As positions for healthcare professionals open throughout the country, All Medical Personnel is looking for locum tenens physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners.  Now, our nationwide healthcare staffing firm is kicking off a new provider referral initiative at the Florida Medical Group Management Association (FMGMA)’s annual conference this week in Orlando.

When you introduce your colleagues to All Medical Personnel, you can now make up to $500 per introduction.  With the new program, “The Buck Starts with a Great Referral,” you simply complete a referral form available on our new microsite, – www.locumreferrals.com.  All Medical Personnel will pay you $500 for each introduction to a physician and $250 for each introduction to physician assistants and nurse practitioners who work 20 or more days with our firm or take a permanent position with one of our clients.

Once you make a referral, we will contact the candidate and discuss open locum tenens positions and career opportunities.  When the candidate completes at least 20 days (160 hours) worked with All Medical (within one year of the date of introduction), you will be eligible for your bonus.  We will keep you informed of the candidate’s eligibility status. We reserve the right to cancel the referral program at any time.

For physicians, physician assistants and nurse practitioners, locum tenens assignments offer variety, providing opportunities to practice skills in a new clinical setting and serve a different patient population.  Many locum tenens physicians also enjoy a change of pace in their lifestyle, such as spending a month or two in a vacation-oriented community.

Other advantages include flexibility in scheduling. That might mean working a new shift, taking a temporary assignment for several weeks or moving to a new location for several months or longer.  A locum tenens assignment can also help professionals find a healthy balance between work and family responsibilities.

If you know a professional interested in locum tenens opportunities, contact All Medical Personnel today, and remember, “The Buck Starts with a Great Referral!”

As a growing niche in the U.S. market, corporate healthcare offers new business opportunities for physicians, hospitals and other providers.  Many organizations – particularly Fortune 500 companies and other large employers – are opening their own healthcare clinics and expanding their on-site wellness programs in order to reduce costs, improve productivity and attract new talent.

In the past two years, corporate giants like Intel, HP and Michelin have invested millions of dollars into setting up employee clinics on their main campuses.  Other regional and local employers are also expanding their on-site healthcare programs in order to stake out a competitive advantage.  In many cases, these employers find it easier to partner with well-established hospitals or healthcare systems that can provide “brand-name” care to their employees.

However, some large companies are taking a different approach, expanding their human resource divisions and hiring physicians, nurses, nutritionists, and other professionals directly. In many cases, these employers turn to staffing firms like All Medical Personnel for assistance in planning their programs and for providing temporary staffing to get them underway.

When developing corporate healthcare programs, it’s important to survey employees and their families to determine what services are most likely to be utilized.  For instance, a recent study by the Center for Studying Health System Change in Washington, D.C., found that users of corporate clinic services most commonly sought vaccinations and other minor, routine services instead of care for chronic conditions.  When asked the primary purpose of their clinic visits, 63.7 percent of survey respondents in 2010 cited vaccinations.

Employers should also take a careful look at their insurance premiums and other financial outlays to build programs that offer the “biggest bang for the buck.”  For instance, corporate clinics and wellness programs could provide employees with incentives to address obesity, one of the nation’s most serious and costly health problems.  In any case, corporate healthcare is likely to grow in importance in the next decade, opening the doors to new partnerships, alliances and career opportunities.

Providing workers with healthcare coverage still makes economic sense for large employers.  However, there are fewer incentives for smaller employers to offer coverage in the new era of healthcare reform.  That was the key message in a new national study for the nonpartisan National Institute for Health Care Reform.

The study, led by University of Minnesota researcher Jean Abraham, who worked with the Center for Studying Health System Change, calculated the economic incentives for employers offering coverage to active workers before and after health reform implementation in 2014.   The analysis used data from the 2008-2010 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.

“The findings indicate that the economic incentives to offer coverage will remain strong under health reform for many businesses, especially larger, higher-wage firms,” Abraham said. “But they will weaken for small and low-wage employers – the very establishments that already were most likely to drop coverage because of rising costs.”

