Client Story
Altera Managed Services addresses staffing challenges at Lakeview Clinic
Objective
Widespread staffing shortages significantly challenge healthcare organizations today, as healthcare workers leave the profession for new industries, retire and quit the workforce altogether. Of course, this increases the workload of the remaining staff, which can decrease the quality of the care provided, cause burnout and negatively affect job satisfaction, leading to even more staff departures. Shortages also affect an organization’s bottom line, as it can cause a reduction in patient collections and payer reimbursements.
Altera offers staffing-augmentation services to specifically help address this challenge. Lakeview Clinic, a multi-specialty practice, was grappling with such due to an impending retirement of a staff member, and the clinic’s leadership began its search for a lead coder who could quickly adapt and alleviate the workload for the existing staff. Given that it’s a smaller organization, hiring an additional full-time staff member wasn’t the most cost-effective solution.
Experienced higher efficiency in relation to claims submission process
Reduced burnout and overtime for Lakeview Clinic staff
Staff augmentation is cost-effective and enables businesses to access specialized skills without long-term financial commitment
Solution
Collaborating with Altera Managed Services, Resolv Healthcare, also a part of the Harris Healthcare group, came into the picture. Resolv offers revenue cycle solutions to healthcare organizations striving to meet their desired outcomes. When Lakeview Clinic faced the critical challenge of staffing a multi-faceted coder to cover all specialties, Altera Managed Services stepped in with deep expertise, and in this case, a staff-augmentation solution. Collaborating closely with the organization, we identified the clinic’s unique requirements and swiftly sourced top-tier candidates. After a couple weeks, a great match was found in Franz, a coder who could start with the organization immediately. Franz onboarded and trained for two weeks before hitting the ground running. And now, he is fully in charge of coding for seven practice providers.
“We are doing this to give our team a better work–life balance and to cover all the ups and downs. I consider Franz a great colleague. The relationship between Franz and our team is way more personable than just a remote person you barely communicate with.”
Tiffancy Heisel
Director of Quality and Compliance
Heisel explained that before Franz joined the team, they were having some issues that caused delays in closing dates. Now, closing dates are consistently on time and she credits that to the burden Franz lifted off her team. Everyone can now experience a better work–life balance. “Beyond being a great coder, Franz is a great person. He has become a true member of our team,” said Heisel.