Physicians Practice - April 2008 - (Page 38)

MANAGEMENT informed in short order that the practice had switched to a new retirement plan. “It was, ‘We’ve done this,’ as opposed to ‘This is what is going to happen,’” Severino recalls. “And I think that’s what soured the entire staff. Because that affected everyone’s vesting schedule. Some people had been there for years and years and were fully vested, and now all of a sudden we have to start all over again with a new plan and go through the whole vesting period again?” pharmaceuticals, physician referrals, and a slightly higher premium. But rather than thrust the new plan onto the practice’s unsuspecting employees, Becker incorporated the ofﬁce staff into the decision-making process. “When we went to the staff, we were quite honest,” she recalls. “We told them, ‘This is what your insurance costs in addition to your salary,’ because lots of people don’t understand that. We then told them that we can do one of two things: go with a less-expensive HMO carrier or Women are more self-conscious about their appearance than men. Therefore, you can expect your female employees to be more resistant to dress code changes than their male counterparts. Really? Recall Nancy Becker’s young male receptionist. The value he placed on his physical appearance far outranked those of his female coworkers. Employees who are promoted will invariably be resented by their former peers whom they must now supervise. Not necessarily. When Merrilee Severino’s supervisors depersonalized her promotion and focused instead on the position she assumed, her coworkers did not begrudge their new supervisor her success. There is no easy way to cut back on staff beneﬁts. Just bite the bullet, announce the change, and wait for the dust to settle. … Well, your employees probably won’t be happy in any case. But being transparent about your practice’s ﬁnances and involving staff in beneﬁts decisions goes a long way. So yes, change is constant, and it is difﬁcult. But as with so many managerial tasks, effective leaders who think outside the box rather than rushing to judgment can help your staff adjust to workplace transitions large and small and still maintain the high morale that accompanies a teamwork approach. When implementing policy changes, no matter how small, it’s crucial to emphasize the positive — even if you have to dig deep to find it. ELIMINATE THE NEGATIVE Such griping can be diminished, says Severino, even if the outcome is the same. She advises physicians and management staff to tell their employees “sooner rather than later” when they are considering beneﬁts changes of any type. And if it’s at all possible, give your employees some decisionmaking ability, however small, to allow them to express their preferences when it comes to their beneﬁts. “If you can give them any type of choice in the situation, it makes them more accepting of the change,” says Severino. Becker recalls that she was once called into a practice whose overhead costs had spiraled out of control, and the physicians were operating in the red. They were currently offering their staff a very generous insurance plan with very low copays and no required referrals. Becker suggested that the physicians instead offer their employees a less-expensive HMO that entailed higher copays for office visits and 38 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | APRIL 2008 perhaps have to cut a staff person and have everyone work harder to keep up with overhead expenses.” Becker says the choice wasn’t meant to be a scare tactic: The physicians showed their employees exactly what their overhead costs were and explained to them why they had to present them with this uncomfortable choice. “The employees seemed to understand,” says Becker. “And although they obviously weren’t thrilled about it, looking at the alternative, they accepted it less grudgingly than they would have if we just said, ‘OK, we’re changing the insurance, and now your copay is going to be higher.’” DON’T ASSUME • Barbara A. Gabriel, MA, is the associate editor of Physicians Practice. She has served as editor and writer for numerous healthcare publications over the past 10 years. Barbara can be reached at bgabriel@physicianspractice.com. When it comes to helping staff adapt to change, whether you work in a solo or large multispecialty practice, physicians and management should avoid making what they may consider to be “nobrainer” assumptions. WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Physicians Practice - April 2008

Physicians Practice - April 2008 Contents The Bigger Picture: Medicare Decision Time Letters Physicians Practice Pearls: Outsource Your Pain Noteworthy Cover Story: Trial Lawyers Tell All Management: When It’s Time to Change Ask the Experts Technology: Do You Know Where Your Data Is? The Tech Doctor: Are Your Discarded PCs Really Clean? Billing & Collections: Playing Hardball The Administrator's Desk: Recruiting for Patient Satisfaction Start It Up: Finance - Mastering the Numbers Game Coding The Great Practice Makeover: Taking Care of Business Associates Classifieds Advertiser Index

Physicians Practice - April 2008

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