Tasks such as making or rescheduling appointments, filing insurance claims, and validating credentials are generally not the most interesting ways to spend your time. However, they are still essential. These are all tasks that administrative professionals typically handle in a medical office. While these tasks free up your valuable time so that you can provide patients with the best care possible, they also impact the level of customer service that your patients receive. This directly relates to your ability to retain patients and to meet their needs in important ways. While you can’t just stop doing the administrative work, you may be able to find more effective ways to handle it, like hiring a filing clerk or using a mobile HCP license validation service to free up some of your time.

Accurate and Timely Billing

While your office may have a policy of collecting co-pays and other fees at the time services are rendered, healthcare facilities understandably must bill out to patients who cannot afford to pay for the full cost of treatment upfront. In addition, insurance adjustments may be made, and these adjustments may result in patients owing additional money to your business. Your administrative team may keep track of billing if you do not outsource this task to a third-party provider.

Maintenance of Licensing Requirements

Administrative staff members may also monitor and assist with the maintenance of your license, insurance and more. For example, they may use a medical license verification service or portal to determine when your license expires, and they may make arrangements on your behalf for required continuing education and other essential requirements. This frees up your valuable time to focus on your patients.

These and other responsibilities that administrative professionals in your office have may be essential for the operation of your business, but these responsibilities do not necessarily need to be handled directly by you. You need all of the support that you can get while running a successful medical facility or office and hiring the right administrative professionals is the ideal way to get that support.