Physicians Working for Physicians - TMLT

Support Services
T
Gail Nichols
Vice President,
Human Resources &
Administrative Services
he Human Resources & Administrative Services
Department includes a staff of nine individuals dedicated
to providing a quality working environment, outstanding
employee benefits, and support services that assist
TMLT in attracting and retaining employees of the highest
caliber. Job satisfaction at TMLT was reflected in an
excellent overall employee retention rate in 2009 of 97%.
During 2009, the Human Resources team focused a
great amount of time on researching, negotiating, and
converting to a new web-based payroll processing
system, as well as a benefits tracking application. This
new system will allow us to manage current and historical
HR data, as well as benefits information, at the speed
of the Internet and we will have much more functionality
than before. As we become more adept at using these
new systems, HR will be able to develop customized
reports, allow all employees to view and update their
personal information and make benefit changes via
web-based self-service rather than paper-based
transactions, as well as provide management staff direct
on-line access to pertinent information regarding their
staff members.
To further improve efficiency and take advantage of new
web-based technology, HR also began implementing
an electronic time-keeping solution to replace paper
timesheets and manual data entry of vacation, sick, and
other types of leave. A small test group representing
each department was asked to participate in a pilot
project during the last part of the year. While continuing
to complete paper timesheets, this pilot group also
learned how to report their leave and overtime on-line,
and their supervisors began learning to approve and
submit the data to HR. Plans are to implement this
new system in 2010.
Another major initiative undertaken in 2009 was the
selection of a new broker and an administrator for
our employee retirement plans. The ability to provide
education in the areas of investing, retirement planning,
estate planning, and other financial topics was one of
the criteria in the interviewing process. A selection was
made and efforts began in earnest to convert the plan
documents and educate the staff as to the benefits of
participation and the importance of saving for the future.
The year also brought several honors which recognized
TMLT’s benefits programs and wellness efforts.
In May, the Austin Business Journal awarded us 7th
place among the top 20 medium-sized entrants in their
Best Places to Work in Central Texas contest. At our
all employee Town Hall meeting in June, the United
HealthCare Central Texas Medical Director presented
TMLT with an APEX award in recognition of exceptionally
innovative health care benefit strategies, and an
article appeared late in the year in UHC’s hub magazine,
distributed nationwide. One of our proudest moments of
TMLT receives the APEX award
the year was watching our Senior HR Generalist, Angela
Bitzer, receive recognition at the Austin Business Journal’s
Healthcare Heroes awards presentation in August
for her achievements in building a quality wellness
program at TMLT.
TMLT’s reception, mailroom, and purchasing staff
worked diligently in 2009 to provide a quality level of
service to all internal customers as well as to all policyholders.
Our reception team is committed to appropriately
and efficiently directing each policyholder to the
correct department. Administrative Services staff posted
over 150,000 pieces of outgoing mail in 2009, maintained
sufficient quantities of office supplies for staff
while always seeking out cost-savings, ensured that our
office equipment was functioning properly, and coordinated
with the building’s property manager to update,
distribute, and provide training on emergency evacuation
procedures.
A
Dana Leidig
Vice President,
Communications &
Advertising
t TMLT, our governing board and executive management
support excellence in communication throughout
the organization. The Communications & Advertising
Department was successful in achieving its 2009
communication objectives within the approved budget.
Our communication staff collaborated with teams from
each department to help design the most effective
communication plans for key strategies. These included
a redesigned web site, www.tmlt.org; the award-winning
internal web site, iTMLT; the print and electronic advertising
campaigns; the Reporter and other newsletters;
marketing collaterals and exhibit materials; and special
projects such as the scholarship program, the Team
of the Year employee recognition program, and the
community service program.
We collaborated with the governing board on the TMLT
Memorial Scholarship Program which completed its
fifth year of conferring medical student scholarships in
2009. To increase the number of scholarship applicants,
this program was modified. Four $10,000 scholarships
were offered to students at any of the nine Texas medical
schools. The candidate field was broadened to include
second, third, and fourth year students. As a result,
applicant numbers increased from 33 in 2008 to 112 in
2009. Awards were based on assessing financial need,
academic performance, and an original patient safety
essay based on a closed claim. Four scholarships were
awarded. Information about 2009 recipients and the
scholarship program is available at www.tmlt.org.
The 2009 work of TMLT’s small team of professional
communicators was recognized in several communication
evaluation programs this year. The American
Medical Writers Association recognized Laura Brockway
with the Eric W. Martin Award in the professional
audience category for the Reporter article, “The diversion
dilemma.” This same article earned a Bronze Quill
award from the International Association of Business
Communicators (IABC) in the technical/science writing
category. Additionally, the Reporter article, “You’ve
been criticized online” by William Malamon received
an International Technical Publication Award from the
Society of Technical Communication as well as an Award
of Merit from the Society of Technical Communication
– Lone Star Chapter. TMLT’s messages on hold recordings
are written and produced internally with voicing
by TMLT employees. These recordings also received a
2009 IABC Bronze Quill award. In graphic design, the
TMIC dental campaign designed by Karen Ow received
the Communicator Award of Distinction and the Apex
Award of Excellence. We continue to be committed to
timely, effective communication with our policyholders,
organized medicine, the legislature, and other business
associates.
S
Treg Russell
Vice President,
Management
Information Systems
ome of our major areas of focus during 2009 were
to control information technology expenditures, reduce
the number of outstanding work requests to our department,
and make it easier for our physicians to do business
with TMLT. Substantial impact was made in each of
these areas over the course of the year.
By carefully managing our workload with Ebix, the
vendor of our Infinity insurance processing system,
we saved $100,000 over the expenses planned for the
year. We also capitalized on last year’s effort to develop
in-house expertise in this system. As a result of that
emphasis, we were able to complete 30% of the Infinity
system work requests internally. This equated to 69
projects that did not have to be outsourced and resulted
in an estimated $230,000 in savings to TMLT.
We made substantial progress towards reducing the
backlog of projects during 2009. The year began with 165
active requests to enhance our insurance processing
system alone. Nearly that number of new requests came
in during the year. We completed 232 projects in this
area reducing the year-end backlog to 90! In addition,
we completed all outstanding and subsequent requests
related to our imaging and workflow systems.
Perhaps more noteworthy this year is the work done to
make it easier for our policyholders to do business with
us. One of the most popular new conveniences was the
expansion of our credit card payments options. Whether
you choose to pay online or sign up for recurring
payments, we now support the use of American Express,
Visa, and MasterCard to meet your payment needs.
We worked closely with our Communications & Advertising
Department to redesign our website to make it
easier to use. This team expanded the functionality of
the Members Only section as we continued our effort
to make this new area available to all policyholders.
Some features you can expect to see in the near future
are the ability to fill out your renewal application online
and the ability for a group administrator to answer your
insurance questions by accessing appropriate information
on your behalf.
We also provided an electronic voting option to policyholders
for the election of the 2010 board members. The
board asked us to look for ways to increase policyholder
participation and reduce ballot confusion. As a result of
reviewing the election process and selecting a vendor to
conduct the electronic voting for us, we were able to see
30% of the voting completed via the Internet.
As we look forward to the coming year, we will continue
the efforts to be cost efficient and make conducting
business with us a simple and positive experience.
We will also be working to provide additional payment
options to you, apply technology to optimize internal
workflow where valuable, and continue our ongoing
effort to keep our systems current to support TMLT and
policyholder needs well into the future.
16 TMLT Annual Report | 2009 2009 | TMLT Annual Report 17