Does Your Investment in Staff Education Pay Off?

Here at KZA, we know staff education yields measurable return to practices' bottom line thanks to improved coding, appeals techniques, and finesse in asking patients for payments. Yet when we ask surgeons if investment in staff education pays off, they typically answer in one of three ways:

1. ”I don’t know?”
2. ”I don’t think so; it’s just an excuse to get out of the office.”
3. ”Yes, it does!”

What do doctors in that last group know that his or her colleagues don't?

Simply put, they expect more. Recently, we interviewed employees at several KZA courses, and they clearly articulated the difference. One young woman said she was expected to report back at the office staff meeting the ”7 things” she learned that would benefit the practice. Her boss told her when he goes to meetings, that he expects to return with ”surgical pearls” and that he expected the same from his staff. She readily agreed that having center stage in her office with everyone listen to her was an extra motivation to pay attention!

Another doctor who agrees ”education pays off” attends annual practice management courses with his staff. He reports, ”I get a better return on my investment when the two or three of us go together. Then it's not just me coming back and saying ”change this or that”-it's not my idea, it's our idea. His manager agreed, ”Things just seem to get done faster when we all hear the same thing at the same time. It gets the team to support the change.” Plus, she reports that while at the meeting, they split up at lunch and network with other doctors and staff. ”We’ve found good ideas from the informal conversations.” Most of all, she concluded, and others listening in agreed, that physician attendance sends a message to staff that their work is important.

Another group of three people said that before they left their manager totaled the cost of tuition, travel and hotel bills. The doctor had elected to send these Mid-westerners to a Florida course in March. The manager then told them to find ideas that would equal at least twice the amount of the course investment. She told the staff, that as long as they demonstrated the value of what they had learned, the practice would continue making trips possible.

When we asked, ”Have you found ideas here with the required payoff?” Each of the three women referred to her notes, mentioned specific changes they saw as valuable with their value calculations. Like to know what was on those lists? One young receptionist explained that she could see immediate value in stepping up their efforts to collect not only co-pays, but the patients' prior balances. She felt that if she was successful in collecting from just 30% of the patients seen daily that the one idea alone would pay for the trip in two working weeks. Here’s the key, she was now motivated and armed with new techniques to accomplish asking for those payments. Her colleague readily agreed and said for her, making better use of the Internet to verify benefits and promote pre-registration would reduce rejections and allow staff to collect for non-covered services at the time of the visit.

In another practice, each staff who attends any continuing education program, whether it's a teleconference or a national meeting, is expected to write up a memo at least one page outlining what they learned. One woman reported that her doctors and manager made it clear that if she learned the practice was doing a number of things right and executing perfectly, they wanted to know that, as well as what needed fixing or rethinking. This office celebrates their successes, which is important to morale. ”We think our office is run well and when I am at the meetings, I always return proud of our group.”

So, if you aren't getting value from the educational meetings you fund, rethink your expectations and plan on how to transfer the valuable knowledge to all of your staff. Ask yourself and your staff ”How can we do a better job of disseminating information and implementing what we learn at seminars?”

At KarenZupko & Associates we pride ourselves on providing practical advice at workshops that adds value by reducing costs, improving revenue, improving patient satisfaction, and reducing risk. What's more, we think it’s our job to help identify techniques that deserve discussion and attention immediately upon return from the course.

School may be out for the summer for some, but not here at KZA! If you haven't recently attended a KZA course, check out the list of upcoming offerings. Already attended a KZA seminar? We'll look forward to seeing you next year!