I recently found this in the MGMA's Knowledge Center Forum: “I was recently faced with the implementation when the practice administrator threatened to blame each employee at $ 1.00 for each registration error that they went out in the system. He was also mistaken in interpreting how to enter the required fields. It looks like a curse word. How justified is it, and how legal is it? Just curious about the HR implications of this concept. ”
Retha Reeves, a consultant consultant in Houston, Texas, and a frequent participant in the MGMA forums, responded: “I will leave a legal question for a lawyer. Is fear and intimidation a disaster at best? The only successful management style every day is to work on building and maintaining a team. I have always advised that an important part of leadership is to help your employees succeed in their roles and minimum production. ”
I fully support Retha's point of view. I was a member of teams with automatic leaders and those who listened and supported the team members. My own experience is that those teams that meet Ms. Reeve’s criteria are best suited and achieve better results for patients and clients. I am currently a member of a team that is developing a program to prevent falls in the elderly. This team is part of Calvin College of Rehabilitation Services in Grand Rapids, MI. Recently, a team gathered to complete a workplan template that included key actions and how to measure them. Each team member freely suggested ideas for the plan and asked questions to clarify the idea if necessary. Much planning was done, and I left the feeling that my contributions were valuable and welcome.
The American Medical Association also considers teamwork as a practical benefit, increasing productivity and patient satisfaction, as well as employee satisfaction. The success or failure of the practice depends on the culture of the practice. The AMA believes that the practice should focus on the continuous improvement of the team culture. They have implemented a free online module on their website as part of their STEPS Forward collection, which can help practice create a positive team culture. You can find it by clicking this link.
In the module, the AMA lists ten steps to create a strong team culture:
1. Diagnose the current state of your command culture.
2. Discuss the results and discuss possible improvements.
3. Create a staff CD as a group
4. Create opportunities for teamwork throughout the day.
5. Meet regularly
6. Strengthen the team by focusing on individual development.
7. Get to know your team members.
8. Teach leaders to be mentors, not managers.
9. Create an environment that supports continuous learning.
10. Attract patients
The module begins with asking practitioners to evaluate the culture of their practice by offering each member of the group an anonymous survey that is provided online. A few questions: (1) Team members say what they really think, and (2) All team members are involved in making decisions about the team’s work. The module begins with this assessment, because it is understood that "you cannot move forward if you do not know where you were," general wisdom.
After employees take a survey and the results are analyzed by a trusted employee or a third-party quality expert, practice leaders should have team meetings where they discuss how to move forward. The first task of the team meeting should be to write a goal that indicates the purpose of the meeting and future meetings. He should focus on building a culture that values teamwork.
Culture Team & # 39; at the first meeting, brainstorming ideas on how to improve the culture of practice in concrete ways that can be implemented by leaders and other employees can be brainstormed. I think it would be nice to use the survey again in the future to find out how much growth has occurred and make adjustments that will lead to even more collaboration.
One of the benefits of improving teamwork is that the team can work together more effectively to improve practice processes. Team members can meet to focus on processes that influence patient outcomes, such as processes that improve patient satisfaction and patient participation. Having practical personnel involved in improving processes such as these will lead to significantly better results than the participation of only one or two people. Team members can generate ideas, for example, to improve patient interaction, and then create a team member to own the process of implementing their ideas. Results must be measured and reported back to the team.
The development of teamwork among clinicians occurs in US colleges. Colleges have created courses that support interprofessional practice. This is an IPE movement. In September 2017, a two-day conference on interprofessional practice, education and research is held at the Grand Valley University in Michigan. One of the focus of this year’s conference will be tele-health. The keynote speaker will be John Scott, medical director and assistant director of Telehealth at the Harborview partner center at the University of Washington. One of the breakout sessions at the conference will focus on the cooperation of graduate students in the field of health with the answer “Health on Demand”, the local telehealth provider in Grand Rapids.
As you can see, there are many advocates for the development of collaboration in the field of health. The benefits of developing a strong team culture are many, including the loss of Triple Aim of healthcare - the best care at a lower price with improved patient satisfaction. Focusing on working together on the practice site will help in the transition to value assistance.
