proper care and feeding of administrators, The

MGMA Connexion, Sep 2004 by Pope, Christina

How to bridge individual performance and organizational effectiveness? Start by caring for your professional self

reader take-away

* Identify your professional development learning type

* Understand the benefits of certification to the individual, the health care organization and the field

"Defining the Profession: Principles, expertise and service that bind us together" explores issues to stretch our thinking about the industry and the world, all from the vantage point of the profession. The topics explored here are derived from The ACMPE Guide to the Body of Knowledge for Medical Practice Management, developed by the American College of Medical Practice Executives (ACMPE), the certification body of the Medical Group Management Association. It's available free online at www.mgma.com/acmpe

If you held up a mirror to your professional self, what would it look like? Anemic? Neglected?

While many medical practice administrators focus on the proper care and feeding of their organizations, they've developed the same ailment as other "caregivers" - they tend to their own professional development and needs as an afterthought. But as any self-preserving caregiver can tell you, nurturing yourself actually helps those you serve.

And as any administrator can tell you, the organization usually has to come first.

Balancing act

Bridging individual performance and organizational effectiveness is one of the most important ways you can help ensure practice success. How should administrators balance and respond to their own goals and preferences and their organization's needs while anticipating changes in the broader environment?

"All three are important," says Genie G. Blough, MBA, FACMPE, chair of the MGMA Education/Information Resource Center Committee, and president of G. Blough Associates LLC, Mobile, Ala. "No matter what, you need to listen to that little voice that sparks you each day, but you can do it in the scope of your job and find where they mesh. Some people naturally can look at the big picture in this context, but if not, carve out time to check in with your environment. You certainly don't want to be the last one to know an ambulatory surgery center is opening in your community and that you missed an opportunity."

Susan Aloi, MPA, FACMPE, MGMA member and director of faculty practice - special projects, Columbia University, New York, suggests that administrators sensitize themselves. "Listen and watch in your organization," she says. "Look for those issues that continue to come up, and offer to develop solutions. You may be the only one who notices and may be the only one with the skills or motivation to tackle them."

Matt Thompson, MHSM, CMPL, MGMA member and president of CPMS LP, Austin, Texas, uses his management services organization as a learning laboratory. "I get to learn each day in my work," he says. "But I try not to let the organization's needs dictate my learning. Professional development is a priority for me. I think I owe it to myself."

Many administrators are initially motivated to seek professional development to solve problems in their organizations, says Drew Di Giovanni, MPH, FACMPE, MGMA director of education and distance learning, "while we see more advanced professionals pursuing self-improvement objectives." The MGMA professional development programming is built in part on serving the three main learner types: goal-oriented, activityoriented and learning-oriented.

The goal-oriented learner

Goal-oriented learners use professional development to accomplish clear-cut objectives to solve problems or achieve professional status. Thompson frequently contacts the MGMA Information Center for answers and considers himself a systematic problemsolver. "I do quite a bit of research in the library," he says. "We're all victims of our training, and mine is academic. I start with a literature review no matter what the new challenge in our practice."

A goal-oriented learner of a different stripe is the individual focused on achieving professional status, such as Aloi. She attained her ACMPE Fellowship status in just four months by breaking down the process into smaller pieces and diving into the project. She identified an area she wanted to strengthen - finance - and asked her employer for more work in that area. She took on a finance-focused project related to managed care reimbursement. "This project was driven by data I didn't have, that departments didn't have and that staff couldn't provide because they were too busy," she says. Aloi researched and pushed for the right software and appropriate reporting program, learned how to use it and taught 18 departments how to create their own reports. Ever the goal-oriented learner, Aloi is now considering a doctorate in health care business administration.

The activity-oriented learner

Activity-oriented learners such as Ann C. McFarland, FACMPE, MGMA member and executive director/CEO, Coast Medical Management Inc./Pacific Crest Medical Group Inc., Laguna Beach, Calif., seek social contact, selecting activities based on the amount and kind of human relationships they will yield. Networking naturally evolves into friendships for activity-oriented learners; McFarland was heading out recently to meet with two friends who also happen to be past and present MGMA Board members.