For the nation’s healthcare providers, the study points to the importance of regular verification of current insurance coverage, particularly for patients working for smaller businesses that might decide to drop this benefit. If so, there could well be a significant time lag before the patient purchases coverage from another source.

The institute’s study found that pre-reform, all businesses had an economic incentive to offer health insurance because the U.S. government gave preferential tax treatment for both employer and employee premium contributions.  Post-reform, employer premium contributions remain tax exempt.  In addition, two new policies take effect in 2014: a penalty on larger employers that do not offer affordable health insurance, and premium tax credits for lower-income people to purchase insurance in new state exchanges if they lack access to affordable employer coverage.

In the pre-reform period, the economic incentives of employers to offer health insurance were all positive and increased with firm size.  After reform implementation in 2014, the largest firms with 500 or more workers will continue to have a strong economic incentive, with an average incentive of $2,503 per employee, according to the analysis.  However, the smallest firms with fewer than 50 workers will face lower economic incentives – an average of $990  – in the post-reform period, in large part because these smaller employers will be exempt from the penalty.

With summer approaching, many health care administrators in Florida and across the country are wondering about vacation staffing issues and the benefits of locum tenens programs. At the same time, many physicians are also considering the advantages of taking a temporary position during the peak vacation season through a locum tenens placement.

To answer those questions, All Medical Personnel’s staffing professionals will be on the scene at the Florida Medical Group Management Association (FMGMA)’s annual conference, May 13-15, 2013, at the Caribe Royale in Orlando.  The event will bring together hundreds of administrators and other professionals who belong to MGMA, a well-established organization whose mission is to improve the effectiveness of medical group practices in Florida and the skills of the individuals who manage or lead them.

As a member of MGMA, All Medical Personnel contributes to advancing that mission by providing a wide range of staffing programs, including temporary or long-term locum tenens placements for physicians and other healthcare professionals.  For administrators, locum tenens staffing can meet increases in seasonal demand for services or fill gaps in coverage due to vacations, extended illness, or other causes.

For physicians and other professionals, locum tenens assignments offer variety, providing opportunities to practice skills in a new clinical setting and serve a different patient population.  Many locum tenens physicians also enjoy a change of pace in their lifestyle, such as spending a month or two in a coastal, vacation-oriented community.  Other advantages include flexibility in scheduling.  That might mean working a new shift, taking a temporary assignment for several weeks or moving to a new location for several months or longer.  A locum tenens assignment can also help professionals find a healthy balance between work and family responsibilities.

To find out more about summer staffing options, visit All Medical Personnel’s booth at MGMA2013. For more information on the conference, go to: http://flmgma.com.

In a step that will affect healthcare organizations throughout the country, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently issued a final rule implementing five key consumer protections from the Affordable Care Act. Under the rule, all individuals and employers have the right to purchase health insurance coverage regardless of health status.  In addition, insurers are prevented from charging discriminatory rates to individuals and small employers based on factors such as health status or gender, and young adults have additional affordable coverage options under catastrophic plans.

For providers, the HHS rule is expected to increase demand for healthcare services from the more than 30 million Americans who are currently uninsured for one reason or another.  Now, the HHS is mandating that most health plans include the following key provisions by 2014:

• Guaranteed availability. Nearly all health insurance companies offering coverage to individuals and employers will be required to sell health insurance policies to all consumers. No one can be denied health insurance because of current or prior illness.
• Fair health insurance premiums. Health insurance companies offering coverage to individuals and small employers will only be allowed to vary premiums based on age, tobacco use, family size, and geography.  Basing premiums on other factors will be illegal.  The factors that are no longer permitted in 2014 include health status, past insurance claims, gender, occupation, how long an individual has held a policy, or size of the small employer.
• Guaranteed renewability. Health insurers can no longer refuse to renew coverage because an individual or an employee has become sick.  Consumers have the option to renew coverage.
• Single risk pool. Health insurers will no longer be able to charge higher premiums to higher cost enrollees by moving them into separate risk pools.  Insurers are required to maintain a single statewide risk pool for the individual market and single statewide risk pool for the small group market.
• Catastrophic plans. Consumers will have access to a catastrophic plan in the individual market.  Catastrophic plans generally have lower premiums, protect against high out-of-pocket costs, and cover recommended preventive services without cost sharing.

