ASHHRA eNews Pulse

Dear ASHHRA,

It’s spring and it’s time to celebrate human resources! Imagine a day without the human resources department in your organization. Just one day! Candidates waiting to apply would not be able to do so. New employees might have to wait for new employee orientation. The mom or dad with a new baby wouldn’t know how to enroll them in the health plan. Managers throughout the organization might hesitate to counsel or terminate. Plus, who would lead the way with employees on biometric testing and flu shots? Yikes!!!

It’s time to stand up and cheer. Think of it as a spring resolution. The season is the perfect time to celebrate, after all this season already hosts St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, and Memorial Day, why not Health Care HR Week! The week of March 11–17, 2012 has been designated to recognize human resources professionals in hospitals and non-hospital organizations across the nation for the daily issues they face in workforce, compensation and benefits, employee relations, health care reform, and wellness – just to name a few. So celebrate the rest of this week or even next week. Just be sure to recognize your HR team.

How do you recognize HR in your organization? Check out the ASHHRA website for ideas that include lunch for your team with the CEO as well as health fairs and fun contests. If those ideas aren’t what you had in mind here’s some more that were recently provided by your peers.

• Buy a small gift for each staff member – it doesn’t have to be expensive: fun magnets, post its, or really cool pens
• Send an email to the other executives letting them know the names of your staff (just in case) and ask them to thank the HR staff by sending them an email or stopping them in the hall and expressing their appreciation
• Make lunch for the staff; if you aren’t much of a cook (that would be me!) make breakfast or your favorite dessert for an afternoon tea
• Host a mini-conference for the staff, ask a peer at another hospital to come and provide an educational opportunity in exchange for you providing one for their employees
• Write an article for the company newsletter and include some of our cool numbers... how many people apply each year how many address changes we process annually, the number of changes people make to their benefits each year – most of our peers in the organization can’t even begin to imagine the volume of work processed in HR 
• Compare your number with something cool... miles to the moon, drive across the U.S. twice and to Alaska one time, anything that provides perspective.

I know what you are thinking! We have too many weeks to "celebrate" in health care already. Or, our health care organization celebrates them all at one time in the year to avoid the distraction. I totally understand. If this is the case, then use this as an opportunity to engage your own HR employees, to thank them for their hard work and for their continued support of all the initiatives in the organization. Thank them for their support of you as their leader. Our employees are our lifeline, our connection to the rest of the organization. Use this as an opportunity to express your heartfelt thanks!

Leading People Through Change,

Irma L. Pye, SPHR
ASHHRA 2012 President
Senior Vice President & CHRO
Valley Baptist Health System
Harlingen, Texas

 

The week of March 11–17, 2012 has been designated to recognize human resources professionals in hospitals and non-hospital organizations across the nation for the daily issues they face in workforce, compensation and benefits, employee relations, health care reform, and wellness – just to name a few. ASHHRA members can now download the Health Care HR Week Toolkit!

Visit http://www.ashhra.org/learning/healthcarehrweek.shtml to view the full article online.

 

The 38th Semi-Annual ASHHRA/IRI Labor Activity in Health Care Report is now available for ASHHRA members to access. The report includes an analysis of national, regional, and state representation petitions and elections during 2011 as well as the Labor Law/Activity Update.

Visit http://www.ashhra.org/resources/labor_activity.shtml to view the full article online.

 

The AHA and Diversified have again teamed up to launch the annual Retirement Plan Trends in Today’s Healthcare Market—2012. Participate in this milestone edition of the only retirement plan benchmarking survey report dedicated solely to health care organizations.

Visit http://www.ashhra.org/publications/retirement_trends.shtml to view the full article online.

 

ASHHRA, in partnership with PwC Saratoga, formally invites its members to participate in the HR Metrics Tool. The mission of this partnership is to enable ASHHRA members to benefit from PwC Saratoga's expertise in HR analytics and knowledge of the health care industry in order to obtain relevant benchmarks for workforce and HR metrics.

Visit http://www.ashhra.org/products/metrics.shtml to view the full article online.

 

- National Healthcare Staff Compensation Survey Now Open!

- National Healthcare Leadership Compensation Survey

- Survey Report Pricing

- 2011 Compensation Survey Reports

Visit http://www.ashhra.org/publications/compensation_survey.shtml to view the full article online.

 

By Carol J. Williams

Ani Chopourian told of sexually inappropriate conduct, bullying and retaliation at a Sacramento hospital. The award is believed to be the largest for a single victim of workplace harassment in U.S. history. Ani Chopourian lost track of how many complaints she filed during the two years she worked as a physician assistant at Sacramento's Mercy General Hospital. There were at least 18, she recalled, many having to do with the bullying surgeon who once stabbed her with a needle and broke the ribs of an anesthetized heart patient in a fit of rage.

SOURCE: LOS ANGELES TIMES

Visit http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-harassment-award-20120302,0,1798285.story to view the full article online.

 

By John Commins

One of the troubling ironies of nursing is that many of the people who dedicate their lives to healing patients do so at the expense of their own health. It doesn't have to be this way.

