The Blog

Tips for keeping your medical employees HAPPY!

1. Clearly defined job descriptions and clearly defined chain of command

Many medical practices often delegate responsibilities in a very informal manner/process. This is a recipe for disaster in any large practice and or growing practice. Consider listing project priorities for your practice that are receiving attention because you’re working around staff that haven’t previously had defined job rolls and or responsibilities. SpineSearch recommends creating an organizational chart and chain of command diagram and a job description for every roll within your office.

2.Establishment of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

A formal system includes employee goals, assessments of substantive accomplishments and behaviors, peer reviews, goals and prioritities, support needed from our staff. KPIs are important so employees know, before undertaking the job or project, exactly what is needed to be done and what an acceptable outcome is.

3. Reward those who go above and beyond
Reward those that work extra hours, are extremely resourceful, and or go outside of their job description to complete tasks for the office. Monetary rewards are not always the most successful. Try giving half days, dinner on the office, peer recognition…and don’t limit the rewards to individuals. Your office should also have team goals/descriptions — these groups can and should be rewarded.

4. Continuing education / opportunity for self improvement & advancement

In this era of health care reform it is extremely challenging to keep up with changing laws, regulations, reimbursement guidelines, daily operations and daily practice demands. By keeping employees current in each of their individual fields it helps to ensure the entire office is up to par with changes. This process also helps let employees know that you are investing in them and the betterment of their individual careers. Don’t just focus on clinical or required education. Look for education on customer service, disaster planning, patient flow, time management….

5. Have Fun!

FUN in the job place can go a lot longer than most administrators would think. Celebrate events such as birthdays, anniversaries, child birth, holidays and office specific accomplishments. If you are undergoing a big task, such as converting to an EMR system, order food for the office, give a small gift to each member of the team before the process begins (thanking them for their committing to the successful accomplishment of the task), or go out for an office dinner/drinks as a FUN event.

Physician Employment Trends- 2011
More Physicians Seek Hospital Employed Model
According to a new survey from Accenture (NYSE:ACN), more physicians will continue to leave their private practices to seek hospital employed positions this year. Their survey shows the rate of independent physicians employed by health systems will increase 5% over the next three years, and by 2013 less than 1/3 of physicians will remain truly independent (NY Business Wire).
As a physician recruiter I speak with more and more physicians seeking hospital employed positions after their practices have suffered due to the economic downturn. Further, many do not want to deal with the administrative headaches that running a private practice can bring, any longer.
For some candidates, a hospital employed position can provide greater stability in a fragile economic environment, offer the latest in technology and equipment and provide a better work-life balance.
There are many innovative ways for hospitals to recruit and retain these candidates in this environment. One is to employ a specialist firm to network and source candidates from this expanding talent pool. As an education, consulting and recruitment company, SpineSearch has a unique place in the fields of Orthopedics, Neurosurgery , Neurology and Pain Management; offering industry leading expertise to hospital clients seeking new talent, and providing opportunities for those physicians seeking new challenges.

Tom Sullivan
Vice President of Recruitment
SpineSearch LLC
tom.sullivan@spine-search.com

Retention Management in the Era of Health Care Reform

Press Release: SpineSearch is looking forward to an interactive discussion with fellow colleagues at this week’s Becker’s conference in Chicago where we will discuss common challenges in staff retention. SpineSearch would like to Thank Scott Becker and Jessica Cole for the opportunity to present this discussion.
http://www.beckersasc.com/conferences/june-2011-asc-conference.html

“Differentiation” is the key in creating a Brand. So why is it that most Doctor’s Brochures are viewed as a consumable expense and look just like any other professional practice or organization brochures? Homogenizing is BORING! Your positioning must be unique and you can’t be everything to everyone, so why try to be? You want to appeal to as many in your target market as possible. You must recognizee someone will be left out – That is OK.

Brochure vs. Patient Education is completely different and we will argue they should be separate. Education does just that educates and informs (general/homogenized/plain vanilla….is ok) brochures motivate people to become your clients. Unless you are the only Doctor in the geographic area choosing a surgeon is a very emotional process – patients choose a surgeon emotionally and justify logically. Brochures need to sell from the heart not the head. Both visuals and words sell the emotion.

With the advent of health care reform, both multi-surgeon spine practices and solo practitioners are faced with the challenge of managing the over 32 million Americans that will now have access to health care and remaining both profitable, and efficient while doing so. Part of the solution will be further incorporation of Nurse Practitioners and Physician Assistants into specialty practices to accommodate a larger patient volume in addition to allowing specialists more time to focus on complex conditions. See link to Spine-Health for full article: http://www.spine-health.com/physicians/utilization-nurse-practitioners-and-physician-assistants-your-spine-practice

Best of Luck With Your Job Search!

SpineSearch will be attending the CNS SpineSection in Arizona March 9-12.  Please visit us at Booth # 415!

SpineSearch has a successful evening at the CareerMD fair in New York City last week.  Fourth year residents and fellows from the tri-state area in addition to physician assistant students gathered in an open forum to learn about job opportunities in 2011.

SpineSearch will be attending the upcoming CareerMD Fair in New York City on February 7, 2011. The career fair will be held from 5:00pm to 9:00pm at the: Hilton New York , 1335 Avenue of the Americas, (6th Avenue at 54th Street).

Residents and Fellows in all medical specialties and all years of training are invited to attend this event. SpineSearch representatives will speak with Residents and Fellows about broader career-planning issues such as J1 issues, decisions about sub-specializing, and employment trends in the fields of orthopedics, neurosurgery, and pain management.  We look forward to seeing you at the SpineSearch booth and discussing our various surgeon job opportunities located across the country.

I would like to thank Becker’s ASC for inviting me to lecture about the challenges we will face in 2011 in spine.  We had over 50 participants, and an abundance of follow up e-mails and phone calls with positive commentary.  This webinar will soon be archived on our site for your viewing.  Please feel free to continue the dialogue as healthcare is changing for us in the US everyday.