Contact a medical office that uses a medical office scheduling system. Ideally, the medical office should be in your local area. However, if you know someone in another city or state who works in a medical office, you may interview outside of your local area over the phone or computer.
a. The best way to receive a response is by calling the practice or going in person to request an interview. It is common for a busy medical office to respond to emails slowly. In addition, calling/going in is more personal and the medical office will be less likely to say no when there is direct contact.
b. When you call or go in, it is best to ask to speak to the office manager or the person who schedules appointments. The office manager is the employee who is most likely to make a decision about granting the interview and the scheduler will be the person who uses the electronic health record system the most.
c. If a medical office has objections to granting the interview, assure them that:
i. There are no patient-specific questions; therefore, HIPAA regulations will not be violated in any way.
ii. You will print out a copy of the questions and present them to the office manager or person you are interviewing so they can be certain they will not be asked to violate regulations in any way.
iii. The interview includes only 19 questions and should only take 20 minutes at the most. If there is still hesitation or lack of time on the medical office’s part at that time, you can offer to send the questions to the person being interviewed via email. However, this should be used as a last resort.
iv. The interview will only be shared with the instructor. If a practice is hesitant about releasing “private” information about the practice and how it operates, only 2 people will see the interview—you and the instructor.
v. The interview is an assignment for a course that is part of an associates’ degree at Liberty University. Liberty University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. (In the event that the medical office requests a written letter from the school/instructor as verification, contact your instructor and he/she will be happy to provide one for you.)
2. Complete the Interview Question Form in its entirety.
a. Two interviews with two different medical offices are required.
b. Type the answers to the questions for each interview on the interview question form.
c. Complete the student discussion on the Interview Question Form after each interview. Each student discussion must be at least 350 words each and discuss what you have learned, as well as some practical takeaways for you as a potential employee in a medical office.
d. This assignment must use current APA format. You will include a reference page at the end of your Interview Question Form to reference your interviews. You are to verify the information shared by the person you interviewed. For example: if the person you interviewed shared some advantages/disadvantages about the software they use in the office, you are to look up the software, verify those advantages/disadvantages, and cite it in current APA format on the reference page.
