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Identifying the 9 Domains of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery (OMS) Practice Management
by Scott Graham, MHA, FACMPE, FAADOM
Like doctors examining the systems of the body, we practice managers must look closely at the various systems at work in our practices. By watching these domains, we gain a clearer sense of our role as administrators, as well as gain some control over what might feel like organized chaos on a daily basis.
Based on nearly two decades of experience in oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMS) practice management, I’ve arrived at the conclusion that there are 9 systems/domains that we have to identify, measure, and manage when we are OMS practice administrators. I started with the body of knowledge of the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) and the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) as my foundation: - Human resources management
- Patient-centered care
- Risk & compliance management
- Operations management
- Organizational governance
- Financial management
- Revenue Cycle
- Health Information Technology
- Marketing
The first step to successfully managing all of these aspects of the OMS practice is to identify what each domain entails. To help you garner a sense of the scope for each of these, I’ve outlined some of the most important components below. Please note that providing a comprehensive list of all of your responsibilities for each domain is beyond the scope of this short article (it would also probably be overwhelming to read all at once!). So I’m noting several key components of each domain here:
Human resources management pertains to staff-related issues. This includes ensuring compliance with employment laws (e.g., ADA, ACA, NLRA, FLSA, FMLA), managing job descriptions, managing corporate policies and procedures, and overseeing recruitment, training, retention, and evaluation.
Patient-centered care involves your oversight of the staff’s efforts to put patient needs first. This could include staff contribution to patient experience, ensuring efficient operations, monitoring patient safety, and managing quality initiatives.
Risk & compliance management ensure activities associated with compliance in federal and state laws and regulations, in order to reduce the practice’s risk (both legal and medical) and prevent adverse events (again, both legal and medical).
Operations management is your oversight of the way your organization runs. This could include activities such as implementation of strategic plans, evaluating current practice needs, and managing facilities.
Organizational governance includes your role as the facilitator of governance activities in the practice/corporation. At times, this can include measures such as ensuring effective policies and governance of those policies, participating in and supporting leadership of strategic direction, and managing the legal structure of the organization.
Financial management is a vital role of organizational leadership, and it will involve monitoring and managing the financial health of the organization, including cash flow, accounts payable, payroll, and investments.
Revenue cycle is your field of oversight related to the phases of revenue capture in the oral and maxillofacial surgery business. Some of the activities in this domain that you oversee are scheduling and pre-registration, charge capture and coding, claims submission, and following up with third parties.
Health information technology, in this day and age, is one of the life-blood areas in a high-functioning OMS practice. You needn’t be a techie to excel here, just a manager: collaborate with IT contractors, plan and identify opportunities for technological advances, and train staff in using the practice’s IT systems.
Marketing includes your efforts used to help grow awareness of your OMS practice and new patient recruitment. You aren’t doing graphic design, but you will get to be creative and strategic in ways to grow your patient base: support planning of marketing activities, monitor and evaluate marketing resources, and monitor the online presence of your practice.
Those are the 9 domains of OMS practice management – not so bad, right? Of course, there’s more to each of those, and identifying what these unique domains are in your practice is only a starting point. From here, you must be able to measure them to track performance; and when they aren’t performing well, you have to be able to improve them.
Scott E. Graham, MHA, FACMPE, FAADOM is the Founder and CEO of OMS Consulting Firm, a full-scope consulting team that specializes in oral and maxillofacial surgery practices. After successfully starting and managing a large OMS practice with a nationally recognized fellowship program in St. Louis, MO, Scott offers 19 years of practical OMS practice management experience. He and his team leverage their wealth of knowledge of practice management, practice development, and accounting and finances to assess OMS practices and implement proven solutions that advance the health of OMS practices. Contact Scott at [email protected] and learn more at www.omsconsultingfirm.com.
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