After conducting a massive amount of research this week, I was reflecting on some of my past experiences with past employers and co-workers. Specifically, I recall a particular nurse I worked with (many years ago) at a Cardiothoracic Surgeon Practice, along with a particular incident that took place.
We had very specific job responsibilities, like most of us. I took my responsibilities and broke them down into categories, and outlined them something like this...ABCDE. The RN in charge was furious with me for being so thorough and detailed oriented. I remember her stating "We don't need to go thru A to E, we need to focus on A and E. There's no need for the BC&D. Just get to E fast and forget the other stuff!" Needless to say, that RN wasn't working for that practice much longer.
Today, I still stand firm on being so detailed oriented, which has led me to where I am this day. With the CMS, Recovery Audit Contractors (RAC's) and the OIG looking closer at claims that were submitted and paid, we should all adopt policies and procedures to ensure that our claims stay paid! I've been in many O&P practices over the years and I've seen a multitude of errors from lack of patient signatures & dates, lack of clinical & supporting documentation, lack of details on delivery receipts and claims submitted that were submitted without medical justification, to name a few.
Who's the Boss running the show anyway? Ignorance is not acceptable, just ask any auditor or investigator. Are employers watching what their employees are doing in the name of the business? If so, perhaps there wouldn't be so many inefficiencies.
If employers are like me, I don't like to "Micro Manage" employees. However, I will take extreme measures to ensure that employees are properly trained and have an open door policy to answer questions. But, I can't help wondering if employers have the right training, skills and knowledge to train their employees affectively, or if they take the time to invest in their staff.
Someone has got to "Train the Trainer" to keep abreast of all these ongoing changes. Even though I'm a long time, experienced medical biller, I too have to continue my research, training and education to stay on top of my game! Do I like to be pulled away from other tasks to do this? That's debatable, but necessary and mandatory! What about you? Do you have mandatory training requirements set in place to ensure you and/or your employees are up-to-date on all these rapid changes taking place in our healthcare industry? Set aside the professional staff requirements for a moment and think about your administrative & billing staff. When was the last time you invested in their training? Just a thought...Happy Friday!