Own your ship. This is one of our company principles, for one simple reason. It is the single characteristic that separates the best from everyone else in any industry, in any walk of life, in any sport, and in any era for that matter. Why is that?
Remember the old saying that you're the average of your five closest friends? Are they – and, by extension, you – a blame agent or a change agent? Do a quick audit of your closest friends and grade them on accountability. Now do an audit of the people who report to you and to whom you report. What's the correlation to their effectiveness?
How does this pertain to senior living? It's simple. If you don’t own it, you can’t change it. People can point fingers. They can whine. They can blame, but they won’t be changing much except for your patience level.
Improving Your Communities
Senior living communities are really complex. You have people, for starters, and people are complicated. You have residents who are often frail who interact with your overworked staff, who are trying to manage the expectations of family members, who are challenged by a very difficult reality.
So we're committed to managing. We're committed to owning it. We're committed to making a difference where it makes the biggest difference.
Reducing Claims and Lawsuits
Let’s start with eliminating lawsuits. They're traumatic to care givers and management alike. They stress your relationship with your insurance company like nothing else, and boy oh boy are they the source of the grandest finger pointing.
One thing is for sure – the best lawsuit is the one you don’t have. So how do you avoid lawsuits?
Let’s start with the three common elements of any legitimate claim that results in a lawsuit, then we'll talk about what you can do to proactively manage each element before it takes place.
The three elements of a claim are:
1) A negative outcome.
The negative outcome is usually the result of a fall or skin compromise, but there are other precursors to negative events:
- Management. We can’t get good after an adverse event. We have to be getting better all the time. That isn’t true just for caregivers. Managers need to spot trends and trouble spots before they happen, and communicate effectively with staff and families.
- Tools. You have the data to do the job, but you need tools that assist with effective analytics. Part of the issue is where the data is housed and how to make it accessible and then useful. There are simple-to-use products focused on making facilities better that are inexpensive and easy to set up.
2) An upset family.
You've seen it before. A calm family with a realistic outlook can tolerate tough times, but an anxious family that doesn't understand what's going on can mean legal trouble. Engage early and often. Where there are good relationships, there are few claims. Trouble doesn't come from the families that are around a lot. It comes from the son or the niece who shows up twice a year and second-guesses everything he or she doesn’t understand. Have an engagement plan. Be friendly and clear. Avoiding painful personalities doesn’t make a lawsuit less likely.
3) A plaintiff attorney willing to take a case.
Plaintiff attorneys are like water: they flow along the path of least resistance. If you hand them a layup, they will take it. If you run a three-, four-, or five-star facility, the better plaintiff attorneys will look for easier prey.
Avoid claims by managing in advance with the right tools like QA Reader. Own your ship. Run a great facility. Be a credit to your community. Keep your staff happy.
That way, there is no first claim.
Next Steps
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