Certified Trainers Blog

I write (or technically I type) today with a sad state of mind…I’m reading all these posts about people going to the National Conference…and alas, I won’t be there:-(  Think of me during your week of learning!

We in ND are experiencing the WIERDEST winter ever!  Here I sit and it is currently 37 degrees out today with a high of 45!?  No snow on the ground!?  Not quite sure what to make of it, hoping it remains this way until summer.  On the bright side, this kind of weather gives us such an awesome opportunity to get people out of the house and out into the community.

On another note…our growing ‘little’ community that has erupted over the last couple years is on the way to becoming even more famous.  Check out http://www.luckydogfilmworks.com/television.html for a new series that is apparently coming out.  The young ladies’ mother actually used to work for our agency.

Until next month (when I promise to share more useful information:-), take care, and enjoy the conference for those of you attending!

-Tony

Unfortunately on of the biggest hurdles in the industry we work in and around is that dreaded “b-word.” It creeps in slowly and runs up fast, leaving many scrambling to deal with its vicious aftermath. And although the causes can very greatly, a number of themes and trends can be picked out of the burning wreckage and brushed off to glean a bit of insight. I’ll do my best to illuminate a few…

Burn-out can come from a sense of futility in daily actions, when a staff does the same thing day after day with no measurable progress or accomplishment. This is probably the most common source, since the feeling can come from either side (from superiors or from those served), and one that tends to slowly build up until it becomes overbearing.

Another form of burn-out is one that results from a disconnect between the DSP and the situation, whether that means the DSP does not feel connected to the individual they serve or to the company that is employing them. This variant of burn-out can be the most contagious as a collective sense of disconnect can spread throughout the ranks and lead to far greater troubles than just one case of feeling ineffective. Sweeping policy changes and unnecessary arrogance from management can magnify this problem exponentially.

An third form of burn-out is almost unavoidable and quite possibly the hardest to fix is one of feeling not valued for one’s contributions. This could (and most often does) mean financial compensation, which is hard to change on a fixed budget, but this could also indicate a lack of recognition or GENUINE appreciation (for some reason, disingenuous appreciation only perpetuates the state of affairs). Feeling like your hard work is constantly overlooked makes the “feel good” gap that covers the wage disparity disappear quickly.

“Now wait,” you say. “Ben, you’re telling me all of this but providing no solutions to it.” Well, you’d be right. It’s not very easy to change the causes of burn-out if they’re engrained into a corporate culture or firmly affixed into an individual’s situation. That being said, taking a moment of your time to encourage someone who you see is struggling (or taking the time to look around and see if anyone is struggling) should be something anyone can do. A single word of encouragement can help someone get through a hard day or week and if multiple people are making that effort, it can cascade into a wave of positive reinforcement.

Transparency and communication aren’t just buzzwords, if a company has to change something in this economy that has been in place for years, sitting everyone down and saying “this is X and we have to do Y with it, so Z won’t be happening,” goes much farther than “we’re changing it, so deal.” Furthermore, timely communication is a super plus! No one likes to be told something at the last minute when the other person has known about it for months. It is much easier to put your faith and trust in something that has included you in the inner workings than a great monolith that barks out commands.

As for the feelings of futility, mix it up a bit! Not every person is a perfect match for every situation. Some may require more patience, others more creativity; some situations just simply need some time off to cool and come back at a different angle. Shake it up!

The hardest thing about burn-out is to remember that it can affect everyone, from the top to bottom (and even the individuals being served!) and if left unchecked it will fester like a gangrenous wound, spreading from one to the next. Your greatest mistake would be to ignore it!

Hopefully you found something encouraging or enlightening and in great Red Green tradition “Keep your stick on the ice,” and “remember, I’m pulling for you. We’re all in this together.”

Janice Davies stated, “Difficult people are your key to self empowerment, you need to learn how to cope with them, not let them dominate and affect you.”

Difficult people are everywhere.  At work, at home, and even a person you meet on the street.  Learning how to deal with them and even avoid them will help you get through your day.

1. Always be calm.  Losing your temper can cause more damage within the situation.
2. If technology is available use that.  Microsoft SharePoint 2010 is a great tool to collaborate with others and you don’t have to be in the same room as them.  Plus there is e-mail as well.
3. If the person is extremely emotional and/or even combative, just ignore that person.  The person is looking for attention and when you do not give the attention that they are requiring they will just walk away.
4. Lastly, if you just cannot come to a solution to the problem escalate the situation to your manager or a supervisor.  Only use this situation when both sides cannot come to an agreement.

Dealing with difficult people is an art form.  Once you have developed the ability to work with difficult people you will be successful within your organization and you will be able to keep your stress level down.

Just wanted to share the news that, according to our finance director, our December billing submitted in January with the 5010 Medicaid changes was very successful, thanks (we believe) to Therap! Some other providers in Colorado not using Therap did report some difficulties. Kudos Therap! In these days of squeaky tight budgets, smooth billing is critical!

Hope you are all having as much success with the billing in spite of 5010 updates.

