As the healthcare landscape continues to evolve, it’s important to stay informed about top healthcare HR trends, and to understand what’s to come. This involves making sure your organization is equipped to navigate future challenges by making talent management a priority and embracing regulatory and policy changes. According to Stanford Medicine’s inaugural health care trends report, “healthcare is becoming increasingly connected but also increasingly complex.”
You can help your organization stay on the cutting edge of healthcare best practices by keeping up-to-date with the following industry trends and best trends.
1. Commitment to patient experience
No matter the size of your organization, a commitment to high quality patient care can do wonders for your culture. From an HR standpoint, a commitment to patient experience involves hiring candidates who possess the skills and personal motivations necessary to provide the best possible patient care. HR teams can support patient care by creating programming for future and current employees that focuses on mentoring, leadership development, and coaching of best practices. Developing a workforce that receives continual training and development will help to ensure a patient-centered culture. It’s also important to consider what drives and motivates potential employees. All new hires should align with your mission to provide excellent and compassionate patient care.
2. Employee satisfaction and retention
With growing healthcare shortages, employee retention continues to be critical in the long-term success of an organization. In fact, some recent studies show that healthcare organizations experience higher levels of turnover for skilled workers on average than industries overall. HR teams can regularly evaluate employee retention rates and improve employee training and development to increase employee satisfaction. In addition, HR professionals can have a positive effect on employee retention by becoming more strategic with hiring candidates who have the specialized qualifications needed to fulfill their intended roles.
3. Compliance with changing regulations
New regulations and standards (such as ICD-10) are prevalent in healthcare, which is why it’s so important for HR teams to stay informed of changes—so they hire the most qualified candidates. As new practices take shape and regulations are created, it’s important to make sure employees possess the proper skills, training, and certifications when they are hired. In addition, it’s HR’s responsibility to make sure employees exhibit modern-day technical skills and expertise, such as using electronic medical record (EMR) systems. As new tech trends take hold in the workplace, employees will be expected to adapt so that patient care is not compromised. According to this recent article in Managed Healthcare Executive, technology is creating “business and regulatory challenges – and maybe ethical and social challenges” which must be monitored and handled appropriately.
Increasing your focus on the trends above can allow your organization to overcome hiring challenges and stay competitive. Even as demands grow and change within the healthcare industry, following these strategies can help you see firsthand the value of getting ahead of the curve and setting up your team for long-term success.