Working with other health professionals

Advise other health professionals of the scope of services and specialties/areas of expertise so they may be more likely to use and/or refer appropriate patients to your practice.

If you are a new practice manager starting at a practice, you should introduce yourself to other practice managers and health professionals in the area.

If you have a new GP, or health professional commencing at your practice it is also important that other health professionals are made aware of their starting at the practice.

If you are a specialist practice, it is important to know your referrers and to build your referral base.

Here are some suggestions about how to introduce yourself to other professionals:

• Make contact with or visit other practice managers and practices in the area.
  As a manager of a specialist practice, it would be essential that you make contact with the general practice managers in your referral catchment area.
• Join your Medicare Local – either as an individual or as a practice.
• Use your professional association to locate other practice managers and appropriate educational activities.
• Go to educational meetings.
• Update your professional profile on electronic media (e.g. Linkedin).
• Attend network groups – this could introduce your name locally.
• Make yourself known to local health providers, pharmacies and local community health centre/s.

• Visit other general practices in the area.
• Join your Medicare Local – either as an individual or as a practice.
• Go to educational meetings.
• Support your practice manager to attend network groups.
• Make yourself known to local pharmacies and local community health centre/s.
• Send a letter of introduction to specialists and allied health professionals you may be working with (e.g. surgeons, psychiatrists, physiotherapists, psychologists, dieticians).

• Visit other specialists and/or allied health professionals in the area.
• Get to know the needs of your referrers.
• Visit general practitioners in the area.
• Join your Medicare Local – either as an individual or as a practice.
• Promote your practice via the Medicare Local newsletter.
• Offer to speak at education sessions for general practitioners.
• Send a letter of introduction to general practitioners in the area.
• Send a letter of introduction to medical specialists or allied health professionals you may be working with (e.g. physiotherapists if you are a surgeon).

There is more about marketing yourself and your practice in the Market and patients topic

As a practice manager, you should:

1. get to know all other practitioners in the local area you are servicing
2. become familiar with Medicare Local, Medicare and other support staff that can be of benefit to you and the practice
3. attend local professional development (and relevant clinical) meetings
4. regularly attend practice manager networking meetings
5. encourage employed nurses to regularly attend nurses’ networking meetings.

"Hello. My name is Michael Norton. I’m the new manager for Dr Bones, the orthopaedic surgeon in town. I would like to make a time to meet with you or Dr [Jones] so that I can introduce myself and talk about the services we plan to provide. Perhaps I could call at the surgery and leave a couple of business cards and a brochure for you at the same time?"