Practice Management Alert

You know what your staff does, but write it down anyway.

If you have a say in hiring decisions or manage a team, you know what you expect from your team members. Physicians see patients. Coders figure out how to construct claims. Front desk staff are the front line in patient interaction.

Everyone knows their duties, especially in a small practice, so why bother with the whole human resources rigmarole of explicit descriptions for straightforward — or, sometimes, totally amorphous — roles?

One big reason is compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, says Barbara Freet, founder and president/CEO of Human Resource Advisors in Walnut Creek, California. Outlining the specific essential functions of a job ensures that people with disabilities can compete for jobs they’re capable of doing.

Protect Your Practice

Knowing exactly what duties a prospective employee would perform sets everyone up to be on the same page, as far as expectations go for both employee and manager. You can advertise a position and be assured that applicants know exactly what you’re looking for.

A job description serves as a handy tool during the interview process as a source of questions for both interviewer and prospective employee, as well as a means of setting out and following consistent criteria, in case you’re judging multiple applicants, Freet says.

If a worker takes medical leave, such as for family medical leave or worker’s compensation, a job description that details the physical requirements for the role provides an easy and objective means of determining when an incapacitated employee can safely return to work. Having the job description written and accessible makes it that much easier for an employee to show it to his own clinician to verify that the employee is ready to work.

If you reach a situation where an employee faces discipline or even termination, you can point to the job description as a means of reminding the employee of your expectations for that role or use the description to demonstrate why the individual is not performing adequately.

Boost Employee Performance

If you conduct employee performance assessments, a job description is a useful resource for checking in on whether the day-to-day tasks that an employee performs mirrors the big-picture role that she’s supposed to fill. Employees can use job descriptions as a means for negotiating a different salary or a title change, especially if they can point to evidence that they do more than they were hired to do.

It’s important to see a job description as a “living document,” Freet says. Update it to reflect changes in responsibilities, skills, or abilities for individual employees.

If an employee earns additional credentials that can boost job performance or expand subject knowledge, make that part of the new standard for that role.

Outsource if Necessary

If you didn’t have job descriptions for your staff when you hired them, you don’t need to feel like it’s all on you to describe everyone’s roles. Ask your team members to write their own job descriptions — and glean some helpful feedback when you read them. If they don’t have time or if their efforts don’t satisfy your understanding of their roles, consider outsourcing the job description writing task to dedicated human resource professionals.