Physicians Practice - October 2008 - (Page 18)

P eARLS HOW ’BOUT THEM GAS PRICES? BY OWEN DAHL PHYSICIANS ADVISORY BOARD David Albenberg, MD Scott Meyer, MD Access Healthcare, Prairie Glen Family Medicine, Charleston, SC Glenview, IL Michael F. Bonazzola, MD Oregon Health & Science University Medical Group, Portland, OR Juliet Breeze, MD Richmond Bone and Joint Clinic P Richmond, TX .A., Lucien W. Roberts III, MHA, FACMPE Cognos LLC Glen Allen, VA William Smits, MD The Allergy & Asthma Center, Fort Wayne, IN Here’s one metric of an economic downturn: Increased fuel prices not only translate into higher commuting expenses, but they also fatten up food costs due to greater shipping expenses and the need to divert food stuffs to use for fuel. As a proactive manager, it is important to consider these factors both when hiring new employees and in providing staff recognition/incentive programs. Remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? This states that there are various levels of needs that all humans pos- by Maslow. Ask yourself: Is there anything you or your practice can do to help mitigate these worries for your staff so they can concentrate on their jobs? Make your appreciation tangible and useful. How about recognizing excellent work by awarding a gas or grocery gift card instead of one for the movies? Find small, meaningful, and proactive ways to offer to assist employees, without them having to ask for help — and suffer embarrassment for needing help. Robert C. Goldszer, MD, MBA Mount Sinai Medical Center Miami Beach, FL BUSINESS ADVISORY BOARD Rebecca A.H. Anwar, PhD The Sage Group, Philadelphia, PA John Barrasso, MD Wyoming Medical Center, Casper, WY V. Alin Botoman, MD Holy Cross Hospital, Fort Lauderdale, FL Barry Brennan Miami Children’s Hospital, Miami, FL Greg Bruce UMC Health System, Lubbock, TX Patrick Cawley, MD Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC Lee M. Duke II, MD Lancaster General Lancaster, PA Wanda English Shands at the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL Richard Gangemi, MD Rochester General Hospital, Rochester, NY Hewitt Goodpasture, MD Via Christi Regional Medical Center, Wichita, KS Diane Haines Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR Darren R. Haskell, MD St. Luke’s Hospital, Chesterﬁeld, MO Larry Hopperstead, MD Central Maine Medical Center, Lewiston, ME Allen B. Hornell, MD ETMC Regional Healthcare System,Tyler, TX Timothy Huffcutt Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Marshﬁeld, WI Peter J. Jacoby, MD, FACEP St. Mary’s Hospital, Waterbury, CT Cynthia Johnson Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC Jean Kostelansky Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL Michael Kryda, MD Ministry Healthcare, Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Milwaukee, WI Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA Jim Lindsey, MD SETON Family of Hospitals Austin, TX John Mackel, MD Saint Francis Medical Center, Cape Girardeau, MO Phillip J. Manno, M.D., F .A.C.P . Nevada Cancer Institute, Las Vegas, NV Lorraine L. Manzella SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY Hagop Mekhjian, MD OSU Medical Center, Columbus, OH Daniel M. Navin, MD Munson Healthcare, Traverse City, MI Harold Pillsbury, III, MD UNC Hospitals, Chapel Hill, NC Thomas Pow, MD Lakeland Regional Health System, St. Josephs, MI Brian Reardon St. John’s Hospital Springﬁeld, IL Kevin Ruggles, MD Rockford Health System Rockford, IL Ronald W. Swinfard, MD Lehigh Valley Hospital, Bethlehem, PA R. Stephen Taylor, MD Piedmont Hospital, Atlanta, GA Donald Thomas, MD Kingman Regional Medical Center Kingman, AZ Jerome Thompson, MD UT Medical Group, Memphis, TN J. Stephen Wikle, MD, MPH Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, Newport Beach, CA Michael Wong, MD Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY Sally Wright, MD Swedish Medical Center, Seattle, WA John M. Zerwas, MD Memorial Hermann, Houston, TX Nathan J. Zuckerman, MD Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County, Willingboro, NJ You hire with wages and retain with benefits. HR MAXIM sess, with the most basic at the bottom. I’m sure you’re thinking, “Well, that’s interesting, but why bring it up?” The reason is to encourage you to think about what your employees are experiencing at home right now, considering the current state of the economy. The increasing ﬁnancial demands of paying the mortgage, gassing up the car, buying food, and the like are causing essential changes in how people live and work — and lots of stress along with those changes. You may already publicly acknowledge your staff’s contributions to the practice and regularly proffer a pat on the back for a job well done. You may feel conﬁdent that this is sufﬁcient to motivate your employees to do their best. Don’t get me wrong — those are wonderful habits; keep them up. But … it’s hard to sustain being a health professional if you’re, say, a single mother who is preoccupied with paying her mortgage, having enough gas money to get back and forth from work, paying for daycare, or any of the basic needs identiﬁed 18 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | OCTOBER 2008 As for hiring a new employee, it’s more important than ever to abide by the maxim, “You hire with wages and retain with beneﬁts.” Assure your applicant that you recognize and appreciate her experience by explaining your wage-scale program, and that you try as much as possible to maximize a starting wage. You want to make a new employee feel part of the team with a big welcome while also keeping an eye out for any signs of problems with job happiness. Poor staff retention makes for a poor practice. Times are tough right now, so recognize, congratulate, pat on the back, and communicate that the people who work for you are doing a great job, but do so in ways that will truly make a difference. • Owen Dahl, FACHE, CHBC, is a nationally recognized medical practice management consultant with over 24 years of experience in consulting for and managing medical practices and author of Think Business! Medical Practice Quality, Efﬁciency, Proﬁts. He can be reached at odahl@comcast.net. WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

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

Physicians Practice - October 2008 Contents Another Reason to Go Cash-Only? Letters How ’Bout Them Gas Prices? Second Opinion: Oh, Canada! Noteworthy Cover Story: Fixing the Leaks: How to Tighten Your Money Spigot Navigating a Lawsuit Ask the Experts The Administrators Desk: What’s Your Mission? EMR: Help or Hindrance? Dealing with Dr. Dangerous E-Mail Abuse Primer The Road to EMR Interoperability Don’t Let Staff Costs Stifle Profits Coding Classifieds Advertiser Index

Physicians Practice - October 2008

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