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Tips from TSE: Legal and ethical issues arise in evidence-based staff development

Fri, 29 May 2009 16:38:00 GMT

In evidence-based staff development, educators must gather evidence to support ethical and legal decisions. Possible ethical situations include identifying staff members who are not able to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary for safe and effective patient care. If educators identify such staff members, they are ethically obligated to take steps to help them achieve educational objectives.

For example, consider an ethical scenario that also has legal implications. Suppose a close friend fails to achieve a passing score on the didactic portion of advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) certification. She is an excellent nurse and tells you that she has been under a lot of stress at home. She says she knows that she can pass the test, but needs more time. You, as the educator, agree to keep silent about her test results and make arrangements for her to take the test in a few weeks.

Before she can re-take the test, she fails to adhere to practice according to ACLS standards in the work setting and a patient dies. She is held accountable when it is discovered that she had failed the test. You are also accountable legally and ethically for failure to adhere to educational standards. Thus, the evidence shows that not only were educational objectives not achieved, but you ignored the evidence and facilitated a situation that cost a patient's life.

Editor's note: This excerpt was adapted from the June issue of The Staff Educator. Discover all the benefits of subscribing to The Staff Educator!

Ask the expert: How can I accurately predict future physician staffing needs?

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 15:33:00 GMT

Estimating future needs of the community can be tricky, but it’s not impossible. One of the factors you need to take into consideration is your population of aging physicians. Some currently active physicians will retire within the typical five-year planning period. Others will work fewer hours per week or see fewer patients as they approach retirement. A practical way to estimate the effects of such changes is to assume that all physicians currently aged 60 or older will retire within five years. Although many physicians will continue to work at a high level of productivity beyond age 65, some between the ages of 55–60 will retire or begin to restrict their practices well before they reach the age of 65. Experience has shown that assuming all physicians currently aged 60 or older will retire provides a reasonable estimate of the number of FTEs who will leave the physician work force within five years.

This week’s question and answer are adapted from The Hospital Executive’s Guide to Physician Staffing, by Hugo J. Finarelli, Jr., PhD, published by Health Leaders Media, Inc.

In the news: OIG adjusts approach to self-disclosure protocol in Open Letter

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 15:44:00 GMT

In a March 24 Open Letter to Health Care Providers, the Office of Inspector General conveys its focus on combating kickbacks intended to induce or reward physician referrals. “Kickbacks pose a serious risk to the integrity of the health care system, and deterring kickbacks remains a high priority for OIG,” said Daniel Levinson, inspector general, in the letter.

As a result, the OIG is narrowing the scope of its self-disclosure protocol. The OIG will no longer accept physician self-disclosures that violate the physician-self referral law unless that physician has also violated the anti-kickback statute. In addition, as of March 24, the OIG will require a minimum $50,000 settlement to resolve kickback issues brought to its attention through self-disclosure protocol.

Tip of the week: Know your legal terms

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:40:00 GMT

Hopefully, you’ll never have to deal with a medical malpractice or negligent peer review lawsuit, but if you do, it is imperative to learn the legal lingo so you don’t get lost. Some basic terms all MSPs and medical staff leaders should know are:

Appeal: In the strictest legal sense, resort to a higher (e.g., appellate) court to review the decision of a lower (e.g., trial) court. In this sense, only legal issues can be appealed—the higher court will not review any decisions relating to facts. For example, if one expert witness said the doctor administered a drug properly and another expert testified that the doctor did not, an appellate court will not review the trial court’s decision as to which experts to believe.
Due diligence: In its strictest legal sense, review of the financial and operating history of a potential investment. More commonly, it means a careful review of something or a good faith effort, such as trying to obtain information from a primary source regarding an applicant’s relevant practice at a foreign organization.
Informed consent: A legal doctrine that patients generally have the right to be informed about all the relevant facts relating to proposed treatment and the right to accept or reject treatment.

This week’s tip is adapted from Medical Staff Law: A Guide for Medical Staff Professionals and Physician Leaders by Anne Roberts, CPCS, CPMSM.

Ask the expert: Should allied health professionals have their own manual, policies, and procedures?

Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:37:00 GMT

Yes, this may be an acceptable arrangement. But first, it is important to understand that the term allied health professional (AHP) means different things to different people, and AHPs go by different names in different organizations. In general, AHPs are usually not members of the medical staff.

There are two distinct groups of AHPs. One consists of the practitioners who must be granted privileges through the medical staff process. These practitioners are perhaps better described as advanced practice professionals (APP). An APP is an individual, other than a licensed physician, dentist, clinical psychologist, or podiatrist, who provides direct patient care services in the hospital under the supervision of a medical staff member with clinical privileges. APPs include physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses, such as nurse midwives, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, and nurse anesthetists.

The second group of AHPs consists of individuals the hospital does not need to privilege through the medical staff. Instead, they are approved by the hospital’s HR department. These individuals provide services that are consistent with a scope of care approved by the medical staff and the board and should perhaps be called clinical assistants (CA). CAs provide patient care services in a clinical or supportive role. Surgical assistants/technicians, registered nurse first assistants, private duty scrub technicians, perfusionists, and occupational and physical therapists may be considered CAs.

Since APPs must be credentialed and privileged in accordance with Joint Commission standards, some medical staff bylaws create a “parallel staff” or “adjunct status” category to accommodate this requirement. Other medical staffs grant APPs privileges without placing them in any category and then create a separate AHP manual to address the specifics.

Joseph Cooper, MD
Consultant
The Greeley Company

Patients don't know doctor's name, study says

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:58:00 GMT

The majority of hospital patients can not identify a single doctor assigned to their care, according to a University of Chicago study, “Ability of Hospitalized Patients to Identify Their In-hospital Physicians,” published in the Jan. 26 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. Researchers surveyed more than 2,000 patients and asked them to identify the role of their care team members that included medical students, residents, and attending physicians, according to the New York Times.

Researchers found the following:

75% of patients could not name a single doctor assigned to their care
25% remembered a name
Of that quarter of patients who recalled a name, only 40% of them were correct

One cause for this lack of doctor identification is that physicians-in-training are less likely to introduce themselves and explain their roles to their patients. Another factor is restricted resident hours, which can lead to fragmented care.

Not being able to identify doctors can affect how patients ask questions and what decisions they make during their hospital stay, according to the study.

Top 10 tips for running committees

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 19:48:00 GMT

How do you manage your committee work? Organizing this extracurricular activity can be very time consuming, but you can streamline your work by following these 10 tips:

1. Have an action-oriented, time-limited agenda.
2. Stick to your agenda.
3. Have and use a timekeeper.
4. Don’t take your own minutes; it detracts from your ability to control. Ask someone else to perform this function.
5. Don’t defer “regular” business.
6. If the agenda item requires more time:

Create a task force
Have a catch-up meeting
Assign individuals to complete follow-up actions

7. Don’t entertain or permit “grandstanders,” those individuals who like to monopolize the speaking floor. Instead try the following:

Suggest presenting an off-topic issue next month
Offer to discuss ideas after the meeting
Suggest researching a new major issue to be put on the agenda
Explain the topic is not on the agenda, therefore not committee business
Note the concern and ask for a memo regarding the issue in a few days’ time

8. Plan to spend 15 minutes of preparation time for each hour of committee time.
9. Learn how to confront difficult people—loudmouths, wet blankets, whiners, snipers, explosives—through the excellent videotapes and paperbacks currently available.
10. Assess your primary management style through a leadership development course to determine your strengths and liabilities from the following characteristics:

Forcing/competing
Withdrawing
Accommodating
Compromising
Collaborative

This tips tool comes from Roles and Responsibilities of the Board, Medical Staff, and Management: Medical Staff Leader Virtual Training Workshop, a Webcast that aired on Jan. 26, 2009. If you missed the show, you can still purchase the CD and get a comprehensive training packet to share with your colleagues.

Be sure to catch the next show in the series, Feb. 19 An Introduction to Peer Review Responsibilities: Medical Staff Leader Virtual Training Workshop!

Tips to combat board certification scams

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:21:00 GMT

Last month, the American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS), not to be confused with the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), announced “board certification” for hospitalists for the first time ever with the establishment of the ABPS “American Board of Hospital Medicine.”

