Clarifire Conversations

Three of the top five costliest hurricanes on record occurred last year, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), resulting in an estimated $306.2 billion worth of property damage. That shatters the previous record of $214.8 billion worth of damages in 2005¹. In a world of billion-dollar weather events, mortgage servicers face the challenge of managing hundreds of thousands of hazard insurance claims, repairs, foreclosure moratoriums and relief programs. The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) is particularly vigilant in managing its portfolio and exposure to loss, and expects servicers to stay on top of fluctuating timelines, priorities and policies that apply to recovery areas.

One size does not fit all.  Ensuring a positive experience for children and their parents/guardians is essential for strategically building patient trust.  Today, building that trust is also financially imperative. How do parents and guardians view their child’s care?

You’ve heard the saying, “the more things change, the more they stay the same”.  The mortgage industry has definitely seen its fair share of changes in the last decade, brought in part by the financial crisis of 2008.  While the landscape may have changed, the pain points that servicers experience remain essentially the same today.

The widespread impact of the 2017-2018 flu season was a harsh reminder for many on the importance of infection prevention.  According to the CDC there were over 30,000 laboratory-confirmed influenza-associated hospitalizations between October 1, 2017, and April 30, 2018¹.  The spread of the flu, like many other infections, is preventable with the proper infection controls in place.

Christina Lang is a 19-year old woman pursuing her dream of competitive swimming and hopes to qualify for the Tokyo Paralympics, scheduled for August 25 - September 6, 2020.  Daughter of Clarifire employee Michael Waites, Christina was recently invited by the Paralympics Recruiting Committee to train at the Paralympics facility in Colorado Springs.

Lenders prefer that foreclosure be the last resort when it comes to recovering the remaining balance of a home loan.  Many offer forbearance plans as an alternative to foreclosure to help keep borrowers in their homes.  These forbearance plans provide servicers a temporary solution to keep borrowers out of foreclosure when they are experiencing a short-term financial hardship.

It’s 2018 and technology is everywhere…or is it? Across the country there are hospitals and healthcare organizations that continue to choose to conduct patient experience rounding armed with paper and pencil.  Is your hospital one of them?

Your organization is in the midst of a digital transformation and new technology is on the horizon. You have survived through the research, vendor evaluations, requirements gathering, and development. Now it’s time to embark on the implementation phase of your organization’s journey to improve operational efficiency.

A carpenter’s workshop is their toolbox.  Within it, there are power drills which make it easier than a screwdriver to drill a screw into hardwood.   There is a nail gun which drives a nail into a piece of wood in one shot versus swinging a hammer multiple times.  They may even have a bandsaw which helps them make more precise cuts than a hand saw.  The tools within a carpenter’s toolbox enable them to build things quickly, precisely, and more efficiently.

Is your team afraid to log not met domains and coaching notes? Do they often communicate that they don’t want to ‘tattle’? OR, are they completely silent during team meetings? It’s an uncomfortable discussion, but top box HCAHPS are dependent on seeing and understanding the full picture of your patient’s experience.

Last month, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Housing rolled out extensive amendments to its Technical Handbook for the Single Family Housing Guaranteed Loan Program (HB-1-3555). These updates were particularly concentrated in Chapter 18, Servicing Non-Performing Loans - Accounts with Repayment Problems, which serves as the primary guidance for USDA default servicing.

Summer is here! For many, this indicates the start of family vacations, time at the beach or pool, and barbeques with friends. For those that live along the Atlantic and Gulf coast, summer also marks the beginning of hurricane season.

What is empathy? The dictionary defines it as "the psychological identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another."¹ Empathy plays a vital role in the caregiver-patient relationship.  Insight into a patient’s feelings impacts diagnosis, treatment, and overall patient satisfaction. We feel empathy when friends are going through a rough time, or our child isn't picked for a part in a play, but what does empathy mean for a patient?

Do your leaders often complain about technology overload?  Are the teams’ iPads gathering dust on the shelf?  Are hand-written rounds not in alignment with your HCAHPS results? If you answered ‘yes’ to even one of the above questions, you may need to re-evaluate your current rounding solution.

Superman could leap tall buildings in a single bound.  Spiderman was alerted to danger approaching with his spidey-sense.  Bad guy on the run?  Better hope Wonder Woman wasn’t part of the chase because she would catch you with her super speed.

We’ve all read the headlines.  A hospital decides to make the move to a new technology and things don’t go as anticipated.  The project timeline was longer than originally projected.  The solution in production isn’t working as expected. 

Buyer’s remorse. It’s never a fun feeling to experience after you make a large purchase. Are you looking to improve operational efficiencies within your organization but you aren’t sure that automated workflow will live up to your expectations?

When you hear the word automation, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Is it a vehicle assembly plant or maybe an order fulfillment warehouse? When most people hear the word it invokes thoughts of robots or machines doing the work once done by humans.

Patient Experience Week is next week. Have you thought about the meaning and purpose behind it? Or better yet—how you’re going to celebrate?

Today’s technology news is filled with references to artificial intelligence (AI)—the latest in Robotics Process Automation (RPA)—but what does this mean for your organization? How difficult is it to access the opportunity and how quickly can your organization realize benefits? What do you need to know?

Each clinical pathway has its own set of unique critical points in time that are the most impactful to positive patient care. Providing a streamlined and consistent care model enables healthcare systems to use a value equation that can easily identify these points.

As a Patient Experience Manager, CNO, or Nurse Executive, you understand the importance and effectiveness of Nurse Leader Rounding. Are you having trouble convincing your teams to get on board with the idea? Maybe they’re not buying into it because they think they won’t have time to learn something new. Maybe you’ve used a company in the past and got burned—but switching to a technology that actually works is easier than you think. Here are some things you can say to help convince your team to trust the process.

Have you been shopping for a new car lately? The technology in cars has come a long way. Today, there are all kinds of cool gadgets and gizmos available that make it hard to determine what options to choose without breaking the bank.

Workflow automation is like new car technology. When you start to automate the manual aspects of your business, the opportunities are endless. There’s so many bells and whistles that you begin to question where to start. Here are 5 areas to look at when you set off down the road of automation.

The regulatory landscape for mortgage bankers continues to touch every phase of the mortgage lifecycle. Whether it’s the prospect of ongoing regulatory implementation or the assimilation of change from deregulation, servicers need to be prepared to continue managing through transformation as discussed in our recent blog on deregulation. 

The Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea just ended. For the first time in nearly a decade, North Korea participated. If you’ve been watching, you know this is making history because technically, North and South Korea are still at war.

The number of fatalities from this year's flu season is also making the history books. The Washington Post reports “the number of people going to doctors’ offices and emergency rooms has surged to levels not reported since the peak of the 2009 swine flu pandemic. Hospitalizations are also at record levels.” Some hospitals even went as far as setting up tents outside in their parking lots due to overcrowding. Caregivers are true heroes and the gold medalists of the healthcare industry.