Archive
Break the Stigma
Author : CareSource
May 2nd, 2012 | by
May is Mental Health Awareness Month
Lisa is a Registered Nurse at CareSource and has worked in behavioral health most of her career.
“I just fell in to it. It was a natural transition for me,” explains Lisa. “Some people gravitate towards maternity and babies; I gravitated towards mental health.”
You might think that’s strange, but Lisa doesn’t. She has a passion for helping people that have mental illnesses. In fact, mental illness hits close to home.
Lisa has two teenage sons – 19 and 17 – that struggle with schizophrenia, depression, anxiety and bi-polar disorder.
“Mental illness runs in our family; both my father and my husband struggle with it.”
When her oldest son was 3 years old, she took him to the doctor because she knew something just wasn’t right.
“He was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). My doctor told me to socialize him and involve him in activities. That seemed to help, but there were still other things going on that we weren’t yet aware of.”
Both sons were diagnosed at early ages and will probably be on medication the rest of their lives. However, there have certainly been bright spots along the way.
Her 17 year old son recently received his GED and will be attending college this summer.
Lisa’s 19 year old is attending college and involved with Goodwill Easter Seals to help him with housing and employment. Even his college professors are aware of his struggles and reach out to help when things get a bit overwhelming. Recently he had to take a break from school and work due to feelings of “losing control” but he is receiving the support and services he needs to get back on track. This is very common in people who try to manage their mental illness.
“A person with a mental illness can become easily overwhelmed. It’s important for people to have a support system to help them take a step back and put things in to perspective.” ”
Despite their daily struggles, Lisa is hopeful that people with mental illnesses can lead healthy, productive lives.
“The good news is mental illness is a disease you can live with if you are willing to work hard, accept help, allow support and recognize the ‘triggers’.”
Twenty years ago, mental illness was never discussed or addressed but simply swept under the rug. Today, education and communication are key. There are resources available but, the person has to be ready and willing to accept help.
Mental illness is more common than you might think. In fact, in Ohio there are approximately 418,000 adults and 124,000 children living with serious mental illnesses.
Some people think those who are mentally ill can just snap out of it, take some medicine and get better. That’s not the case. It’s a lifelong challenge, but it can be done with proper support and hard work.
“Mental illness is hard for people to talk about and admit. But the silence must be broken if we truly want to get people the help they need and deserve.”
If you or someone you know needs help, talk to your doctor or contact the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) at 1-800-950-6264. You can also follow NAMI’s updates on Facebook and Twitter.
Resource: National Alliance on Mental Illness
Article Tags
anxiety • awareness • bi-polar • bipolar • depression • mental health • nami • national alliance on mental illness
The Fight Against Hunger
Author : CareSource
Dec 19th, 2011 | by
Hunger is a growing issue nationwide. For one in six Americans, hunger is a reality. Those in the most need may be the people we know - our members, our neighbors and our friends. The average food bank in the Midwest has seen requests for food assistance almost double in the last five years.
We decided to join the fight against hunger. For the past few weeks, our employees in all four of our offices (Dayton, Columbus, Cleveland and Lansing) have been collecting food for local food banks. We call it our holiday Giving Tree. Our goal was to donate at least 10,000 pounds of food.
One department in the Dayton office took this challenge a step further and collected money to buy peanut butter – the most needed item on the food bank’s list. They collected $1,500 and purchased 900 pounds of peanut butter!
The final numbers are in… (drum roll, please!)
We are excited to report that we exceeded our goal and donated over two tons of food which will go to 80 food banks in Ohio and Michigan.
Our employees are truly amazing and are always willing to help others. Find your local food bank and join us in the fight against hunger.
Article Tags
CareSource • CareSource Foundation • Dayton • donate • feed america • fight hunger • food • food bank • foodbank • give • hunger • hungry • Michigan • Ohio
Employee Learning Week
Author : CareSource
Dec 5th, 2011 | by
Gone Fishing
By Marc Quick, Senior Business Analyst, Information Technology
Since I have a passion for fishing and learning, it seemed appropriate that I begin with a Chinese Proverb that states “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”In essence, our CareSource University (CSU) department has done a great job of teaching us to “fish” for ourselves as well as the members and providers we serve. To take the analogy a step further, the CSU instructors not only teach us how to “fish” but help us fill our tackle box with skills we can apply either on or off the job, such as managing stress or playing to our strengths. Two of the more satisfying classes I have had at CareSource opened my eyes to the challenges that our members face on a daily basis – Walk in My Shoes: Poverty Simulation – and challenged me to understand and better myself – Emotional Intelligence.
