Physicians Practice - July/August 2008 - (Page 16)

P eARLS HIRE RIGHT B Y K A R E N Z U P KO PHYSICIANS ADVISORY BOARD David Albenberg, MD Scott Meyer, MD Access Healthcare, Prairie Glen Family Medicine, Charleston, SC Glenview, IL Michael F. Bonazzola, MD Oregon Health & Science University Medical Group, Portland, OR Juliet Breeze, MD Richmond Bone and Joint Clinic P Richmond, TX .A., Robert C. Goldszer, MD, MBA Mount Sinai Medical Center Miami Beach, FL BUSINESS ADVISORY BOARD Diane Haines Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR Rebecca A.H. Anwar, PhD The Sage Group, Philadelphia, PA John Barrasso, MD Wyoming Medical Center, Casper, WY V. Alin Botoman, MD Holy Cross Hospital, Fort Lauderdale, FL Barry Brennan Miami Children’s Hospital, Miami, FL Greg Bruce UMC Health System, Lubbock, TX Patrick Cawley, MD Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC Wanda English Shands at the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL Richard Gangemi, MD Rochester General Hospital, Rochester, NY Hewitt Goodpasture, MD Via Christi Regional Medical Center, Wichita, KS Darren R. Haskell, MD St. Luke’s Hospital, Chesterﬁeld, MO Larry Hopperstead, MD Central Maine Medical Center, Lewiston, ME Allen B. Hornell, MD ETMC Regional Healthcare System,Tyler, TX Timothy Huffcutt Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Marshﬁeld, WI Peter J. Jacoby, MD, FACEP St. Mary’s Hospital, Waterbury, CT Cynthia Johnson Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC Jean Kostelansky Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, IL Michael Kryda, MD Ministry Healthcare, Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Milwaukee, WI Leonard Lichtenfeld, MD American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA Jim Lindsey, MD SETON Family of Hospitals Austin, TX John Mackel, MD Saint Francis Medical Center, Cape Girardeau, MO Phillip J. Manno, M.D., F .A.C.P . Nevada Cancer Institute, Las Vegas, NV Lorraine L. Manzella SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY Hagop Mekhjian, MD OSU Medical Center, Columbus, OH Daniel M. Navin, MD Munson Healthcare, Traverse City, MI Harold Pillsbury, III, MD UNC Hospitals, Chapel Hill, NC Thomas Pow, MD Lakeland Regional Health System, St. Josephs, MI Kevin Ruggles, MD Rockford Health System Rockford, IL Ronald W. Swinfard, MD Lehigh Valley Hospital, Bethlehem, PA R. Stephen Taylor, MD Piedmont Hospital, Atlanta, GA Donald Thomas, MD Kingman Regional Medical Center Kingman, AZ Jerome Thompson, MD UT Medical Group, Memphis, TN J. Stephen Wikle, MD, MPH Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, Newport Beach, CA Michael Wong, MD Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY Sally Wright, MD Swedish Medical Center, Seattle, WA John M. Zerwas, MD Memorial Hermann, Houston, TX Nathan J. Zuckerman, MD Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County, Willingboro, NJ Lucien W. Roberts III, MHA, FACMPE Cognos LLC Glen Allen, VA William Smits, MD The Allergy & Asthma Center, Fort Wayne, IN How can you make a good hiring decision without resorting to an expensive recruiter’s help? Start off right by having a wellwritten position description and strategically placed help wanted ads. Also, be prepared to triage to get to five to seven top candidates. To narrow the list to a manageable two or three, conduct prescreening telephone interviews. To make this an effective tool: Ask the right questions: Review the résumés more closely, noting both strengths and potential weaknesses. Base many of the questions you ask a candidate during this phone call on speciﬁcs drawn from her résumé, or indirectly related to the résumé. Here are a few general questions that have consistently drawn interesting and useful responses for us and our clients: • Imagine this scenario: You are at the front desk — the only staff member in the front ofﬁce at that moment. A patient walks in, obviously very upset about something, and walks up to the front desk. How do you handle this situation? • Have you ever not gotten along with an employer, supervisor, and/or coworker? How did you resolve that situation? • Tell me about a time when you and your previous physician supervisor disagreed, but you still found a way to get your point across. Set goals for the prescreening interview: Time is valuable in the interview process; you do not want bad candidates to waste yours. Be prepared for and plot the course of the phone interview so that you can get the information you need quickly and efﬁciently. A checklist for your phone call should include: 1. Check and clarify information from the candidate’s résumé. 2. Ask for a two-minute version of the candidate’s employment his16 | PHYSICIANS PRACTICE | JULY/AUGUST 2008 tory; take note of instances where this summary does not match the written résumé. 3. Ask about gaps and short stays at jobs listed in the candidate’s résumé. If the candidate doesn’t have any satisfactory explanations, you may not want to invite him to the in-person interview. 4. Assess the candidate’s phone manners, speech habits, and interpersonal skills. Can you see yourself communicating effectively with this candidate on a daily basis? What about your patients? 5. Determine whether the candidate’s availability meets your needs. Does her expected compensation fall within a range you’re comfortable paying (i.e., competitive, but not more than you can afford)? 6. Expand on the résumé’s more technical information by asking about speciﬁc software, such as, “Have you ever used XYZ software?” Ask how she would perform a fairly complex function commonly enacted in your ofﬁce. 7. Use the résumé to frame questions about the candidate’s past interactions with physicians, supervisors, coworkers, and “problem patients.” Compare notes and decide quickly: Always take notes and compare and contrast candidates. Discuss the candidates with your partners and key staff members in the practice. Remember, speed is important here: Your candidates are certain to be concurrently looking at other practices for jobs. If you wait too long, someone else may get the candidate who would have been best for you. • Karen Zupko has been a consultant in the ﬁeld of medical practice management since 1974. She can be reached at kzupko@karenzupko.com WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM http://WWW.PHYSICIANSPRACTICE.COM

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Physicians Practice - July/August 2008

Physicians Practice - July/August 2008 Contents The Bigger Picture: Battle Royale in the EMR Market Letters Physicians Practice Pearls: Hire Right Noteworthy Cover Story: Healthcare Reform: Voting for Change Patient Relations: Dealing with Problem Patients The tech Doctor: Is Self-Service Medicine Inevitable? Technology: Do EMRs Make You a Better Doctor? The Guide Idealab: Cash-Only Care Still Works The Administrators Desk: Who’s in Charge? Ask The Experts What Went Wrong: ‘Why Our Great Idea Didn’t Work’ Coding Start It Up: How to Launch a Practice: Operations Partnership: Don't Let Partner Conflict Destroy Your Practice Appraisals: What’s Your Practice Worth? Getting Advice: How to Hire a Consultant Classifieds Advertiser Index

Physicians Practice - July/August 2008

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