Huddle’ Your Way To Staff Efficiency

While trying to make a mark in a career in medical coding, you need to remember that the key to running an efficient medical office is communication. It helps to keep you and your co-workers on time.

In fact, many offices report that morning huddles have increased their office efficiency. You can take home a few lessons from here if you are not doing this.

The reason behind ‘morning huddle’ is to review the day’s schedule.

Are there special-needs patients scheduled? Will they require additional assistance? A morning huddle can address how to manage these situations and avoid delays.

Working with practices across the country to test a new model of family medicine, the American Academy of Family Physicians has found that daily hurdles can help you address a number of critical issues.

Advantages of huddles: Huddles allow the practice to make changes in the daily workflow as required, get on top of crises before they arise, make adjustments that improve patients’ access, and boost staff members’ stress levels.

Here are a few ways to implement successful huddles:

First get the approval of the physician. The physician’s support is critical to its success, irrespective of whether he attends the meeting or not.

Next you should settle on a set time for huddles. Then try limiting the huddles to seven minutes or less. Also, you should hold the huddle in a central location like the break room and everyone should stand.

The agenda should be written by the huddle leader. You can help with this since you know what the day’s schedule looks like.

Agenda for a successful huddle: You need to check for patients who may require more time or assistance due to age, disability or language barrier. Also check for back-to-back lengthy appointments such as physicals. That apart, you need to check for schedule openings that can be filled or chronic no-shows that can be anticipated. Also check for provider and staff schedules.