UP Taking Ophthalmic Administrators and Their Management Teams to the Next Level of Skill, Performance and Career Satisfaction

Dedication

About the Authors

Foreword by Suzanne D. Bruno, MBA

Introduction

Section I Core Administrator Skills

• Chapter 1 Essential Administrator Skills
• Chapter 2 The Role of Assertiveness in Effective Practice Administration
• Chapter 3 Getting More Done: Organization, Prioritization, Delegation, and Time Management
• Chapter 4 Prioritizing Your To-Do List
• Chapter 5 Strengthen Your Career and Practice With Accountability Tools
• Chapter 6 Encouraging Great Communication
• Chapter 7 Making the Shift From Memory to Manuals
• Chapter 8 Checklists to Help You Stay Organized and Efficient
• Chapter 9 Management’s Role in Boosting Each Patient’s Experience

Section II Boosting Career Consciousness and Effectiveness

• Chapter 10 Are You Pursuing an Intentional or an Accidental Career?
• Chapter 11 What’s the Difference Between an Office Manager and an Administrator?
• Chapter 12 The Value of a Mentor at Every Stage of Your Career
• Chapter 13 Coaching Up and Down the Ranks to Enhance Practice Performance
• Chapter 14 Wohl’s Administrator Success Factors

Section III Mid-Level Manager Development

• Chapter 15 Strong Department Leaders Make Strong Practices
• Chapter 16 For Administrators: Working With Each Mid-Level Manager to Create a Personalized Career Development Plan
• Chapter 17 Begin With the Ending in Mind: What Level of Management Staff Does Your Practice Need to Succeed in the Future?
• Chapter 18 Peer-to-Supervisor Promotions: Transitions and Challenges
• Chapter 19 Wohl’s Rules for Building a Strong Mid-Level Management Team

Section IV Ophthalmology Is a Team Sport

• Chapter 20 How Aligned Is Our Practice?
• Chapter 21 Leading Your Team Past the Inevitable Conflicts of Practice Life
• Chapter 22 How to Lead More Effective Meetings
• Chapter 23 What Makes a Team … Work? Evaluate How Your Teamwork Is Doing
• Chapter 24 Create a Staff Team of Engaged “Employee-preneurs”
• Chapter 25 Problem Solving and the Benefits (and Limits) of Practice Task Force Committee Work

Section V People Are at the Heart of Our Job: Human Resources Management

• Chapter 26 Fifteen Tips to Avoid Bad Practice Hires
• Chapter 27 Optimizing Staff Training
• Chapter 28 Motivating Your Practice Staff
• Chapter 29 Recognizing Staff Contributions to Your Practice
• Chapter 30 Avoiding the High Cost of Staff Turnover Rates
• Chapter 31 When Is the Right Time to Terminate an Employee?
• Chapter 32 The Importance of Conducting Exit Interviews
• Chapter 33 Adding Value to Your Employee Performance Appraisals
• Chapter 34 Setting the Tone of Your Practice Culture
• Chapter 35 Letting Every Worker Help Your Practice Improve
• Chapter 36 The Business Benefits of Workplace Enjoyment
• Chapter 37 Human Resources Issues: What Should I Do When …?

Section VI Meaningful Measurements: Benchmarking Key Performance Indicators

• Chapter 38 Math: Your Second Language as Administrator
• Chapter 39 Critical Numbers for Data-Driven Decision Making
• Chapter 40 Right-Sizing Your Technical Department’s Staffing Levels
• Chapter 41 Reducing Practice Labor Costs by Measuring and Improving Staff Turnover and Separation Rates
• Chapter 42 Unpolished Clinic Operations? Examine and Smooth Your Patient Flow With This Daily Clinic Review Tool
• Chapter 43 How a Pro Forma Helps You See the Future
• Chapter 44 Being an Effective Steward of Practice Resources: Conducting “Rounds” on Your Practice’s Support Systems
• Chapter 45 A New Benchmark ORUS: Your Ophthalmic Resource Utilization Score
• Chapter 46 Improving Your No-Show Rate

