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Fried Brains!!! Help!

Posted: Jun 19, 2013

I love coming here because I can always find years of experience in dealing with all kinds of issues, as well as good, solid, honest advice. Here's my dilema: I work in an extremely busy medical office that is run by a very, very green, young office manager (a very close, personal friend of the doc from waaay back when, who has eluded that she may be an ex...). She is a very weak manager and would sooner throw anyone of her staff under the bus than accept accountability. I understand this about her and have learned to navigate these waters. Or so I thought.

We recently began to advertise and our call volume has increased exponentially. We have hired 2 new docs now also. But, in all this apparently no one thought to hire new help other than medical assistants (not office), and now we are overwhelmed with work and I am behind in every area of my duties. I have also had a person hide a good deal of goof ups (insurance stuff, patient information, messages...) then that person up and quit, putting me further behind in trying to decipher and find pertinent patient information.

I have repeatedly advised the OM that I need help, but have recieved none, until very recently when she assigned one of the doc's medical assistants to be trained to help me temporarily. Rather than that actually helping, I've had to again put my duties and obligations on the back burner to TRAIN that person! 2 1/2 months into this mess, we are finally getting help, but I am that much behind as well, and when the new help comes I will have to train them! I see that it is going to take time to fix the mess, but in the here and now, the docs are fuming out their ears and OM does not back me up on any level.

NOW I am hearing from other people in the office that she has been going to them asking why do they think my department is so screwed up and do they think I'm even capable of handling my assigment?! I'm flabergasted that someone would be so immature as to even go there, rather than to address me! I'm so frustrated and upset about that.

I called a meeting tomorrow with her and want to deal with this once and for all. I kinda get the feeling that she'd rather let me go because I am the type to call it as I see it and I've told her time and time and time again that I cannot handle the entire front office duties with

#1. No receptionist to take calls.

#2. No clear assignment of duties (she gives everyone different assignments as she seems a need rather than task specific.

#3. No back up from her to get me the help I need.

As of right now I: answer phones, take insurance information, take medicaid information, call referring docs to get clincal notes, request labs, x rays and all med data to evaluate patients. Make outgoing calls to schedule patients, get insurance authorizations, verifications, surgical authorizations, inprocess and outprocess patients including taking payments over the phone...... you get it. All-by-myself. In a normal day we take 85+ calls , average time on the to schedule an appointment is 7 minutes. Random people also grab calls, put ppl on hold and wait for me. I emphasize, I am overwhelmed!

I want to handle this meeting professionally and really, really get something positive out of it, without having to take it to the "hey? why can't you ask ME what's up instead of asking everyone else"? lol! know what I mean?!

Anyone have any ideas? Please and thank you!! sorry so long.

;

fried - kiki

[ In Reply To ..]
Is she one of the highly educated and holds a bazillion degrees? So many young people look good on paper but have so much to learn.

Keep it simple, stress your original requests, tell 'em your're aware of the crisis, that you can handle it, emphasize it will take time, and trudge on. Good luck and hold that head up!

I am also fried - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
I work behind the scenes in an HIM job. I have had to train new staff and have extra duties delegated to me by my manager quite often. My own work gets put on the back burner as well, but that is now it goes. I understand your frustration, but managers look for staff that know how to handle responsibility and solve problems without bringing them into the mix. My advice would be to continue doing what you are doing, and if things get bad enough, they will eventually hire more staff, but your demanding it is not going to make it happen. Your employer may not have any more money in the budget to hire another employee; I am assuming your manager is accountable to someone too. I can tell you that being overstaffed is worse than being under staffed. Speaking from my own experience, I know that the name of the game now is to get the most done with the least amount of people. From your post it sounds as if you have some personal issues with your manager, one of them being that she is younger than you, try not to let that cloud your judgment. When you have your meeting, just keep your cool and don't get angry. You said that she may fire you but I hope that does not happen. If nothing else, you will have cleared the air. Good luck, I'm sure it will all eventually get sorted out.

to also fried - Wendy Lou

[ In Reply To ..]
I'd respectfully disagree. By letting things continue in crisis and come to a boiling point, I'd be worried that they'd think she could NOT handle her duties an d fire her! There needs to be a meaningful dialogue between Fried and her OM, personal feelings need to be left out of the entire conversation. We can all work very well along side a person we have issues with, I'm sure we all have at one point or another. This is about duties being performed timely, as is everything in a doctor's office. Time and deadlines are of utmost importance. I'm sorry to say, I kinda think I can read between the lines and it sounds to me that OM is devilishly clever and probably wants Fried o-u-t. Just MHO.

