EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Patient access leaders can informally encourage future leaders by bringing employees to meetings with other departments and asking them to give presentations. Employees can:
- offer suggestions to resolve difficulties with a physician office;
- train colleagues on how new clinical processes affect registration;
- resolve scheduling disputes;
- create the initial draft of training manuals.
When Aimee Egesdal, manager of patient access at Genesis Health System in Davenport, IA, meets with another department, she often brings one of her best employees along. This gives the employee a chance to meet new people.
“Since they do the work daily, they tend to have great ideas to share, especially when we are meeting on a process improvement idea,” Egesdal says.
Recently, Egesdal attended a meeting with a physician office with which patient access was experiencing some difficulties. She brought a patient access staff member along.
“She appreciated being included, as she could speak firsthand on the concerns and offer suggestions for improvement,” Egesdal recalls. The office manager liked the idea, and brought her own staff members into the discussion. The patient access employee enjoyed being part of the process.
“It’s important for staff to see how to have those ‘difficult’ conversations in a positive and constructive manner,” Egesdal says.
When new projects are under implementation in patient access areas, Egesdal asks employees with leadership potential to explain the changes to their colleagues.
“Recently, at one of our critical access hospitals, my lead registrar participated in a week-long ‘Lean’ event on how to improve the infusion process,” Egesdal says, noting the lead registrar then trained her co-workers in how the new process would affect registration. “Staff like to listen to their co-workers. They tend to be able to sell the idea or change better.”
David Kelly, director of revenue cycle management at Mary Rutan Hospital in Bellefontaine, OH, likes to give employees “ownership” when an issue comes up in the department. Recently, there was a scheduling dispute.
“Rather than push out a top-down solution, our patient access supervisor brought the shift employees together and asked them to resolve the situation themselves,” Kelly says.
Another recent example involved a training guide for the hospital’s communications system, for which patient access is responsible.
“Rather than just put together a training guide that we thought would work, we asked some of our key employees to do the initial draft,” Kelly says.
SOURCES
- Aimee Egesdal, Manager, Patient Access, Genesis Health System, Davenport, IA. Phone: (563) 421-2235. Fax: (563) 421-3608. Email: [email protected].
- David Kelly, Director, Revenue Cycle Management, Mary Rutan Hospital, Bellefontaine, OH. Phone: (937) 651-6338. Email: [email protected].
Encourage employees to share ideas.
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