It’s not enough for just one person in an office to operate efficiently. Optimal efficiency should be a standard for everyone at your agency, from the CEO to QPs to Habilitation Technicians. But efficiency has to be more than just giving the occasional pep talk about reducing company waste. A plan should be developed to identify inefficiencies in processes, including actionable steps to correct those inefficiencies. Developing this efficiency plan requires a structured approach and meticulous record keeping…but it’s all worth it in the end. When done correctly, a well-implemented agency efficiency plan can free up staff and administrative time while also reducing operational expenses.
IDD Agency Efficiency Plan Components
So what should an IDD agency’s efficiency plan include? At a minimum, the plan should contain one section to measure current inefficiencies in the agency and another section to outline actionable steps to correct each identified inefficiency. More or less information may be added based on your agency’s needs and preferences. We like formatting and updating efficiency plans in Excel or Google Sheets since this allows us to customize each plan to the agency’s specific needs. For some examples of different efficiency plans, check out this collection from beepo.
Tracking Agency Efficiency
How do you measure how efficiently your agency is operating? There are many tools and resources available to help agency administrators track their operations to identify potential pitfalls. Time-tracking and task-tracking software is a great tool for agencies that use lots of digital documents and resources. However, many IDD agencies still track time and service documentation using pen and paper. These agencies will require a more hands-on approach to tracking staff time and tasks. As an administrator, you’ll need to decide if you want to track these yourself or trust your staff to honestly and accurately document an accounting of their time. You could also hire a third-party to come in and make these assessments.
General Efficiency Tips for All IDD Agencies
Regardless of how your efficiency tracking plan is built, there are some practices and incentives all IDD agencies can implement to encourage efficiency (and by association, profitability) in their workspaces. Some of our favorite efficiency-boosting ideas include:
Transition to Digital Records
There’s no doubt about it…a digitally organized office is a more efficient office. Any agency administrator that has dealt with years of service grid sheets piling up in a records room knows that searching through all that paperwork is a daunting task. However, when Medicaid or your MCO audits your records, they expect you to have them accessible and neatly organized for the auditors to review. Anything less could lead to expensive paybacks and could hurt your agency’s ability to provide high-quality services to your clients.
Leave that paper-combing in the past by digitizing your existing agency records and storing them on a shared HIPAA-compliant cloud server. This way, everyone at your agency has access to the same information, promoting consistency in service offerings and a better client experience as a result. You can also control which people have access to which records, allowing you to fine tune your agency’s digital organization while maintaining client, staff, and agency privacy.
Take your agency’s digital journey to the next level by ditching pen and paper data collection and opting for an easy-to-use electronic system instead, like ConnectCare™. Our proprietary data collection and progress analysis process allows your Habilitation Technicians to collect information on prompts provided, progress made, travel, behaviors, and more in real-time while working in the field or at a facility. The data collected is automatically placed onto the appropriate grid sheets, payroll reports, and billing reports, so you never have to worry about units billed not matching staff documentation again!
Not only does collecting data electronically in a cloud-based system like ConnectCare improve payroll and billing accuracy, you can optionally integrate advanced reporting features to allow an even deeper look into client progress and staff resource management. And just think about all that paper that you won’t have to print out, distribute to staff, reprint every time a single goal changes, reprint when staff loses it, reprint when staff changes…you get the point.
Rewards and Recognition
Almost everyone loves to be recognized for doing a good job, so one of the easiest ways to encourage workplace efficiency is by simply offering incentives for employees who display efficient behaviors. This could be something as simple as a priority parking spot for a month or a gift card to a nearby eatery, but let’s get real…people want cash! Cash incentives for engaging in efficient workplace actions and behaviors will get the best results, no questions asked. A highly visible place to display the names/photos of employees who receive efficiency incentives will also encourage others to participate, since the second biggest motivator behind cash is competition.
Focus on Wellness and Comfort
While you don’t want your office to be so comfortable that it encourages midday naps (unless you’re cool with that…no judgment here!), comfort is very important for keeping employees happy and satisfied. Since office employees typically spend most of their days at their desks, that’s a good place to start. Supportive desk chairs, ergonomic keyboards, and proper lighting are all resources that should be required for all workstations, as they promote comfort and higher efficiency.
In addition to comfort at the desk, making the entire office comfortable and inviting is also important to both your staff and any visitors. Providing healthy snacks and beverages in a comfortable break room complete with soft music, live plants, and some comfy chairs is a great way to show people how much they’re appreciated. Bonus points if they’re massage chairs! Extra bonus points if you bring in an actual therapist once a month for staff massages!
Set Firm Deadlines and Check Ins
Flexibility can be a good thing, but too much of it can lead to indifference and procrastination. It’s important for employees to know which tasks are priority and which can wait until later so set firm deadlines for priority work and communicate those deadlines clearly. Check in with staff at regular intervals to get status updates and clear up any obstacles along the way. Explain to all staff the consequences of missing check-ins or deadlines and be sure to enforce those consequences should the need arise. This fair but no nonsense approach to procrastination and timeliness is required for an IDD agency to run smoothly.
Stop Multitasking – Block Your Schedule Instead
We’ve all been told for years that the hallmark of an effective administrator is the ability to multitask, but let’s get down to the facts. Multitasking is a stress-inducing, productivity-killing, and even IQ-lowering activity that could cost your agency big time. In fact, having administrators use more efficient scheduling methods, such as schedule blocking, to manage their time can lead to up to 40% more productivity!
Learn to Delegate
As an IDD agency administrator, you’ll quickly learn that there are more tasks in a day than one person can reasonably complete. That’s why it’s important for agency administrators to learn when and how to delegate tasks to others. There’s no reason to tie up an owner’s time reviewing staff documentation when QPs or APs are more suited to this task. Similarly, don’t waste a QP’s time creating a unit-tracking spreadsheet when the administrative assistant can do this easily. Encourage your administrative staff to recognize tasks that are more appropriately done by others so that they can more efficiently manage their time and energy on higher-level tasks.
Personalized Advice to Help Your Agency Achieve Peak Efficiency
If you want to improve efficiency and productivity at your agency but aren’t sure where to start, we’re here to help. We provide consulting services for IDD provider agencies tailored to improving processes, utilizing available tools and resources, eliminating waste, and incentivizing employees for outstanding work. For more information, contact:
Mindy Hodgin
Digital Transition Specialist
(919) 583-7252
mindy@connectcareonline.com