The so-called ABPS American Board of Hospital Medicine has no affiliation with the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM), as SHM stated in a press release last month.

The American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) issued a similar warning in October, cautioning against “phony certification boards.” Among the organizations listed as fraudulent was the American Board of Hospitalist Physicians (ABOHP), a non-profit medical organization based in Highland, IN that offers “diplomate certification,” according to the ABOHP Web site. The ABOHP is a component of the Congregation of Fellowship Organization for Medical, Humanitarian, Scientific, Education, and Religious and Family Values Ministries, according to the Web site.

ABIM encourages physicians to use the following tips when evaluating an organization’s legitimacy:
•   Check for history of membership or affiliations with accredited educational institutions
•   Use caution against organizations that contact you only by mail, e-mail, or Web site
•   Look for an official office address (not a P.O. box) and customer service phone number
•   Look for a secure testing process or standard verification of credentials
•   Check for annual meetings and in-person interaction
•   Contact the ABIM for suspicious use of the ABIM’s logo, name, or suspicious references to the ABIM

Clinical information technology reduces inpatient deaths and cuts costs

Tue, 03 Feb 2009 21:18:00 GMT

Clinical information technology can improve clinical and financial outcomes, according to a new study, “Clinical Information Technologies and Inpatient Outcomes: A Multiple Hospital Study” in the Jan. 26 Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers studied more than 167,000 patients admitted to urban Texas hospitals between 2005 and 2006. They found that automated hospital information (notes and records) helped reduce inpatient mortality rates, complications, and costs.

This study is unique because it evaluates clinical information technology on a larger scale to include multiple hospitals, according to the study abstract.

Enough About You, Let's Talk About Personal Branding

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 16:10:00 GMT

When I first heard the term "personal branding" I was skeptical and more than a little put off. Really, are we, as a society, so self-obsessed that we think we deserve a brand identity of our own?

Of course the answer is yes.

The sheer number of folks who are publicizing their personal brand, writing about how to create a personal brand, promoting themselves as personal branding consultants, and worshiping at the personal brand alter is astounding.

Search Google for the term and you'll get more than 650,000 hits. There's a popular personal branding blog. There's Personal Branding Magazine, just $12.95 for an annual subscription so that you can read all about you, you, you. And the folks on Twitter are, well, all a-twitter about personal branding. There's even a small Wikipedia entry on personal branding.

But (in theory, at least) there is more to personal branding than vanity and self-promotion. And there are implications for organizations, including hospitals and health systems.

Consider one sub-set of personal branding, CEO branding. There are plenty of hospitals that have well-known CEOs who have a strong personal brand. Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel in Boston, is one example. He might not see his online activities, such as his Running a Hospital blog and Twitter account, as marketing activities, let alone personal branding. But they are.

If you have a strong CEO, someone who is visionary but also has a good personality and, in general, acts like a human being and doesn't spend $1,400 on a "parchment waste can" while redecorating his corner office, you might consider building and cultivating his or her personal brand.

One way to get started: Buy domain names that include your CEO's name (paulflevy.com and paulflevy.org are both still available, by the way) and the names of your physicians—especially the really good ones.

Patients conduct Web searches for physicians more frequently than they do for hospitals—and too few hospitals are taking advantage of this fact, Jim Banahan, president of Banahan Communications, a marketing consulting firm in Phoenix, AZ, told me in a recent interview.

How much does it cost to own your own name? "Eight bucks," he says.

You should do this, by the way, even if you don't end up using the URL. It's a defensive tactic, Banahan says. One of the first rules of organizational branding applies to personal branding as well: If you don't define your brand, someone else will do it for you.

Gienna Shaw is an editor with HealthLeaders magazine. She can be reached at gshaw@healthleadersmedia.com.

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First board certification for hospitalists announced -- with caution

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:39:00 GMT

The American Board of Physician Specialties (ABPS) this month announced the new American Board of Hospital Medicine, which offers board certification exclusively for inpatient specialists for the first time ever, according to the Jan. 12 ABPS press release.