With these rules slated to go into effect in 2014, hospitals, physician groups and other providers should begin planning how to address the likely increase in patient volume in the new state and national healthcare climate.

It’s not uncommon for ambitious college students with multiple interests to go for a double major.  That could provide a new graduate with solid credentials in marketing or finance, for example, along with a liberal arts major like English, history or sociology.  Having a degree with a double major can certainly help attract the attention of employers since it shows your interest in learning as well as your willingness to work hard to earn your degree.

The same type of thinking can help you get off to a good start in healthcare or take your professional career to a new level.  Even if you don’t have an official double-major, you can still differentiate yourself from other new graduates by pointing out a wide set of classes and experiences.  If you’re applying for a nursing position, for example, why not emphasize your strong skills in Spanish or French, for example.  If you’re seeking an entry-level laboratory technician position, you could improve your chances by talking about your management experience in a summer retail job.  In any case, being able to bring something “extra” beyond the formal requirements can be a big help in landing that first position in healthcare – and to keep your career moving forward in the future.

Having a strong set of skills in a non-healthcare field can also help you make a career transition into this growing field.  Let’s say, you’ve spent your last ten years working in an accounting, sales, marketing or IT firm and are ready to try something new.  Today, there are plenty of opportunities in healthcare for professionals who know budgeting, accounting, billing, coding and collecting.  Health systems, hospitals and physician groups – as well as healthcare IT companies – are looking for skilled sales, marketing and public relations professionals.  In fact, the need for skilled professionals will only accelerate as federal healthcare reform gradually reshapes the delivery of services.  So, if you can bring a double major or a wide set of skills to a healthcare position at any level, you can dramatically improve your chances of being hired.  Good luck!

If you are wondering where the U.S. healthcare sector is headed, think about mobility.  An explosion of new mobile applications (apps) is helping patients and families use their smart phones and tablets to connect with physicians, hospitals and other providers.  Perhaps most importantly, these new mobile apps have the potential to support wellness and disease prevention, shifting the focus away from acute patient care, while providing more effective monitoring of costly chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension.

One recent example is Heart Health Mobile,  a free mobile app created by the Marshfield Clinic Research Foundation as part of a nationwide competition in support of its “Million Hearts” initiative. “The foundation has created an app to give people easy access to some of the most advanced health care analytics available to learn the factors that put them at risk for heart attacks and how to prevent them,” said Farzad Mostashari, M.D., the national coordinator for health information technology. “People can now get information about their risk and share what they know with their doctor to better manage their heart health.”

Heart Health Mobile, which can be downloaded from iTunes, provides information about  a person’s risk for heart disease based on answers to questions about height, weight, cholesterol levels and blood pressure, diabetes, and smoking status.  In areas with participating pharmacies and other retail clinics, the app steers users to convenient locations for cholesterol and blood-pressure screening.  A feature that tracks users’ histories allows people to easily see if they have made progress as they work to lose weight or lower cholesterol and blood pressure levels.

Along with the regular app, Heart Health Mobile has an innovative feature that allows users to play a “game,” earning points for completed tasks and awards for tracking their heart health and reaching their targets.  As Simon M. Lin, M.D., director of the foundation’s Biomedical Informatics Research Center, said, “As health care moves rapidly toward preventing disease, technology such as Heart Health Mobile can help people take charge of their health.”

One of the foundations of the national Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the concept of a state-level health insurance exchange or marketplace. The goal is to make it an easy and affordable for consumers and small businesses to purchase health coverage through private health plans. It’s a particularly important step for millions of individuals who do not get insurance from their employers.

