Hiring the right people is crucial for your private medical practice. Besides you, they are the face of your office and have a great influence on your reputation. Your team is essentially your business frontline.
Help both yourself and your practice avoid future staffing issues by keeping the below in mind.
It's important to make sure the people you choose for your team create an established rhythm. A rhythm that helps promote a positive experience for your patients and a rhythm that can withstand the unexpected.
Start with an empathetic position to best understand your patients and what they would appreciate and expect. Doctor appointments are not among most people's favorite things to attend. Often times your patients are missing work, paying a babysitter to make an appointment and are most likely very nervous and anxious to be at your office. In their position, you'd want and expect a friendly and courteous staff with mature "people skills" as well as expertise around your office.
Applying this mentality to your own hiring practice ensures that you are clear with your team members over how they are to pick up the phone, answer questions, their email tone etc. The aforementioned are elements of your brand that you'll want your entire team to be aware of and to follow. Courteous and professional behavior can lead to patients sharing their positive visits, the same can be said for a negative experience. The medical industry is not immune to social media and reviews. In fact, doctors offices are reviewed just as often and similarly to restaurants. A recent study found that Yelp reviews (the platform has 26 million users) are essentially just as influential as a personal recommendation. It’s important to understand the power of this platform in which the medical industry as well as restaurants are heavily reviewed. A bad experience, and then most likely a bad review, could lead to less business as potential patients would not want a similar negative experience at your office.
Every office has its own particulars. Often no matter the office experience someone brings to the table, at a new office there will still be a learning curve. Therefore, some office expertise can be taught on the job, people skills cannot. Be selective throughout your interview process to avoid later issues. Go for people that you'd feel comfortable interacting with if you were a patient. Furthermore, know your audience and patients' demographics. If you know you have many Spanish speaking patients, be sure to look for personnel that speak business-level Spanish. This will offer another level of understanding and comfortability to your patients.
Remember that this is your business, your brand. You'll want employees that will treat and respect your office and patients as much as you do. A willingness to adapt and learn is also important as there are always new medical regulations to learn. Your staff needs to bring not just an air of professionalism but be on top of the latest industry specifics, like HIPPA. Look for staff that understands the heavy and legal responsibility of healthcare information.
Look for those that will go above and beyond after checking submitted paperwork to make sure everything is correct such as double-checking information with the patient. Technology continues to change many industries, including healthcare (HIT - Health Information Technology) and today so much of a patient's records are stored digitally. You'll want to make sure your staff communicates anything amiss with your IT company/contact to ensure cyber security and your patients' sensitive data. Today's healthcare hires should have a basic understanding of software updates and fundamental technical skills to communicate appropriately with IT staff.
As a business owner and healthcare professional you have a deep understanding of the legal and financial ramifications that ill-suited staff can have on your office and reputation. Do not hesitate to check references to make sure a potential team member is truly the right fit. Today's medical office personnel should be equipped with excellent interpersonal communication, computer skills, and healthcare expertise pertaining to national regulations and of course knowledgeable of your specialty.
Do you have any hiring tips that have been beneficial for your practice? Please free to share below!
Kelsey Tricoli
Marketing Manager
Advanced Ambulatory Surgery Center (AASC)
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