In response, however, the Society of Hospital Medicine (SHM) President Pat Cawley, MD, sent an e-mail notification to its members two days later stating SHM has no affiliated ties with ABPS: “The Society of Hospital Medicine is in no way affiliated with the American Board of Physician Specialties and was not involved with the creation of the so-called American Board in Hospital Medicine,” said Crawley in the press release.

In addition, the ABPS is not part of the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) or any of the ABMS member organizations, such as the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), the American Board of Pediatrics (ABP), or the American Board of Family Medicine (ABFM), which hospitalists are more familiar with.

“It is the opinion of SHM’s board of directors, hospitalist leaders from all practice settings, that the best recognition for hospital medicine is the one that is the most rigorous and most widely accepted by hospitals, payers, employers, other physicians, and our patients. These are the boards that are sanctioned by ABMS, such as ABIM, ABP, and ABFM,” said Cawley.

The ABPS is a non-profit organization based in Tampa, FL. Acquiring hospitalist board certification from ABPS includes a multiple-choice and single-response written exam at a computer testing center, according to the ABPS Web site. The test costs $1,575 or another $700 to retake the test, according to the site.

SHM is currently working with the ABMS on developing board certification for hospitalists. SHM expects to share details before May.

At the time of publication, the ABPS press office did not respond to inquiries from HCPro.

Hard economic times hit inpatient programs, AHA study says

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:35:00 GMT

Nearly half of U.S. hospitals are postponing capital projects because of the economic crisis, according to a new study, “The Capital Crisis: Survey of Impact on Hospitals,” released by The American Hospital Association last week.

Of those hospitals who responded they were putting projects on hold:

82% are postponing projects related to upgrading or modernizing their facilities
65% are postponing projects related to adding clinical technology
62% are postponing projects related to adding information technology

Of those facilities that said they were holding off on upgrading facilities, 65% said they would put inpatient medical/surgical projects on hold—the most frequently cited service to be stalled, according to report. Another 28% would freeze inpatient obstetrics/gynecology projects.

Half of the hospitals that are putting projects on hold said they would need at least $10 million to complete the postponed projects, according to the report.

Overcome Your Fears about Community Benefit Reporting and form 990H

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 15:19:00 GMT

I've been doing a lot of research about the newly revised IRS form 990H lately, trying to gauge how prepared healthcare organizations and marketers are for the latest government push to take transparency to yet another new level.

I've found there are many different ways that hospitals are getting ready. And a few reasons why they haven't yet developed a strategy.

There seem to be four main excuses:

1. "I'm a marketer, so I don't have to worry about 990H—it's a finance thing (and I was told there wouldn't be any math)."

Most experts and professional organizations—including the American Hospital Association, say that healthcare marketers should be working together with finance and other departments to gather the information that's required on the form, which includes a new open-ended essay question.

As I wrote in the January issue of HealthLeaders magazine (see A Story to Tell) finance might be the best department to compile and report numbers. But marketing is the department best equipped to tell your organization's story. You'll need both skill sets to fill out the newly revised IRS Form 990H.

2. "The IRS is never going to revoke a hospital's tax-exempt status based on this form—not anytime soon, anyway."

The IRS has said flat out that this is true—for now. But they are going to be compiling the data on the forms and creating a benchmark based on what all tax-exempt hospitals are doing. The results will likely be distributed along a bell curve—and you don't want to be on either of the low ends.

3. "We don't have to file the form until 2010—we have plenty of time to get ready."

Again, experts and associations say hospitals should start getting ready now in order to be prepared when it counts. "Actually, yesterday would be preferable," Patsy Matheny, a Sugar Grove, OH-based community benefit consultant, told me for the magazine article. "Since community benefit activities happen throughout the organization, it takes quite a bit of time to ferret out all the activities."

4. "We're not a tax-exempt organization—so there's no reason for us to gather this information."

First, it's true that only tax-exempt hospitals must fill out form 990H. But all hospitals must communicate the good they are doing in they're community. Are you really going to let your tax-exempt competition crow about all they do for the community without responding in kind?

Second, in the current economy, cities and towns and states across the nation have started to take a good look at tax-exempt healthcare organizations, asking: "What have you done for us lately?" It's only a matter of time before the reporters and advocacy groups in your community start asking you the same question.

