The Board of Massage Therapy office has seen a drastic reduction in the number of days spent processing an application while concurrently experiencing a significant increase in the number of applications received. In fiscal year 2010-2011 we received 4318 applications and spent an average of 26.19 days processing those applications before the license was issued. In fiscal year 2011-12 the Board office received 5447 applications, a 26.15% increase from the previous fiscal year. We reduced the number of days spent processing the application prior to licensure to 19.93 days or a 23.9% reduction. During the same period the board office also reduced the number of days to issue a license by 28.9%. In fiscal year 2010-2011 the average number of days to issue a license was 52.11; in fiscal year 2011-12 the number of days was 37.05.
Below are the reasons for the faster processing time with a greater influx of applications.
We identified non-value added items and steps. Staff came up with ideas to increase reliability, board decision making consistency and documentation of those decisions for a long term solution. Staff identified over 30 items impacting application processing time.
The team held meetings and knew their goals and tasks following each meeting. All ideas were open to discussion and no judgment was made regarding any suggestion. Best practices were shared and the Board worked hard to implement each of those practices within their profession.
By reducing the average number of days to process an application and issue a license the board office has put Floridians to work faster and seen the number of positive responses to surveys, letters, e-mails and calls increase.
