Tm a Professional Chiropractic Assistant!" I often ask chiropractic assistants if they have a job at a chiropractic office. The answer 100 percent of the time is "yes," followed by a questioning look that alludes to my being crazy for asking. The truth is I am making a point because very few CAs consider what they do a career. As a CA, it is important to me that CAs take ownership of their very important role in chiropractic offices across the country by being educated, informed, and knowledgeable about their field and chosen profession. A CA is a critical cog in the machine that is a well-performing office—one that offers quality care, sound financial explanations, and thus enjoys quality reimbursement. It's highly important that you understand how critical your position is to the office, and how the ability to perform your duties well makes a huge impact on the practice. Let's think about the important functions of the chiropractic office that CAs handle: Front desk Rehab Therapy Insurance Patient advocacy Patient finances Medicare requirements (ABN, ETC) Cleanliness Scheduling patients And so much more As you can see, a CA is responsible for many of the core functions required in chiropractic offices. If you were to rate your knowledge on how well you know every aspect of the tasks you are expected to perform, where would that number fall on a scale of 1 to 10? Are you a shining 9 or 10? Do you feel like you are closer to 4 or 6? One of the biggest confessions we often hear from CAs is that they feel ill equipped to do the job expected of them. This can be due to many reasons, including inept on-the-job training, no ongoing education about the position, orthe lack of time to really delve in and research. Often, CAs find that they don't even know what they don't know. Sometimes it's apathy or a sense of hopelessness to ever "get it right." So how does a CA move from feeling stressed while trying to find enough information to answer a patient's question or get a particular code paid, to showing up for work fearless and confident? Following are key attributes of "The Professional CA," and by working toward each a little at a time, you can get there quickly. Task Identification: I know you spend a good part of your day running from fire to fire to quickly handle urgent matters. "The Professional CA" has time to sit down and list all of the tasks that must be done daily, weekly, monthly, and annually. We recommend that you take the time to do the same. Next, you should schedule time each day for every daily task. Determine when you can block out a time to work on weekly tasks. You may schedule an hour a day and fill in each day with a specific task. For instance, if you have five weekly tasks, such as billing insurance, reviewing AR with the provider, reaching out to recall patients, etc., pick Monday to work on the first task, Tuesday to work on the second task, and so on. Then, plan which day of the weekyou will block out time to work on monthly tasks. Divide your monthly tasks into four groups: first week monthly, second week monthly, third week monthly, and fourth week monthly. Every week at your scheduled time, you can take care of the monthly tasks assigned to that week. So, for example, you may send state- ments on the first Monday of every month, write social media posts on the second Monday of every month, and so on. Complete your schedule with all necessary duties and do your best to work with the schedule you've created. Once you get a firm grip on your time management and everything you must do, you will find yourself less stressed and far more productive. Ongoing Education: One of the most important things you can accomplish toward becoming "The Professional CA" is to complete training in areas where you feel less than fully confident. Think about the areas of focus you work within and write down those subjects that you often feel unable to handle well. Do you feel secure about how Medicare is handled in your office? When answering the phone, do you often fumble because you uncertain about how to answer a patient's questions properly? Whatever the items are on your list, prioritize your list to determine which information is most important to learn first, second, and so on. Block at least one hour a week toward learning more about this subject until you feel confident in it, then move on to the next. Guaranteeing yourself time to learn and grow in your profession is essential to becoming the expert you want to be. There are several ways to find information on every subject concerning chiropractic. There are many free resources online, though I caution you to be selective about what advice and instruction you take. If you are learning online, make sure your source is reputable so that you know you are receiving accurate information. Ask your provider to allow for a quarterly or annual budget for seminars, webinars, resource materials, etc. Plan to learn and you will find your knowledge in any area growing by leaps and bounds. Take the first steps toward time management, organization, and ongoing education. These are core competencies of "The Professional CA." Surround yourself with others in the field who are seasoned and who can help you when you have questions or concerns. If a task seems daunting, tackle it head on and learn as you go. You will find that confidence and assuredness go hand in hand with growth in your profession! KatliyMills Clung is a Certified Medical Compliance Specialist (MCS-P) and, since 1983, has been providing cfiiropractors witli reimbursement and compliance training, advice and tools to improve the financial performance of their practices. Katliy is known as one of our profession'sforemost experts on A ledicare andean be reached at (855) TEAMKAIC or info(dsj<mcuniversity.coni