SOURCE: HEALTHLEADERS MEDIA

Visit http://www.healthleadersmedia.com/content/HR-277320/Curbing-Nurse-Obesity-Can-Shrink-Hospital-Costs to view the full article online.

 

By Carolyne Krupa

Rates of abuse or dependence are twice as high among female surgeons, perhaps due to greater societal pressure to balance professional and family obligations. More than one in seven surgeons struggle with alcohol abuse or dependence, says a study in the February Archives of Surgery.

SOURCE: AMEDNEWS

Visit http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/03/05/prsd0306.htm to view the full article online.

 

By Liz Kowalczyk

Getting in to see a primary-care doctor at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s hospitals has for years been notoriously hard, with many popular practices closed to new patients. But now, reflecting dramatic shifts in health care, the prestigious hospitals are paying doctors more if they agree to accept new patients.

SOURCE: THE BOSTON GLOBE

Visit http://articles.boston.com/2012-03-06/metro/31124693_1_primary-care-doctors-new-patients-care-of-fewer-people to view the full article online.

 

By Bob Herman

High physician salaries in the United States are one of the factors that are contributing to an uptick in international physician migration, according to a report in The New York Times Magazine.

SOURCE: BECKER’S HOSPITAL REVIEW

Visit http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/compensation-issues/american-hospital-salaries-attract-international-physicians.html to view the full article online.

 

By Bob Herman

Over the past decade, physician employment has grown by 32 percent at hospitals, and roughly 20 percent of the practicing physician workforce now works for a hospital. This explosion of employed physicians signals several factors: the move toward accountable care organizations, the harsh financial realities of being an independent physician today and a growing preference for guaranteed compensation over fluctuating and unpredictable income.

SOURCE: BECKER’S HOSPITAL REVIEW

Visit http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/compensation-issues/8-points-hospitals-need-to-keep-in-mind-when-paying-employed-physicians.html to view the full article online.

 

By Dr. Edward Boudreau

Denver Health, serving a population that is 40 percent uninsured, just announced yet another year of positive financial results. Virginia Mason Medical Center is recognized by Dr. Donald Berwick, founder of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the former administrator of CMS, as an example of an organization best prepared to take on the challenges of health care in the future. Both organizations have used the deployment of Lean principles and tools to position themselves as we see them today. Let’s not, however, get distracted by the tools. The truth is, it isn’t the tool that makes the difference. It is the craftsman.

Visit http://www.naylornetwork.com/ahh-nwl/pdf/Is_LEAN_the_missing_puzzle_piece_2-6-12Final.pdf to view the full article online.

 

By Matt McAllester

It was 2004, and Kunj Desai had worked at the chronically understaffed and underfinanced hospital for a year and a half. The hospital blood bank was often out of blood, and the lab was unreliable. The patients were often so poor that Desai would pay for private lab tests out of his own pocket. Desai came home in tears one day after being unable to save a premature baby boy. When the man with the stab wound died, the accumulation of preventable deaths – at what was, he kept reminding himself, the best public hospital in the country – finally became too heavy to bear.

SOURCE: THE NEW YORK TIMES

Visit http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/magazine/america-is-stealing-foreign-doctors.html?_r=1 to view the full article online.

 

By Amy Lynn Sorrel

Medical staff membership and employment are separate roles. But the worlds can collide in ways that impinge on physicians' rights and privileges if caught unaware. Most employment relationships involve at least some give-and-take. But accepting hospital employment does not necessarily entail physicians giving up positions as members of the hospital medical staff.

SOURCE: AMEDNEWS

Visit http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/01/23/prsa0123.htm#.TyQENqCvmWs.wordpress to view the full article online.

 

By Lucia Mutikani

Spending at hospitals surged in the fourth quarter, government data showed on Thursday, suggesting economic growth during that period could be revised significantly higher.

SOURCE: REUTERS

Visit http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/08/us-usa-economy-hospitals-idUSBRE82716G20120308 to view the full article online.

 

By Kristie Jones

I have worked at St. Michael’s Hospital for more than 30 years, first as a practicing physician, then on the executive team, and now as CEO, and I have seen many changes.

I thought I would take this opportunity to reflect on the quality journey at St. Michael’s Hospital, which is all about change. We have defined quality under six key dimensions: safety, outcomes, access, patient experience, equity and efficiency. All of us in healthcare need to advocate for finding better ways to care for all who come to us in need. We stay at the top of our game only if we work at it every hour of every day.

SOURCE: HOSPITAL NEWS

Visit http://www.hospitalnews.com/embracing-change-and-quality-improvement/ to view the full article online.

 

By Kent Bottles

Hospital leaders are busy trying to cope with the changes brought on by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the realization that the federal budget deficit translates into less money for all healthcare providers in the future. The seemingly inevitable transition from fee-for-service to global payments creates anxiety about how quickly the financial incentives will shift.

SOURCE: HOSPITAL IMPACT

Visit http://www.hospitalimpact.org/index.php/2012/03/06/4_healthcare_trends_hospital_execs_can_t to view the full article online.