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Conduct initial competency exams

Patient Access Weekly Advisor, December 12, 2007

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The interview process has several critical components that allow departments to have the best chance at offering positions to suitable candidates.

After the interview portion is completed, give the candidate initial competency exams. The exams should cover, at a minimum, the following topics:

Computer literacy. You cannot perform any clerical function in any environment without a basic understanding of how to use a PC. Test candidates to make sure they can handle basic PC navigation.

Standardized typing. Give candidates a typing test, provided either by your facility's HR department or by patient access. Hire candidates that type fewer than 30 words per minute accurately only under extreme circumstances; otherwise, they will struggle to maintain productivity standards.

Software-specific competencies. You should create an exam specific to your health information system. If candidates include any of these items as skills on their resume, test them during the interview process.

Unfortunately, people embellish their credentials because they think it will help them get the job and that they can figure it out later. I would much rather have a candidate say, "I have never used Microsoft Word, but I have used WordPerfect and other word processing software, so I am confident I can quickly learn the ins and outs of Word."

Don't ignore your gut instinct when it comes to interviewing and hiring an employee. I have found that your gut instinct means a lot and that you will approach your 50th hire differently than your fifth.

Note: This is an excerpt from a recently released HCPro book, Staff Competency in Patient Access: Tools, Tests, and Tips for Building a Successful Team, authored by Michael S. Friedberg, FACHE, CHAM. For more information, visit our site.

Friedberg is the director of patient access services at Armanti Financial Services, an Apollo Healthstreet Company, based in Bloomfield, NJ.

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