Question

Identify the three major issues affecting healthcare organizations today.

Describe the role HRM plays in dealing with or addressing these issues.

Give an example of a healthcare setting and explain how you, as an HR manager in that setting, would respond to the three issues.

Provide reasons and evidence in support of your responses.

Answer 1

Issues affecting healthcare organizations:

1. The transition of volume based care to value based care: a)Today towards value based healthcare, quality care becomes more important than ever because now it affects revenues. b)If the quality of care fails to meet certain standards, healthcare organizations will suffer penalties from Medicaid and Medicare. This means they could deliver patient care and incur the costs to deliver that care, but they wont get paid for that care.
2. Rising costs: The challenge of transitioning from volume based healthcare to value based healthcare adds to the challenge of rising costs.
3. Talent shortages: The talent shortage has been a long standing problem that will continue to get worse. Physician vacancies bring with them lost revenues of about $1 million per year, per vacancy. The shortage of non physician talent both clinical and nonclinical increases costs with overtime and higher prices temporary help.

Role of HRM in dealing with these issues:

1. Compensation and benefits: Human resource managers provide guidance and direction in order to get compensation and benefits. They develop strategic compensation plans , align performance management systems with compensation structure and monitor negotiations for group health care benefits.
2. Training and development: HR managers conduct periodic needs assessments to determine when training is necessary, the type of training necessary to improve performance and productivity. They examine employee performance records to identify areas where employee could improve through jobs skills training such as seminars or workshops including leadership techniques.
3. Recruitment and selection: HR managers develop strategic solutions to meet workforce demands and labour force. Eg A HR manager in a health care firm might use his knowledge about nursing shortages to develop a strategy of employee extension. The strategy might include developing an incentive programme for nurses or providing nurses with cross training so they can become certified in specialities to become more valuable to the organization.