What happens when your communication director goes on maternity leave? Well, you hire a freelance consultant, of course! At least that what’s the Primary Care Patient-Centered Collaborative did when they brought me on board. It’s a win-win. They get part-time communication coverage while their co-worker gets to spend that all important recovery and bonding time with her new baby and I get to dive back into communicating about health for a few months, which happens to be a topic I’ve been interested in for years.
It’s an exciting time to be working with the PCPCC as the final rule for Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) was released earlier this month. In short, this lays down the requirements for a change in how physicians are paid for Medicare patients, which then tends to also be adopted for the general public, and will emphasize more value-based care. In addition, PCPCC is hosting its annual conference and 10th anniversary celebration in November. Side note: If you’re interested in primary care, you can still register to attend.
Here are some tips from my experience so far about how to get the most out of this temporary arrangement:
Bring the consultant on board as soon as possible
I had nearly a month of overlap before the communication director left to go out on maternity leave. You can never quite be sure when babies are going to make their appearance, so bringing a consultant on as early in the process as possible gives them time to work with the soon-to-be parent, get the lay of the land, and have questions answered.
Prioritize your needs
Even if you bring a freelance consultant on full-time (which is not the case in my situation), they don’t have the institutional knowledge and familiarity with the topic and players that your co-worker does, so won’t be able to be a cookie-cutter replacement. It’s important to be clear, especially if time and budget are limited, about what the highest priorities are for the consultant to focus on.
Set reasonable expectations on both sides
Along with prioritization, it’s important for the consultant to communicate clearly with their client about how much they believe they can handle in the allotted time. During this ongoing conversation, expectations can be created, met, and re-evaluated.
Provide transition documents
Unlike other types of leave, maternity leave is one where you have months of time to prepare. Knowledge transfer before the transition is important, but it’s impossible to cover everything that the consultant will need to know. Having transition documents to reference after the fact is invaluable and definitely worth the time they take to prepare.
Enlist assistance from other staff members
Bringing on a consultant takes a big lift off of your existing staff members. They are no longer expected to cover all the activities of their missing colleague, but it’s still important to have open lines of communication so your consultant has the information they need. The more your staff is willing and able to assist your consultant, the more effective the arrangement.