MHA/543 Week 1 Assignment

Labor Cost and Substance Abuse Treatment

Chandreyee Johnson

MHA/543

February 18, 2019

Instructor: Joseph Harrison, Jr.

Labor Cost and Substance Abuse TreatmentBottom of Form

Labor costs are a significant source of financial burden within an organization. High turnover rates coupled with retention-geared programs and staff obligations require a lucrative labor budget. Understanding key areas that influence the labor cost and working to reduce or spread out areas which affect the labor cost is a crucial task that can aid in reducing the total financial output without ruining the overall morale of the agency, especially when faced with scarcity in funding resources.  

Key Drivers of Labor Cost: Retention, Insurance, & Training

            Turnover and staff retention are frequently addressed as the number one influence on labor costs. High turnover rates result in regularly scheduling at least two staff members for the same shift in order to properly train new hires. If the newly hired employee quits shortly after the onboarding procedure, additional labor funds are spent in talent acquisition and training, and the ROI for the new hire is lost in addition to indirect costs such as reduced productivity, poorer health outcomes, and additional turnover (HealthStream, 2017).

            In terms of insurance, although employees who utilize insurance benefits are more likely to remain with an organization, the increasing cost continues to heavily weigh in on the agency. Additional labor costs include retention-driven programs like tuition reimbursement, PTO, and performance rewards.  

            Staff licensing requirements also play a role in labor costs.  Although some training can be provided in-house, the reality is that employees will need to travel outside the organization for necessary trainings. A good moral-standing organization would opt to provide training pay for such activities, thereby impacting the labor-cost two-fold as employees will still need to be covering for those absent in training.

Addressing Labor Costs: Caseloads, Productivity, and Scheduling

            Perhaps one of the biggest challenges when it comes to labor costs is that of caseloads. Often, when staff are presented with larger-than-life caseloads, their ability to meet the needs of each patient becomes stinted, begetting poorer quality of care (Oser, et al., 2013). Poorer quality of care given to patients, especially when created by restriction of resources through the agency, tends to result in poorer productivity levels (Nowak, Holmes, & Murrow, 2010). In turn, unmanageable schedules provided to staff thatdon’t aid in balancing work-life needs can create additional problems to productivity, patient outcomes, and overall health of the employee.

            To address these issues and prevent them from having significant impacts on labor budgets, organizations should evaluate the effectiveness of each area. If it is discovered that caseloads are significantly higher than local and national averages, it is imperative for the organization to act and lighten the load. A better spread of caseloads would likely develop a better ROI in labor costs as there tends to be less overtime, potential reduction in sick days, and better care for patients. Scheduling will also have a significant impact on labor costs as a balanced schedule will prevent over-staffing, under-staffing, and a provide a more cohesive, less labor-intense shift schedule.  

Future Changes and Impact

            In substance-abuse-related care, organizations are constantly faced with the need for funding. Reduction in funding for addiction treatment will inevitably result in reduced patient outcomes, fewer individuals served, and lower pay-rates or reimbursement rates for staff, with a potential to reduce the number of staff in an organization either by employee cuts or increased turnover. Labor costs are a significant factor in these types of organizations due to the nature of the workplace and level of staff retention, which tends to be very poor. Without adequate funding, substance abuse programs will become scarcer, have fewer resources, higher caseloads for fewer staff, and less money from which to pull to dedicate to staff.

