Physician's Practice - November 2008 - (Page 59)

beyond just attendance or beneﬁts. For example, database software that allows you to track applicants can help you compile information for Equal Employment Opportunity reports. Or how about a database that tracks OSHA training and licensure requirements for staff? Not only does that help keep training and licensure current, it also allows you to see at a glance the skills and abilities present in your practice’s employee mix. “When you have openings you can do some succession planning and see how you can utilize different employees in different capacities within your practice so that you can promote from within,” says Abrams. Atlantic Urological managed its HR paperwork by creating an EMR for staff records. “There are a lot of packages and database systems where you can actually scan your personnel ﬁles,” says Abrams. “We’ve actually used a program that we already had to track medical records for accounting and invoice management, and we’re starting to use that also in HR for the paper ﬁles.” With some federal requirements for keeping employment records being as long as 30 years, electronic HR records can cut down on the amount of paper storage. For a medium-sized practice, 30 years’ worth of paper records can fill a sizeable filing cabinet. An “HR EMR” can also be useful for multisite practices. A centralized electronic database helps keep employee records conﬁdential. Just as an EMR can be modiﬁed to give certain staff privileges, an HR records database can be set to allow supervisors access only to their own employees’ records. “We also use it to track disciplinary actions for employees so that our policies and procedures are practiced consistently across the board,” says Abrams. THE NEXT STEP: RETENTION READ MORE ABOUT IT! Visit us online at www.Physicians Practice.com to learn more about stepping up your HR practices: •Type “Managing the Manager” in our Search Articles box to access an article on the best ways to work with your office manager, who may also double as your HR person. •Visit our Buyer’s Guide at Physicians practice.com to find vendors who offer HR technologies. •Go to our Tools section and click on the “Staffing Benchmarks” tool to analyze your staff to physician ratios and other key human resources information. WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM The ultimate goal of any HR package is to foster a better work environment so that trained and skilled employees will stay. Although the programs mentioned above can streamline HR efforts, they may not make much difference to the staff. “Practices focus on some of the nuts and bolts, like tracking staff, but they forget about the next steps,” says Beth N. Carvin, president and CEO of Nobscot Corporation in Honolulu, Hawaii. Nobscot Coroporation generally offers HR retention solutions for larger organizations, but lately it has seen a real demand from the healthcare industry. “In the healthcare ﬁeld, retention is a fairly critical piece of the puzzle There’s a shortage in nursing, CNAs, and some of those other positions. There’s a little bit of a war for talent out there,” says Carvin. WebExit is one of the products offered by Nobscot to help practices get a handle on why employees leave. Although exit interviews traditionally have been conducted person-to-person, departing employees aren’t always at their most truthful when talking to a real person. WebExit allows departing employees to answer a series of exit questions via the Internet — and with complete honesty. Sometimes it yields interesting results. One medical organization that was using WebExit had a number of people leaving from their pharmacy and wasn’t sure why. A WebExit answer from one employee cited lack of training and the employee’s feeling NOVEMBER 2008 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | 59 http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://www.countmein.biz http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Physician's Practice - November 2008

Physician's Practice - November 2008 Contents Death of Solo Practice Just a Myth Letters HSAy What? Noteworthy Finding Lost Revenue: The Search for Billing and Coding Gold Getting More: Our Annual Physician Compensation Survey ’Tis the Season to be Neutral Ask the Experts Evaluating Paperless Labs HR in a Box? The Guide Coding Third-Party Audits on the Rise Branding the Cash-Only Practice Intra-Office Tug-of-Wars Stickin‘ Up For Yourself Classifieds Advertiser Index

Physician's Practice - November 2008

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