Shivhon Adkins, MPA, founder of Medical Receptionist Network and author of the “Medical Receptionist Handbook to Success” will present the webinar “Front Desk Success with Medical Receptionist Engagement.” Shivhon answers many commonly asked questions on our blog.

How often would you recommend front desk specific meetings?

Generally, I would say quarterly.  If you are checking in with your staff regularly there should not be a need to officially meet more often than that.  You figure 90 days provides enough time to have valuable information to discuss as opposed to just having meetings monthly where everyone can’t wait to go home. Don’t waste your time and your staffs time. I suggest a schedule of meetings in January, April, July and October. When you have them scheduled in advance you can also look ahead and discuss any date specific concerns, vacations, weather and things of that nature.

What team building activities do you recommend that can be done on-site?

Create a scenario based game with office specific situations —  Let your staff create 1-4 steps on how to handle the situation. Then you pair them up and they then must collaborate to create another set of steps to resolve the issue; this will mean they have to agree on the same steps. Depending on how many staff members you have you can keep joining teams until you are down to 2. I suggest using a timer. When you have your final 2 resolutions you can have the staff individually vote on the best solution and then you can direct a discussion and include your input.

Office trivia is an option and recommended for smaller teams —  Role play by having one receptionist be the patient and the other responding to the patient as the receptionist. You can create patient profiles and the employees can choose one. You can then provide feedback on how they handled the situation.

Invite a guest speaker — Have presenters who are willing to focus on the responsibilities of your front desk staff to reinforce the importance of their position and contribution to the practice.

I am new to my practice and our workflows are outdated, how should I tackle this?

• Pull together all the reference resources your office has, everything your front desk references
• List each task/workflow by priority
• Set a goal for completion

As a new edition to a group you will be very busy with other responsibilities but getting the workflows ready will position you and your medical receptionists for success.

Can you provide any tips on employee recognition?

I believe that employee recognition programs are beneficial to employees and employers.  Having a program in place also serves as a reminder to acknowledge your medical receptionists’ talent and contribution.  You can expand the recognition beyond general performance, you can also focus on milestones such as length of employment or have an employee of the month based on peer votes.  Prizes, certificates, gift cards, hours added to time off, or a front parking space can all be awarded to the team members depending on how you set up your program.  Be creative, you know your team and what they would appreciate.

 

Be sure to check out Shivhon Adkins’ webinar and explore our other online resources, such as our online compliance training courses, compliance posters, and our complimentary webinars and podcasts.

 

Shivhon Adkins, MPA, founder of Medical Receptionist Network, has improved daily processes within the medical office setting over her 16 year career in healthcare, including creating and enforcing policies and procedures and implementing a new employee recognition program. Shivhon created an online learning program for Medical Receptionists to provide required concepts, improve communication, and increase team work and morale among front desk staff. Shivhon is the author of Medical Receptionist Handbook to Success and host of the Medical Receptionist Network Podcast.