Your Admin Runs Your Practice. Here’s Why That’s a Great Thing.

“The most important decision you’ll make is your medical practice admin.”

Sound familiar? If that’s the extent of the practice management advice you’ve received – 1. you’re not alone, 2. it’s at least very accurate and 3. they are the MVP.

For the purpose of this post, “admin” means anyone who helps you run your practice: scheduling, patient calls, coordinating with other offices, ordering supplies, and everything in between. Different titles exist, but my admin prefers “admin,” so that’s what we go with here.

Why does your medical practice admin matter so much? In my humble opinion and as I tell patients: they’re the boss. I just go where I’m told.

They’re the Face of Your Practice (and You)

Most patients will interact with your medical practice admin long before they ever meet you. Those early interactions – the first phone call, the booking confirmation, the reminder – create an impression of you before the appointment even starts.

When that experience is friendly and easy, patients arrive with good energy. You get to ride that momentum right into the room. It’s great.

When the experience has been confusing or frustrating? That comes up in the appointment. You can usually recover – but you’re digging out of a hole before you’ve even started.

It’s a much easier day for everyone when you’re starting from a good place.

They’re the Gatekeeper

If you see patients, patients will try to reach you – by phone, message, email, however your office handles patient communication.

Sometimes they need to reach you (a potential complication, a real concern that needs your input).

But a lot of those calls and messages don’t need you at all. They’re straightforward questions, normal post-visit concerns or simple reassurance. A great admin can handle the vast majority of these without you getting involved – and that saves an enormous amount of time.

The more you equip your admin with the tools to do their job (Dan Martell calls them “Playbooks”), clear practice priorities, instruction sheets, and systems that reduce unnecessary callbacks in the first place, the more confidently they can decide what actually needs your attention.

They Have a Direct Impact on Your Income

If your income depends on seeing patients – through billing, shadow billing, or hitting deliverables – then whoever manages your schedule is directly connected to your bottom line.

A great admin keeps your days optimally booked, works to fill last-minute cancellations, and makes sure billing is submitted accurately and followed up on. This is not a small thing. It is, in fact, a very large thing.

They’re (a BIG) Part of You Having a Life

This one is underappreciated, and I’ll say it louder for the people in the back.

On the practical side, working with your medical practice admin to engineer your schedule – protecting your time, minimizing chaos, building in what you actually need – has a massive impact on your stress levels.

But there’s a less obvious side too. When you have a great admin, you stop worrying about their job. You’re not thinking (at 3am) about how patients are being treated on the phone, whether billing is going out on time, or if your days are booked in a way that sets you up for failure or success. You can just do your job.

That peace of mind isn’t on any job description, but man it is worth its weight in gold. My admin is never on my 3am mental Rolodex. For that alone, she is irreplaceable.

A good medical practice admin will also get to know you – and sometimes see what you need before you do. That might mean quietly adjusting your schedule during a hard stretch, or knowing when it’s time to sit you down and tell you to take a break. (It happens. It’s fine. She usually starts by handing me a bag of Goldfish crackers or Mini Eggs.)

There are plenty more roles a great medical practice admin can take on. But the ones above? That’s why mine is The Boss.

Does your admin have a role or superpower that’s not on this list? Share it in the comments.