Well, the environment at work hardly changed much, people will continually shit on the receptionists, a whirlwind of paper will always need to be maintained, and stupidity will prevail on this planet.

We finally moved to an electronic platform for billing and medical records last month. Stuff has been seriously hopping. In a great way, of course.

Previously, we’ve lost a whopping load of $ on insurance claims thanks to unreliable and late billers, lack of follow-up, and just plain ol’ deficiency in the knowledge of medical billing. It’s not like I took a course in it nor was I ever trained on the subject matter. I basically learned this crap on my own.

And remember, thanks to my disorganization and lack of motivation, I would tackle issues only when I felt like it. I can honestly fess up to having many unmotivated days.

So, I’ve accomplished much since my “Sloppy” post on 11/11/06. I’ve resolved a majority of the tasks and/or moved certain issues into a new status. That way, the ball is no longer in my court. Ahhh…volleyball anyone?

I remember advising my fellow co-workers that certain issues were never meant to be resolved – instead, it would be a constant email volley of vernacular fits between the involved parties. In situations such as these, the best course of action is to simply maintain this tennis match and make sure you slam the tennis ball right back into your contender’s court. Always be prepared and keep the damn ball out of your court.

And when your boss asks you why you haven’t made any progress, it ain’t your fault…you’ve sent numerous of follow-up emails and have gotten no response. Don’t know what else you could do and you’ve also cc’ed the schmuck’s superior. Oh well…

Then the cats who reside in those upper echelons of the workplace will do the hissing and caterwauling. Your job is to simply be prepared for the tennis ball to return.

The smarter folks will understand this piece of advice…others, don’t. And you wonder why they’re still in the same job for the past 6 years.

Since I took over, we’ve employed two additional and competent part-time receptionists, renovated the office twice to optimize workflow and keep the assholes from barging straight into the exam room, upgraded numerous technological gadgets, improved workflow, righted all of the wrongs, whupped patients into shape, and completely shut down access to the doctor. And then some.

This is no easy feat and thanks to my work-life experience, I’ve taken this practice into a whole new level. It was a lot of blood, sweat and tears. Undoubtedly, I brought all of these potential seedlings into fruition.

Of course, someone begs to differ. But I’m not going into that right now.

Of course, there’s definitely room for improvement. Because I was molded in the Fidelity way of thinking, anything and everything can be done better. Gimme another 6 months.

Basically, I do everything – from contracting, networking, credentialing, cleaning, billing, feng shui’ing, to plain ol’ receptionist work. The only thing I don’t do is examine patients and prescribe them Prozac. And hell, I proudly declare it to all Rich’s peers and Provider Relations Managers. They have no choice but to agree.