According to personal development trainer and author Brian Tracy
(he wrote the best-selling Psychology of Achievement),
“only 3 percent of adults have clear, written, specific,
measurable, time-bounded goals, and by every statistic, they
accomplish 10 times as much as people with no goals at
all.”
As I travel around the country, I can't help but notice that
many HME companies are among the other 97 percent and do not set
goals for their employees. This translates to staff not knowing
what is expected of them. Consequently, employees often waste time
on unimportant tasks, and they regularly engage other staff in
minor matters.
The fact is, staff needs to know what they are expected to do in
a quantifiable, measurable manner. There is a strong relationship
between a successful company and meaningful and collaborative
goal-setting.
One way to begin the goal-setting process is to interview your
staff. I recommend that you first ask employees to jot down their
daily accomplishments for one or two weeks, then once complete,
meet with each employee to review their diaries. Drill down their
logs/diaries to determine how long, on average, it takes to perform
each task. Discuss how much more each employee could accomplish if
he or she were given the time and resources to complete each
function. Many will say they can't really pinpoint how long it
takes to perform each task because of interruptions or their varied
work flow.
Do not let this get in your way. Prod and probe (ask how long it
would take if they didn't have to answer phones, for example) until
you establish a realistic and educated gauge of what it takes to
accomplish their tasks. Establish goals together and seek
percentage and/or other quantifiable means of improvement, e.g. a
10 or 20 percent reduction in DSO or CMNs in three months, five or
10 more deliveries or 12 to 15 complete and accurate orders taken
daily.
Once you establish what each employee actually does each day,
look for better, more efficient ways of handling their duties. For
example, how long does it take to complete an insurance
verification? If staff is constantly calling the insurance company,
it will take exponentially longer than if they are able to obtain
most of the needed information on-line. Further, if you create a
metric of your most common insurance plans and their general
requirements, you will have something on which to rely for common
guidelines.
Ultimately, by honing in on the staff's current tasks and how
they work to complete them, you should be able to hasten the
process considerably. Find alternate ways of handling the task and
include staff in setting the new goals to ensure a sense of
ownership.
With the technological advancements we see every day, it is
clearly easier to automate functions and measure outcomes in ways
that were mostly manual even five years ago. For example, automated
delivery routes/GPS systems help drivers use their time more wisely
as well as track and monitor drivers' speed, stops per hour and
whereabouts; eCMNs and efaxes shave days, if not weeks, off of CMN
retrieval time. Moreover, they've eliminated a lot of extra time
spent using fax machines and wondering if a fax was truly sent or
received. Additionally, automated work flow tools manage
assignments and projects, allowing you to monitor progress and
gauge success. Simple or sophisticated, software that tracks
projects, percentage completed and remaining tasks will assist in
giving you and your staff a solid set of goals and
expectations.
Challenge your staff and management to think outside the box
when setting goals. Other industries may have great ideas that can
be incorporated into the HME industry.
The bottom line is that providers are finally open to changing
the way they do business. I believe most HME providers are
profoundly concerned about waning profits and want to assure their
continued viability. In that context, they are willing to adopt new
ideas for success. Goal-setting and accountability measures should
be at the top of the list. If goals and objectives are already a
part of each day, look for new ways of accomplishing tasks that
might dramatically enhance productivity.
Complacency is a thing of the past; creative thinking and a
constant desire for measurable improvement should be the motto for
today.
Read more The Bottom Line
columns.
Miriam Lieber is president of Lieber
Consulting, Sherman Oaks, Calif., specializing in operations
management and reimbursement for the HME industry. You can reach
her at 818/789-0670 or by email at miriam@lieberconsulting.com.
