The Training Track

Employee Education Helps Banner Retain Staff

STAFF HIRING, TRAINING and retention are among the biggest challenges faced by home medical equipment business managers, such as Laurie Busby, regional director for Banner Health System, Fargo, N.D.

"We, like so many other HME offices, have to bring employees in and train them," Busby says. "But what happened traditionally in many of our branches is employees were brought in and not ever properly trained. As a result, employees would make a tremendous amount of mistakes, feel like they were a failure and then quit."

That situation probably sounds all too familiar to most HME providers, but it's becoming increasingly less frequent for Busby and Banner because of the company's Employee Competency Program.

Instituted more than a year ago, the program is designed to educate and train new employees in the workings of the HME industry and Banner's business practices through a series of tutorials or "modules." Module topics include everything from order intake and Medicare requirements to oxygen delivery and infection control. Within each module are up to three levels of competency - basic, intermediate and advanced.

Job requirements dictate what level and what modules each employee takes, Busby says. For example, there's no sense in having a delivery technician learn Medicare billing at the advanced level. However, all employees must take and pass certain "core" modules that give them a basic understanding of the HME industry and of Banner's operations.

The results are promising, according to Busby. While she couldn't quantify a direct correlation between the institution of the program and a sudden drop in employee turnover, she did say the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations liked it.

"For anyone going through Joint Commission right now, competency is a huge issue," Busby says. "We were just surveyed as a system through Joint Commission and spent March through August in survey, and they loved it. We didn't get a single Type I or any supplementals on competency. After the surveyors saw our program, we didn't have any problem at all. In fact, they suggested that we publish [ECP] and sell it."

Not only do JCAHO and new employees like the program, but so do longtime Banner employees.

"[ECP] also has helped chart out a career path for our employees," Busby says. "You can come in as a service tech, and if you want to move on to, say, a medical equipment technician or medical equipment specialist, you can complete the modules and levels necessary to do so. So based on knowledge and experience, you can continue on through the more advanced modules and be promoted."

But like any program, Banner's still has kinks to be ironed out, and Busby says a few new wrinkles are planned, such as companion videos for the modules and making modules accessible on Banner's intranet.

Still, all the effort to create, implement and refine the program has been worth it, Busby says. After all, who can put a price on passing JCAHO competency with no Type I's, on decreasing employee turnover and on training staff members faster and more efficiently?