There are many hospitals that are ready for form 990H. They've been promoting their community benefit activities for years and they have a plan in place for this new government mandate. But there are too many that are not ready, that don't have a clear plan, that haven't even decided what role marketing will play in the process.

Remember in elementary school when your teacher told you not to leave that big project till the last minute? Don't be the kid who was up to his or her elbows in wet paper and glue the night before the papier-mâché volcano was due.

Editor's note: You can learn more about getting ready for form 990H at our upcoming Webcast Form 990H: Act Now to Protect Your Reputation.

Gienna Shaw is an editor with HealthLeaders magazine. She can be reached at gshaw@healthleadersmedia.com.

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Readmissions rate: Hospitalist service vs. resident service

Tue, 20 Jan 2009 17:04:00 GMT

Resident-staffed services have a higher unscheduled readmission rate compared to hospitalist services, according to researchers from the University of Florida College of Medicine in Jacksonville.

Researchers complied data from nearly 6,000 admissions in 2006-2007 and found that unscheduled readmission within 30 days of hospital admission were significantly higher in the teaching service (14% readmission rate) compared to the hospitalist service (10% readmission rate).

What was the difference between the two? The hospitalist service had longer length of stays and discharged patients home with self-care plans, which may be the reason for the lower readmission rates, according to the study’s abstract.

The findings from “A Comparative Study of Unscheduled Hospital Readmissions in a Resident-Staffed Teaching Service and a Hospitalist-Based Service” were published this month in the Southern Medical Journal.

Self Help: Set Your Marketing Priorities

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:12:00 GMT

In the spirit of the New Year, I'm reading three—that's right, three—self-improvement books that I hope will help me be better organized and more efficient at home and at work. I'm learning how to manage paperwork and e-mail, make to-do lists that don't end up crumpled in the bottom of my purse sans checkmarks, and master time management once and for all. Most of all, I want to learn how to get more done in less time, so I have more time to enjoy my life.

These days—with staff dwindling and budgets disappearing—doesn't everybody?

One of the common themes in these sorts of books is that of identifying your priorities and figuring out what's important and what's not. One book has a page-long list of items the average person might aspire to: Be more spiritual, have a fulfilling career, spend more time with friends and family, give more to your community, spend time doing what you love—the list goes on and on. Everything on it seems important. But the author says you can only choose five.

Before you undertake any activity, the author says, you must ask yourself if it is one of your five priorities. For example, as it turns out, washing the dishes thoroughly with soap and water before loading them into the dishwasher is not one of my five personal priorities. So I stopped doing it.

Wouldn't it be lovely if we could do the same at work? You could tell the director of the money-losing service line that you're very sorry, but creating his or her brochure is simply not one of your five marketing priorities. You could choose which three-year project you're going to focus on and give it everything you've got—really make it a success—rather than scrambling to keep up with seven different projects all at once.

Well, maybe that's not going to happen. But play along with me for a minute. If you had to choose, which of the following would you pick:

Direct-to-consumer marketing? Or marketing to physicians to increase referrals?
A multi-year, multi-integrated branding campaign? Or an internal communications plan that will improve quality of care and the patient experience at your hospital?
Marketing your most profitable service line? Or propping up one that's not doing as well as it could?
Throwing your organization full-force into social networking and new media? Or going old school with television, radio, and print spots?
Reaching out beyond your market to find new customers? Or building a better relationship with your local community?

Once you are forced to make a choice, suddenly your priorities become much clearer. And if you keep them in mind, it will help you make the 100 decisions you face every day. You can choose to put the most energy into projects that matter. And, perhaps more importantly, stop obsessing about those are not mission-critical.

You should be able to quickly evaluate everything you do—forming or joining one more committee, attending or organizing yet another meeting, adding your two cents to a never-ending e-mail discussion, or agonizing over every single tiny little last detail of every last marketing task—to determine if it is a priority that warrants your time and effort (and your organization's money).

I'm not saying you won't have to do the tasks that are not high-priority. But perhaps you could avoid getting caught up in minutia and trying to make everything perfect. You're not doing yourself any favors. And you're not doing your hospital any favors, either.

