Reducing HME Billing Staff Burnout
Healthcare providers are battling with widespread burnout and dissatisfaction in the complex healthcare environment. The prevalence of chronic diseases and increasing geriatric population are working as potential factors in emerging home medical equipment industry. Simultaneously, the skilled labor shortage is putting pressure on your HME billing staff. Absence of streamlined operations along with staff burnout posing a major threat to your practice’s financial health and productivity. Rapidly shifting policies and guidelines require quick adaptations to maintain an effective billing process. Compounded by stress, exhaustion and uncertainty, it is no surprise that HME billing staff has approached burnout.
Signs of Burnout
As you notice your team is displaying characteristics that are out of the ordinary, it’s worth digging deeper. Potential red flags include- sudden fall in productivity of the achievers, encouragement suddenly replaced by complaints, and positive attitudes devolving into cynicism.
Initially, you might think there is a lack of motivation, and a pep-talk can reverse the scenario. However, your HME billing staff is likely overworked and unsure how to improve the situation. In reality, they are contributing to an endless cycle of exhaustion and discouragement resulting in reduced productivity and efficiency of your practice. You need to consider effective communication and must examine the situation to identify the best possible strategies to mitigate these issues.
Ways to Eliminate HME Billing Staff Burnout
Here are some of the possible strategies you can implement to eliminate the threat of staff burnout in your practice.
1. Root cause identification: There are some warning signs you might observe like staff getting easily frustrated, lack of productivity, lack of focus and disengagement. Your top performer might show noticeable underproductivity and billing errors which are disrupting the workflow. Instead of guessing anything, it’s better to have an open conversation about their issues to uncover the root cause of these changes.
2. Workload distribution: A high workload is evident given the scenario of increasing demand and stagnant labor shortage. Overburdening your staff with clinical and administrative responsibilities is a major reason for burnout. You must consider cross-training and precise work distribution. Switch things for a while. For instance, give complex and challenging assignments to less-experienced staff. This way your senior staff member will get a reprieve and the less experienced member will get a chance to enhance their professional skills.
3. Maintain work-life balance: As you notice burnout signs in your employees, set boundaries between work and personal life. Encourage the employees to maintain small breaks during work while maintaining their productivity. It may not change behavior right away, but these small changes will help them to focus on their productivity.
Final Thoughts
In the changing landscape of HME billing, coping with the clinical and administrative tasks simultaneously is a daunting task. Most of the providers like you are struggling with the staff burnout issue along with the challenge of a steep rise in wages. On the other hand, the tremendous pressure of staff burnout is posing a threat to the productivity and financial health
of your practice. In this situation, you can consider outsourcing your billing and coding operations to a revenue cycle management company. A genuine outsourced RCM partner can handle all your administrative tasks from patient intake to payment posting. Your in-house staff will be relieved of the administrative burden and 2will have more time to focus on their core competencies. An outsourced partner on the other hand, will work as an extended operational arm who will elevate the financial health of the practice through their knowledge and expertise regarding billing and coding guidelines. You can leave all the complex HME coding and billing services to the RCM partner and eliminate the billing woes to maintain the productivity and quality of your practice.
