Case Study: Competency Modeling and Assessment Strategy for the Weston Family Practice Clinic
The Weston Family Practice Clinic is an outpatient facility that serves residents of suburban Denver. The clinic was started by the husband and wife team of Dr. Eric Weston and Dr. Emily Weston-Green. The two physicians opened the practice shortly after graduating from medical school at UCLA and completing a residency at University Hospital in Denver, Colorado. The couple decided to stay in Colorado because of the wonderful climate, the beautiful environment, and the supportive community they found for holistic family practice medicine.
When the couple first opened the clinic, they hired a nurse, two nursing assistants, and an office clerk to support them in their practice. Now, after seven years in operation, the clinic has grown appreciably, and the staff has expanded to include a third physician, Dr. Carl Anderson, two nurse practitioners who independently treat patients with minor health problems, three nurses, four nursing assistants, and four office clerks and a billing/insurance clerk.
While Dr. Emily Weston-Green has been the head medical officer at the clinic, Dr. Eric Weston has managed the office’s administrative and financial services. However, as the clinic has grown, the couple has recognized that they need to hire an Office Manager to oversee all non-medical aspects of the clinic. Their vision is that the new Office Manager will allow Dr. Eric Weston to concentrate on building the practice through affiliations and cooperative partnerships with other health care clinics, while Dr. Emily Green-Weston concentrates on maintaining a high level of patient service quality at the existing clinic. The couple hopes to add two additional physicians to the practice over the next five years, along with the necessary medical and office support staff to support the growing practice. There is additional office space available within the building that houses the existing clinic, so expansion in the same location would be extremely convenient and cost effective.
The new Office Manager will be responsible for overseeing the work of the five clerks who are responsible for office support services such as scheduling appointments, processing patients, requisitioning outside tests, x-rays and lab work, completing paperwork, billing insurance companies on behalf of patients, managing account receivable, maintaining medical records, and filing. The Office Manager will report to the chief physician, Dr. Emily Weston-Green, and will interact regularly with the Supervisor of Nursing Services, and the other nurses and physicians, as well as with administrative and health care personnel in other medical offices and clinics.
As an outside advisor, you have been asked to help the Weston Family Practice Clinic hire the new Office Manager. Using the resources of your Scott and Reynolds (2010) textbook, assigned journal articles, the O*Net website (http://www.onetonline.org/ (Links to an external site.)), and at least three additional academic sources, conduct a job analysis for the new Office Manager position and develop an assessment strategy for evaluating the qualifications of potential candidates for the position.
Write at least 1750 – 2100 words (or 5 -7 pg) in length (excluding title, abstract, and reference pages), address the following:
Summarize the key knowledge, skills and abilities that you believe are required for this position, based on information from O*Net and other sources. (Note: you do not have to do an exhaustive job analysis or construct a full competency model.)
Based on the critical knowledge, skills and abilities you have identified for the Office Manager position, outline an approach for assessing potential candidates for the position. Include in your assessment approach the use of at least two formal assessment instruments, as well as other assessment approaches you believe would be valid ways of determining performance capabilities of candidates.
Support your approach by discussing the strategic link between competency modeling, assessment, and the organizational objectives of the Weston Family Practice Clinic.