If you're the boss, tell your employees (or remind them) what the organization's marketing and strategic priorities are. In return, you'll get more focused and productive employees who produce better quality work.

If you're not the boss and you don't know what the organization's marketing and strategic priorities are, then ask. The benefit to you is a more satisfying and less frustrating work day—and maybe even a little of that elusive work-life balance that I hear folks talking about.

Gienna Shaw is an editor with HealthLeaders magazine. She can be reached at gshaw@healthleadersmedia.com.

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Half of hospitals utilize hospitalists and that figure is growing

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 18:39:00 GMT

A new American Hospital Association survey found that half of U.S. hospitals utilize hospitalists, according to a Society of Medicine press release on Jan. 7.

The 2007 data indicated that out of 4,897 community hospitals, half of those facilities ran hospital medicine programs; there are 23,000 hospitalists in America. The number of current hospitalists soared 20% from a national level of 19,000 hospitalists in 2006 to 23,000 hospitalists in 2007.

Regarding staffing levels, there are 9.4 physicians, on average, in a hospital medicine program, rising more than 8% from 2006.

The study also found that four out of five large hospitals utilize hospitalists, that is, 83% of hospitals with 200 or more beds had hospital medicine programs.

The AHA anticipates the number of hospitalists will grow to 28,000 hospitalists in 2009.

Pro forma for rising specialty programs

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:00:00 GMT

More hospitalists are moving towards specialties, adding “ist” to their title, including internal medicine hospitalists, pediatric hospitalists, OB laborists, general surgical hospitalists, neurologist hospitalists, and intensivists. They are made up of in-house physicians who focus on the ED and patient transfers, acting as a resource for the specialty.

The movement is driven by the need to improve ED responsiveness in critical specialties and active ED responsiveness from the hospital administration to gain return on investment.

A total budget at a sample hospital could include the following costs:

Orthopedic hospitalist = $858,000
General surgeon hospitalist = $401,000
OB hospitalist = $5,000
Estimated startup expenses = $182,500
Collection cash flow cost = $67,000
Total = $1,513,500

The above is adapted from Developing and Maximizing Your Hospitalist Program (workbook) written, in part, by Martin B. Buser MPH, FACHE, and Roger A. Heroux, MHA, PhD, CHE, published by HCPro, Inc.

100 Ways for Hospitals, Health Systems to Twitter

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 17:20:00 GMT

Several times I've heard experts talk about how hospitals can use new media for promotion and public relations. The advice: Get on Facebook, start a blog, post to YouTube. And I'm always left wondering—OK, then what? So let's get specific. Since I started posting on Twitter, I've been watching several different hospitals and health systems to see what they're up to.

And, wow, are they doing some cool stuff.

Look who's tweeting
Backus Hospital, a community hospital in Norwich, CT, recently got me to click through to its site merely by mentioning it had posted pictures of its first baby of the New Year. Who doesn't love babies? The photos are really sweet and also show the hospital in a warm, intimate, friendly, and caring light.

Some other ways the community hospital is using Twitter:

Asking general questions to engage its audience. (If Sanjay Gupta becomes the U.S. Sugeon General, what would you ask him?)
Posting safety tips (change those smoke alarm batteries).
Posting health reminders (get those flu shots).
Providing links to cross-promote other products (read our monthly health magazine).

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, always catches my attention with teases to stories about patients, volunteers, donors, and events. The marketing team at this organization really knows how to tell a good story.

Some other ways the hospital is using Twitter:

Announcing accomplishments (St. Jude Ranked No. 1 Pediatric Oncology Hospital).
Generating excitement about successful fundraising events and thanking fundraisers (marathoners raise $2 million for hospital).
Posting new research findings and overviews of topics such as cancer diagnosis and care.

The Office of Communications is a non-profit creative resource that serves organizations including the University of Texas Health Science Center and Texas Medical Center in Houston. I like their approach to Twitter. It's creative and diverse and full of personality. For example, they link to an article about why kids are terrified of Santa. (Many hospitals only link to their own sites. I think that's a mistake.)

