It’s not easy for physician groups, hospitals, laboratories and other healthcare organizations to find well-qualified job candidates.  That’s why a growing number of employers are turning to outside staffing services that understand today’s complex recruiting process.

Today, there are three key challenges for employers who use their in-house human resource (HR) departments to fill open positions.  The first issue is time.  It can take weeks or months to sift through hundreds of online resumes to identify potential candidates – especially if the HR professional must also juggle other, more pressing tasks.  Second, those candidates must be carefully screened to be sure they have the appropriate educational background, adequate experience and right certifications and credentials.  Finally, the HR professional must also be able to attract and engage the candidate by articulating the reasons for joining the practice, hospital, company or system.

Since all these steps must be taken before the first interview occurs, it’s not uncommon for a vacant position to remain open for an extended period, while other employees pick up the slack.  The HR professional must dedicate considerable time to the identification, screening, and pre-interview process, rather than focus on other organizational priorities.  Finally, there’s always the risk that a new candidate won’t be a good match for the employer, regardless of how good those credentials looked on paper.

For all these reasons, healthcare employers rely on staffing firms like All Medical Personnel to find, screen and present appropriate candidates for open positions.  Today, effective recruiting requires specialized expertise and a distinct set of skills that may not be readily available in a small HR department.  Experienced recruiting firms know where to find suitable candidates and narrow the list to a small and manageable group.  Perhaps equally important, they understand how to appeal to the candidate by conveying both tangible benefits of working for the employer, and the intangibles like mission, values and culture.  For healthcare organizations seeking to fill open positions quickly and efficiently, hiring an outside recruiting firm can be a key step to filling vacant positions quickly and efficiently.

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.

It always seems like the month of December sneaks up on everyone.  Suddenly, it’s time for holiday parties, client luncheons, charitable activities and other seasonal events.  At the same time, many healthcare staffers realize they have unused vacation time and decide to take off for a week or two before the end of the year.

As a result, physician groups, hospitals, laboratories and other healthcare organizations often find it difficult to stay fully staffed during the late December – early January season.  Many organizations already have temporary staffing plans in place to fill those gaps in the schedule, while others find themselves looking for help at the last minute.

Since December staffing issues are a highly predictable occurrence, All Medical Personnel urges healthcare organizations to take a proactive approach.  That might involve reviewing last year’s employee schedules to determine how many people took vacation or personal days during the month.  That can help in projecting staffing needs for this December.  Planning ahead for staffing coverage is also important when arranging a holiday party or charitable event.

If everyone in the office is volunteering a half-day to serve meals to the homeless, deliver gifts to needy children or contribute in another way, then be sure to have temporary staffers in place to “hold down the fort” in the meantime.  It may seem obvious, but it’s surprising how temporary staffing issues are often left to the last minute amid the busy activities of the month.  With the biggest holidays of the year just ahead, All Medical Personnel recommends taking a careful look at your December staffing plans to be sure you can continue to provide seamless care to patients and clients during the 2012 holiday season.

Healthcare organizations continually wrestle with the issue of employee burnout.  In hospital and clinical settings, many physicians, nurses, lab techs and other care providers work long hours in stressful situations that tax their physical, mental and emotional stamina.  Although many professionals are able to cope with these challenges and provide quality patient care, others exhibit the classic signs of burnout: lethargy, absenteeism, health problems and a drop in the quality of work.

Therefore, it’s important for hospitals, physician groups, laboratory companies and other organizations to have strategies in place for reducing employee burnout.   A good example is providing a variety of professional education, training and career development opportunities.  These programs provide employees (and employers) with three key benefits: “taking a break” from day-to-day stressful activities, learning new career skills, and improving engagement.  Professionals often feel recharged by these programs when they “re-enter the trenches.”

Job rotation is another approach to reducing employee burnout.  For instance, a nurse or therapist can get a fresh perspective on the workplace by switching to a new department or working a different shift.  Another strategy is to include professionals for organizational committees or task forces that tap their leadership skills or special talents.

In implementing these types of strategies, temporary staffing services can play a vital supporting role.  Having quality “fill-in” professionals ready to step into the shoes of permanent employees, allows healthcare organizations to focus on implementing their training and development, job rotation or other career enrichment strategies.  In that way, flexible staffing can help an organization preserve and protect its human capital – its most important asset.

Both hospitalists and healthcare organizations are benefitting from the flexibility provided by locum tenens employment.  Salaried hospitalists who often work a seven-day-on/seven-day-off schedule are working as locum tenens on some of that free time in order to generate extra income.  At the same time, healthcare employers can bring in experienced physicians as needed to fill gaps in their regular staffing patterns.

As a national leader in healthcare staffing, All Medical Personnel connects locum tenens hospitalists and other physicians with available positions in their local and regional markets, or farther afield if desired.  The benefits of temporary assignments as locum tenens include schedule flexibility, exposure to different hospital and physician practice settings, and ability to expand clinical skills through exposure to more varied patient populations.

A recent survey of hospitalists conducted for Today’s Hospitalist magazine and Locum Leaders, found that one in ten hospitalists has worked as locum tenens, usually in addition to full-time employment, in the past 12 months.  More than 80 percent of respondents said they were employed full-time, 11 percent were self-employed and 7 percent were employed part-time and also working as locum tenens.

The survey noted that hospitalists are typically younger than other medical specialists, and more likely to carry large student debts, making the prospect of locum tenens employment particularly appealing to them.  If you are interested in discussing locum tenens employment options, we invited you to contact All Medical Personnel.

As 2011 draws to an end, it’s time to make staffing plans for the New Year – unless you’re one of those highly organized people who takes care of things months in advance. But most physicians, administrators and department heads find themselves “putting out fires” on a daily basis.  Fortunately, there are still a few weeks to go, so you don’t have to wait until the absolute last minute.

