Friday, February 27, 2015

Check out our new website!

The Hire Connection is going through some exciting changes!  We recently opened our Columbia, MO office in December to help us meet the high demand we are experiencing and to expand our staff.  We also have launched a new and informative website that talks about everything we do to help our clients find the right heath care professional for their medical facility.

Let us give you a tour of the new website - The Home page


Our website is now designed in a responsive format.  This means that the website will "scale" to look great on all your devices...desktop, PC, tablet, or smart phone.  We have a new and fresh look to the home page where opportunities are front and center.  Here's a screen shot of the home page:


 
 


About Us/Clients pages


Our about us and clients pages talks about the background of THC founder, Van Allen and the unique approach and culture that makes The Hire Connection a clear choice for filling your opportunity.  Check these out to learn more about why THC should be your medical recruiting company of choice!

Candidates page


Here we present great information for physician candidates seeking the best practice opportunities.  We talk about our confidentiality policy, and provide information on how we vet carefully all aspects of the opportunity to help you make the best choice. 

Finally, a firm that is selective in what they represent.

Opportunities pages


The Hire Connection wants to make it as easy as possible for a physician to browse our opportunities by regions or specialties.  Here is a list of Specialties that we currently have opportunities RIGHT NOW!

SPECIALTIES

Emergency Medicine
Family Practice
Family practice with OB
Fetal medicine
General Surgery
Hospitalist
Internal Medicine
Maternal Fetal Medicine
Nurse practitioner
Obstetrics & Gynecology
Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Pediatrics
Pediatrics – Neurology
Physical medicine & rehabilitation
Physician assistant or nurse practitioner
Psychiatry
Pulmonary critical care medicine
Surgery – General
Surgery – vascular
Thoracic surgery
Urology
Vascular surgery

Make sure to come back often to visit our website to view new opportunities!  The dust is still settling from our new design, and we expect further changes to happen in the near future.  Are you ready to become a THC success story?




The Hire Connection offers its clients the industry's most comprehensive range of healthcare recruitment services.

Coupling technology, expertise and accountability, The Hire Connection services are designed to source, screen, qualify, present and place the RIGHT providers to satisfy recruitment goals and improve provider retention. Give us a call today!

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Location: Columbia, MO, USA

Friday, February 20, 2015

11 ways physicians can improve patient satisfaction

At The Hire Connection, we are continually looking at various aspects of the health care industry to learn as much about the environment as we can.  As the physician shortage continues to grow, patient satisfaction is in decline.  We've found several articles that have some great ideas for both physicians and medical facilities.  Here is a compilation of the best (in our opinion) 11 ideas to achieve better patient satisfaction:

Family Practice/Private Practice:


1. Manage your front staff.


Your front staff has a direct correlation on patient satisfaction.  If they are not doing a good job managing greeting patients when they arrive, are not keeping up on administrative tasks, and dealing with rude, angry, or otherwise difficult patients, you have a problem.  One technique to use as a physician is to contact the office as a "new patient" and see how your experience is.



2. Make your billing practices transparent


Patients never like surprises, so work to determine quickly whether they are insured and the carrier is accepted by the practice.  Clearly have in writing your policy for billing uncovered costs, how you treat unpaid balances, and consider a policy disclosure that the patient signs and understands.  You will have a better chance of getting paid also!

3. Spruce up your waiting room


Take a good look at your waiting room and make sure it's a great place for your patients.  Are your magazines up to day?  Do you offer free Wi-Fi?  Do you have a HD TV set with closed captioning tuned to the news and muted?  Are you playing relaxing background music?  How about some plants and nice wall art?  If the patient is relaxed, then they are probably satisfied.



4. Are you on time and do you say I'm sorry when you are late?


Your patients time may be as valuable as yours, so don't make them wait if possible.  Nothing can be more frustrating than waiting 45 minutes for an appointment or sitting in an exam room with nothing but a thin gown on.  Never hide the fact that you are running behind and have a staff member give an update on your schedule every 15 minutes.  Shy away from the overbooking appointments to compensate for no shows.  Your patients will appreciate it.

