Personnel Duties and the Chiropractic Office

A Chiropractic clinic/office is no different than any other business.  It appears some, however; treat it as it is.  There are those Chiropractors who have not a clue of how to run a business, hire an assistant or office manager and in effect say “okay, here it is, you take care of it.”  Then there are those who open the office and stand watch over their staff to assure everything is being done exactly the way he/she wants it to be done.  Neither one of these doctors are operating the business end of their practice in the most efficient manner possible.
  As in any business the doctor needs to know everything about how their business runs.  The superb business person will then delegate authority to ancillary personnel to do the jobs necessary for maximum success. 

A simplified explanation of how a Chiropractic business should be run has the doctor doing nothing…..NOTHING but dealing with patients.  Consulting patients, examining patients, presenting a report of finding to the patients and adjusting patients.  All other (x-rays, therapies, insurance, billing, AR’s and AP’s, etc.) duties in the clinic are performed by clinic staff.  This is not intimate the doctor should divorce him or herself from the business aspect of the practice. Quite the contrary….the doctor should know every aspect of how that practice functions.  Staff members should be acutely aware of this fact knowing there is not one thing the doctor cannot/will not due if necessary.  Let it be known, nicely, no one is indispensable

It is beneficial to employ personnel with business experience, especially those who have Chiropractic business experience.  Even so each employee requires proper training for the operation of this particular practice.

Prior to hiring potential staff personnel should be provided with a job description and duty list.  Every position should have a duty manual for the new hires to study, refer to and be shown in case they have the impression a particular function was being performed correctly when it was, indeed, not.  Every employee should sign an employee agreement referencing salary, days off, vacation, anticipated raises, probationary period, grounds for termination, etc.

While the doctors duties are confined to patient needs; the doctor must also keep a tight rein on the business.  Day sheets are to reviewed several times a week, deposits are to be compared to computer input and patient ledgers. Monthly reports reflecting statistics of new patients, patient visits, services rendered, payments, accounts receivable and accounts payable are to be reviewed. 

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