References

HealthStream (2017). To improve healthcare quality outcomes, we must focus on turnover. Retrieved from https://www.healthstream.com/resources/blog/blog/2017/10/11/to-improve-healthcare-quality-outcomes-we-must-focus-on-turnover

Nowak, P., Holmes, G., & Murrow, J. (2010). A model for reducing health care employee turnover. Journal of Hospital Marketing & Public Relations, 20(), 14-25. Retrieved from https://web-b-ebscohost-com.contentproxy.phoenix.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=fccb167e-c661-4888-a43a-b07e09476102%40pdc-v-sessmgr02

Oser, C. B., Biebel, E. P., Pullen, E., & Harp, K.L.H. (2013). Causes, consequences, and prevention of burnout among substance abuse treatment counselors: A rural versus urban comparison. Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 45(1). doi: 10.1080/02791072.2013.763558

13 more classes, including this one

I've done a terrible job at updates, but let me tell you that juggling all this has been crazy! I finishee my bachelor degree last year and have since begun working on a dual master degree. I went from wanting to be a therapist for teens to wanting to he a therapist in mental health family and recovery and ended up taking a complete 180° and am now pursuing a dual degree in business administration and healthcare administration. Today,  I just want to share a small personal win or feel good because when you are in school, being a parent, working full time, and running a business, every little thing counts. And by the way, the switch from Canvas to Blackboard...yuck! That's alright. Rise to the challenge, right?

I am a Phoenix!

No Time & Why

          So many people misjudge "fast track" colleges as ones that are not credible and are easy. Well, I don't know how many people out there have or have not attended UoPX, but those who have know how very far from true that assumption is.
          Don't get me wrong, there's a surprising number of attending students who do cheat (😲). There's also a surprising number of students who do not put their whole effort into their classes.Those who are not highly attentive and dedicated (yes, you know who you are) tend to be the ones who angrily protest on the university's Facebook page, enraged that they are unable to find work with their degrees. Now, I'm sure there are those few exceptions who genuinely cannot find work with their degree, but I still apply the basic laws of practical employment searching.
          So what's the point of this little rant? The point is that for all the complaints that I see take place, and even some of the fear that has been felt with the recent closure of ITT Tech, this alleged "fast track" school is by no means any easier than the universities I work with and local colleges I have been to. Again, there are those who skate by with only minute seriousness attached to the information they have available to them, and there are those who are utilizing every facet of their education within this University. It is those students who are making the most of their education here (and likely anywhere) that will see the most fruitful outcomes both educationally and professionally.
          So if you wonder why on earth this blog gets so silent (which, by the 5 of you reading this post, I'm sure you don't), it's because I have no time anymore to do it. Between countless homework assignments, papers, and class discussion mixed into my daily responsibilities, I can either focus on a blog in my leisure time or I can spend that time practicing self-care. I'll take the self-care hands down!

          One quick thing to give you some financial seriousness perspective: My current tuition for each upper division class (online rate) is costing me $1,755.00 plus $149.59 in "course material" fees. That's crazy! It's very expensive, but I will explain why that's worth it in a later blog.  (On campus courses cost $1,442.49, and if available, I strongly recommend you save some dough and go to ground campus). NOTE: Tuition increased sometime this year, but luckily, I locked into the previous price, which you have the ability to do, just talk to your Financial Advisor. Given that I'm forking out that much money every 5 weeks, you better bet your a-hem(!) that I am making the absolute most out of every single class.

Crazy high tuition prices or not, #IAmAPhoenix!

Previous 2 Classes (Internship and BSHS 425)

Well, I'm quickly learning that running 3 blogs, 2 websites, school, a small business, working a part time job and pairing that with being a mom is starting to leave me just a tiny bit of space in getting this poor blog updated. Looks like it might be time to just plan on weekly mini posts rather than one big course post.

In a glimpse:

• Internship ended December 2, 2015
• Results: Landed a part time job!
• Course Grade: B+
• Why: Lost motivation to complete a couple class assignments with working triple the amount of hours as I usually worked a couple of weeks during the course. (Loss of a very close family member kinda does that to you). 
• Class: Administration and Management of Human Service Programs ended January 20th
• Grade: A-
• New Class: BSHS 435 began January 21.

NOTEWORTHY MENTION: Guys, striving for A's is never a bad thing. On the other hand, life has to happen too, so let it and work with it. If you don't get an A, it's certainly not the end of the world. 

Updates for both classes will be posted within the next week. (If not, then by next Friday evening). 

