Practice, Ambulatory & Surgery Center Operations salary guide

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Published BLS wages for this family. BLS OEWS May 2025.

Practice Manager SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers. broader match.
Practice Administrator SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers. broader match.
Medical Group Administrator SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers. broader match.
Director of Ambulatory Operations SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers. broader match.
Regional Practice Director SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers. broader match.
ASC Administrator SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers. broader match.
ASC Clinical Director / Director of Nursing SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers. broader match.
ASC Business Office Manager SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers. broader match.
Regional Director of Operations, ASC SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers. broader match.
VP of ASC Development SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers. broader match.
Urgent Care Director of Operations SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers. broader match.
Director of Medical Staff Services SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers. broader match.
Dialysis Facility Administrator SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers. broader match.
Regional Practice Manager SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers. broader match.
Director of Operations SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers. broader match.
Clinic Manager SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers. broader match.
Director of Clinical Operations SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers. broader match.

What do practice and surgery center operations leaders actually run?

These roles keep the practice, clinic, or surgery center moving each day. The leader reviews staffing, patient flow, schedules, vendor issues, and open balances. They answer to the owner, physician group, or market leader. They also decide what stays local and what needs escalation.

In an ASC, the day often includes case schedule review, supply checks, and staff coverage calls. In a practice, it may mean fixing front-desk gaps, payer questions, and provider schedule conflicts.

Which job duties change the pay range the most?

Pay changes with site size, number of locations, and scope of authority. A manager with one clinic desk and one provider panel does less than a director overseeing several practices. An ASC leader who handles business office issues and clinical flow carries a wider brief.

We also look at who owns budget choices. Some leaders approve labor changes, vendor contracts, and policy updates. Others only recommend them and wait for physician or corporate sign-off.

What does a normal workday look like in these roles?

The day starts with schedule review, call-outs, patient access problems, and same-day bottlenecks. Later, the leader may meet with physicians, nurses, coders, or front-office staff. They track complaints, denials, overtime, and room turnover concerns as they come up.

They are not sitting apart from operations. They move between the front desk, back office, and leadership meetings. In surgery centers, they may also work around block schedules, vendor delivery timing, and sterile supply needs.

How should physician owners use this salary guide?

Use the guide to compare roles that sound similar but carry different authority. A practice administrator may own day-to-day admin work. A regional practice director may spend more time on site review, manager coaching, and standard work across several offices. Those are not the same jobs.

When you write the job, say who this person answers to and who they lead. State whether they handle payroll review, schedule changes, payer issues, or patient complaint follow-up. That helps us compare the role to the market correctly.

What should we ask before we post the role?

Ask who controls the budget, who signs off on staffing changes, and who handles provider conflict. Ask whether the role covers one site, several sites, or a center and clinic mix. Ask who owns the revenue cycle, and who owns daily operations.

We also ask about the most common problems on the floor. That may be staffing gaps, late starts, claim edits, turnover, or surgery day delays. Those details affect the kind of leader you need.

How do we read the title family across practices and surgery centers?

Titles vary across practices and surgery centers. A director of ambulatory operations may do work similar to a clinic manager with broader scope. An ASC business office manager may work closely with the administrator, but the authority line is different.

Do not judge the role from title alone. Review the reporting line, the number of staff supervised, and the decisions the person can make without waiting. That gives a better match for compensation discussions and candidate screening.

What else should you ask about this edition?

Does a single-site practice manager usually need the same background as an ASC administrator?

Not always. A practice manager may spend more time on front-office flow, provider schedules, and office staffing. An ASC administrator usually deals with surgery day coordination, business office issues, and center-wide oversight. We compare the actual scope, not just the title.

What should we clarify if one person handles both clinic and surgery center work?

Spell out which site gets first attention when problems happen the same day. Say who handles staffing calls, who signs off on spending, and who speaks with physicians. Mixed roles can look alike on paper but differ in real authority.

How do we judge whether a regional title is truly regional?

Ask how many locations the person visits and what they review at each site. A real regional leader usually coaches local managers, checks performance issues, and reports patterns to ownership. If they only cover one location with a broader title, the market comparison changes.

What if the role includes both business office and clinical leadership?

That split should be written clearly. Some centers want one person who can talk with billing staff in the morning and nursing staff in the afternoon. We ask where the decision line sits, because that affects the level of leader you need.