Author Archive
Eye of the unemployment storm is a great chance to recruit
August 13, 2009
Last Friday’s BLS job report was the eye of the unemployment hurricane. There are many theories about why this unexpected slowing in job loss is happening. I believe the slow can be directly linked to the Trillions of dollars the Obama administration has put into the economy over the past few months. Kudos to them for putting a stop to the bleeding but it is only temporary. Just like the brief calm at the eye of the storm this feels good, but don’t forget that the worst part is yet to come. Many believe we will see a 10% or 10.5% unemployment rate before the situation gets better in 2010. If we are looking at the glass as half full, and this is in fact the eye of the unemployment storm, at least it means it is half way over, right?
- Categories: Employee Attraction, Employee Retention, Uncategorized
Wall Street Journal Ask’s 10 Questions about Healthcare Overhaul
July 22, 2009
I love the Wall Street Journal. They know how to give us information without making the reader feel like we are stupid. Today, Janet Adamy wrote a great article asking, Ten Questions on the Health-Care Overhaul
The questions and answers I found the most interesting are:
- Categories: Uncategorized
Obama Finds $150 Billion
July 8, 2009
Man can this guy and his team find money and get concessions when they want it. Today the Obama administration announced they have “found” 150 Billion in cost savings from hospitals to help pay for the overhaul of our healthcare system. This is on top of the 200 Billion cut in reimbursements to hospitals. Hate it or Love it, Obama is on his way to finding the proposed 1 Trillion dollars he believes it will take to make our system current.
What does this mean to us? Today more than ever the competency of our clinical workers will be tested. If someone runs a non essential test, a patient needs to be readmitted or, heaven forbid, a Never Event happens your hospital is stuck with the bill. The average cost of a Never Event is $40,000-45,000! Do that three, four or ten times a quarter and watch your bottom line sink even lower. Today we need to look at our staff and figure out who we are willing to bet on. If we are not willing to bet on certain employees it’s time to find someone that you will.
- Categories: Legislative Strategy, Uncategorized
Who is in your billing department?
June 25, 2009
The question isn’t really if President Obama’s bundle pay plan will happen, it is what version of bundled pay is going to actually be created. A great idea in theory and a difficult process in practice, this new payment process will impact healthcare recruiting more than most of the client I am talking to realize.
Today, with cash flow being top of mind with all hospitals, billers and coders are the unsung heroes. It isn’t a glamour job like a surgeon but is equally important. In a very real way the quality of their work has a direct impact on the cash flow of every organization that bill through Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance.
- Categories: Uncategorized
Healthcare Execs want to cuts costs/employees and increase the patient experience?
June 9, 2009
According to a survey by HealthLeaders Magazine, hospitals and CEO’s top initiatives are quality of care, patient experience and patient safety .This is no surprise but what was interesting to me was that in the same survey finance executives at the same companies said that cutting staff or not replacing staff that isn’t crucial to the hospital would be a good way to keep cost down.
To me the hospital experience is exactly that, an experience. From the valet who parks your car when you are in a rush, to the receptionist who points you in the right direction, to the nurse who tells you how your loved one is doing and their illness, it is all part of the experience. If a room is not clean, if medication is not given on time if the volunteer who delivers the food doesn’t have a smile on their face this will bring down the patient and patient’s family experience and their perception that is, quality of service.
With that being said, today more than ever, hospitals should be selecting and onboarding qualified, passionate individuals who truly believe in their cause and their mission to serve. Take this time to let go of the workers who have a foot out the door already and use this time to upgrade your staff so that when we come out of this recession you will truly have the best staff.
Finally, today more than ever there are ways to connect with your talent pool and sell them on the values and mission of your organization at reasonable cost. The old ways of newspapers and agencies are out and the new waves of Facebook, Twitter, Craigslist, CareerBuilder, Linkedin and email marketing are all out there and can be used in a way that provides a significant ROI for your organization that will make your finance department happy and bring in quality employees that will create the quality experience your CEO’s are looking for.
- Categories: Uncategorized