Healthcare

Healthcare is rapidly changing. Amid the industry’s ongoing turbulence, physician and staff engagement are suffering. Burnout and turnover rates can be especially high, and can have particularly high costs, with dissatisfaction contributing to poor performance and preventable medical errors.

Healthcare organizations have one mission—to provide quality care to patients. And nurses are integral to accomplishing that mission.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is disrupting many industries, and healthcare is no exception. But when it comes to data, AI and analytics, what’s on the horizon for the healthcare industry? How can healthcare organizations get better at using technology to empower their organizations for success? What are the latest advancements?

Healthcare is the fastest-growing sector of the U.S. economy, employing over 18 million workers. Healthcare workers face a wide range of hazards on the job, including sharps injuries, harmful exposures to chemicals and hazardous drugs, back injuries, violence, and stress. Drug use and abuse in the workplace not only puts the employees and patients at risk, it leaves the employers vulnerable to negligence claims and costs.  A strong and defensible drug and alcohol testing program and policy, including a robust random testing program, helps protect employers and their bottom line. 

Despite the old adage “curiosity killed the cat,” curiosity has proven to be one of the most important qualities for an employee in the workplace. In fact, according to a recent study in the Harvard Business Review, curious people were credited with bringing new ideas into teams and organizations and viewed curiosity as a catalyst for job satisfaction, motivation, innovation, and high performance. 

As we kick off the New Year, here’s a look back at the most popular posts from the previous year. 2018 was a year with a heightened focus on compliance for employers as FCRA litigation ensues while the healthcare industry faces the ongoing challenges of a rapidly changing sector. Background check compliance, drug testing, workplace appreciation, and the Death Master File Search are all topics that were most popular among our readers in the past year.

In this tight job market, companies are being forced to approach the candidate experience in a new way.

Katrina Kibben, CEO and founder of Three Ears Media, which seeks to help brands improve the candidate experience, explains it this way: “Right now the candidate experience is like a one-way mirror, where all these candidates are walking by the glass. You're seeing them, but they aren't seeing you.”

Constant change is the new reality in healthcare.

In this complex ecosystem where transformation is a given, HR departments that are able to leverage innovation are going to help their organizations succeed. According to Harvard Business Review, agile teams that include small entrepreneurial groups that can adapt quickly to changing conditions are best suited to innovation.

Maintaining a healthcare compliance program can be challenging for compliance officers as they guide their organizations through an increasingly complex landscape, but developing partnerships can help.

“Getting other departments involved is the best way to ensure compliance becomes part of the culture of the organization,” says David Sims, Managing Partner at Security First IT, an IT security and support firm that specializes in healthcare.

The long-term success of any organization depends on its ability to adapt and survive through times of great change. Healthcare organizations, in particular, have faced several changes to their daily operational processes within the last couple of years—such as the new payment model and meaningful use requirements—and will continue to face challenges due to aggressive growth, advancing technologies, a multi-generational workforce, and the list goes on.