Section VII Leading Together With the Doctors in Your Practice

• Chapter 47 Practice Business Problems? Think Like a Doctor
• Chapter 48 How Surgeons Can Help Themselves by Helping Their Management Team Thrive
• Chapter 49 Perking Up Your Practice Tempo With Greater Operational Agility: How Doctor-Leaders Can Help Their Administrators
• Chapter 50 How to Seamlessly Add a New Associate Doctor to Your Practice
• Chapter 51 Helping New Physician-Owners Become Better Practice Partners
• Chapter 52 Benefits of the Physician–Administrator Dyadic Leadership Model
• Chapter 53 For Doctors: On Choosing and Managing the Right Practice Administrator
• Chapter 54 A Practice Management Pop Quiz for You and Your Administrator

Appendices

• Appendix A Administrator Career Satisfaction Rank and Rate
• Appendix B Doctors and Administrators: Actors on the Same Stage

Afterword by Craig N. Piso, PhD

Financial Disclosures

Index

Like having an expert mentor in your pocket, UP is a powerful, practical workbook designed to take ophthalmic administrators and practice managers to the next level of their careers, offering practical tips, concrete advice, and a step-by-step guide for any hurdle they face.

Authors Corinne Wohl and John Pinto are undisputed experts in the field, having decades of experience advising ophthalmic practices of all sizes and publishing numerous books and articles on the subject. In this book, Wohl and Pinto guide administrators toward best practices in coaching and developing their entire management team. UP is also a helpful tool for physician leaders (and leaders in training), who can only accomplish their board-level goals through effective lay managers. UP provides readers with:

• Practical tips on how to create a customized support and development program for each manager and administrator
• A step-by-step process for better problem solving
• Worksheets, insightful self-tests, and scorecards for immediate use as part of a linear career development program

Corinne Wohl, MHSA, COE is a practice management consultant, executive coach and president of C. Wohl & Associates, Inc. She earned her Master’s of Health Services Administration degree at The George Washington University in Washington, DC, and has 35 years of hospital administration, physician practice management, and health care consulting experience.

Corinne’s passion is to work in a trusting relationship with surgeons and administrators to help advance their life’s work and achieve their personal best. She is best known for bringing her detailed business and clinic operations experience to bear on practices of all sizes, while simultaneously helping clients see the longer term, big picture of where they are taking their enterprises. 

Corinne specializes in ophthalmic leadership effectiveness, practice operations enhancement, financial benchmarking and analysis, management team development, and executive coaching for managers and physician leaders. She enjoys working with a diverse range of clients, from solo practitioners to large institutions.

A featured keynote speaker and program facilitator during her long career in eye care, Corinne is a frequent contributor to Ophthalmology Management, Ocular Surgery News, EyeWorld, Administrative Eyecare, and Cataract & Refractive Surgery Today. She has been an active member of the American Society of Ophthalmic Administrators, including serving as Administrative Eyecare magazine’s editorial board chair and as a member of the National Board for the Certification of Ophthalmic Executives. She holds a certificate from the Yale School of Management.

John B. Pinto is the most-published author in America on ophthalmology practice management topics. He founded J. Pinto & Associates, Inc, in 1979. Since then, he has provided strategic planning, operations, and marketing advice to pharmaceutical companies, basic science centers, hospitals, multispecialty clinics, and single-specialty facilities.

For 40 years, a majority of the firm’s work has served ophthalmic practices ranging from small solo practices to high-volume market leaders, teaching centers, and ophthalmic product companies. He has been active as a practice consultant in North America and Europe and has worked and lectured in South America and Asia.

John is best known as a strategic planning and economic advisor to practices large and small. In addition to covering most dimensions of modern practice operations management, he is a career advisor, providing individual coaching and contract negotiation services to new graduates and midcareer employed ophthalmologists. His professional life today is rounded out with succession planning, practice valuations, partner dispute mediation, merger/acquisition counsel, and leadership development for administrators and physicians.

