Hayes' Healthcare Blog

In today’s dynamic healthcare environment, it is more common than not to rely on an outside resource during times of change. Whether it’s organizational restructuring, system implementations or staffing deficits due to illness or family emergencies, you have likely needed to outsource.  Speaking as a healthcare consultant, when I start a project there is an expectation to immediately pick up where someone left off. Not only are you looking for a seamless transition, consultants want to make it as easy as possible jump in and help during a transition. So what is the best way to get your resources up to speed? In a word – documentation.   

It’s easy to think of this hand off as running a relay race and the time comes to pass the baton to the next person. The runner wants to be able to hand it off properly and the person receiving the baton has to be ready.  If the hand off is not done correctly, they could lose the race, or in this case, slow down workflows, risk insufficient revenue collection, or experience an unsuccessful implementation. If your staff is the first runner and your independent expert your second, then documentation is your baton. Documentation can take all sorts of forms; anything from meeting minutes to communicative emails to gathering workflow information from other departments.

Inaccurate or incomplete documentation wastes organizational time and money. For example, think of the time it takes a coder to contact a physician to clarify documentation. If this staff member leaves and is part of your revenue cycle, it is costlier yet to send an inaccurate bill out the door to be denied or only partially paid. By ensuring your knowledge transfer is complete and accurate, your staff will be able to spend more time on other necessary tasks and your organization won’t feel the consequences from a less-than-ideal documentation process. On the front side of things, correct documentation and knowledge transfer will not only allow patients to receive better and more thorough care, but you improve the likelihood that your invoices are reimbursed, your workflows are fluid, and your resources are optimized.

This is the second installment of a two-part blog mini-series where I share the tricks of the trade with detailed tips surrounding 7 essential “train the trainer” categories.  Missed the first half? No worries, you can check it out here: 7 Tips to Cultivate Your Trainer, Part 1 of 2.

Preparing your trainer to deliver an impactful learning experience is essential for getting the most return on your training program. Aside from the curriculum, learn how to inspire, groom, and mentor your trainer to enhance your program and promote skill set growth. A good teacher mixed with a thoughtful technique can make the difference in what learners retain.

This is the first of a two-part blog mini-series where I share the tricks of the trade with detailed tips surrounding 7 essential “train the trainer” categories.

Eight out of ten hospitals under 100 beds are engaging in Revenue Cycle Management outsourcing because of lack of skilled staff.[1] The graying of the baby boomer generation and the resulting retirements is putting a personnel strain on all businesses and the healthcare industry is no exception.

Healthcare organizations are being hit particularly hard in regard to physicians and nurses, but they are also seeing a lack of trained personnel in unseen, under appreciated but critical areas. One particular skills gap involves revenue cycle management personnel, a workforce that operates in large part behind the scenes but one that is crucial to optimizing a healthcare organization’s revenue stream.

Filling revenue cycle roles can be difficult because historically these jobs haven’t been valued as much as other positions in the organization. That’s a major mistake and failing to change that attitude can lead to serious negative financial impacts.

From the beginning of the cycle where front end staff checks in patients to the back end business office where A/R representatives, payment posters, cash control representatives and customer service representatives toil in relative anonymity, the process relies on dedicated, trained personnel, operating at peak performance.

Individuals in these roles must understand a multitude of payer requirements and recognize the interrelationship of every step in the cycle. They have to know the process thoroughly and understand their customers intimately. Finding and retaining staff for these positions should be a high priority for any organization.

Unfortunately that’s not always the case. Many organizations underestimate the complexity of these jobs and the skillset required to carry them out effectively. Here are four things to consider to attract and retain the right people to keep your revenue cycle flowing smoothly.

In the world of healthcare technology, there are numerous system implementations occurring each year.  In order to make an implementation successful, it is crucial to develop your users into “super users” during the implementation process.  It is common for implementations to include and involve roles such as Project Managers, Practice (Operations) Managers, IT System analysts, and trainers, among others.  Each of these roles  have well defined parameters and expectations.  Often implementations involve super users, but this role is not always well defined and expectations are not always clear. 

A super user is your department’s champion for system knowledge and workflows. This person becomes your expert for the system implementation and teaches other employees how to use the new system features. Once you've identified your super users, you need to have clear expectations for this critical role. 

Questions should be asked early when selecting the super user.  Questions to consider include: Which user should you pick? What qualities should a super user have? How do you train them? Sometimes, you may pick someone that you feel is right for the job but turns out to be someone that is not quite fit for the role. 

Consider the following tips when choosing your super users for your next implementation:

Electronic health record (EHR) implementation, planning, training, implementation, scheduling, optimization, planning, implementation, implementation! These concepts seem to be the only words we hear buzzing around our heads when we talk about EHRs. But what about post-live? There seems to be a scarcity of conversation once the initial shock has worn off and routines start emerging. Sometimes just knowing how to use something new isn’t enough. Are you leveraging your new EHR to its full potential? Here’s an easy, low cost checklist to ensure you are optimizing your EHR.