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As H1N1 and flu absences crop up in the workplace, your goal is twofold. You want employees to stay out only as long as necessary to limit lost productivity, yet you must keep them out of the workplace while infectious so they don't get others sick.
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Imagine a diabetic worker leaving a "lunch and learn" on how to control her blood sugar who feels hunger pangs. As he or she walks past the vending machine, is that worker faced with a choice between a candy bar and a sugary pastry?
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When occupational health professionals at Replacements, a Greensboro, NC-based supplier of old and new china, crystal, silver, and collectibles with 550 employees, did a review of their Occupational Safety and Health Administration 300 log of work-related injuries and illnesses, they found that their largest worker's compensation numbers were coming from musculoskeletal (MSD) complaints.
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You might receive a citation from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration if you fail to assess respiratory hazards related to 2009 H1N1, don't use various methods to reduce employee exposure or fail to consider respirators other than N95s when there is a shortage.
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Is your patient access staff familiar with federal requirements for giving patients information on how to file complaints or grievances?
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The Medicare Secondary Payer questionnaire is not complete. The Medicare number is missing from a replacement plan. The subscriber name or date of birth is a mismatch. An account has incorrect insurance coded for third-party liability.
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Does an individual have flawless references and impressive skills? That doesn't matter much if his or her service skills are lacking.
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Registration staff were too careless to get accurate insurance information. A patient access employee was mean to a patient. Wait times at registration were ridiculously long because staff are incompetent. The list goes on and on. Too often, patient access bears the brunt of negative feedback from other areas of the hospital.
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More than ever, patient access staff are coping with angry and frustrated patients.
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Heidi Dunbar, manager of admitting/emergency department coordinator at Seattle Children's Hospital, says that although it's often very hard to find time for them, monthly staff meetings are always worth the time they take. "About 90% of staff come to meetings, which means they are getting something out of them," she says. "We have a very open environment, and people always have interesting things to say that you would never imagine."
