Do you resent your employees?

Recently, I overheard a couple of physicians discussing their managers and staff. One of the physicians complained that his manager after 15 years of making a “really good wage) of $35,000 was thinking of leaving. He couldn’t believe that she thought she might do better elsewhere. The other physician pointed out that the national average is around $50,000 and that his manager not only works as a manager, but is a certified medical assistant and does the billing. The first physician could not get over the resentment that his manager would consider leaving, but this made me wonder of there is not an even bigger problem lurking in this practice.

It is not uncommon to hear physicians and managers complain about their staff and how many view it as a “job and not a career.” Many are resentful of staff that leaves to find better wages. While some staff do consider it a job and in many cases it is because they are not encouraged to do anything more, other do consider it a career. Staff that is shown appreciation will feel that they are valued and this can translate into the felling of their work as a career. How do you show your staff that you appreciate them? Maybe you don’t actually resent them, but do they know that you do appreciate them? Do you show them? Do you encourage them to take their job seriously and that they are valued? How can they think of it as more than just a job, if their work isn’t valued? What difference does it make to you or the practice if they don’t do a good job as long as they do something and just make an effort?

Times are tough and many staff may need higher wages. Daycare costs can take a large percentage of their pay. Rent and daily living costs are also rising. Could you live on what you pay your staff? That doesn’t mean they should earn as much as you do, but that you should take into consideration that not only are times tough for you, but for your staff as well. They do not have the education or skills that you do and the providers are the ones that brings the most (if not all in many cases) revenue to the practice for that reason alone, you should be making a lot more. Your staff might be resenting what you make as well. Staff usually does not know or understand all of the overhead costs that you have and what it is you actually take home. They only see that you drive a better car than they do and live in a different neighborhood. They have no idea what you have had to sacrifice to get where you are and how hard it is to remain there.

You can’t always pay staff more, but you can show that that you do appreciate them. Think about what they do for you. Could you do all of the billing, handling patient’s problems such as refills, prior authorizations, and all of the many other tasks in a day? Could you do all of what they do and still see your current patient load? Only if you have a low patient load. Be honest with staff that due to tough times you may not be able to increase their salaries, but find other ways to show you appreciate them. Try thanking them for their work. Maybe you could pay for lunch, buy movie cards for extra work done, or treat then to a massage. There are many ways to say thank you and often that is what they really are looking for from you. Of course they could use more money, couldn’t we all? But most of the time they just want to be appreciated.

2010

With a new year ahead of us, it always makes me wonder what the year will bring. This time last year, could we have guessed that legislation affecting medical practices would go the route that they have recently? It really makes you wonder what changes this year will bring and how we will have to adapt to meet these new challenges.

Facing the unknown and adapting to the challenges in healthcare requires a strong leadership basis to be successful. How are your leadership skills? Maybe this is the year to consider taking new courses and broaden your knowledge base, or maybe it is time to obtain additional certification/education. Whatever path you decide this would be a good time to plan out how you can develop new leadership skills and enhance your leadership style. There are many free courses, articles, and other resources as well as many cost-effective ones. Whatever you choose, why not make leadership enhance as part of your new year’s plan of action?

Holiday fun

This year has had its ups and downs. Take a few minutes out of your day to enjoy some of the beauty of the planet and a little holiday humor.

http://www.fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/spiritual/pictures/news.php?q=1245101530
Places to visit in the US
http://traveler.nationalgeographic.com/drives/photography

Winter wonderlands
http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photos/patterns-snow-ice.html
Already tired of the snow-maybe looking at it a different way might help
http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photos/patterns-snowflakes.html
Or maybe some snow humor will help
http://mymerrychristmas.com/2005/shoveler.shtml

Preparing for the holidays at home
http://mymerrychristmas.com/2005/parentsnite.shtml
http://mymerrychristmas.com/2005/momsletter.shtml
http://www.humormatters.com/holidays/Christmas/santas%20day.htm

Preparing for the holidays at work
http://mymerrychristmas.com/2005/lawyer.shtml\
http://www.humormatters.com/holidays/Christmas/Twas/twascomputer.htm

http://www.humormatters.com/holidays/Christmas/Twas/twaslawstyle.htm
http://www.humormatters.com/holidays/Hanukkah/twashanu.htm

Games
http://www.humormatters.com/holidays/Christmas/xmassongs.htm
http://holidays.kaboose.com/games-xmas.html

Holiday song playlist
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=3167&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
http://www.guy-sports.com/humor/christmas/christmas_carols.htm

And last but not least-we have nothing to give you
http://mymerrychristmas.com/2005/nothing.shtml

Enjoy and have a safe and happy holiday season!

Oops, where are my manners?

