With up to 10,000 practice manager jobs expected to be created over the next five years, frontline management and leadership skills are vital to anyone wanting to manage a professional practice in the health and medical industries. Thismedical practice management course is ideal for current practice managers and medical receptionists or anyone seeking a career in a broad range of healthcare settings.

Our Advanced Certificate of Practice Management will teach you how to understand legal and ethical compliance, and manage health billing, accounting systems, financial plans and budgets. You will also learn about leadership, frontline management, customer service, the health industry, diversity, and workplace health and safety.

Learning Outcomes

Outcomes achieved by undertaking a medical practice management course include:

• Learning how to manage quality customer service including ensuring plans achieve the quality, time and cost specifications agreed with customers.
• Gaining an understanding of how to ensure the delivery of quality products and services within customer specifications and monitor team performance to meet the organisation’s quality and delivery standards.
• Studying how to monitor, adjust and review customer service and manage records, reports and recommendations within the organisation’s systems and processes.
• Examining how to manage budgets and financial plans including preparing contingency plans in the event that initial plans need to be varied.
• Attaining knowledge of implementing financial management approaches and determine and access resources and systems to manage financial management processes.
• Gaining insights into monitoring and controlling finances and report on budget and expenditure in accordance with organisational protocols.
• Studying how to use appropriate medical terminology in oral and written communication and spell and pronounce medical terminology correctly
• Examining how to manage people performance, confirm performance standards, Code of Conduct and work outputs with relevant teams and individuals, and conduct a risk analysis in accordance with the organisational risk management plan and legal requirements
• Understanding how to design performance management and review processes to ensure consistency with organisational objectives and policies
• Attaining knowledge of providing feedback, advising relevant people where there is poor performance and provide on-the-job coaching when necessary.
• Gaining insights into writing and agreeing on performance improvement and development plans in accordance with organisational policies, and terminate staff in accordance with legal and organisational requirements.
• Learning how to manage risk and communicate with relevant parties about the risk management process and invite participation.
• Gaining an understanding of developing and implementing client debt recovery strategies, and monitor debt and adjust debt recovery policy and practices accordingly.
• Studying how to manage information and data required to maintain subsidy payments and develop the necessary reports and data
• Examining how to manage legal and ethical compliance, how to develop and communicate policies and procedures, and refer issues or breaches of ethical or legal practice to relevant people.
• Exploring how to implement and monitor infection and control policies and procedures, and adapt communication to the needs of different workers
• Gaining an understanding of how to promptly resolve issues raised through consultation or refer to the appropriate personnel, and encourage colleagues to report infection risks and to improve infection prevention and control procedures.
• Studying how to identify and respond to inadequacies in work procedures and infection prevention and control measures, and document, report and investigate potential breaches.
• Examining how to manage work health and safety, and access and interpret legislation, regulations, code of conduct and workplace policies and procedures for WHS.
• Understanding how to facilitate consultation, cooperation and communication, and implement and monitor training programs to ensure identified WHS training requirements are addressed, including induction processes.
• Gaining insights into developing a WHS action plan, and establishing processes to monitor achievement against the plan.

And more!

Australian Standards for Medical Practice Management

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has been the voice of general practitioners and their staff and patients for more than 60 years. The RACGP Standards for general practices (5th edition) was released in February 2022, and offers insightful reading for those looking to undertake a course in medical practice management. Core standards include:

