How Healthcare Works, LLC

Okay, I'm sure you read the title of this post and thought I was going to say something about doing your research for papers or presentations. Or, you might have thought I meant to do your research before you post randomwebsite.com latest COVID-19 news on social media. No. That's not what I am talking about. Do your research on yourself. After all, part of what How Healthcare Works is about is personal and professional leadership development. 1. Google Yourself. I remember when I first started "Googling" myself. Actually, "Google" wasn't even around then. We were still calling the internet the "worldwide web," and I probably used Netscape or Internet Explorer to conduct my web search. But, the thing to do, just for fun, was to search your name and see if it came up anywhere. And, my name did...here and there. I thought it was cool, and I didn't think too much of it. As time went on, my name appeared more and more. Now, that I have a pret

I'm going to throw some facts out at you and let you digest them. Please know that I am aware that I have primarily only included two racial/ethnic groups in this post. That is intentional on my part. If you would like a post with similar information regarding a different racial/ethnic group, I would be happy to do so at a later date.  Government Assistance Whites without a college degree (less than an associate's degree) are the largest racial/ethnic group recipients of government assistance programs.   *40% of Medicaid recipients are white. In 20 states, over half of the recipients are white.  *21% of Medicaid recipients are black. In Washington, D.C., and 2 states, Louisiana and Mississippi, over half of the recipients are black.  *32.7% of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) recipients are white. In 16 states, over half of the recipients are white. *31.0% of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) recipients are black. In 17 states, over half of the recipi

In this post, I am going to teach you how to use a process improvement and problem-solving tool. It is called "idea mapping." Some people may call this brainstorming, but it actually goes a bit further than brainstorming. Idea mapping is about getting your usable, real ideas, goals, and areas for improvement down on paper, and then applying an actual process for how you are going to achieve those goals. You are basically going to go from a jumbled group of goals to the finish line of a completed goal. For my example idea map, I picked "Move to a New City." I chose this one because it's that time of year when a lot of students just graduated from college, and now they are looking for a new adventure. Or, maybe they found their first big job and they are going to have to move. Maybe you have a family, and you have to move somewhere with your family. Maybe after all of this business with COVID-19, you have decided you really want to move away from where you live

When applying for a new position, the qualifications or position requirements may say, "bachelor's degree, five years experience, master's degree preferred, or demonstration of progressively responsible experience." What is progressively responsible experience, anyway? Progressively responsible experience basically means you "climbed up the ladder." In each position, you should have gained more responsibilities than in the last. A good rule of thumb is at least a 20% increase in responsibility or a 10-20% increase in salary. Those two things do not always necessarily coincide. Here are items that demonstrate progressive responsibility. 1. Increase in the number of job duties. Many frontline positions start off with one primary job duty. The more job duties you have, the more things for which you are responsible. For example, a patient access clerk is primarily responsible for registering patients. However, imagine that the person receives a position as an

Even though I was in sports when I was younger, I never considered myself much of a runner. I remember running around the edges of the softball field for both softball and tennis and doing oh, so many line drills. I even was in track in 7th grade. In college, I played soccer, and we had to run several miles a week. I was so self-conscious about my running, that I ran at night so no one would see me. I didn't feel self-conscious about walking, though. Interestingly, perhaps purposefully, I lived right near many walking trails. Watching so many other people walking by and enjoying the trails made me want to walk and enjoy the trails as well. I don't know how far I walked and for how many years. I would guess I averaged about 5 miles a day everywhere I lived. In 1997, I bought the book, "The Wish List" by Barbara Ann Kipfer, which I basically use as my life list. (I love this book so much that I have gifted it to several other people.) One of the things in the book

We are in the midst of the coronavirus crisis right now. And, I have been posting a lot on social media and talking a lot about public health. My first job in healthcare was about 24 years ago, in 1996. I started off as a medical records clerk in a family practice clinic in Nebraska. In case you don't know, medical records back then weren't electronic. It was all paper. Literally, I was a paper shuffler, all day every day. I didn't care for it that much and was deciding between continuing to work at the clinic and becoming a history and government teacher. I had a B.A. in History and a Secondary Education Endorsement from Graceland University and had my teaching license. The clinic administrator met with me one day and asked if I would still try to become a teacher if I was given a promotional transfer to be a medical transcriptionist at the clinic. I said no. I was going to get a raise and was going to make more than substitute teachers made (back then I believe subs ma

I had this whole blog post all written up earlier this week about my walk. However, after I had it written and read it for the next day, I changed my mind. It was about walking through history and how much we have changed from the past. Some times we see that, but other times we don't. We don't see how much things have changed at all. Instead, I decided to write about how we need to listen to our bodies. When it comes to our health, our bodies often give us clues and cues about how we are feeling. For example, I always know if I am getting sick because I get unusually tired a few days beforehand. My glands in my neck will get swollen. If my body is really fighting off something, I sleep a lot more than usual. Even people who haven't seen me for years will say, "You slept until 9:00 am? Are you okay? That's not like you." And, since I know my body's cues that I am getting sick pretty well by now, I listen. It's the same with exercising. When I am