The Kevin Files · Story 013
The Work That Doesn’t Count
HIMstrata placed Senior Revenue Specialist Susan Sprigs on a 90-day Performance Improvement Plan Friday after her productivity numbers fell below those of automated claims- processing script Kevin.
"Susan does excellent work," said Billing Supervisor Greg Pendergast. "Unfortunately, most of it doesn't appear on the productivity dashboard."
Kevin processed approximately 800 claims per hour during the evaluation period. Sprigs averaged 40, excluding the time she spent investigating failed batches, correcting exceptions, and reviewing claims Kevin had already processed incorrectly.
Pendergast explained that corrective work was classified as operational support rather than production.
"We absolutely value the work Susan is doing. We just need to see improvement in the categories we're measuring."
Sprigs asked whether completing fewer corrections would improve her productivity score.
Pendergast said it would, although the department would still need the corrections completed.
Susan asked who received credit when Kevin processed a claim incorrectly and she fixed it. Pendergast confirmed that Kevin received the original production credit while her correction was counted as operational support.
“So Kevin gets the production, and I get the problem?”
Pendergast called that an oversimplification of the reporting methodology.
The improvement plan requires Sprigs to demonstrate better time management, increase measurable output, and identify tasks that could be completed more efficiently.
Her first assignment is a written assessment of activities that do not contribute to her production score.
Sprigs has requested additional time to complete it because she is currently covering the afternoon exception queue.
Pendergast approved the extension.