The time is getting closer for our annual trip to Fishkill (I know it isn’t in Fishkill this year but, I think we will always call it that her at TRC). We are looking forwarding to going and learning alot of new things since the new release as well as work out a few bugs we are having. We are also looking forward to our annual bowling tournament that we have while we are there. I am sure that Todd will not take home the trophy again this year as I hear a few people have been practicing. We’ll hope to see a lot of the regulars there again this year.

The Therap National Conference is in 2 weeks! I cannot wait to attend this conference because there are so many experts at the same place at the same time! I plan to attend some sessions about billing and want to learn more about CCHIT. I also want to catch some of the awesome presentations from other Therap users. I hope you are signed up for this conference and can’t wait to see you in New Jersey!

Michelle

Hi,  I have been away for awhile but now I am back.

This past couple of months, our agency have been under a lot of monitoring from our governing body (DDS/DDA,Evans,Quality Trust, DC Health and Finance).  Before we had Therap, there were a lot of books and folders that we had to present as proof of our work we do. Needless to say, that took a lot of time and energy. Now, that we have Therap the monitoring visits go much more qucicker and the information is easier to show and explain to the monitor person. We even went so far as to give them a log in for a read only time while they were there.  To make a long story short, at first the monitors were not comfortable with using a computer to show our documentation. However, after a brief training in Therap on how to locate the information. The monitors  enjoyed using Therap. The monitors stated it was quick to get the information they were looking for and it was arranged in a way that made sense and easy to read.  Thanks to the hard work we do and thanks to Therap we did well on our monitoring visits. Therap has really changed the way we do business.

Hi everyone, greetings from south Arkansas. While pondering on things to blog about, one thing has stuck in my head for a few days. After reading an article on Facebook that was shared by Allison about a hospital not wanting to give a transplant to a young child who had a disability, I wonder, how many people think that people with disabilities are somehow lesser human beings?

In our field, most of us have ran across examples of bias against those with disabilities. Most of us have watched some companies open up new registers when there is a long line of people with disabilities only to take care of the “normal” person at the back of the line or had people ask the caregiver what an individual needs instead of asking the individual. It begs the questions, do people just have a natural tendency to think that people with disabilities are somehow less important? Is their time less valuable? Are they somehow less capable of contributing to society?

When I look at the individuals I work for, I do not see someone who has “special needs”.  Of course, I realize that these are people I work with everyday, people I know, people I love.  It is beyond all comprehension that people with disabilities could be discounted as somehow not worthy of everything that people without disabilities are.

As for this hospital, I am glad they are reconsidering, but why did it take a public outcry to attach importance?  I think this story has made me more aware  that some people in our “enlightened” society still see people with disabilities as somehow less important.  I guess I forgot that there are still those out there that view them as “abnormal”.

We have to continue to fight to change the hearts and minds of people who look at our individuals as different.  We have to continue to speak up when people treat them as if they are not quite as important.

Hello everyone!

Hope you had a great holiday season. Things have been very busy at Mosaic. Our 6 initial pilots are now up and running in full swing, and numbers are now quite steady for the last 4 weeks. We currently have 1214 active Individuals, and 974 active users! In the first 15 days of January, there were

• 9913 Therap logins
• 9246 TLogs
• 4890 SComms
• 379 GERs

 WOW!

The User Privilege Browser is my new favorite page. What an easy way to troubleshoot access issues from a single location!

Quick question for the Therap users out there :

• Is anyone tracking/trending Morbidity and Mortality using Therap GER’s? I would be interested to hear what others are doing with this data.

Therap Updates

Last week was great time for Therap updates at our national department meeting. Updates for Therap included a local newscast, Vegas-style variety show with “in-the-field” video updates from our Regional Therap Coordinators, along with a rousing rendition of the 12 days of Christmas – complete with 5 Therap Phases (for Mosaic)! It was great, except for my momentarily lapse of how to sing my solo for the 5th day!!!

http://mosaicmeeting.shutterfly.com/

Throughout my career I’ve refined and polished certain skills.  I’m better at some, a work in progress with others.  One skill that I’m quite proud of is being an effective troubleshooter.

Not only useful professionally but personally, troubleshooting is a part of everything I do in my life whether it’s something simple such as “what should I make for dinner” to “I can’t login to Therap” or even, “I wonder what happens if I change this zero to a one?”

No matter what the scenario, experience has taught me effective troubleshooting breaks down to two areas of focus:

1.  Use a structured approach.
Using a structured approach makes the problem less complex than it might seem at the time.  I have been in many situations were at first glance a problem seems complex but it ends up being something simple, anything from a loose cable to caps lock key.

2.  Ask the right questions.

• Is it plugged-in?
• Is it turned on?
• When is the last time…
• What happens when…

More importantly there’s the human factor.  In a support role, it’s important for the end-user to feel you understand what they’re saying.  I’ve learned repeating back what I hear helps relieve some of their concern.  If I’m unable to provide a solution in a timely manner, I like to keep in close contact through frequent updates, as I research a solution.

I have two mottos I keep in mind:

1. Bad technology is my fault.
   The solution I provide needs to be as simple as possible.  Convincing the caveman to come out of the cave is more effective and long-lasting than throwing him out of the cave.  The end-user knows their business better than I do.
2. Make people better.
   Troubleshooting is an opportunity to teach, to make lives easier through technology.  Use those few moments you have to help make their life better.

Gregg