
HealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
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View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsThe leadership development program from HealthStream helps mold your high-potential healthcare employees into proven leaders.
View All ProductsFulfill compliance requirements with a variety of programs and courseware designed to address critical regulatory requirements as well as educate staff to recognize and mitigate risks.
View All ProductsBy increasing your healthcare staff's focus on quality and safety with HealthStream, they can help to reduce medical errors and readmission rates.
View All ProductsLearn about what HealthStream's healthcare policy management software and how it can help aid your organization efforts.
View All ProductsHealthStream's education helps address diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization, as well as promoting health equity in the communities you serve.
View All ProductsDeliver custom or industry designed product training directly to patient and resident care environments to reinforce proper use.
View All ProductsTeach your healthcare staff about the revenue cycle and claim management through targeted training and video tools from HealthStream.
View All ProductsIn all areas of resuscitation, from neonatal to elderly care, clinical deterioration is a risk that can be avoided with the help of HealthStream's training programs.
View All ProductsNurture the skills of your nurses and medical staff to help mold them into effective leaders with development training from HealthStream.
View All ProductsMake sure your clinicians have the support they need to provide competent care with clinical competency training and development from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
View All ProductsGive your healthcare staff the decision support and skills training they need with the online products available from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream leverages medical professional development in healthcare by providing staff training programs
View All ProductsCreate engaging and impactful learning experiences that meet the unique needs of your acute care staff.
View All ProductsExperience standardized and centralized healthcare provider credentialing, privileging, and enrollment that is smarter and faster than ever before.
View All ProductsAutomated, web-based provider credentialing and enrollment software for growing medical groups.
View All ProductsNCQA-certified CVO verification services for initial and re-credentialing files in an overflow or full-service capacity for healthcare organizations.
View All ProductsSearch, review, and add providers into the Epic provider master file with our Epic app integration, Provider Validate.
View All ProductsFinally, a comprehensive resource to support collecting, storing, and sharing credentialing data with ease.
View All ProductsHealthcare scheduling software designed to optimize staffing requirements & elevate patient care
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View All ProductsHealthStream’s free nurse schedule app, NurseGrid™, is built to help you care for your staff and engage with their specific needs.
View All ProductsMitigate risk and elevate your quality of care. Improving both clinical and business outcomes starts with a smarter, more integrated approach to regulatory training, continuing education and quality management.
Learn MoreThe Q1 2016 Provider Advisor is focused squarely on the onboarding process and how providers are affected by it. This post excerpts a Q&A with HealthStream’s Nick Ferreira about some special considerations concerned with managing employed physicians.
We spoke to customers and experts concerning the management of physicians as employees and formulated these five key areas of focus:
Physician roadblocks look different than those of other employees. Physicians are concerned with anything that presents a barrier to practice, and the barrier may differ depending on specialty. Surgeons may struggle with streamlining blocktime maintenance while radiologists might want to maximize flexibility in work location. ED physicians may see patient process efficiency as a barrier while cardiologists might struggle to attain flexibility in when they do Cath Lab procedures.
These issues can’t be solved with a better performance appraisal or more employee engagement data. Addressing the roadblocks requires different thinking and influence than the typical talent management challenges. HR may need to collaborate with other resources in the organization to ensure there is a smooth process for discovering and addressing physician-specific challenges.
Facility-to-Physician: Communicate to Build Relationships
Physicians want to know they are part of the patient team. How we communicate to them goes a long way in changing that perception to a reality—and the reality is that relationships are important, and relationships help create and maintain a better practice environment. Mona Tucker from Seton Medical Center, Harker Heights recommends “Communicate, communicate, communicate—get to know physicians very well and develop real relationships with them; also help them build their relationships with others.” According to a 2015 HFMA survey, less than 40% of physicians believe the hospital treats them fairly in terms of the business relationships.
At the least, standard employee communications, or a version of it, should reach the physician. Department level success stories, the facility’s financial results, and notices of social events are all important to build that relationship. Information that is worthy of repeating in other settings, such as the number of specific specialty procedures per year, also helps physicians build their own business relationships. Where physicians are not official employees, ensure they have an email address for that facility. These small actions help build those critical relationships.
Physician-to-Facility: Give Physicians a (Meaningful) Voice
Physicians must feel they have a meaningful voice toward leadership and their colleagues. Aside from communication to build strong relationships (as mentioned above), we must give physicians a voice on how goals are set and how a “bill becomes law” in the facility. Yet to give physicians a meaningful voice we must first speak to physicians with a meaningful voice. For example, we must use data-driven arguments and be prepared to discuss that data, results, and next steps.
