I am a new office manager in a chiropractic office.  I seem to get caught in the middle between the doctor and the CA's.  If I ask someone to do something they go to the doctor and then the doctor comes back and tells me I should not have done that.  I am not sure why I am even here.  I know that my doctor ran it alone for a long time and there are issues that I was hired from the outside and some of the CA's wanted the job.  I was an office manager before in a chiropractic office, but it was much smaller group and I had been the one that hired the other staff person.  Please help me figure out how to get this all started off is a good direction for everyone.  Thank you, Cathy

 Cathy,  I am impressed that you understand the difficulties here so let's get started.  First of all, you are the Office Manager.  But, your big problem is that you and your doctor have not defined your job as the office manager.  As the office manager, do the CA's and other staff members report to you?  Do you set the schedules and work load of the CA's? What are your responsibilities as the office manager? With the responsibilities that you are given are you also give the authority to see that it all gets done? I would start with that. If you can clearly define your role as office manager, then you can deal with this and all situation.

If you are "stuck in the middle", as you say, between the doctor and staff, that is a real problem. Your job description should address who the CA's are to report to. What your authority and responsibilities with the CA's are to be? If the CA's are to be reporting to you, then they should not ever go around you and nor should the doctor be circumventing your authority. If you are not given that authority, I question that he really wants an office manager. If you have a job description, I would like to see what it says.  If you do not have a job description get one written. 

Go about it in a very positive way to deal with what is best for the clinic.  Edie

Question: As a Chiropractic Office Manager, I'm sure you have dealt with all kinds of employee/employer issues. My problem that I can use advice for is this: The Chiropractor I work for is a great person and a great chiropractor, but there is one employee who seems to get away with doing whatever she wants...she pretty much sets her own schedule and until about a month ago was really good at looking busy (still sometimes seems to be). One of the other girls that works in the office until about three months ago had to scramble to get hours, now if she needs to leave early the boss gets pretty peeved...she is a hard worker, but often does not have a lot to do because the other employee keeps taking her work and doing it. I am kind of stuck in the middle, I know that he is giving the first one too much slack and giving the second one too much flack...how would you suggest I broach the subject with him without tearing anyone down or making him think I am trying to tell him how to run his business? Thanks, Jeanne

Dear Jeanne, I think that this might best be approached by the employee, that you feel is not being treated fairly, speaks with the doctor.  As you say, you do not want to get in the middle and you should not. 

However, having said that, there is an approach that I think could be very beneficial to the entire group.  If you feel your ability to do your job is being affected by whatever is going on, that is different.  Clarification is a good approach.  Always approach it in a positive manner.  Maybe you could just say that you do not understand how decisions are being made with regard to time off and scheduling or workload distribution. What is the policy?  If there are no policies ask if you could assist the doctor in writing them up for his approval so everyone in the office is on the same page.  Always question the policy or the procedure not the person or your feeling that the doctor is treating someone unfairly.  Get the personalities/people out of it or you could find yourself on the wrong side of things and without a job. 

It is a good thing to have things in writing for everyone to follow and very little favoritism can go on.  You should have a complete Human Resources Policies and Procedures manual.

Hope this helps and keep me posted. Edie

Edie,
(Red Flag) I was contacted by another company as I had known about them through another office and I had told them that I purchased this manual and they were telling me that it is not sufficient enough to be compliant. Do I need to pay to have someone train us?
Dr. Kevin

Dr Kevin, my manual has everything in it to be compliant.  The manual itself, the Q and A, and staff testing is all you need to actually train your staff and verify that they have been trained.

You are a chiropractic office and your risk is very low. This was stated by the FTC themselves that offices that know their patients are “low risk”.  Keep it simple and logical.

Edie,

Edie,
(Red Flag) Quick question. I am thinking of having a stamp made that we can use on the patient files to indicate 1- id obtained 2- no id given by patient, with a spot for them to sign. Is it okay to indicate that we personally know a patient and therefore did not obtain an id or do we need to do it on every single patient.
Dr. Connor

Dr. Connor, Yes it is OK.  Red Flag Rules, Identity Theft Prevention is about what to look for and how to identity possible identity theft, and how to handle it when you do.  If you know the person, there is no suspicion of possible identity theft. It is about your prevention procedures to protect you and your patient and if you know them that has prevented it…J

As my manual explains the first visit is the main problem.  Making sure they are who they are saying they are.  That simple!