Around the holiday season the stress starts to build. Ever feel overworked due to the end of the year crunch and dealing with the holidays both personally and professionally? Does your office seem to lose their manners? Does the team seem to fall apart during this time of the year? You are not alone. Many people start feeling stressed and depressed during this season. How can you cope then? According to the Mayo there are some common triggers include relationships, finances, and physical demands. They offer 10 tips for handling the triggers:
1. Acknowledge your feelings
2. Reach out to others
3. Be realistic
4. Set aside differences
5. Stick to a budget
6. Plan ahead
7. Learn to say no
8. Don’t abandon healthy habits
9. Take a breather
10. Seek professional help if you need it

The Mayo’s advice can also apply to the medical practice. Have the staff sit down and acknowledge the problems, set aside the differences to work out realistic, workable solutions. Review the practice fiances by conducting periodic audits throughout the year. Plan for the future and how the team can become stronger. Sometimes it is necessary to minimize the work and just say no to some projects. Consider hosting a company’s wide wellness program to encourage a health lifestyle. This time of year, many of the staff will develop a New Year’s resolution to become healthy-help, so why not help them? If they become healthier than the cots can decrease.

Why not take a breather? Have a fun, but low-key holiday party with the staff. You probably already have a party, but why not have a fun day? Plan a pot-luck or potato/salad/taco bar, the list of possibilities is endless. Throughout the day have fun games or activities that staff can do in-between the work. Have word games that they can play or trivia games on manners, healthcare or even the season. Then close a little early and announce the winners. By eating and having fun together it makes the team stronger and helps to reduce the stress. If these ideas do not work and there is still an issue with manners, consider bringing in a consultant to help with the team. There are many ways to approach the problem, but the key is to reduce the stress and start enjoying the team. By reducing the stress and making it an enjoyable place to work, you can often instantly turn around the mood and improve the manners. Have a great holiday season ad don’t forget your manners.


Source: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/stress/MH00030

Want to Help the Healthcare Crisis?

Want to give back to the community? Want to help with the healthcare crisis? Consider donating your time and resources to a free healthcare clinic http://freeclinics.us/ These events are in need of volunteers, of course they always need healthcare workers to make it happen, but also need others to make the event function smoothly. If you can’t donate your time, how about money to help serve those that can’t afford healthcare?

For those that live in the Kansas City area:
The National Association of Free Clinics has been very busy this fall as a result of the CARE Clinic in Houston sponsored by Dr. Oz where we saw almost 1800 people on a Saturday in September and then the phenomenal response from across the nation as a result of a call to action by Keith Olbermann on Countdown that raised money to support additional clinics.

We are pleased that on December 9th and 10th the National Association of Free Clinics (NAFC) will be sponsoring a two-day clinic in Kansas City at Bartle Hall and the health care community here is responding to make it happen.

We are recruiting volunteers—professional and lay people—and are just beginning the planning. I hope you will send this on to those in your contact list that might be interested in working with us. And, if you would like to help in the planning, let me know.

The website for volunteer to sign up to work at the Clinic itself should be up over the weekend.

This is an exciting opportunity to show the nation the wonderful way that Kansas City comes together to serve the uninsured!

Sheridan Y. Wood
Executive Director
Kansas City Free Health Clinic
3515 Broadway
Kansas City, MO 64111
DD: 816.777.2763
Other: 816.753.5144 Ext. 263
Fax: 816.777.2796
http://www.kcfree.org/

Should we wait to fix a mistake?

Sometimes mistakes happen in business. It can be as simple as staff error or equipment failure. In medicine this can have an adverse affect on the patient. In business it can mean bad publicity, for example recently a man was at a famous casino and the machine indicated that he had won $166 million. However the machine’s top prize was only $2,500. Initially they told him that it was a mistake and that he would take away nothing even though the machine clearly showed that he had won something. They pointed out the disclaimer on the machine and told him that it was an electronic error and therefore no prize would be awarded. Needless to say, he had the news on this one and it hit the wire service and was picked up and broadcasted around the country. The big question will be how much is this going to cost the business in the long run? Maybe they shouldn’t pay the entire amount that the man thought he won, but why not pay the machine’s maximum limit since it did show that he had won something? How many people have heard about this and how much is it going to affect the business image? Would it not have been worth it to offer something to the man on the spot? Later on after the story initially ran and they received so much negative publicity, they did offer an undisclosed settlement, but the damage had already been done to their reputation.

Every day in practices across the country, mistakes can happen. There has always been concern about admitting mistakes in healthcare, but sometimes it is a good idea and as soon as possible. Maybe just a simply apology from the staff member that made the mistake may be enough to satisfy the person before the problem spreads. How many people will the unhappy patient tell the longer the problem exists? What damage will it do and with on-line comments can it even be measured any more? The question becomes how much is our image worth to us? Everyone makes mistakes, but waiting to fix them can hurt.

Red Flag Delayed Again!

This may seem like a broken record, but yes the Red Flag Rules have been delayed.
"At the request of Members of Congress, the Federal Trade Commission is delaying enforcement of the “Red Flags” Rule until June 1, 2010, for financial institutions and creditors subject to enforcement by the FTC." For more details http://www2.ftc.gov/opa/2009/10/redflags.shtm