Hospitals, physician groups and other healthcare providers should pay attention to the progress toward creating these two marketplaces – one for individuals and one for small businesses – in their states. After all, having insurance coverage makes it much more likely that individuals, couples and families will access primary care and specialty services.

As of mid February, 20 states and the District of Columbia have been conditionally approved to partially or fully run a marketplace, according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The most recent state was Illinois, which plans to be ready for open enrollment in October 2013. “We are forging ahead to make the promise of the Affordable Care Act a reality,” said Illinois Governor Pat Quinn on Feb. 13. “We are going to be working very hard between now and October 1st to educate the people of our state about the health care coverage options they will have through the marketplace.”

Quinn’s remarks reflect the two key challenges that states will face in setting up these new health insurance entities. First of all, each state will need to establish policies, rules and regulations for insurance companies that desire to participate in the marketplaces, as well as reviewing their rate structures and coverage options.  That’s a daunting task in itself.  But state officials will also need to educate the consumers about these new options – a process that may well require telephone or face-to-face discussions with individuals and families.  Since educating consumers is vital to the success of the state marketplaces, healthcare providers may want to become involved in the process, such as holding health fairs that include insurance representatives or posting information, such as FAQs, on their websites.  While getting ready for the full implementation of the ACA next January is a major challenge for the healthcare industry, the reform effort is also creating new opportunities as well.

If you’re wondering which companies across the nation are hiring today, look no further than All Medical Personnel.  Our company was featured at the #2 spot in a recent article, “15 companies hiring in February,” by Debra Auerbach.  Her article appeared on MSN, CareerBuilder, and The Work Buzz.  Commenting on the feature, All Medical Personnel President Neil Bernstein said, “Healthcare is one of the fastest-growing industries in the country, and our recruiting team is always looking for well-qualified professionals.”  For example, All Medical Personnel’s current healthcare staffing positions include bilingual registered nurses (RNs), licensed practical nurses (LPNs), phlebotomists, occupational therapists and laboratory technicians.  All Medical Personnel has been serving the healthcare industry for more than 20 years, providing customized staffing solutions, superior candidates, advanced reporting capabilities, and compliance mirroring.  Our services include executive and physician recruiting, locum tenens physician placements, and temporary, temp-to-hire, and direct hire placements.  Other national companies that made MSN’s February hiring list included Brightstar Corp. (telecommunications), Brookdale Senior Living
(residential living), Clayton Homes (sales), IHG (hospitality), Insight Global Inc.
(information technology), Saia LTL (freight) and Transamerica (insurance and finance).  To see the article on MSN, click here.

If want to take the next step in your healthcare career, it’s important to manage your social media presence.  After all, recruiters and potential employers today will usually go online and see what you have posted on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube.  If you’ve posted a personal blog about being a nurse or physical therapist in your local community, you’re likely to be considered a strong candidate for an open position.  But if all the recruiter sees on Facebook are photos of you partying with your friends in a nightclub, your chances of being hired will drop dramatically.

The first step in managing your online presence is to take an inventory of what’s already out there.  You could start by pretending you’re the recruiter and do two searches, one with your name and one with your image, and see what appears.  Next review your online pages to see what information you’ve posted.  Pay particular attention to Facebook and Twitter, since these accounts tend to have much more personal information than LinkedIn. Fortunately, you can use the privacy controls on Facebook to protect your personal information from a casual visitor like a healthcare recruiter.

Once you’ve completed your assessment and done any necessary “damage control” to your image, it’s time to look for ways to make yourself more attractive to a recruiter.  One good approach is to update your credentials and experience on LinkedIn. For instance, if you’re looking for a management position, you can highlight recent accomplishments as a project manager or as a volunteer leader in a community organization. It’s also a good idea to ask your professional colleagues to “recommend” you or “endorse” your skills. Of course, you can do the same for them! These are some of the ways you can use social media to present yourself as an up-and-coming professional who would be a solid asset to any healthcare organization.