Our friend at Cerec Doctors, Dr. Armen Mirzayan, posted an interesting update on Facebook a while ago about his visit to a doctor's office:

“I walk in and first thing the receptionist says is, 'Do you have your insurance card?' I said I was paying in cash. Then I said, 'Do you realize you just asked for my insurance before you asked for my name?' She responded with, 'Well I did say Hi.' So good to go through this to remind myself what the utterly wrong approach is.”

This is a perfect illustration of what I was talking about in The New Value Roles, when I describe the difference between job roles and value roles. Getting insurance information from patients is part of that receptionist's job. However, she has become so centered on the task that she has forgotten her greater purpose in the practice – and her part in providing the right patient experience.

For all we know, that receptionist is very efficient and good at what she does in many ways. Nobody can deny she was doing her job. But as many of us know (especially Armen, who has a team that sets an incredibly high standard for patient care), there is a big difference between doing your job and performing your role.


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