Jul 05, 2022
Anyone who works in healthcare knows the struggle facilities face when hiring providers. However, this creates issues beyond HR. Without enough healthcare providers, patients face a wait of weeks or even months before getting an appointment. This results in two negative side effects. First, the community’s health suffers. Second, the facility’s profits suffer and it risks shutting down.
Real Facilities Facing Real Challenges
One facility in Spokane, Washington spoke out recently about how they’ve addressed the provider shortage. A multi-faceted approach, including expanding clinic sizes, adding patient rooms, and incorporating more virtual appointments have helped.
Expanding Clinics
Increasing the size of clinics and adding more patient rooms helped this Washington facility to reach more patients. The extra space allowed them to add more primary care providers, thus increasing appointment availability.
Although it’s difficult to hire providers across almost all specialties, focusing efforts on primary care addresses the first step in patient care. Patients typically can’t see a specialist without a referral from a PCP. By adding more primary care availability, you’ll take the first step towards improving the health of your community.
Adding More Virtual Appointments
Virtual appointments normalized in 2020, but some facilities stopped offering as many as in-person appointments normalized again. Some clinics, like this one in Spokane, began utilizing virtual appointments for specialist appointments.
When you consider that one specialist per facility may be required to address referrals from multiple primary care providers, allowing them to take advantage of virtual visits makes sense. In fact, Becker’s reported that about 33% of patients don’t follow through with referrals.
By encouraging virtual specialist visits, facilities can create a more convenient route for patients to make these appointments fit their schedules. The end result? Once again improving the health of your community.
How Does Your Facility Address Hiring Challenges?
Every facility faces its own unique hiring challenges. Thus, some solutions may not work for some healthcare facilities. What challenges face your facility in hiring? Share this article and start the conversation on LinkedIn!