The only way that I would state CSU is unlike fishing is that fishing can be very relaxing whereas all of my CSU classes are always exciting and fun. There is nothing laid back about our instructors. They manage to guide you through each class in a way that makes you want to come back for more. Over the years I have had the privilege of working for several large Fortune 500 companies, but none of them had a training program as relevant and accessible as CareSource’s.
I am grateful for CSU’s “fishing hole” to sharpen my personal and professionals skills.
Is Formal Leadership for Me?
By Heather Boehmer, Grievance and Appeals Specialist
CareSource University (CSU) provides an excellent, supportive framework for the busy professional. Whether seeking to develop skills in a current position, to gain insight into personal behaviors or communication patterns, or to expand beyond a current skill set toward a new role or promotion, there are a multitude of classes designed to help every employee reach his or her goals.
Over the past year, I have had the opportunity to engage with CSU in a variety of different ways. Once class, Effective Communication: Dialogue, afforded me critical insight into the mechanics of successful verbal interaction, providing tools to avoid the nonproductive pitfalls of “raw debate” and “polite” discussion. When one learns to actively listen and engage with conversation partners, to acknowledge and adapt to one another’s communication style, greater clarity is achieved and far greater successes are obtained.
The Delivering Feedback course built further upon the skills I gained through Effective Communication. I learned how to communicate effectively through a variety of styles and to give and receive feedback with greater competence and professionalism.
Navigating Change provided me with clear, real-life strategies for adapting to and dealing effectively with the one constant in life – change. The skills gained in this class are applicable to any personal or professional situation, and have been incredibly easy to understand and implement.
The Dream Manager course was, perhaps, the most empowering of the classes I experienced this year. Building upon the principles of Matthew Kelly’s The Dream Manager as well as incorporating ideas from other Kelly books including The Seven Levels of Intimacy: The Art of Loving and the Joy of Being Loved and The Rhythm of Life: Living Every Day With Passion, this class allowed me to lay claim to the previously obscure, unspoken desires of my heart. By naming my dreams, I began to create a plan to achieve them. I learned, it is impossible to achieve goals without first identifying them. Through creation of a dream journal, and a series of introspective exercises, I gained a great deal of clarity as to what I am really looking for in my life, what is missing, and that many of my dreams are far more achievable than I had first thought.
Exploring Leadership was the most eye-opening offering I took advantage of this year. I approached the class with resolve. I knew that I possessed the desire to better myself, the ambition to be the best I could possibly be. However, what I had not realized was that success and management are not necessarily interchangeable. Prior to this experience, I believed the next logical step in my career would be management. I knew that I wanted to be influential, to be a credible source of knowledge and guidance. What I did not know was that I can be influential without a formal title or managerial distinction. When I really took the time to analyze my personality, my goals and my desires, I realized formal leadership is not for me at this time in my life. I excel in a support role and, for the time being, I choose to utilize these skills in an informal, yet no less important, position of influence. This class shifted my career focus and I am pleased with the outcome of my decision.
I am grateful for the opportunities I have been afforded to learn and grow at CareSource. The skills I have gained have not only helped me to earn a promotion and grow professionally, but have led me to take a far more active role in my own destiny.
Article Tags
CareSource • caresource university • csu • grow • learn • professional • top 125 • train • training
Under 45 Minutes
Author : CareSource
Nov 2nd, 2011 | by
Employee Wellness: Toshika Howard-Patterson, Medical Management
By Erin Prokes, Internal Communications
For many, the wellness journey begins with an ‘A-Ha!’ moment, but not Toshika. For a ‘military kid’ and the daughter of a model, wellness, health and activity have always played a part in her life in one way or another. Her latest adventure began in May when she joined The Unit, at Riverscape MetroPark. Comprised of mostly young professionals who came to the area for college and remained post-graduation, The Unit is an open social group centered around health, fitness, education and new experiences.
“I had to tap out of my first bootcamp class,” admitted Toshika, a former collegiate basketball player. With a little persistence, by the end of the summer she and her 15-year-old son were regulars in the advanced class.
As a former home care nurse, Toshika finds her inspiration in her diabetes education work. “I don’t want to be the patient I used to look after. My father is African American and my mother is Hispanic – both cultures have a predisposition to diabetes.” According to the American Diabetes Association, 3.7 million, or 14.7 percent of all African Americans aged 20 years or older have diabetes. Per the Minority Health report, 11 percent of Hispanics over 18 years old are living with diabetes.
It was at a bootcamp session where she learned about the Stilettos to Sneakers 5K for Women at RiverScape and made the choice to try it.
“I’ve had five knee surgeries, with the last on July 28, 2010; I never thought I would be able to really run again,” said Toshika. “My bucket list has complete a 5K, 10K and half marathon penciled in.”