5. Have your staff knock on the exam room door before entering


No matter how short your time is, barging into an exam room may make some patients uncomfortable.    Knocking and waiting a few seconds is very courteous and patients will appreciate the effort to respect their privacy.

6. Follow-up with your patients


Patients may have anxiety about their visit or pending test results.  By follow-up with the patient and reporting results in a timely many will show you did not forget about them the minute they left the office.

Medical Facilities and Hospitals:


7. Spend time with your patients


The main thing that most patients want when in a hospital is time with their doctors and nurses.  This is becoming more of a challenge every day and information technology (lack of it, or slowness) is biting a bigger chunk of a physicians time than ever.  Swing your pendulum back to direct patient care, and you will have happier patients!



8. Work on lowering the noise


A very common complaint from patient's with longer hospital stays is the lack of a good night's sleep. Sleep is critical to the healing process, and having a noisy roommate, noisy staff, and repeated wake ups during the night will lead to disgruntled patients.

9. Improve the menu


If the food is bad, so is the patient's mood.  It does not have to be gourmet, but with a little effort, hospital staff can serve food that they could eat and enjoy themselves.

10. Be upfront about wait times


This may be hard to accomplish, but giving the patient and their families an accurate wait time for a CT scan for example, can make the patient much happier.  They will know when to eat or not and family stress will be lower.

11. SMILE!


There is nothing better to relieve a patient's anxiety and increase satisfaction than a smile...this is true for all medical facility settings and having the patient see you smile, will probably make them do the same.


The Hire Connection offers its clients the industry's most comprehensive range of healthcare recruitment services.

Coupling technology, expertise and accountability, The Hire Connection services are designed to source, screen, qualify, present and place the RIGHT providers to satisfy recruitment goals and improve provider retention. Give us a call today!





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Location: Columbia, MO, USA

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Are you ready for a change of pace from traditional primary care?

We have a GREAT CAREER OPPORTUNITY for YOU!

Unparalleled Commitment to Over-the-Top Patient Satisfaction

Call: 888.727.6008



Are you ready for a change of pace from traditional primary care?

This visionary, young urgent care group is rapidly expanding due to a demand in the area, opening 3 new clinics in the last 4 years.  With a motto of “Be better than everyone else” and a real commitment to exemplary treatments, this group has tripled in size and has plans for future growth.

The Practice

  • Outpatient Only, Flexible Scheduling and NO Call
  • State-of-the-Art, Urgent Care Specific EMR Allows You to Focus on Being a Doctor
  • Work Exclusively with a Strong Team of Experienced Physicians, No Mid-Levels
  • Unparalleled Commitment to Over-the-Top Patient Satisfaction
  • New Clinic and Equipment Provide a Fantastic Work Environment
  • On Site Labs, X-Ray and Other Diagnostic Equipment for Virtually Any Diagnoses
  • Tenured Team of Nurses, Techs and Ancillary Staff Grease the Wheels on this Well-Oiled Machine
  • 15 Shifts per Month AND Paid Time Off Provide a Great Quality of Life


The Community

  • Ranked as High as 2nd by Money Magazine—Best Places to Live in the US
  • Thriving Economy Built on Education, Medicine, Technology and Insurance
  • 20% Population Increase Over the Past 10 Years and Still Growing Strong
  • Immediate Access to Multiple NFL, MLB and NCAA Sporting Events
  • Forbes—13th Smartest City in America
  • Forbes—8th Best College Sports Town in America
  • Forbes—8th Best Place for Business and Careers
  • Parade Magazine—America’s Hardest Working Town
  • Under30CEO—2nd Best City for Young Entrepreneurs
  • 8th Best City for College Students—American Institute for Economic Research
  • Put Your Boat in the Water at one of the Largest Lakes in the US and the Regions HOTTEST Vacation Spot
  • The BEST Golf—Private Country Clubs, Signature Courses by Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer
  • Relax on the Bluffs of an Award Winning Winery, Bike the Famous MKT Trail or Hit a Jackpot at the Local Casino
  • Trendy to Traditional Dining—Never a Dull Moment

LPCoverGolf2910

To Learn More Contact:

Rob Weigand
Director of Recruiting
Search ID: FP0388
Email:

Phone:
888.727.6008
The Hire Connection offers its clients the industry's most comprehensive range of healthcare recruitment services.