Physicians then need a mechanism to allow their opinions to be heard—at all levels. We must involve physicians and clinical leaders in major decisions and allow their input very early. Top-down decisions that occur without physicians’ knowledge usually garner poor reactions, unless it is a new regulatory change where there is no choice. Like any employee, physicians should have a voice in the key issues within their areas of expertise and on matters that affect their practice environment.
Physicians are aware they are a different type of employee— at least culturally. They may feel like outsiders who lack critical insider knowledge. As part of the patient care delivery team, physicians should not be left figuring out whether they are part of the culture or how to break into the culture.
Something as simple as giving that physician a facility email address or the code to the staff refrigerator may build disproportionate positive social capital for them. Inviting physicians to employee events, such as job fairs and social appreciation events, also helps other employees to see physicians as part of the culture. Simple actions can make a person feel part of the internal culture.
Investment in physicians is often a touchy subject for all leaders. We know investment is needed, yet decisions about how and where to invest are anything but simple. Between different specialties and demographic needs of the patient mix, almost any investment decision comes under scrutiny from one party or another.
We found that relationship-building and respect-building investments usually have high payoffs. For example, while capital equipment investment usually shows physicians that their “craft” and practice area is valued, the hospital recognizes that it is not necessarily better or more advanced equipment, but different or more diverse equipment that makes an impact on how physicians can practice. Another example occurs within continuing education, required for many specialties and subspecialties. A certification from The American Board of Internal Medicine can run upwards of $4,000 for application, fees, and exams. Yet another example occurs in physician recruiting activities. It is not just a signing bonus that’s needed—although Merritt Hawkins’ 2014 Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives indicates that 70% of their physician searches included a signing bonus. Beyond that bonus, it takes getting leaders in the organization (CMO, CEO, and CFO) to take time from their busy schedules to meet with physicians when they visit.
When investing to build relationships and respect, effort and time can be more valuable than dollars.
HealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All Learning & PerformanceHealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsThe leadership development program from HealthStream helps mold your high-potential healthcare employees into proven leaders.
View All ProductsWhen you enact HealthStream's quality compliance solutions, you can do so with the confidence your healthcare organization will meet all standards of care.
View All Quality & ComplianceFulfill compliance requirements with a variety of programs and courseware designed to address critical regulatory requirements as well as educate staff to recognize and mitigate risks.
View All ProductsBy increasing your healthcare staff's focus on quality and safety with HealthStream, they can help to reduce medical errors and readmission rates.
View All ProductsLearn about what HealthStream's healthcare policy management software and how it can help aid your organization efforts.
View All ProductsHealthStream's education helps address diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization, as well as promoting health equity in the communities you serve.
View All ProductsHealthStream offers professional training and education on how to best optimize your reimbursement process within your healthcare organization.
View All ReimbursementTeach your healthcare staff about the revenue cycle and claim management through targeted training and video tools from HealthStream.
View All ProductsLearn about our advanced resuscitation training solutions. Our solutions are designed to help improve patient outcomes.
View All ResuscitationIn all areas of resuscitation, from neonatal to elderly care, clinical deterioration is a risk that can be avoided with the help of HealthStream's training programs.
View All ProductsNurture the skills of your nurses and medical staff to help mold them into effective leaders with development training from HealthStream.
View All ProductsExpand the decision-making skills and effectiveness of your healthcare workforce with HealthStream's clinical development programs and services.
View All Clinical DevelopmentMake sure your clinicians have the support they need to provide competent care with clinical competency training and development from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
View All ProductsGive your healthcare staff the decision support and skills training they need with the online products available from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream leverages medical professional development in healthcare by providing staff training programs
View All ProductsLearn more about HealthStream's provider credentialing, privileging, & enrollment solutions for healthcare organizations.
View All CredentialingExperience standardized and centralized healthcare provider credentialing, privileging, and enrollment that is smarter and faster than ever before.
View All ProductsAutomated, web-based provider credentialing and enrollment software for growing medical groups.
View All ProductsNCQA-certified CVO verification services for initial and re-credentialing files in an overflow or full-service capacity for healthcare organizations.
View All ProductsSearch, review, and add providers into the Epic provider master file with our Epic app integration, Provider Validate.
View All ProductsMake sure your healthcare staff can schedule out appointments and work schedules with ease using HealthStream's line of software solutions.
View All SchedulingHealthcare scheduling software designed to optimize staffing requirements & elevate patient care
View All ProductsPrecisely align staffing and needed resources to enable efficient patient flow and high-quality, cost-effective patient care.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s free nurse schedule app, NurseGrid™, is built to help you care for your staff and engage with their specific needs.
View All Products