As the health care industry continues
to grow, it has become increasingly
important for health care providers to hire the right people for the right jobs.
One of the areas growing the fastest is the
nonclinical side of the business. Nonclinical
health care is defined as any position within
the health care industry that isn’t patient-related.
“We started looking at vertical offerings
from the offers that were specialized for
our clients’ needs,” says Lisa Kyle, district
director for Spherion Staffing, a staffing
service company at the forefront of non-clinical staffing.
Smart Business talked to Kyle about
why nonclinical staffing has been so
important and how companies can find the
right staff members to make it a success.
How did you determine that nonclinical
health care is an important issue?
The staffing industry determined the
largest industries in employment today.
The first was education, including colleges
and secondary education. The next was
the health care industry. So we created a
vertical offering that encompassed the
nonclinical side of health care. By introducing specialized offerings to clients in a
very specific way, the process of understanding and selling health care to them
was a greater benefit because they knew
we understood their business and needs.
How do you determine a company’s special
needs?
We spent a couple of years interviewing
people in health care and visiting hospitals
all over the country in order to develop a
true understanding of the terminology and
the work environment. A hospital or health
care facility is not like a corporation.
They’re run much differently.
Health care has the largest job opportunity, with expected growth faster than
average through the year 2012. On the
nonclerical or office administration side,
according to the U.S. Dept. of Labor,
growth is expected to be between 15 percent and 25 percent over the next decade.
So clearly there is fierce competition for
available talent.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics also said
that 24 million people are expected to exit
the labor pool by 2010, led by the first wave
of baby boomers to retire. That will lead to
even more competition for talent.
Hospitals are always interested in cost-containment initiatives, so this was a way to
help them save some money. A lot of facilities are striving to sustain service excellence
because extraordinary customer service
impacts confidence in the institution, which
in turn drives positive public relations,
which leads to return patients and financial
success for the facility.
If you can offer them a way to have their
time, money and energy focused on the
public relations side of the business, then
you can assist them with resourcing, pre-screening, selection and retention of
employees.
Has it been recently that companies are concentrating on the nonclinical side of the
industry?
I think so, if just because of the growth.
Those 24 million baby boomers exiting the
work force means that many more senior
citizens will require care. The nonclinical side includes everything from hospitals to
a physician’s office to assisted-living facilities, nursing homes and the like.
We were the first company to examine all
of the growth, even though we couldn’t
help on the nursing side of the equation.
And if there’s a nursing shortage because
there are so many patients, then what’s
happening on the backside of that?
Is staffing for a nonclinical client different
than staffing for a corporate client?
You have to enhance what you do for
your nonclinical clients. Create an offering
around health care specifics by testing
medical terminology by its discipline and
making sure the candidates understand the
industry terminology and medical records
issues. Health Information Portability &
Accountability Act (HIPAA) administration
is huge, with billing and claims processing
centered on the nonclinical side.
What kind of training is required?
In addition to our orientation, we offer preassignment training. We communicate our
expectations and provide a handout that’s
customized to whatever facility is looking
for help. Not only are they trained on the
health care terms, HIPAA, patient privacy
and Joint Commission on Accreditation of
Health Care Organizations overviews, but
also on the policies and procedures of the
facility they are looking to join. The training
takes about one week, depending on how
much the candidate wants to take on.
There is additional training on valuing
diversity, which is a huge issue in health
care, as it is in corporate America. It is
important to prepare our candidates so —
when they begin their assignment at a
health care facility — they understand that
this culture is unlike any other they have
ever worked in.
LISA KYLE is a district director for Spherion Staffing. Reach her
at (770) 960-0607 or [email protected].