Coupling technology, expertise and accountability, The Hire Connection services are designed to source, screen, qualify, present and place the RIGHT providers to satisfy recruitment goals and improve provider retention. Give us a call today!

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Saturday, February 7, 2015

Community Hospitals - Challenges are ahead

The Hire Connection often works with community hospitals to fill their physician needs.  We are constantly surveying the recruiting landscape to stay abreast of challenges that health care facilities are facing now and in the future.  We came across an interesting article from Becker's Hospital Review that highlights some upcoming challenges for our community hospitals and some immediate actions for future success.

This article makes the point that with the Supreme Court's decision to not overturn the Patient Protection and Affordable Care act (Obamacare), hospitals are now freed up to move quickly to prepare for new payment and delivery models.  The issue however, is that smaller community hospitals do not have the existing infrastructure to transform their organization quickly.  Here is a recap of the challenges that these hospitals face:



1.  Community hospitals have a challenge with their revenue cycle


With Medicare reimbursement levels on the decline, community hospitals serve a higher level of Medicare and Medicaid patients. These hospitals may suffer more that hospitals with a privately insured patient load. Another good point made is that the smaller, community based hospitals often don't have the same clout as larger hospitals, and this negatively effects their ability to negotiate the best rates from managed care providers.

2.  Community hospitals have a challenge with access to capital


Because of the revenue challenges and the reduced reimbursement issue, the lack of access to capital can reduce the community hospital from updating their facilities or adding additional physicians and services. This can affect patient volume and the quality of care as their facilities age.

3.  Community hospitals have a challenge with physician recruitment


There is an overall physician shortage, and community hospitals are challenged with attracting the necessary mix of primary care physicians and specialists to locations where the hospital is in a rural area.

4.  Community hospitals have a challenge with hospital-physician alignment


Community hospitals, like all hospitals, also struggle to work cooperatively with their medical staff to improve quality and lower costs.

The article then presents 6 immediate actions community hospitals can take to tackle these challenges:


6 Immediate actions:

  1. Optimize internal operations  Before looking externally for support, community hospitals should assess their internal operations and optimize efficiency.
  2. Benchmark performance  Community hospitals can improve efficiency and increase savings by bench-marking performance against similar hospitals. Comparing clinical data can help hospitals identify opportunities for improvement and spur change
  3. Assess feasibility of independence  After a community hospital makes as many internal improvements as possible, it should assess the feasibility of remaining independent. The ability of a community hospital to remain independent depends on many factors, such as the size of the patient population and competition in the area.
  4. Consider forming new relationships  If internal improvements are not sufficient to compete in the marketplace, community hospitals should consider forming relationships with other organizations to help meet the demands of high quality and low cost. 
  5. Ensure board involvement  The future success of community hospitals also depends on the involvement of their board of directors and/or trustees. In fact, the board's engagement with the hospital administration and medical staff may be a determining factor in the hospital's ability to survive healthcare reform.
  6. Collaborate with physicians  Community hospital leaders need to commit to a collaborative relationship with physicians to improve quality and cost efficiency. One way Great Plains Regional Medical Center builds a positive relationship between hospital executives and physicians is by including physicians in leadership positions. The hospital's bylaws require the board to include two physicians elected by the medical staff as well as the chief of staff and vice chief of staff, who are both physicians. Currently, physicians account for roughly one-third of the hospital's board. Involving physicians in the hospital's governance ensures they have a voice in the hospital's strategic decisions.

By knowing the challenges that medical facilities have...in particular community hospitals, our unique medical recruiting approach can be tailored with these challenges in mind.  We can help your community hospital find the right fit and we can work with the candidate to allow them to see the great benefits of working at your institution!




The Hire Connection offers its clients the industry's most comprehensive range of healthcare recruitment services.

Coupling technology, expertise and accountability, The Hire Connection services are designed to source, screen, qualify, present and place the RIGHT providers to satisfy recruitment goals and improve provider retention. Give us a call today!


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Location: Columbia, MO, USA
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