Cheers!

Creating Motivating Challenges

Well, I know it's been a while. I promise I've been hard at work with school. It's more time consuming than I expected, but that's alright.

I'm happy to report that I'm currently 13 days into quitting smoking. With that, I have decided to do a series of 7 day challenges. I will be posting them on this blog as they occur daily. Feel free to share and hopefully participate yourself. First 7 day Challenge will start on Monday

Week 1: The Workout Challenge
Week 2: The Hydrate Challenge
Week 3: The Indulge Challenge
Week 4: The Healthy Eats Challenge
To be announced.

11 months in.

Holy cow. I can't believe I've been a student at the University of Phoenix for close to a year now. It's really gone that fast. Every 5 weeks, I start a new class and I'm trying my hardest to maintain an A average and keep my GPA above a 3.5 (which was my original goal). I did find out some bummer news which was that in order to graduate with honors in the Bachelor's of Human Services program, you need a 3.875 GPA. I'm presently sitting at a 3.81 (I lost .03 points from my last class, even though I still received an A-, but you know what, I'm okay with that at this point).

Right now, I'm in the last week of BSHS 395, Client Assessment and Planning. Of the courses I have taken at Phoenix, this class has so far been the easiest, despite it being higher in level. I've actually had some leisure time this course which has been wonderful.

Overall, I still rate my Phoenix experience as good, it just requires diligence and consistency, One thing I did find out, however; online classes are actually more expensive than ground campus (in-person) classes. Once I found that out, I decided to switch to ground campus classes. The major draw back to ground campus classes is that if you miss two classes, you are automatically dropped from the class. The other draw back is that if there is no available ground campus courses, you are forced to take the courses online, therefore raising your tuition. I mention this because my emphasis courses will be online which means higher expenses.

I think that a lot of people look at online school and or 'fast track' colleges and universities as a lazy person's route to education. I can certainly tell you that at least in the case of University of Phoenix, that is certainly not the case. I completed my associate degree through Salt Lake Community College and if I were to compare the two side by side, SLCC was a breeze compared to what I do now.

To anyone who is attending Phoenix right now and who are determined to get through it, hats off to you!

Week 2 BSHS 335 (Ethics and Values for Human Service Professionals)

Week 2 was honestly a struggle for me. The work itself was not complicated, but due to my own history, I found many complications with completing the reading and assignments. Upon reading about some of the requirements when it comes to the duty to warn and the duty to protect in situations where a client poses harm to themselves and/or others.

The big thing when working as a professional who helps others, especially in mental health, is that the professional is sure to perform self-care. When you realize that your personal history and unresolved issues could conflict with your ability to perform your job at it's optimal level, it's time to seek intervention. Thankfully, my instructor was very supportive of this situation. I sent her a message voicing my concerns and instead of messaging me back, she called me to check in on me. In the time I have been at Phoenix, I have yet to experience that. I was very grateful that she was willing to reach out beyond just an e-mail.

That's not to say that I was excused from my assignments or even received any special treatment, and I still received docked points for submitting my assignment late; regardless, the help and support that was there from Terri Colbert was exceptional. This being the same instructor that I initially got off on a bad foot with still was willing to help in time of hardship and that by itself reminds me of how worth it my experience with Phoenix has been.

To see my assignments that I'm completing in this course, visit my Yolasite.



A Side note about financial aid:

I contacted my new financial adviser, Michelle Nash, and inquired about my financing. I have previously made some less than intelligent decisions with my student loans which will result in me having to pay out of pocket for some of my classes remaining in my Bachelor program. Michelle was incredibly patient and friendly through my questions and requests for updates. We spent nearly an hour on the phone talking and in the end, I learned that online courses are about $350 more than in person classes, there are still grants available to me through the school, though very few, and that I will be able to do some things to help get my financing in order to make sure that I can continue through. Once again, while Phoenix is more costly, the service I receive simply makes it all worth it.