Five common mistakes of automating your staff
Do it right the first time to save time, money
There is the right way to automate your field staff, and then there is the wrong way. Michelle Boasten, owner of FBE Service Network, a home care consulting firm in Akron, OH, has seen her share of both and describes the five most common mistakes she sees in her works with home infusion and home care providers.
Before a provider discusses technology, Boasten is quick to point out that there are two types of automation: field automation and back office automation.
"Probably 99.9% of home infusion back offices will be automated, and that can be broken into billing, payroll, and scheduling," she says. "Second is field automation, and that is the clinical side," which Boasten addresses for Home Infusion Therapy Management readers.
• Mistake No. 1: Underestimating the level of commitment required to take a staff from paper to automated environment.
Providers don’t enter the process totally naive, but typically they are not near as aware as they should be.
"They think that it will be painful, but they don’t anticipate just how painful," says Boasten. "To convert one clinician from paper to a laptop or handheld, which includes training, hardware, software, etc., takes approximately $12,000 and six months."
Too many providers don’t fully understand the time and capital investments necessary to properly make the switch.
• Mistake No. 2: Underestimating the total resources needed.
Too many people don’t realize the full commitment necessary to make automation and technology really work.
"Home infusion is a 24-7 business," notes Boasten. "You need IS people and good trainers, and you have to do better than a one-day training seminar."
In essence, you must hire an in-house staff to make sure your system runs well all the time.
"You don’t have the luxury of a system being down very long without disrupting your daily practices, so you need to have people on hand."
• Mistake No. 3: Underestimating and overestimating the power of information and data.
Few people typically understand how much — or little — data can do for you. A common mistake is for providers to automate and then think the data will go to work on its own.
"Many people think that data is magically put to use once everything is automated," she says. "Is it a glorified typewriter or are you collecting the data? And once you collect the data, you’ve got to do something with it."
And that is when most people underestimate the full value of the data sitting in their computers.
"If you collect it, you can market and sell it and use it to make your internal practices a lot more efficient," says Boasten. "Clinical trials are always run on infusion. They need information back on drugs. All drug companies are paying for this data on clinical trials. They are paying for it on paper, so you know they would pay for it electronically."
She adds that much of your information, such as how long it takes to deliver a drug and certain care, is valuable to managed care organizations as well. Don’t overlook your data as a possible profit center.
Cut your costs
• Mistake No. 4: Underestimating the power of newer technology out there.
"You need the right tool for the right industry," says Boasten. "Many people think that laptops and handhelds are the cream of the crop. The truth is, they’re not. It is probably the worst decision someone can make for a transient field clinical person. For home infusion staff, the best type of tool is the tool that costs you the least to maintain."
That’s why Boasten recommends using telemedicine whenever possible.
"By using the telephone rather than a laptop or handheld, you can cut the cost of automating by about 90%."
Along those lines, Boasten is the vice president of Teledocument, a Cincinnati-based company that offers Dial-n-Document, a product that allows field staff to enter patient data over the phone from the field. (See related story, below.)
"It costs about $1.25 per visit, but you can collect both visit data and clinical data, and you don’t need any IS personnel."
• Mistake No. 5: Underestimating the real barrier: change.
Any time you undertake such a big change in your operations as going from paper to automation, Boasten suggests using this checklist to prepare yourself:
-Use people who have already been through the process — consultants, associations, peers, e-mail lists.
"Find people who have literally been through the process, not someone who can postulate about the process," she says.
-Be committed to the process, and be aware of the resource requirements.
-Be open-minded about what is best for you, not the provider down the street.
"Don’t let someone else choose your system," warns Boasten.
- Get staff to buy in. Without a willing staff, you’re doomed from the start.
- Understand what Boasten calls the "robustness of service." Realize that laptops are computers and they have a tendency to crash or break. How will you prepare for such situations?
By avoiding these mistakes, Boasten says you will save yourself plenty of time and effort. "Otherwise, the switch over will cost you much more after you’re done messing it up the first time."
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