Shannon Smith's blog

It's evaluation time! If you want to be happy with your results for the first quarter of 2010, ask yourself what do you have to do this month to accomplish your top 3 goals for the year? Write them down so that you are crystal clear.

If you're disappointed because you haven't accomplished everything you've hoped. Hang in there! Focus on the activities that you can do now (in March) to help you acheive your goals for the year. The first quarter is about laying the foundation. There is still time for your bigger plans to come together! You just have to keep plugging away at it.

Pamela Harris, District Attorney for San Francisco, gave an inspiring speech yesterday about the fight for human rights for all in America and the role of women leaders.

The key messages of her speech summarized below apply to all apsiring leaders but especially women.

1. Understand your power. Don't be bothered by what has been or accept false choices. Become the person that you imagine yourself to be.

I encourage you to take a few minutes to watch Ross' presentation about why China is ahead of the US in treating spinal cord injuries given at Tedx. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZQQkI5TdwU

My father told me early in my career that if I could manage people I would succeed at whatever I did. His words didn't resonate with me then, but like other words of wisdom, his words suck with me.

If you read Joel Garfinkle's post about setting yourself up for success in 2010, then you know that it is time to assess how you're doing. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out Start Planning Now to Succeed in 2010!

Years ago I read a book written by the Founder of Patagonia, Yvon Chouinard, called Let my People Go Surfing and felt that the message of his book was similar to the one that I wanted to share this week.

If this year was a test and you used your 2009 goals as a basis for whether you passed or failed, would you give yourself a passing grade?

Do you have career goals, but are unsure how to attain them? Maybe you don't know exactly what it is that you ultimately want to do, but you know that you don't want to do what you're doing now for the rest of your life. Great. You've already taken the first step in realizing your career path!

Take 30 minutes to assess your strengths. Struggling with this one? There are a lot of books and tools available to help you, but you can also ask friends, co-workers and your managers what they think you're good at. Write down what they tell you. Then look at the lists for patterns. Think about how your strengths have helped you do so far in your career. Which ones would you like to build upon?

When I first start the RUSH GROUP, I was working almost every waking moment. There were many obstacles to me reaching my goal. E-learning was new, many surgical facilities didn't have high-speed internet connections, few participants had computers at home and few healthcare providers offered job training to business office staff. At times, I was discouraged and uncertain as to what kept me moving forward.

Sometimes you need others to see your reflection. While I was developing the Patient Accounting Certification program, many of the virtual classroom participants would tell me how passionate I was about what I was doing. At the time, I didn't think that I was all that passionate. I was just trying to make a great program. Yes, that meant spending hours upon hours reviewing assessments, providing feedback and coming up with creative examples to ensure people grasped the lessons’ core concept. I would have described myself as driven and determined. Was that passion? Now that I have the vantage point of time, I have to say YES! It truly was a labor of love.

I attended the American Association of Ambulatory Surgery Centers (AAASC) meeting this week.  I didn't get to attend all lectures but of those that I did attend, it was clear reimbursement issues are on the minds of most providers.   

Many ASCs are still struggling to negotiate fair contracts with third party payers and consequently, are continuing to provide services on an out-of-network basis.  This strategy is working for some, but most acknowledged that the payers are fighting back.  Many payers are limiting out-of-network benefits for outpatient surgery by implementing daily maximum benefits of $380, $500 and $600, or by separating the deductible pools so that patients have to satisfy a large out-of-network deductible before their plan benefits apply.  The limits can deter patients from using non-contracted providers.  One executive from a surgery center management company acknowledged that their non-contracted facilities loose about 5% of the cases scheduled.  To limit the number of lost cases, he as well as the other participants in the session acknowledged that as a non-contracted provider, they offer courtesy discounts so that patients are not financially penalized.  

I know some of you out there think that I must be crazy to be so persistent pursuing the e-learning path.  Well let me help you understand.  While I was working in audit and consulting in the early 90's for a large healthcare system, I kept noticing the same issues.  I left audit to take a field job - my thinking was that I needed to get into the field to find out what was really going on.  What I experienced was shocking.  The days seemed to just run together.  There simply wasn't enough time in the day to get everything done.  I was working as a Controller then and if it wasn't month end, it was budget time and if it wasn't budget time, there was an audit.  Let alone all the projects.  It just didn't stop.  I just kept getting stretched thinner and thinner.  I left the company.

It has been quite the journey to get to this point.  Our courses were first developed back in 2001-2002.  I remember presenting a demo at Becker's ASC Conference in Chicago and the pained look on one woman's face as she tried to understand what I was talking about. E-Learning was definitely not a familar concept to say the least!  Over the course of several years, we marketed the courses like crazy and got many to participate.  Those who put the time and effort in thought they were amazing.  Others struggled to find the time and eventually gave up :)