Will Rogers said once that “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”   With recent events in the transplant world, his message seems eerily prescient.  We recently saw the first successful xenotransplant in the US , and with it a myriad of publications subtly (and not so subtly) touting it as the “future of transplant.” It’s not that surprising the hype cycle has ramped up so quickly around this event.  Xenotransplants have all the key in

I’ve been in the healthcare industry long enough to know that there are a lot of policies and processes out there that are just plain bad. I’m not saying they’re wrong or right or even inefficient or costly. I’m saying they’re bad. Like leftover food in the fridge bad. And it gets worse. Because the longer those leftovers sit there, the more they stink. Granted, today’s now-stinky processes were almost certainly the right choice at one time. But isn’t that always the case? As

H.L. Mencken once wrote, “… there is always a well-known solution to every human problem — neat, plausible, and wrong.” Now, more than a hundred years later, and it’s still obvious that Mencken knew what the heck he was talking about. For example, in the 10+ years I’ve spent helping build residency programs, I’ve heard my share of overly simplified theories about what is behind the perpetual shortage of physicians. The one that people are most likely to cough up is, “Reside

There’s one short statement that we hear all the time, and we’ve quickly come to see it as the seven worst words in all of healthcare: “Because we’ve always done it that way.” Just stop for a moment and consider: How much of your daily frustrations are tied to things that have been in place for years? How much time do you spend working around  processes that are clearly broken? And how often do you hear “We have to do it that way because that’s the way we’ve always done it” i

For years, the healthcare industry has been a data powerhouse, churning out massive volumes of potentially valuable information every day. Unfortunately, most healthcare organizations are far better at making data than they are at making sense of data. Even those with advanced AI tools struggle as the sheer amount of data can be overwhelming and the insights generated by technology are often too rigid or complex for everyday use. The real issue for healthcare isn’t the amoun

Time studies are hardly anybody’s idea of a great time, and in fact are notorious for causing friction between administrators and the wide range of people tasked with logging and filing the data. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Here are five tenets of time studies that will help reduce friction and improve results: Personalize It : When you tailor time studies to the specific users, they feel like they have greater ownership in the process and are more motivated to accomp

Dear Time Study Administrators, Thank You. Time study management is not easy. It is often a test of fortitude as you deal with daily frustrations while weathering backlash from the inevitable grumblers and those who fail to submit in a timely way. So let me start by assuring you that it’s not you the participants resent, it’s the process they dislike. Not that this offers much comfort when you’re facing the stress and anxiety of yet another time study week. Nevertheless, we

When we talk about MyTimeStudy, we often refer to it as “effortless compliance for monthly CMS time studies.” But of course, time studies live well beyond the one month of data they represent or the one reimbursement check you expect to receive from CMS. Specifically, they live for at least seven years beyond that. Sooner or later, CMS will come knocking on your door and, yes, they will expect to see multiple years of data. So, you need to ask yourself, are you ready to stand

Let's face it, time studies are no one's favorite task, yet they remain a crucial way to understand and fund key parts of healthcare. But what if we changed the narrative? What if instead of merely going through the motions, we harnessed the true potential of time studies and the wealth of data they offer? It's time to elevate your time studies to a whole new level. The Foundation: The Basic Level Make no mistake, transitioning from a paper-based or Excel-based time study to

One of the beautiful things about electronically logging and tracking time study data is you have a clear view of a remarkable truth – with just a small investment of time and effort, it’s possible to see substantial increases in Medicare reimbursement. Our case study, conducted at a top-notch transplant center, serves as a shining example of how a focused approach to data collection and analysis with MyTimeStudy can provide an incredible return on investment, even when key f

86% of time recorded in time studies comes from people other than physicians. That’s real money.

Comfort is a tricky thing. We all want it, complain when we don’t have it, and build our long-term goals around finding it. Yet, for all its glory, comfort is most often found in our daily lives as a convenient way to rationalize the tough decisions we are forced to make. Comfort is effective because it bypasses complex organization dynamics: The best choice is usually the one that makes the most (or the most important) people comfortable. This has led to the phrase “I’d

...when you see new features on MyTimeStudy Transplant or Directorship, you can be sure that the ideas for them have been crowdsourced...

One of the oldest maxims from the stock market (and still included on nearly every prospectus for shareholders) is “past performance is not indicative of future success…” Put more bluntly, just because you’ve been successful in the past does not guarantee that you’ll be successful in the future. That maxim continues to ring true largely because the stock market (and the world itself) is constantly changing, and every minute that are hundreds of factors, influencing thousands