3 Reasons Why the Healthcare Industry is Adjusting Recruitment Techniques

The Changing Landscape for Healthcare Jobs and How to Prepare

While the Healthcare Job Market has surged in recent months, particularly for physicians and nurse practitioners (NPs), effects of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the ongoing threat of a physician shortage have continued to stress the importance of quality recruits in the Healthcare Industry.

What Kinds of Medical Professionals are in Growing Need?

• Clinicians
• Nurses
• Front Desk/Receptionists
• Hospitality and Patient Relations
• Patient Transportation

The hiring focus has widened. No longer is the shortage highlighting the existing need of physicians, there is now a growing need to recruit non-clinician and service-oriented positions just as much as those that are medically focused. As patient convenience becomes more important, the healthcare industry is looking to provide more well rounded services because the healthcare landscape is changing.

1. King v. Burwell, the ACA and the Influx of New Patients

King v. Burwell is a challenge to a key component of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that was brought to the US Supreme Court. The ACA provides that individuals can purchase competitively-priced health insurance on American Health Benefit Exchanges that may be run by either the States or the federal government. The ruling of this case increases the number of patients able to afford healthcare, making healthcare services even more available across the country.

2. Healthcare Facilities, Hospitals, Clinics and Aging Employees

One-third of US nurses are currently over the age of 50 (US Heath Resources and Services Administration 2013). Experts project a nursing shortage is on the horizon; there doesn’t appear to be a great enough influx of younger nurses to balance out number of retiring nurses. This is noted by more than 78,000 qualified nursing school applicants being turned down for admittance to schools across the country in 2013 (Healthcare Global).

3. Patient Payment Practices Shift to Customer Mindset

Patients are beginning to view themselves as customers–meaning the current staffing shortages in certain healthcare facilities can be a competitive disadvantage. Business models are changing. Fee-for-Service has become Holistic Wellness and patients increasingly (and appropriately) see their request of care as patronage. This mindset has shifted the search for healthcare professionals as “shopping” for the best facilities and physicians making these establishments consider questions like:

• Does the facility make patients wait in a hallway for someone to push them into surgery?
• Do they allow and/or make it possible for patients to speak with their families easily?
• Do the employees treat all patients with the same careful, personable care?

The Solution: A Focus on Recruitment and Performance Insights 

What does the future hold for the Healthcare Industry? Simply, a new focus on performance. Many hospitals around the US are using recruitment applications to find the best-suited employees for different healthcare positions. These recruitment applications give specific insights into talent, achievements, personal progress, and success rates.

The Advantages of Using Performance Applications and Programs:

• Gain insights on talent across all processes
• Align your people to organizational objectives
• Measure employee performance
• Provide critical daily coaching and feedback
• Improve the quality of your workforce
• Help employees develop career paths
• Analyze compensation trends
• Create actionable development plans

Embracing the technological advantages of performance applications will help the Healthcare Industry in hiring promising young professionals and better managing the progress of their current employees. While the healthcare job landscape changes more every year, it is through a closer focus on what patients need and how well medical professionals provide care that medical facilities will retain and hire good employees, improve their services and attain a constant patient base.

For the original article, check out the FierceHealthcare Website.