Why is it important for healthcare organizations to consider staffing in advance?  One reason is that strategic plans and annual budgets often have an impact on labor requirements.  Opening a new clinic or satellite office, for instance, requires new administrative and clinical personnel.  It may make sense to fill some of those positions on a temporary basis until there’s some actual experience in that local market.

Advance planning also provides more lead time in recruiting and hiring the right individuals for new positions.  While firms like All Medical Personnel, can bring in highly qualified providers on 24-hour notice, it’s better to allow more time for the process.

All Medical Personnel works closely with our clients in analyzing the previous year’s staffing patterns.  In many cases, we can advise on where more – or fewer – people may be needed in the New Year. Our goal is to help healthcare organizations deliver high-quality service in a cost-effective manner in 2012 and beyond.

As 2011 draws to an end, it’s time to make staffing plans for the New Year – unless you’re one of those highly organized people who takes care of things months in advance. But most supervisors, managers and department heads find themselves “putting out fires” on a daily basis.  Fortunately, there are still a few weeks to go, so you don’t have to wait until the absolute last minute.

Why is it important for healthcare organizations to consider staffing in advance?  One reason is that strategic plans and annual budgets often have an impact on labor requirements.  Opening a new clinic or satellite office, for instance, requires new administrative and clinical personnel.  It may make sense to fill some of those positions on a temporary basis until there’s some actual experience in that local market.

Advance planning also provides more lead time in recruiting and hiring the right individuals for new positions.  While firms like All Medical Personnel, can bring in highly qualified people on 24-hour notice (or even less), it’s better to allow more time for the process.

All Medical Personnel works closely with our clients in analyzing the previous year’s staffing patterns.  In many cases, we can advise on where more – or fewer – people may be needed in the New Year.  Our goal is to help healthcare organizations deliver high-quality service in a cost-effective manner in 2012 and beyond.

It sounds good in theory. Through a new model called accountable care organizations (ACOs), the federal government is aiming to create a better organized healthcare system that will reduce costs and produce better outcomes.  The idea is to bring physician groups, hospitals, rehabilitation centers and ancillary providers together and align their financial interests.

The concept of providing fully integrated, patient-centered care has been around for many years.  Some large-scale health systems are already applying this new model to some extent.  But how ACO’s will work on a national level remains to be seen.  And since many aspects of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 have been challenged in the courts, it’s possible this model may not even go into effect.

But whatever happens with the ACO concept, it seems clear that the current system for delivery of healthcare services will be changing in the next few years.  Several aspects of that trend are clear:

• Centralization of patient information, as shown by the move toward electronic medical records (EMRs)
• Greater integration among healthcare providers
• An increased focus on patient outcomes - both in terms of quality of care and a possible system of financial rewards and penalties     
• More emphasis on prevention and wellness services, particularly from primary care providers

Each of these broad trends will have an impact on healthcare staffing requirements, particularly during the transitional phases as organizations revise their service delivery models.  Drawing on more than two decades of healthcare staffing experience, All Medical Personnel can assist hospitals, physician groups and other providers in determining the personnel impact of these trends.

Many healthcare organizations are now making plans for taking the next step toward a comprehensive electronic medical record (EMR) system.   The move toward a paperless environment is being driven by a wide combination of factors, including economic factors, quality of care issues and federal policies. Certainly, the ability to have the patient’s medical history, including prescriptions and recent lab reports, available at any workstation will be far more convenient for the physician and nursing staff.

But as with any major change in technology, IT specialists are needed to keep the conversion process on track.  Additional clerical help may also be necessary to input patient data now kept on paper records, and training must be provided for everyone using the new system.  This is a situation where dedicated healthcare staffing firms like All Medical Personnel can add value to their clients.

A recent report from Kalorama Information says physician adoption of EMR continues to rise and is now near the 50 percent mark.  One driver is the federal incentive program that provides funds for hospitals and physicians to adopt EMR and EHR (electronic health record) systems.  The consulting firm valued the EMR market at $15.7 billion in 2010 and projected more than 18 to 20 percent market growth for the next two years.

However, healthcare organizations are still at widely different points in making the transition.  To help providers gauge their progress, HIMSS Analytics developed a seven-stage EMR adoption model. It ranges from stage one, where major ancillary clinical systems (pharmacy, laboratory, and radiology) are installed, to stage seven, where a hospital no longer uses paper charts to deliver and manage patient care and has a mixture of data, document images, and medical images within its EMR environment.

While an EMR conversion is often a major short-term expense, it has the potential to deliver long-term benefits that can truly improve the quality of patient care in the future.

Traditionally, Labor Day weekend marks the end of summer and the start of a new business year.  For healthcare organizations, it’s a good time to focus on service delivery - the best way to build strong relationships with patients, clients and families.  Reflecting our own commitment to provide outstanding staffing service, All Medical Personnel would like to take a moment to salute three of our own “labor leaders.”  Here’s what our clients had to say:

• “Andrea always strives to find long-term positions for personnel, and seeks to give quality service.  She is excellent at human resource skills in matching the right candidate with the right position.”
• “I have truly enjoyed my relationship with Sharmeen.  She has been available to answer my questions and the few times I had to leave a message she responded quickly.  She is nice, patient, knowledgeable and fair.”
• “Lisa is an excellent staffing business partner.  We have found her to be easy to work with and good with feedback.  All Medical Personnel has been able to assist us in areas where other agencies have not been able to.”

These are just a few of the testimonials our team members receive every week from healthcare organizations across the country.  In honor of Labor Day, All Medical Personnel thanks our entire team for an excellent job in serving our clients every day of the year.