With the support of her family along the race route and three other members of The Unit at the starting line, on September 23, 2011 Toshika crossed her first race off her bucket list. In running the “Stilettos to Sneakers 5K run for Women”, Toshika ran for herself, and for Oasis House, an outreach organization for women victimized by the sex industry and human trafficking.
“I’d walked 5K’s before, but this was the first that I ran and there really was nothing bad about it. I didn’t go into this with any pessimism or nervous energy.
“I even turned around the next morning and walked the Dayton Heart Walk the next morning.”
Though her main goal was to simply finish the race, she had her sights set on doing it in less than 45 minutes. To help her accomplish this goal, her husband pre-loaded her iPod with exactly 45 minutes of music and encouraged her to finish before the last track so that she did not have to run in silence. The playlist – filled with songs at 120 beats per minute – did the trick, Toshika finished in 31 minutes and 12 seconds. Her son even finished out the last leg next to her; he thought he was encouraging her, she recalls it a little differently: “It was a distraction.” A photo of that distraction is now proudly framed in the family’s home.
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How May We Help You?
Author : CareSource
Oct 25th, 2011 | by
We celebrated National Customer Service Week October 16-22. It’s a week devoted to recognize the importance of customer service and to honor our employees who serve and support our members with the highest degree of care and professionalism. Two members of our senior management team had the opportunity to sit with our service reps and get a glimpse in to their world. Here is what they found.
True Service
By Jenny Michael, Director, Public Relations and Corporate Communications
A few weeks ago I received a request from one of my peers that piqued my interest. The director of service operations was asking her peers to take 30 minutes to sit with a customer service team member in honor of Customer Service Week. I welcomed the opportunity to get closer to the day-to-day mission of CareSource and especially to hear firsthand from our members. She thought that I was doing her a favor by accepting her request, but in reality I was the one who really benefited.
I was paired with Jennifer, a customer service representative. Jennifer has been with CareSource for a little over a year, but already had magnets on her cubicle full of member compliments. Jennifer graciously welcomed me as I pulled up a chair in her cubicle and put on my headset so I could listen in on her calls.
During the course of an hour I was able to listen to several calls and watch the science behind the art of customer service. Jennifer skillfully navigated between screens entering data, confirming mailing information and providing answers to the members’ questions.
One call in particular stuck with me. It was from a new mom who was calling to make sure her child was covered by CareSource. She had a flurry of activity going on in her home. Jennifer and I could hear the mom rustling papers, quieting her children and caring for her new baby’s needs while she confirmed her mailing address and received a list of doctors in her area.
The caller kept using the word “awesome” to describe everything Jennifer did for her. It was obvious that the mother was truly grateful for the help that Jennifer was providing. She thanked Jennifer for every answer she gave. It quickly reminded me the true meaning of service and the important role our customer service team plays in serving the underserved. I would guess that this member wasn’t accustomed to receiving this level of attention and help.
Our customer service team is the voice of CareSource to our members. When members need help, they know there is someone just a phone call away ready to help them navigate the health system. That’s true service.
Our Front Door
By Jackie Smith, Vice President, CareSource University
Recently, I had the privilege of spending time with Brenda, a customer service representative. I was amazed at the depth of knowledge our reps have and their ability to guide our members through challenging situations. One of the calls Brenda took was very detailed and lengthy.
Over the 45 minute call (yes, 45 minutes!), Brenda conveyed professionalism and a level of service that wowed not only the member but me as well. Although the member had a number of needs that were, at times, rather difficult to 
discern, Brenda guided her through the conversation with excellent questions, provided helpful information and created an experience the member called, “very caring and helpful.” She not only addressed the issues the member originally called about, but also identified other needs during the call – going above and beyond.
Our customer service reps are the “front door” to CareSource for many of our members. They complete the most extensive position training in the company and need to know everything about our organization to provide the best customer experience. The image they convey and caring service they provide is extraordinary.
Congratulations to the entire service center team for living our mission every day – to make a difference in the lives of underserved people by improving their health care.
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A Walk in Her Shoes
Author : CareSource
Jul 20th, 2011 | by
Guest blogger – Katelyn Bertke, Intern from Miami University
As a summer intern at CareSource, I had the unique opportunity to experience firsthand the challenges that our more than 870,000 members encounter daily. CareSource, in collaboration with Think Tank Inc., offers “A Walk in My Shoes – A Poverty Simulation,” to help employees better understand the realities of poverty.
During the simulation we were assigned a new identity and asked to assume the role and perspective of our character as accurately as possible.
