The role of a Dental Office Manager comes down to one single goal: maintaining an efficient and profitable dental practice that delivers excellent patient care. Everything a Dental Office Manager does in his or her daily role funnels down to that singular goal.

Establish what you need most basically. There is a long list of duties any established Dental Office Manager does at any given time. If you’ve never had a Dental Office Manager in your practice, determine what duties are most important to you at this time; what issues that take your attention away from your patients, keep you late at the office or force you to take work home.

Determine if there are any issues you absolutely want to handle yourself. There may be financial issues that you feel you’d like to care for yourself.  The handling the Dental Office checkbook and accounts payable and/or communication with accountants are examples some Dentists prefer to keep private. It’s not until time develops trust and loyalty with a new relationship that this portion of the practice is delegated to the Dental Office Manager.

To help you clarify these decisions, we can look at a list of duties that could be taken off your hands and help you make the appropriate hire. Depending on the size of the Dental Practice, the responsibilities of a Dental Office Manager can vary significantly. Here are some, but certainly not all the Dental Office Manager’s duties.

• As an overview, they are responsible for establishing and maintaining internal office procedures and  protocols.
• To do this, they must have a complete understanding of the Dental Practice manual. They keep it updated, informing the Team of any changes that are made.
• In most cases, they are responsible for the hiring of new Team members as well as the termination of  Team members who are not working out for the Practice.
• They supervise/oversee the training of new Team members to ensure compliance with Practice protocols  and culture.
• They manage and oversee morning huddles and Team meetings.
• They are responsible for communication between the Practice accountant regarding accounts receivable and accounts payable.
• They are responsible for managing the office budget.
• They may be responsible for marketing the Practice or be in direct communication with the company hired to do marketing.
• They work to ensure the Practice complies with all government and industry standards.
• They oversee the schedule to make certain the production goals are scheduled properly each day.
• They may handle the filing of insurance claims and oversee any insurance appeals. Larger practices normally employ Insurance Coordinators, but in a smaller practice, this would be handled by the Office Manager.
• They may work with patients applying for financial assistance.
• They work with any patient complaints to ensure patients are fully cared for and complaints are resolved.
• A good dental practice develops a budget, and the responsibility of the Dental Office Manager to adhered to it.
• Professionalism is highly revered; a display of competence, integrity and professionalism is paramount; a high level of competence and integrity communicates a level of expectations to the team.

I always try to simplify what a happy, profitable Dental Practice needs in a Dental Office Manager. Be certain the Dentist is turning the handpiece and the Dental Office Manager oversees everything else! We have more thoughts on our wonderful Dental Office Managers in the article: "Why Does Every Dental Practice Need a Great Dental Office Manager?"

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When you spend your time and energy dealing with non-clinical issues such as insurance, employee turnover, accounts payable and receivable, you can’t enjoy the work you were trained to do. At DentalStaffing.org, our consultation will work with you to identify the issues and give you solutions for moving forward. Then you can start running your practice instead of your practice running you.

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“Each person's work is always a portrait of himself.”
- Samuel Johnson