Recruitment tip 1: Interview questions you should ask

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:56:00 GMT

Interviewing candidates involves breaking the ice. Create an event where the candidate can be observed in a casual, relaxed environment such as a friendly dinner. Ask questions to demonstrate research into the candidate’s background an interest. You could ask the following questions that target your candidate’s interests, for example:

I know you enjoy fishing. Have you ever fished our local lake here?
How did you enjoy your training at XYZ University hospital?
I understand your oldest son is quite an athlete. Did you know we have a very good high school football team here?
What is issue is most important when considering our job?

Review the interview agenda to address his or her questions, concerns, and interests.

The above excerpt is adapted from Practical Guide to Hospitalist Recruitment and Retention by Kirk Mathews, foreword by John Nelson, MD, FACP, published by HCPro, Inc.

2009: Is it Over Yet?

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:08:00 GMT

At a recent gathering, a man held up his glass to offer a toast: "To 2009," he said in a booming, upbeat voice. But instead of clinks of glasses and cheers of "hear, hear," he was met with an uncomfortable silence. "How about," someone said, "we toast to 2010 instead?"

For marketers, like many professionals, 2009 looks like it's going to be all the fun of a hangover without any of the hassles of a big party. In 2009, we're all going to be asked to do more with less.

But that's particularly true for hospital and health system marketers. Let's face it—hospitals are going to cut marketing budgets before they stop buying new medical devices, funding quality initiatives. They're going to cut your staffers before they lay off nurses and technicians or cut physicians' pay.

But when it comes to predictions, saying that 2009 is going to be a tough year is like saying that some people will get drunk and kiss total strangers on New Year's Eve.

So here are a few others:

Looking to other industries

"Innovation" is becoming as overused a term as "outside of the box," but people are still talking about it. I hope healthcare organizations in general—and marketing departments in particular—continue to innovate and think outside of the box in 2009.

Another idea that has legs is the concept of borrowing marketing, communications, and business practices from industries outside of healthcare. One organization, Memorial Hospital and Health System in South Bend, IN, is combining both of these trends by partnering with other industries to learn new ways of doing business. Memorial's Diane Stover, VP of marketing and innovation strategy, is leading this effort and says the improvements have been phenomenal, from learning how to improve quality and customer service to forming partnerships and discovering new business opportunities. You can hear more about it in my interview with Stover and she'll also speak at greater length on the topic during an upcoming Webcast on learning from other industries.

Looking for new ways to use new media

I'm hesitant to make a prediction about new media, especially since I've already changed my mind about a column I wrote two weeks ago examining the marketing possibilities of the social networking site Twitter. I said flat out that I didn't plan to use it—but after two weeks I am totally hooked. At least I'm doing my best to follow my own advice to only post messages and links that are meaningful and useful to my audience of healthcare marketers.

Social media is hot. It's hard to imagine that it won't get even hotter in 2009. For one thing, it's cheap, unless you count the time it takes to set up and maintain your presence on any given social networking site. And in the current economic climate, we like cheap.

But even if the most ingenious new platform came along tomorrow and even if 100% of all the people on the face of the earth signed up to use it and even if you had the time and the staff to dedicate to it, it still wouldn't do you any good unless you have a strategy to communicate the right message and reach the right customers.

Social media marketing might be all the rage in 2009, but it doesn't mean guaranteed success or a positive return on investment.

Looking to stay upbeat in a downturn

Internal communications will remain hot in 2009—or, to be more specific, internal crisis communications. Have I mentioned the economy yet? With hospitals closing, laying off employees, cutting benefits, and canceling the annual holiday party, it's more important than ever to communicate openly with your employees.

This should be led from the very top of the org chart—with transparency and leadership by example. But the marketer's job (perhaps in concert with HR) is to communicate the story to employees. To recognize that they're crucial to the future success of the organization. Nothing is going to hurt your hospital's mission (let alone patient satisfaction scores) faster than a bunch of uninformed, scared, and disgruntled employees.

Speaking of downsizing, last year I made five predictions about healthcare marketing. Sorry, this year you only get three. To make up for it, I'll give you one last prediction—in the form of a hot stock tip. If you really want to make a killing in 2009, invest in shares of antacids.

Gienna Shaw is an editor with HealthLeaders magazine. She can be reached at gshaw@healthleadersmedia.com.
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