Day 5 May 20, 2011

Today went by quickly as I had almost completed my hours in the first four days. I met with Johnson this morning where we discussed some of the new clients to Compass. Many of which included schools, even parish faculty will soon have access to compasses services. I also did more time tests on doctor recommendations, as the company wants to be more thorough than the previous data reflected. We discussed new clients, how to do doctor recommendations and often that medical requests require some investigating to ensure that the patient reveals the entire truth. The day was a tad bit slower so we discussed some college related issues, and then met up with CEO Scott to discuss the cost estimate-training seminar for new employees. Johnson was previously tasked with creating difficult solutions or problems that could be requested by employees and gave them to Scott so he could demonstrate how to solve the problem. It turned out that only a few of the solutions were even solvable at all requiring Johnson to forge difficult but not impossible problems. As it approached later in the day Johnson talked about odd requests he has been given and how to satisfy customers. Such examples include a client requesting a black doctor who went to Harvard in the Dallas area that could perform heart surgery. Needless to say Compass had a difficult time with the solution and eventually found a black doctor who went to Stanford in the Dallas area that could perform the surgery. We talked about the fact that not all situations are solvable and occasionally one must be creative with the task presented. Finally we concluded the project by helping a Michael’s executive with her new health insurance plan (it got changed due to new laws) and with her deductible. The senior project concluded and I realized that while I enjoyed my time at Compass I should probably pursue a different path.

Day 4 May 19, 2011

Today Johnson and I began the day meeting with Cliff one of the original founders of the company to discusses new productivity reports. The productivity reports were giving skewed data for managers and team leads as they spend more time answering questions than working on solutions for the paying customers. WE discussed how to avoid this problem and how to fix the productivity reports to more accurately reflect working time. We concluded that team leads performances should be more group based than individual based due to time spent answering questions etc. After that meeting we returned to Johnson’s office where we called had a conference call about Brinker a large client of compass and how to make them more satisfied and the potential to increase monthly fees at compass. Johnson discussed his plan to have Brinker incentivize sick employees to call compass to reduce overall health care costs. For example the top 100 sickest individuals at Brinker result in 7 million dollars of health care costs to the company each year, a large percent of the total costs. Johnson believes that these individuals who max out on deductibles, have no incentive to find cheaper health facilities and doctors resulting in extra spending for the company. In the end the goal of the company is to reduce the 7 million spent by the top individuals to increase the return on investment for Brinker and potentially increase Compasses profits. AS the day progressed Johnson and I got lunch discussed the overall strategy of compass, and we worked on some difficult CPT solutions. One of the many solutions we were charged with fixing was a girl who needed rehabilitation for her knee but also required a doctor in addition to a physical therapist because of preexisting conditions. The cheap health insurance the family owned forced high out of plan costs for such a procedure as such compass reduced the overall cost by finding places that offer cash discounts. Finally I ended the day by helping move and set up new computers for employees and by working on more CPT solution.

Day 3 May 18, 2011

Today presented both new challenges and a multitude of learning experiences. I began the day with a meeting of recently hired employees to discuss training program procedures and how to improve them. The employees talked about a need to mix both theoretical and practical training for such procedures as doctor referrals, calculating costs of procedures and more. Johnson and I also began to survey employees on overall work morale as complaints had increased. We listened to a random sample of employees noting that the leads of groups and those who are in groups need to better communicate and divide work in a fair and reasonable manner. As the day progressed I was also charged with doing a random experiment to analyze time spent on public websites for doctor referrals. A tax law is in place if the company spends more the 5 percent of its time on public websites while working on doctor referrals it may be taxed. WE plan to analyze the data tomorrow. However today we had a meeting with the management team including Johnson, the CEO, and another manager about the implications of the expanding company. Much was discussed about if expanding required a new office, could alternative work environments work, etc. The meeting also discussed new clients and ensuring satisfaction and how to analyze work productivity. I learned that no simple solutions exists to a growing companies more costs would be a direct result of expansion. We discussed this in an economic manner noting that as we increase the total number of employees work productivity goes up however to many employees means a lose of profit for the company and less productive individuals. We ended the day working on more CPT Solutions from the day, such as deductibles for the company Michaels, and I left as Johnson was working to move leaders into more effective units.

