Book excerpt: A hospital can be a private or public sector building where patients are admitted for acute treatment. On the other hand, a clinic is a hub of healthcare activity and a place where care providers interact with patients, prescribe medicine, and provide care instructions on what to do after leaving the clinic. Both sites have different and specific operational management needs and requirements. This book serves as a guide to new consultants, management engineers, administrators, and sales professionals seeking to assess simple clinics or medical practice operations. In addition to providing important information about the various aspects of managing a clinic or medical practice, each chapter explains common operating practices seen today and gives some indication of good or better practices. To organize the chapter flow, the chapters are simplified into the typical flow of how a patient moves through the system from patient access to registration to discharge and is presented in a ‘Fact Finder’ format. In this format, the author answers important questions: What is a care team? What kind of physical space does the practice need? What about equipment and technology needs? Finally, the author concludes with key infrastructure concepts, such as leadership and management systems, integration into larger systems, and key measurements. All topics important to those working in or servicing the ambulatory market.