By Anthony Cowan
A brain trust of experienced healthcare business professionals addressing the full spectrum of medical and dental health services. This vetted consortium brings the highest quality medical and dental practice consulting services to the table, empowering each member with the confidence that their area of expertise will be supported across all verticals of the healthcare environment.
As an expression of our commitment to support rapid innovation through network collaboration the HCofE will produce monthly articles you can find in this section of the Orlando Medical News magazine. This month we have tackled current issues with healthcare staffing.
Staffing Challenges for Healthcare
The labor issues across the country have taxed all industries. The medical and dental industries have added challenges that when outlined and discussed help bring clarity to potential solutions. This month the HCofE came together to address strategies that our consortium has identified to support medical offices that grapple with maintaining adequate staffing.
COVID-19 burnout issues are everywhere, but the higher hiring standards for healthcare produce additional unique challenges. Under Florida law, healthcare workers, including those who work at assisted living facilities, are required to undergo criminal background checks to hold employment. Although a front office worker may not need a skill-level beyond having graduated high school, all clinical staff are entrusted to maintain HIPAA compliant policies. While that is not difficult, it carries significantly more responsibility than stocking shelves at a local box store or joining the gig economy, which may have a higher starting pay rate. Clinical practices have set negotiated rates for reimbursements that somewhat control the budget for pay rates in the clinical space. This creates less flexibility to respond to the inflationary factors that other industry employers can address. For example, a box store can sell their goods with marked-up prices to cover the requirement of more competitive wages; the clinical office cannot. In addition to these unique challenges, the medical office is also competing with the new work-from-home market. What we are living through is nothing short of a revolution of the labor market. Your office is competing with the opportunity of zero commute, zero exposure to disease, little to no uniform cost, and maximum time at home - lowering food and childcare costs.
The HCofE is responding to this challenge with solutions in three areas. These areas include increasing and improving the quality of people who interview for open positions, improving the conversion rate of people who interview into joining the staff, and improving staff retention to maintain operational continuity and resiliency.
Increasing and improving the quality of people who interview for open positions:
- Job posts should articulate a clear opportunity for a career in healthcare, not just the job description.
- Reach out to schools that have graduating classes with newly degreed or licensed students.
- Set-up referral programs to compensate your staff for bringing in people to interview.
- Increase your practice’s networking capability by joining membership organizations that have referral and internship programs with local technical colleges and universities.
- Create a vetting process to ensure that each candidate has already shown qualifications and legitimate interest in attaining employment.
Interviewing 10 people and hiring none is an unexpectable opportunity cost loss. While making the right hire is critical, reducing the time, money, and energy to find that right hire is also important. A lot of recruiting expenses can be reduced with a well thought out candidate acquisition program. Start looking at setting-up interviews as though that is the first step in vetting and recruiting your next hire.
Improving the conversion rate of people who interview into joining the staff:
- During interviews show a career path chart that illustrates professional growth within the practice as a possibility.
- Show educational support opportunities that match up with career path.
- Establish a fund for educational support or a scholarship program that will pay tuition for courses or certifications that benefit the practice and forward the employee’s career.
- Leverage the work/life balance of the medical office, illustrating how office hours match with standard childcare and school hours.
Nothing is better for the success of a practice than a great hire. Much of an employee’s success is based on grounded expectations when starting their job. During the interview process, make sure they are as engaged in understanding the job requirements and expectations as you are in evaluating their skills, credentials, and personality.
Improving staff retention to maintain operational continuity and resiliency:
- Provide longevity incentives and celebrations that boost morale, and acknowledge staff loyalty, and encourage commitment.
- Provide childcare support programs and assess tax benefits or any financial benefit to the provider, practice, or individual.
- Perform annual evaluations that support and track employee professional growth expectations.
- Address the work atmosphere and implement systems and programs that produce a sense of community, camaraderie, and shared team fulfillment.
- Encourage receptionists to transition to billers and schedulers through funding reimbursement for training additionally in billing.
- Ensure salary increases are consistent with job accountability and not just a percentage raise over current income.
- A system that allows staff to participate in a profit-sharing bonus program.
Clear expectations are important; however, throughout a worker’s employment, following through on those expectations will keep them engaged and help avoid workplace dissatisfaction for years to come.
People stay where they are happy. Many variables go into job satisfaction and if your practice maintains open communication with team members, understanding the variables that each individual needs to remain positive, goes up exponentially. The true value of staff retention goes far beyond the value of not having to find a replacement. When you have staff that have moved through multiple positions in the office, the continuity of operation is vastly improved. Practices will always have key staff take personal time off due to sickness, maternity or family loss. When others in the office know the job requirements, the risk and liability of operational disruption goes down dramatically.
The Central Florida Healthcare Circle of Excellence has over 45 member experts serving the Central Florida area. Members include vendors, consultants, and professional organizations. Contact founders Jeff Holt or Tony Cowan for more information.
Jeffrey Holt
Tony Cowan