Day 2 May 17, 2011

I arrived around the same time as yesterday to a far busier environment than the previous day. The day although differing in some manners than the previous still involved problems with CPT codes, quotes on procedures and a variety of internal problems. For example today Mr. Johnson helped the rest of the employees when difficulties arose, one of which was an individual who claimed to have used Compasses services many times but was not in the system. It turned out that this individual who called Compass for a referral for alcohol problems had not ever used there services and thus did not exist in the previous patient call log. In addition some other problems included an estimate for a procedure (heart related) that an insurance company was unwilling to pay for, this resulted in an attempt to find the procedure for the patient cheaply at a discounted rate. However many faculties charged high rates even with cash resulting in unique solutions to the problem, transferring the individual to a different faculty and switching out doctors became necessary. AS the day proceeded similar to the previous Johnson monitored productivity, and efficiency on a computer program. As the day progressed however a new problem arose that the CEO wanted to fix by the end of the week. According to tax laws, if a company spends more than 5 percent of its time on doctoral referrals they may be taxed on there time spent. Tomorrow Johnson and I will be doing an experiment with 10 random compass employees to calculate the average time spent on specific websites in attempt to prove that Compass doesn’t need to pay the extra tax. The day concluded with more CPT code problems that required Johnson’s attention, as well as an influx of college student resumes that needed to be reviewed before Compass hires. I learned from Johnson’s perspective just what companies like Compass require for a job opportunity to be given (high gpa, some previous work experience, references, not to include mottos and creeds etc.). Tomorrow in addition to experimenting with call log times many individuals will come in for interviews with Johnson, I will overhear one of the founders of Compass talk about calculating complex procedural costs and more. Today however was very similar to yesterday although I spent more time at compass today, tomorrow will have meetings, hiring’s and new experiences.

First Day of Senior Project ( May 16)

I arrived this morning at Compass health services eager to begin my senior project with director of operations Adam Johnson. Mr. Johnson before delving into the tasks of a busy day proceeded to explain the goals of Compass and the daily workings of the business. The goal of Compass is to act as a median between individuals with health care and the medical world, Compass services include quotes for procedure work, an ability to find specific doctors whether it be gender or language related, and to lower the cost of medical products.

Immediately Mr. Johnson shows me around the facility, and pulls up the company database that has every record of the nearly 100,000 clients who have requests that need to be dealt with by the agency. Mr. Johnson also delves into the economics of the business noting that the company is able to make a profit through monthly fees imposed upon either the individual or company purchasing Compasses services. He also furthers that Compass continues to get paid whether or not people access the individuals and resources available. However he strives to increase the total amount of client to use ratio to spread the word of the services and gain a good reputation. For example the company has had about a 17 percent ratio of individuals who use the company versus individuals that have the service. While some may not understand they are paying for the service as they indirectly receive the benefits the company strives to increase the percent to around 25 percent to further its reputation and make it a necessity in the market place. After this Mr. Johnson shows me around the office and introduces me to the various individuals who work there, most of whom are college graduates (a lot from SMU) who handle telephone calls and deal with the requests of individuals. As afternoon approaches Mr. Johnson and me go out to lunch further discussing the company and how it functions. In the afternoon MR. Johnson and I deal with problems with a newly installed phone system, a mistake with a client and how CPT codes work. We conclude the day analyzing productive of individuals, fixing problems with the new company, and a quick celebration is held for the CEO’s 35 birthday.

I learned a lot about health insurance, the economics of running a successful business, and how to oversee and measure the productivity of employees to maximize profits. I am excited and ready for another day at Compass tomorrow and enjoyed my first day with Mr. Johnson.

What My Senior Project is About

For my senior project I plan to spend one week at Compass health services following the director of operations Adam Johnson. I will Follow Mr. Johnson as he oversees employees at the new company, works with financing, helps to update the large health care database, and attempts to solve problems associated with the emerging business. The company has about 100,000 individuals who pay for the services, included for the price is consulting on health care matters, price quotes for patient procedure’s, and references to reduce the overall cost of procedures and medicine. Clients get the services usually from their employer who gets the package from a broker that made a deal with compass. The company handles requests speaks with doctors and acts as a median between the medical world and the individual.