Before the simulation began, I am a 22-year-old college graduate working full-time and living with my parents. My only worries in life are paying my bills, my student loans and planning my weekends with friends. When I learned my new identity was a 45-year-old pregnant woman living in poverty, my world took a turn.
My new name was Kayla and I lived in a one-bedroom apartment with my unfaithful husband, Ken, who was played by another intern. I never graduated from high school and Ken had a criminal record. We both worked part-time in the fast-food industry earning a meager $1,200 per month.
During the simulation, our month was broken down into four, 15-minute “weeks.” Each week we had to travel to different stations to go to work, pay our bills, and go to the doctor. We were lucky to start off with two jobs, a car and $40 dollars in cash, but despite our best efforts to strategize, Ken and I realized immediately that everything was going to be more difficult than we anticipated.
Ken and I had to pay all of our bills with cash and in person because we did not have a credit card or checking account. Even though we had transportation, it was difficult to find the time to get to each place. In general, we found that the actual act of getting the bills paid was just as difficult as coming up with the money. We waited in long lines and were turned away when businesses closed at 5:00 p.m.
With only one car, it was difficult to make it to work on time. When I needed to go to the doctor or Ken had to check in with the probation officer, we argued over who would have to walk or pay to take the bus.
By the end of the “month” Ken and I had managed to buy groceries and pay all of our rent. We were unable to pay our utilities and my prenatal prescription was never filled because the money simply wasn’t there. We were also unable to chip away at any of our loans and thus would be behind at the start of the next month.
After the simulation, I felt relieved and thankful that we did not have to play another month – I couldn’t handle the stress. I felt defeated and hopeless. From the beginning of the simulation I had anticipated we would run out of money, maybe even get evicted from our apartment, but I didn’t expect to feel constant worry caused by the challenges and frustrations we faced each week. We had worked and planned to get ahead, but we always ended up behind.
Our family, as well as many others, realized that in trying to stay on top of our bills, the only thing we thought and talked about was money. In addition, none of us knew just how hard it was to apply for public assistance, and many of us were completely unaware of the resources available to help.
In the end, these realizations are what the poverty simulation is all about. When we see poverty, we only see the end result. It wasn’t until I took a walk in “Kayla’s” shoes that I recognized poverty as a constant daily struggle.
Other participants described this simulation as “devastating, heart-wrenching, frustrating, and inconceivable,” and I simply couldn’t agree more. Through this eye-opening experience, not only did I come face to face with the emotions of defeat and despair, I quickly grasped the truths of living in poverty and gained a greater appreciation for those facing socioeconomic hardship.
In a time when the social, economic and environmental future of the world is looming, it is vital for members of my generation to open our eyes and begin to analyze the sustainable challenges ahead from a variety of angles. Simulations like these are designed to sensitize and educate people about the social disruptions that threaten the well-being of people globally.
Through the poverty simulation, CareSource has provided me and the other interns with the opportunity to recognize and discuss the potential for change within our communities and the world, and has led us one step closer to acting on our ethical responsibility to improve poverty, social justice and human equality.
Article Tags
CareSource • effects of poverty • Federal Poverty Leve • Ohio medicaid • poverty • poverty issues • shoes • Think Tank
Walking the Walk of Wellness
Author : OurHealthCareSource.com
Dec 20th, 2010 | by
Were you aware that as part of the health care reform law, small businesses (with 100 employees or less) will have an opportunity to get grant dollars from our government to implement workplace wellness programs? During fiscal years 2011 and 2012, there will be $200-million available for small business workplace wellness programs. Details regarding how to apply for these grants have not been released yet.
However, add this element of the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act to those that cover preventive care procedures like mammograms and colonoscopies, and it’s obvious that our government is taking serious measures to promote preventive care and wellness in our new health care system.
Employer-sponsored wellness programs have been proven to be beneficial in a number of ways:
- Decreases in employee absenteeism and sick leave
- Increases in worker productivity
- Lower costs/less insurance claims
- Decrease in work related injuries
In fact, employers and employees are both in agreement that the employer has some responsibility in creating a positive, healthy atmosphere. According to research completed by STOP Obesity Alliance, 92 percent of employers at companies thought weight management programs were appropriate at work and eight out of 10 employees, no matter their weight, said weight management programs belong at work.
Many employers also bundle incentives into the wellness programs they initiate – like money, contributions to health savings accounts, gift certificates to spas or fitness facilities, etc. It just shows how important it is to employers for their employees to maintain healthy lifestyles – it benefits the business and it benefits the employee…a win/win.
