Teleios Blog

Recently in TCN Talks podcast, I interviewed Christine Lau, RN, LCSW, APHSW-C, about the challenge of going from a peer to the leader of a team.  Watch podcast here.  What follows is a blog from me and then Christine will follow with a blog of her own on this timely topic.

"Volunteering is a chance for me to give back and hopefully make a difference. I am lucky to be able to put my organizational, and technological skills to good use. What I do for TCN affords me a chance to continue to develop new skills and build on existing knowledge while feeling involved with a wonderful, worthwhile cause and hopefully help make an impact."

Growing up in Minnesota, surfing was not a sport that was native to my geography; however, my love for skateboarding, snowboarding, and wakeboarding naturally drew me in. Let me offer a brief disclaimer and say that I have not mastered the art of surfing so much of what I share below about surfing is rooted more in theory than practice.  I will use my limited surfing experience to outline how the discussion around mastering value-based care is not all that different.

Consider this – On April 6, you get a medical records request from a patient who asks for their records to be sent so they can access them on their smartphone. What is your first thought?

• “HIPAA allows me 30 days to fulfill this request, so I will get to it when I can.”
• “I guess I could send the records to the patient’s email if they want to access them from their phone.”
•  “I think our EHR has a patient portal function, but I’m not sure we ever turned that on.”

When I was a young auditor in my first job out of college, I had great mentor and managing partner.

Imagine each night after you brushed your teeth, you went to your favorite chair, sat down, closed your eyes, and saw yourself going through the day you just had; however, imagine magically that your body was able to give you feedback about the decisions you made… Let's pretend that you had a very relaxing day and accomplished everything on your task list and even made time for a nice walk while you listened to your favorite audible book. Hahaha. This is starting to get comical. Let's try that again a little more realistic this time!

We celebrate World Cancer Day this month with record drop in cancer deaths for second straight year in U.S.

The American Cancer Society’s annual Cancer Statistics reports improved survival overall for those facing cancer.  The improvement is most pronounced in lung cancer, thanks to improvements in treatment of non-small cell cancer. We have come a long way since the 50’s and 60’s when the word cancer was said in hushed tones due to the likelihood of it being a terminal illness. 

Today, more and more organizations are opening their books to share their financial information with their employees.  For some, this can be a frightening concept.  If we share in good times, will our employees demand higher pay?  If we share during tough times will our employees get nervous and jump ship?  What should we share and how often?  But don’t let these questions stand in the way of sharing with your staff.  You will find that the benefits far outweigh any costs.

How goes it, friends?  I’m Rochelle and potentially a new face for you as part of our TCN team.   

While my time with TCN is my first foray into the medical industry, I have nearly 15 years of experience in technology integration along with electronic tool development and implementation.  I have served as a liaison between clients, staff, and Information Technology departments in the automobile industry and Environmental Management federal contracting world.  In these roles I have been both member and leader of many teams with a wide range of goals and outcomes.