Medical practice management in a nutshell.

Obviously, an endeavor as complicated as managing a medical practice cannot be reduced to a "nutshell." However, the array of activities involved can be modeled in a comprehensive manner. This article does just that, providing practice managers with a blueprint for their management work. Management is defined in terms of a set of activities through which the goals or purposes of a practice are established and pursued. The work of managers, which is contrasted to direct and support work, is described in terms of helping establish the goals and creating the conditions under which these goals can be accomplished. A comprehensive model of the eight separate, but related, activities comprising management work in a medical practice is presented. A set of core activities is described as developing/strategizing, designing, and leading. A set of facilitative activities is described as communicating, decision-making, managing quality, marketing, and evaluating.