Our Own Wellness Program
CareSource is not a small business – we have over 900 employees. However, since we are a Medicaid care coordination plan that promotes and develops programs around wellness for our members, we felt it was essential that we “walk the walk” by institutionalizing our own employer-sponsored wellness program. Wellness has always been a priority at CareSource, but we are enhancing and building our program to create a culture of health and wellbeing that is present and palpable in everything we do. We thought we would share what we are doing so far so that you might also take a look at creating or reviewing your own programs, and to see that implementing such a program really isn’t as hard as it might appear.
The first thing we did was lay the foundation that this is an employee led program. Our employee led team established our wellness mission and vision with the full support and encouragement of our executive team. So we know we have 100% agreement across the company.
Wellness Mission
To establish, encourage, and maintain a culture that promotes healthy lifestyles through education, environment, and policies to support employees’ efforts.
Wellness Vision
Create a community of health and well-being that improves health outcomes, reduces unnecessary health care costs and empowers individuals to take
an active role in their health.
Next, we are asking all of our employees to complete a health risk assessment. This will be confidential in nature, of-course, and will be used to understand health trends within our employees – not call out specific individuals regarding their health habits. There is an incentive all employees who fill out the assessment.
We are also forming an employee-led wellness committee within our organization. The committee will provide ongoing employee feedback, strategy recommendations and continuous improvement. The committee will then report to our executive advisory team. We will also have several employee led work groups to create activities and strategies in various areas within the wellness program, and report back to the committee. These work groups will be specifically responsible for:
- Program development, content and evolution
- Community engagement
- Communications methods and content
- WellZone (our in-house work out facility) and web site
- Wellness Wednesdays – designated day each month that will focus on a specific wellness initiative
- Incentive and engagement strategies
- Metrics and outcomes
We are calling this the Employees First© wellness program, and as we launch it, we will be looking to several initial indications of success before shifting our focus on longer term outcomes… Metrics we will be analyzing include:
- Completion of/participation in the health risk assessment
- HEDIS metric improvements
- Use of our online wellness tool (in development) that will be hosted on our intranet
- Use of the WellZone and participation in wellness activities across the sites
- Compliance with recommended preventive care guidelines
Do You Have a Wellness Program?
So our question to readers, does your business sponsor a wellness program? And if so, tell us a bit about it. We are always open to ideas and ways to build this program, and appreciate the advice from other businesses.
What Starts on the Front Lines…Stays on the Front Lines
Author : Kim Gibson
Aug 24th, 2009 | by
How many times has this happened to you: You call the customer service line for a product you purchased or a service you’ve just employed, and it becomes a fun game of basketball… you’re bounced around from service rep to service rep without resolution, only to finally declare “Can I just talk to your supervisor, please?”. And it’s then that you finally get the results you were looking for. Why can’t the front line customer service reps be more empowered to make decisions?
When it comes to a person’s health care, this doesn’t make sense on any level, especially when the end result leaves people to suffer. As a director for a large customer service center, this is a little hard to ignore. For starters, a mishandling of a call regarding a person’s health condition could easily lead to more and costlier problems. But any time a representative can’t answer a question, or doesn’t know where to get an answer, it makes the entire system that much less efficient, and more unpleasant.
This is why CareSource (the company that employs me) supports empowering our Front Line staff. We believe questions that come in to our call center should be resolved there, and shouldn’t have to trickle up to the corporate level executives in order to get the attention they deserve. By having this focus, our members and providers can get the answers they need on the very first call.
How We Empower our Front Line
At CareSource, each call center representative goes through an entire month of training to ensure they are fully prepared to answer the variety of questions that come their way. We’ve shifted our focus to think less about blanket responses and more about helping the individual we serve get what they need when they need it. Staff also has tools to help them find their answers quickly along with an assist line to get answers for questions they may not know. As an example of ensuring service representatives have the knowledge they need CareSource had customer service representatives swap jobs with claims analyst for an entire month, so their knowledge base is vast and they stand ready with answers to solve issues without the need to always refer to another department. This entire process is designed to ensure the caller’s needs are put first.
The Outcome
Motivated staff. They’re a lot more than just phone operators. They are the face of CareSource. And, they take that responsibility and the company’s mission of making a difference in the lives of underserved people to heart. You can see it each day as you listen to our members’ stories, and realize how the answers we gave and the compassion we displayed may have just saved a life.
The CareSource Front Line customer service staff is the perception that our members are left with each time they contact our office. If we treat our members with dignity and respect, that bodes well for how they perceive our health plan. It sets us apart as an insurance company that focuses on their members – not profits. A Front Line that gets the job done for members, providers and the organization. A novel concept. Probably another important concept to consider as we look at models to reform the health care system, because it means better access to care with less stress and lower costs all around.