A prolific writer, Pinto is the author of several books:
John Pinto’s Little Green Book of Ophthalmology, Sixth Edition
Simple: The Inner Game of Ophthalmic Practice Success, Second Edition
Ophthalmic Leadership: A Practical Guide for Physicians, Administrators, and Teams, Second Edition
Turnaround: Twenty-One Weeks to Ophthalmic Practice Survival and Permanent Improvement
Ten Eyecare Practices: Benchmarks for Success
Cash Flow: The Practical Art of Earning More From Your Ophthalmology Practice, written with Anne Rose
The Efficient Ophthalmologist
Legal Issues in Ophthalmology: A Review for Surgeons and Administrators, written with Alan Reider and Allison Shuren
The Women of Ophthalmology, written with Elizabeth Davis, MD
Marketing Your Ophthalmic Practice

John is a member of the editorial boards of Ocular Surgery News, Ophthalmology Management, and Premier Surgeon, and a regular contributor to other eye care publications.

Reviews

“This book is a powerhouse, its uniqueness evident in its design and versatility. With its easy-to-follow workbook style, you can read it cover to cover tackling each task as you go, or you can jump from task to task as they apply to you. . . . Regardless of the situation, this book has the tools needed to skyrocket skill, performance, and career satisfaction all the way to the top.”
—Shawn Carter, COE, OCS, Administrative Eyecare
  “The tools and insights shared in this book have been extremely helpful in elevating my leadership skills as an Administrator along with assisting our management team to become stronger and more well-rounded. This book is always within arm’s reach because of all the multifaceted content.  Must read for all leaders within a medical practice.”
—Vicki Corby, COE, Invision Eye Care Specialists, Lakewood, NJ
  “UP has been the perfect “medicine” enabling our under-developed management structure to catch up with our runaway successful clinical volume. Corinne and John have teamed up to create the perfect recipes to build and buttress your management systems from top to bottom. It provides valuable advice for all levels of your practice… from senior leadership to daily operations on the floor. UP will make your practice soar!”
—Alan Solinsky, MD, Solinsky Eye Care, West Hartford, CT
  “UP is an absolute must-read for every ophthalmic administrator, ophthalmic manager and ophthalmologist. It should be read before launching a practice, while running a practice…it’s a perfect go-to reference for tackling focused practice challenges. The practical examples and case histories in UP will make your practice more successful and your job less stressful.

Although UP focuses on ophthalmology, this book readily applies to every medical specialty.  Every ophthalmology practice should have copies of this book in the hands of every owner and each member of the leadership team.  I am so grateful to be introduced to the teachings in this book.  It has changed how I relate to my patients, my colleagues and my team.”
—Olivia M. Dam, MD, Medical Director and Eye Surgeon, Victoria Eye, Victoria, BC
  “All ophthalmic executives should include a copy of UP as part of their practice improvement toolkit.  It’s a handy reference guide for managing the business of ophthalmology and for cultivating superior leadership skills.”
—Candy Simerson, iCandy Consulting, LLC, Marana, AZ
  “UP is a must-read book for practice administrators, managing partners and mid-level managers. This book takes the reader on a journey through the many complexities and challenges of ophthalmic practice management… and provides the answers! Its step-by-step granular approach to problem-solving is refreshing and helpful for tackling basic through advanced issues. Sometimes you just need some inspiration or a way to get un-stuck…and this book does that and much more.”
—Tammy Griffin, COE, Administrator, VisionFirst Eye Center, Birmingham, AL
  “After reading UP: Taking Ophthalmic Administrators and Their Teams to the Next Level of Skill, Performance and Career Satisfaction, I have a clearer understanding of how to better handle the toughest situations in my position. This book has been a great resource as I transitioned an employee into Lead Ophthalmic Technician. We’ve used the various screening tools and scorecards within the book to drive interpersonal and professional growth. I’d highly recommend that every administrator and practice owner read this entire book to advance professionally."
—Melissa Chiquelin, Office Manager, Insight Retina Consultants, Aurora, CO