ahcaxiety

by pascal bergeron pascal bergeron

Chief Executive Office ALF Boss, Inc.

As assisted living operators at one point or another you have faced some type of issues that have required problem-solving skills. At the end of the day everything falls back on you. It can be a very stressful position at times. One of our biggest responsibilities is the overall compliance of the facility. Keeping up with AHCA regulations is a huge part of what we as operators are responsible for and that stress can be overwhelming.

I have come up with a word that I believe many operators suffer from. I call it “AHCAXIETY.”

So, what exactly is AHCAXIETY? This is my definition…a feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease, typically about an interaction or a thought of an interaction with an AHCA surveyor/surveyors with an uncertain outcome.

Does this sound familiar? For many this feeling can be very harmful to your mental health and often leads to the well-known cause of burnout of industry professionals. Luckily there are some steps that can be taken in order to minimize the effect of AHCAXIETY.

The most important step to help minimize your AHCAXIETY is to look in the mirror and to give yourself a reality check.

Actions and Systems How often do you sit down and evaluate your compliance systems? You have looked at the regulations and designed systems for your staff to follow to keep you in compliance. You must take the time to review systems often to make sure they are working and being followed. You should constantly be making changes in your systems and designing new ones. Ask yourself how much time do you spend on this?

Being Proactive Next, ask yourself how much effort you put toward being proactive. By this, I mean how you interact with residents and families, talking with them and looking for issues and addressing them. Remember happy individuals don’t call in AHCA complaints, angry ones do.

Continuing Education After passing your Core Training how much time have you spent on education on a weekly basis. Do you spend at least 10 minutes a week reading the regulations, or reading posted surveys and making sure you have systems in place so you don’t commit those same deficiencies? We all know that the continuing education requirement is 12 hours every 2 years. Did you know 10 minutes a day would give you 40 hrs. a year. It might seem a lot but it’s not that bad compared to the investment for a four-year college degree. Remember you took a 26-hr. course for your career, let that sink in. Exposure When you are afraid of something, one of the best treatments is to continue to expose yourself to the situation. A lot of times AHCAXIETY is caused by the unknown, the unknown of what AHCA will find and what they will look for. There is no better way to address these unknown concerns than to hire a third party to come in and conduct a mock survey of your facility. I recommend quarterly surveys but once or twice a year will do wonders to help ease your fears.

In closing, to minimize AHCAXIETY you need to put more effort into your compliance task. This will help you to always be ready. Being ready builds confidence. Confidence kills AHCAXIETY.

AHCAready A feeling of ease, confidence, or swagger, typically about an interaction with an AHCA surveyor/surveyors with a certain positive outcome.