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Home > Resources > eNews > Sept 2000 Part2 |
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The Managed Care Insider eNews Volume Two Number 8 September 2000 PART TWO of TWO Welcome to The Managed Care Insider eNews. You are receiving this because you have subscribed; the eNews is never sent unsolicited. Subscribe/unsubscribe information can be found at the end of this eNews. The Managed Care Insider eNews is published, copyrighted, and owned by The Scheur Management Group, Inc. (SMG), http://www.scheur.com and is distributed monthly, free to subscribers. If you wish to forward this edition, you may do so only if the edition is forwarded in its entirety. No reproduction of any part of this publication is permitted without the express permission of the publishers. ---------------------------------------------------------------- "Tips for Improving the Healthcare Work Environment," -- how employers and employees, and their benefits, health and hiring, can affect the business operations -- began in Part One of this Insider eNews issue and continues here in Part Two. As always, we invite you to send us your comments to insider@scheur.com. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Tips for Improving the Healthcare Work Environment By David Buchmueller (Continued from The Managed Care Insider eNews, Vol. 2 n8, Part One) 7. DEAL IN FACTS Given the sizeable amount that hospitals, health systems and health plans spend on salaries and benefits, it is imperative that they have: - a Position Control Document that reconciles to the personnel budget; - a staffing plan tied to workload and on which revenues and expenses are based; and - a daily reporting system which assures that staffing matches workload and which facilitates prompt adjustments. This is basic blocking and tackling - - but few health service organizations have such reporting systems in place. A system meeting the above needs and more is offered by OnTrak Solutions (www.ontraksolutions.com) . 8. LOOK FOR SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS A sick or suffering organization will often exhibit that malaise or weakness in the form of excessive absence due to illness or, perhaps, frequent tardiness. Each organizational setting is unique, but I've found that: (a) if absence due to illness is comfortably below 3%, this aspect of the organization is probably okay and (b) if it's well above 3%, there is probably a basis for investigation. Again, the analysis is not rocket science. Look for frequency of absence and when it occurs, e.g., Mondays, Fridays and before holidays. The positive actions are also pretty straightforward. Give a cash award for 12 (or maybe even 6) months perfect attendance. Let employees sell back, at a discount, a limited amount of sick leave. The same goes for being alert regarding workers comp use and cost. Benchmark your experience. Part of it is a mindset. Encourage employees to think of workers comp as "insurance for a contingency" not as "an employee benefit." Many healthcare organizations have successfully utilized the software programs and services of Health Management Technologies (www.hmtsales@ssigroup.com) not only to manage their cases, but also to carry that capability to their healthcare clients. 9. MEASURE Many enlightened healthcare organizations regularly conduct employee satisfaction/attitude surveys -- an especially good idea for a new CEO or HR Director. However, management must be ready to act on valid concerns or the result will be worse than not asking at all. Management Science Associates (MSA) (www.mgmtscience.com) is one of several firms doing this work for healthcare organizations. MSA has a database that contains over 1,000,000 healthcare employee responses and they can also help with follow up, if needed. 10. WORK AS A TEAM It is a leadership responsibility to: - get people working together in a unit; - bring different units together as part of a system, e.g., Claims and Provider Relations in an HMO or Emergency Department and Admitting in a hospital; - listen to ideas and inputs; and - tie system performance and success to individual rewards. 11. HAVE FUN If you are asking people to spend eight hours or more a day in pursuing the goals of the organization, you should work consciously to create a cheerful and positive atmosphere -- without losing sight of the overall goals to provide superior products and services and to be profitable. This can be a planned picnic or holiday party or it may be spontaneous. But it needs to happen. 12. RECOGNIZE AND REWARD In today's environment, managers must explicitly set high standards and then positively reinforce those people who meet or exceed them. Everyone appreciates rewards and recognition when they are meaningfully linked to a superior effort. Sure, money is great! However, recognition and reward can take many forms. This is amply demonstrated in 1001 Ways to Reward Employees by Bob Nelson (Workman Publishing, New York). 13. SHOW RESPECT In my judgment, nothing is more important. This can take many forms: - It starts with the Golden Rule and by simply saying "please" and "thank you." - It involves the old adage of "praise in public and criticize in private." - It welcomes diversity of people and opinions, so long as all are working as respectful colleagues, focused on common goals. - It can entail taking the 90-120 seconds necessary to drop someone a handwritten note of thanks or praise. Yes, a handwritten note even in this era of e-mails. This "baker's dozen" can be key to establishing a "working" organizational environment. And although the references cited herein represent companies I am familiar with and trust, there are other well-qualified firms out there that may serve as resources. The space available limits the number of items and the extent to which I can expound on any of them. What would you add? What would you delete? What do you think? About the author: David Buchmueller's career spans over 30 years as a senior executive with or consultant to academic medical centers and hospitals and health systems. As CEO of hospitals and health systems, Mr. Buchmueller applied his expertise in managing operationally and financially challenged institutions, enhancing physician and interdisciplinary team efforts, developing new clinical programs and strengthening community relations. As Vice President of Scheur Management Group, Mr. Buchmueller is leading services in the areas of improving operations, building positive personnel and physician relationships, and developing strategic alliances. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Sites and Sounds on the Net: SMG has no ownership of, nor does it endorse the following sites. This information is presented as a resource for subscribers. In keeping with this issue's focus on human resource issues, we present the following sites which cover this area. Monster.com is a huge job posting site that encompasses a wide range of career information resources, including healthcare. The information on human resources is at http://hr.monster.com The Alexander Hamilton Institute publishes newsletters, booklets, and manuals - that can be purchased directly from the site - covering hundreds of employment law issues. There are also many FREE resources at this site: http://www.ahipubs.com Employee benefit news is both a subscriber-based and free site with lots of information at http://www.benefitnews.com The Business Owner's Toolkit has many forms, policies, and information related to hiring, firing and benefits at http://www.toolkit.cch.com/text/p05_0000.asp ---------------------------------------------------------------- End of PART TWO of TWO, The Managed Care Insider eNews, Volume Two, Number 8. Scheur Management Group (SMG) is one of the most experienced specialized healthcare operations management and business revitalization consulting firms in the country. Our expertise is in time-sensitive analyses, strategic business and market planning, operational re-engineering, and communications, as well as implementation of start-ups, expansions, and new products. The firm's clients cover the spectrum of insurers, managed care organizations, physician groups, integrated delivery systems, hospitals, employers, governmental entities, vendors, and other providers. Contributing to this edition is David Buchmueller. Editing and Research by Judith Jaffe. Production Coordination by Nancy K. Belle. TO SUBSCRIBE: visit http://www.scheur.com/smghome.nsf/webcontent/ezine.html or send e-mail to insider@scheur.com with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject and name, email, company, title, and country in the message. TO UNSUBSCRIBE: send email message to insider@scheur.com with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject. Please take a minute to visit our eNews page at http://www.scheur.com/smghome.nsf/webcontent/ezine.html for archives, subscriber information and to RATE our ezine. Get up-to-the-minute health care news on-line at www.scheur.com |
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