Core standard 1

Criterion C1.1 – Information about your practice

Criterion C1.2 – Communications

Criterion C1.3 – Informed patient decisions

Criterion C1.4 – interpreter and other communication services

Criterion C1.5 – Costs associated with care initiated by the practice

Core standard 2

Criterion C2.1 – Respectful and culturally appropriate care

Criterion C2.2 – Presence of a third party during a consultation

Criterion C2.3 – Accessibility of services

Core standard 3

Criterion C3.1 – Business operation systems

Criterion C3.2 – Accountability and responsibility

Criterion C3.3 – Emergency response plan

Criterion C3.4 – Practice communication and teamwork

Criterion C3.5 – Work health and safety

Criterion C3.6 – Research

Core standard 4

Criterion C4.1 – Health promotion and preventative care

Core standard 5

Criterion C5.1 – Diagnosis and management of health issues

Criterion C5.2 – Clinical autonomy for practitioners

Criterion C5.3 – Clinical handover

Core standard 6

Criterion C6.1 – Patient identification

Criterion C6.2 – Patient health record systems

Criterion C6.3 – Confidentiality and privacy of health and other information

Criterion C6.4 – Information security

Core standard 7

Criterion C7.1 – Content of patient health records

Core standard 8

Criterion C8.1 – Education and training of non-clinical staff

Accreditation for Medical Practices

The RACGP has not only developed Standards for general practices, it also offers advice on accreditation which protects patients from harm by improving the quality and safety of health services. An important element to consider in medical practice management!

In order for practices to be accredited against evidence-based Standards, they must be formally assessed by an accrediting agency approved under the National General practice Accreditation Scheme (the Scheme), which commenced on 1 January 2017.

The Standards

 The Standards are based on the best available evidence of how general practices can provide safe and quality healthcare to their patients. This evidence is based on two sources:

1. Relevant studies
2. Level IV evidence (where studies are not available). This is otherwise known as evidence from a panel of experts. To ensure the evidence is as robust as possible, the Standards have been tested by Australian general practices and consumers, and overseen by an expert committee consisting of GPs, academic GPs, practice managers, nurses and consumer representatives.

Practices that can be accredited

Before a practice or health service can be accredited against the Standards, it must be formally assessed by an accrediting agency approved under the National General Practice Accreditation Scheme. There are three criteria:

1. The practice or health service operates within the model of general practice described in the RACGP’s definition of general practice.
2. GP services are predominantly of a general practice nature.
3. The practice or health service is capable of meeting all mandatory indicators in the Standards.

The assessment process

In order for a general practice to be accredited, an approved accreditation agency must be selected from this list of agencies. Each agency has trained surveyors who assess general practices. The agency selected will work with your practice to help you prepare for the accreditation process. They will also appoint a team of surveyors who visit each location from which your practice operates to assess your practice against the Standards.

The Australian Association of Practice Management (AAPM)

The AAPM was established over 40 years ago and is a professional association for Practice Managers in healthcare including in general practice, specialist, dental and allied health as well as multi-disciplinary clinics. It offers a wide range of education, networking and membership resources and benefits.

Definition of a Practice Manager

The AAPM has developed the following definition of a Practice Manager that can be used and widely recognised across both the healthcare sector and the general community.

“A Practice Manager may have various titles, for example, Chief Executive Officer, Business Manager, Executive Director, or Director. The definition of a Practice Manager is someone who performs all or some of the Practice Management tasks in a healthcare setting. A Healthcare Practice Manager’s tasks may include strategic planning, review and implementation of processes in a practice that increase efficiency and contribute to the overall notion of excellence in healthcare.”

The Core Principles of Health Care Practice Management

• Financial management – Having financial literacy with the ability to manage the legal and financial requirements of a practice.
• Human resources management – Understanding organisational leadership and culture, and ensuring compliance with employment and labour laws.
• Planning and marketing – Being able to allocate resources to meet the practice’s strategic plans and direction, and identify, anticipate and satisfy customer requirements, including establishing partnerships and strategic alliances.
• Information management – Understanding data management technology with the ability to facilitate the development and implementation of appropriate information systems, including support, training, security and maintenance.
• Risk management – Being able to identify, assess, prioritise, monitor and minimise risk, including financial, HR, legal, physical and clinical risks and manage the security of personnel and assets like data, property and equipment.
• Governance and organisational dynamics – Understanding structures and systems to enable the organisation to make the right decisions with the ability to develop leadership and change-management skills.
• Business and clinical operations – The ability to ensure the organisation operates efficiently to maximise profit and productivity while providing a safe service to the satisfaction of patients. It includes ensuring efficient processes, sufficient resources, legal compliance and quality assurance programs.
• Professional responsibility – Promoting ethical standards for individual and organisational behaviour, and maintaining continued professional development to ensure up-to-date knowledge that is applied in ways that benefit patients and the wider community.

Become qualified to seek employment as a practice manager or pursue further studies in a range of similar environments with a medical practice management course such as our Advanced Certificate of Practice Management.