Job descriptions and the titles that go along with them vary wildly from practice to practice. There are several titles that are fairly consistent within the industry, but the duties and responsibilities assigned to those titles can still have a great deal of variance.

The title of Medical Director should be reserved for the veterinarian who is responsible for making hospital medical protocol decisions, as well as reviewing the medicine practiced by other veterinarians within the practice. The Medical Director can be the Practice Owner, or any other veterinarian appointed by the Practice Owner. While a Hospital Administrator may supervise Associate Veterinarians in a practice, unless they are a veterinarian themselves, they cannot address the medicine practiced by a veterinarian. A growing trend in veterinary medicine is non-DVM ownership. In cases where the Practice Owner is not a veterinarian, a licensed veterinarian must be employed to fill the Medical Director role within the practice.

Hospital Administrator, Practice Manager, or Office Manager? Do you know which title you should be using? The VHMA has done a great job of compiling industry job descriptions distinguishing the differences between these three commonly used, but confused job titles. As a practicing Hospital Administrator, I believe the biggest difference between the role of a Practice Manager and a Hospital Administrator is the role played relative to the associate veterinarians. I am highly involved in the interview and hiring process of all veterinarians. I am also responsible for their scheduling, training, and performance reviews in all areas EXCEPT the medicine practiced. I partner with our Medical Director to evaluate the performance of each veterinarian, relative to their “practice of medicine”. This is the ideal partnership for situations where the Medical Director wants to focus strictly on the quality of medicine being practiced, leaving the business, client service and HR side of things in the hands of a good manager.

One of the most valuable lessons I have learned over the years is to be very flexible and play to people’s strengths rather than trying to make people fit the job descriptions you have in place. In the last 5 years, I have rewritten many job descriptions within our practice to adjust to change within our practice, as well as changes with key members of our staff. At one point, the growth of our business from one building to four, and the staff changes and growth that came with it, made it nearly impossible for me to manage the HR side of things and still continue to manage the “business” and everything that comes with it. I took a long, hard look at what needed to be done and decided to hire a Human Resources Director. The goal of this position is to fulfill the needs of the business from an HR standpoint: screening applicants, assisting Supervisors with the interview process, managing employee benefits, payroll, scheduling, and OSHA. Essentially, anything that involves the staff requires the action of the HR Director.

While I realize many practices are small enough that they don’t have the need or income to support both a Hospital Administrator and an HR Director, many do and should consider the direction they want to head with this division of responsibilities. Because I performed all the duties now being performed by the HR Director, I am able to effectively supervise him and evaluate his work performance. Had I kept the HR job duties under my immediate responsibilities, I would have needed to have broken out other aspects of my job. I had to look at my own strengths and weaknesses, as well as what it was I truly loved doing on a daily basis. This self-evaluation enabled me to make the wisest choice in terms of the needs of the practice.

On the other side of things, there came a point in the past year where I had to assume all the job duties of the practice’s Inventory Manager. This came out of necessity, as the practice was continually posting poor numbers relative to our costs of goods sold, while continuously running out of needed products. Since I had an HR Director in position, some of my time was available to focus on streamlining our ordering process and instituting better checks and balances within the practice. It took almost a full year to get costs under control and running smoothly. Very recently, a talented staff member incorporated some of her current duties with the inventory duties to once again implement a full-time Inventory Manager within the business (keep in mind I am operating multiple practices and a dog training facility). She is now ordering all inventory, processing all inventory purchase orders, keeping all areas of all three locations fully stocked, as well as fulfilling food and prescription home delivery requests from clients each week.

So, with all this delegation, you may be asking yourself exactly what it is that I do on a daily basis. My main focus is on the financial management of the businesses, as well as marketing, the development of new services, leadership development within the practices, staff training, client education, and oversight of all areas of the practice(s) as directed by the Practice Owner. It is my firm belief that you can be exponentially more productive if allowed to do what you do best, rather than forced to do a little bit of everything, spreading yourself too thin to be successful at anything. My role as a Hospital Administrator is probably drastically different from another person with the same title in a different practice. My role will also probably continue to change over time, especially as the business changes and as staff members come and go. Look at the people you have. Find their strengths and tailor their duties and job titles accordingly.