O F F IC E S PAC E
Dr. Head Coach MY DAY “OFF ” Wri t t en by D r. M a ry T i pt o n
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t was just a couple of days after Christmas when I arrived at the office late afternoon to drop off a stack of work and pick up another stack. As I walked into my tiny backroom office a nurse practitioner who works a few days a week for us said, “Oh, what are you doing here on your day off? I thought you had the whole week off? Must be nice.” I slowed to a stop, adjusting the white coat I was wearing because I had just come from the hospital, and gripped my stack of superbills a bit tighter. “It is a day off clinic for me but…. “ My voice trails off but then I decided to say, “Yes, it’s been great to have some more time with my family this week than usual.” 2 8 | M A R C H / A P R I L 20 20
Any further conversation is halted by the home health nurse calling me back. I pick up my huge stack of superbills waiting for me to review before year end - a task that will take up most all the family time left this year - and wave goodbye to the nurse practitioner. I am a primary care physician and owner of my busy private practice with a couple physician partners. Our aims are patient centric. The medical center is open every day of the year for both urgent and scheduled care visits, serving patients of all ages. We employ physicians, nurse practitioners and physician assistants. Our team includes other very important members: medical assistants, x-ray technicians, phleboto-
mists, schedulers, triage nurses, office manager and a small army of staff to manage all the third party payor demands and billing. Every member has a job and every job is important. I count on the front desk to greet patients warmly, check them in promptly and get them to the team of clinicians. I rely on my lab staff to process blood and urine samples. A physician, and especially a physician practice owner, leads the team. But since we all know it’s the practice of medicine and every encounter brings new challenges, my job is most analogous to the head coach. In football, the head coach manages all the assistant coaches and players. The coach