If it were me, I'd step it up! At least if they have it in for your, at least YOUR conscious is clear in knowing that you did everything to the best of your abilities. That is all any of us can do anyway.

Sorry your stuck in that situation. One other reason I do enjoy my at-home job. So glad I am out of those situations. It really, really can stink!

Here's what I think - AnaPhylaxis

[ In Reply To ..]
With the influx of new patients, etc., it sounds like they need to seriously consider hiring you an assistant. Even a part-time assistant could be a huge help. And not just a temporary "catch-up" helper as you have now. I'll bet they might even be able to get an intern from one of the local Vo-Tech schools who is studying medical administration or something who might even do it for credits rather than pay.

It's good you're speaking up for yourself and letting your co-workers and higher-ups know precisely what your position entails these days.

Good luck with your meeting tomorrow and please keep us posted on how it all works out for you.

Hang in there!

Another thought - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
If she has a close relationship with one of the doctors as you say, I would advise you to tread lightly. I have also seen this happen more than once; the wrong word to the wrong person, even if you meant no harm, can be misinterpreted. If you get on the OM's bad side and she goes to the doctor in question, you will either be gone or they will make life so difficult for you that you will get mad and quit; just be careful how you handle this. It's great that you are a person of integrity who speaks their mind, but I've been in situations like this before and many times they do not end well. My facility uses interns and that is generally a win-win situation. However, most of them are temporary "catch up" staff. If training people is an issue now, it will be with an intern too.

document, document, document - if you can remember specifics

[ In Reply To ..]
I can almost guarantee this is going to become a nasty showdown, no matter how hard you try to stay professional about this. The OM is not capable of that.

You need to have everything documented about when you have asked for help, what you have found when cleaning up the departed person's mess and what steps you have taken to fix it, how much of your day is spent training. If you have a formal job description, that's even better because then you address all of the outside duties that you are doing in addition to the job description.

When this gets in front of the doctor who is in charge of the practice (and if she tries to fire you, then it darn well better), you will also need specifics about when she has talked to other people and not you about why your department is not running effectively. You have the tough job of remaining professional while you point out how completely unprofessional she is and how unsuited to the job she is.

Just remember, you will have to have specifics and not just generalities. That will win the battle any day.

Documentation - Anonymous

[ In Reply To ..]
How do you know what the OM is capable of? Do you enjoy drama in the workplace? Personally, I try to avoid "nasty showdowns" at work. Any time there is a showdown with management, management generally comes out on top. I don't know about others, but when my manager assigns extra duties, I do them, not questioning if they are "in my job description." In every office, there are going to be busy times and slow times and people are expected to pitch in and help; where I work, we have documented teamwork standards. The employer has to be able to justify adding staff. I hate to say it, but what the OP described as her job duties sound pretty typical for a front office position. People who are not willing to do things outside of their job description generally do not last very long. Pointing out other people's mistakes to management generally only serves one purpose - it makes you look bad. Never point out how "completely unprofessional" or "unsuited" a manager may be. It may be true but I guarantee that will blow up in your face. Discuss specific concerns, but leave management's shortcomings out of this; she is not the person you want to antagonize if you want additional staff. Trust me, you will be shown the door. I don't know how you are going to avoid training people, anyone new is going to need that. My advice would still be to ride this out. It is up to the doctors you work for and the bosses to make staffing determinations, not the employees. Anyway, good luck at your meeting.

Our local GI office, grown from 2 docs to - L&L

[ In Reply To ..]
4 docs + 3 PAs has always had this kind of problem.

One thing that is important as far as help is that the office really needs a dedicated phone person. It is nearly impossible to get any paperwork done if you are constantly answering the phone. The phone person can also be trained as a backup when not busy, but the phone call to the office is usually the first and most important encounter the patient has. You might mention this to the OM. I bet getting that off your back will help a lot with directing you attention to all the other duties which go better with constant varied interruptions for phone calls.

err, I mean WITHOUT constant phone call interruptions - L&L

[ In Reply To ..]
and if you can make it seem to be a wonderful idea from her, the better.

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