2006 Priority Health Quality Award Winner

Michigan Medical, PC
A flexible, cross-trained staff is one factor that helps MMPC's Wyoming pediatric office achieve top quality scores in Priority Health's PIP measures. All new employees split their days between clinical and clerical training until they have grasped the requirements of each.

The length of the training period varies, ensuring delivery of standardized care. The result is a staff of 22 that shares responsibility and accountability for the office's success and openly communicates with the five doctors in the practice.

It is interesting that different practices achieve high scores in ways that work best for the doctors and their staffs. Some tightly connect nurses or physician assistants with individual doctors. In this MMPC office, the focus is on cross training. "Because the staff is cross-trained, they do a remarkable job of letting the physicians know when they see problems," says Practice Manager Cathy Thompson. "You can take any staff person here, with the exception of one or two who are clerical only, and they can work with any of the physicians."

Cross-training not only helps the staff handle challenges, but also helps to combat burnout. That's an important factor in an office that cares for more than 10,000 patients, about 3,800 of whom are Priority Health members.

Thompson credits the hard work of the entire staff for winning a Quality Award, especially Supervisor Chastity Vandermark and Medical Assistant Shanda Bagley, who led and focused the practice's quality management effort.

"They made sure the staff received the training they needed in order to check for those vaccines; they worked the reports; they contacted members to get information if we were missing a shot record, because a lot of times we have people who move into the area and don' even think to bring their shot record with them," Thompson says.

"It takes a lot of follow-up, and these two put in the work to get that follow-up done."