Welcome to the Last Day!
Today rounds out the very last day of the ASHHRA 49th Annual Conference & Exposition; although we’re sorry to have to say goodbye, we’re so incredibly excited about the connections you’ve made, the friendships that have been fostered, and the invaluable learning that has taken place.
Tomorrow convenes our learning session tracks beginning bright and early at 8 a.m., then the day moves on to our Closing Ceremony Brunch starting at 9:45 a.m. featuring entertainment by Capitol Steps. If you’re one of those participating in the inaugural CHHR Certification Examination, we wish you luck in pursuing your credential and furthering your health care HR education journey.
Monday’s Motivational Breakfast
Richard J. Umbdenstock, FACHE, president and CEO, American Hospital Association (AHA), addressed the audience and spoke of tomorrow’s health care environment. He noted that it will be more integrated, more at-risk, more accountable, and we’ll all be challenged to do ‘less with less,’ meaning that we’re going to have to find the least costly treatments that have the greatest results.
AHA’s priorities moving forward are to pass critical legislation, protect hospital payments as legislators look for savings (noting that actions on provider payments do impact beneficiaries), and to ease the regulatory burden.
Referencing the conference theme, he noted that disparities hurt—medical errors, longer hospital stays, avoidable admissions and readmissions, and the over or under utilization of procedures directly impact minority populations more than they do the majority. Umbdenstock suggested that three core strategies to challenge this head on are to increase the collection of race, ethnicity, and language data, increase cultural competency training, and to increase the diversity of our own leadership. In doing more with less, we’ll put ourselves in a position to take on more risk and manage it in a better and more efficient way.
 The Inclusion Panel Featuring Rich Umbdenstock, FACHE, president and CEO, American Hospital Association (AHA), Fawn Lopez, vice president/publisher, Modern Healthcare, and Kim Byas, Sr., MPH, regional executive, American Hospital Association (AHA).
The insightful panel spoke of pursuing a strategy of intentional inclusion setting proactive strategy and realizing the great opportunity of working in a diverse world. They asked for us to not sit back and wait but to realize change and to be proactive in regards to diversity in our workforce and having staff that portrays the patients and communities that we represent and serve. They emphasized that effective communication is critical as our workforce and patients become more diverse and complex.
Closing Ceremony Brunch
Tuesday, Oct. 1: 9:45 a.m. – Noon
Sponsored by Valic
 Entertainment by Capitol StepsThe Washington-based troupe of Congressional staffers-turned-songwriters performing music and political satire.
Since they began, the Capitol Steps have recorded over 30 albums, including their latest, Take the Money and Run—for President. They've been featured on NBC, CBS, ABC, and PBS, and can be heard 4 times a year on National Public Radio stations nationwide during their Politics Takes a Holiday radio specials.
Schedule at a Glance
Tuesday, Oct. 1
 Have You Visited the Resource Center?Not just any Resource Center, it’s also a full service information station. Find books by renowned authors in the field of health care HR, tools, resources, and white papers for you to reference. While visiting, ask the"HR Expert" about HR Concierge, and learn how you can get the most from your membership.
Sponsored by Fidelity Investments
Tuesday's Learning Sessions
8:00 – 9:30 a.m.
- T1 - The Business Case for Employee Investment
- T2 - Inspring Others During Times of Change
- T3 - Assessing your Accessibility: Engaging and Hiring Employees with Disabilities
- T5 - HR’s Impact on Business Imperatives
- T7 - Creating Sustainable Impact Through Engagement Data
- T8 - Immigration Compliance Plan - Do You Have One?
- T9 - Game Changers: Vital HR Cost Management Strategies Across the Care Continuum
- T10 - The Vuja De Moment - Shift from Average to Brilliant
- T11 - ASHHRA HR Metrics Tool
How to Empower Your Lower-Wage Workers
Jim Godwin, Vice President of Human Resources, Bon Secours Virginia Health System
 Godwin’s uplifting presentation engaged attendees and set the standard in regards to employee benefit programs specifically for their low-income workers. One attendee stated that Godwin was a hero who does inspiring work, helping those who care for patients, and who need it most.
Bon Secours’ philosophy is based upon supporting the working poor and creating programs to empower their low-wage employees. The program includes a minimum living wage that’s 26 percent higher than the Federal minimum wage, part-time benefits for employees who work over 16 hours a week, programs that stretch employee dollars, and leadership development programs that propel their employees into higher-earning positions.
In playing into the concerns of minimum-wage workers, Bon Secours offers a comprehensive benefits program that lessens the everyday burden on employees, empowers them to be better, and promotes dignity.
A brief snapshot of their program includes:
- A ‘Just Wage’ that’s higher than the Federal minimum wage
- A Safety Net program that offers grants through an in-house EAP as a crisis fund
- Values in Action program during Christmas where departments within the hospital sponsor the families of needy employees
- Onsite childcare for employees that offers scholarships and assistance
- Tuition-assistance programs
The business case for the program includes everything from less turnover, better attendance, increased engagement, a better applicant pool, and increased customer satisfaction scores. The faith-based system feels that it’s called to serve and constantly pursues a sense of purpose through its mission to offer ‘Good help to those in need, especially the poor and the dying.’
 Jose Castaneda
HR Recruiting Partner
Children’s Medical Center of Dallas
Dallas, Texas
I’ve been a member of ASHHRA on and off for the last six to
eight years, and this is the fourth ASHHRA conference I’ve attended. Every
year, I learn a great deal that I can take back to my organization. I’ve been
in human resources for the last 13 years, but I’ve been in health care for nearly
26 years. I have a nursing background, and my former director, who is now
retired, enticed me into coming into HR at a time when we needed to recruit more
nurses. She knew I had a management background and worked in for-profit and
not-for-profit organizations, so she asked me to help her bring in a volume of
nurses being aware that I was comfortable with interviewing and had a true
understanding of what nurses do.
The biggest challenges we’re facing now are finding health
care leaders who are experienced in the specific area that has a vacancy. For
instance, critical care leaders, emergency services managers, as well as
practice practitioners such as physician assistants and nurse practitioners with
specialty certifications. For my hospital, we have the pediatric aspect, so
when we’re looking at that specialty, so trying to find someone with the
pediatric specialty that has managed in an academic environment becomes more of
a challenge. There’s a very small percentage of hospitals across the U.S. that
are pediatric-focused—around 5 percent, so it can prove to be very difficult.
What keeps me up at night is retention. Recruitment departments
can bring in the staff, but the question becomes, ‘How do you keep the employee
base that you have and add on to it?’ Because when you lose talent, you have to
start over again to build up to that level, and that takes a lot of time and
resources.
I feel I can best impact my organization through sharing and
leaning here at the ASHHRA convention, and then taking that back and sharing
what other organizations are doing that is working for them—things that they’ve
also tried but have not worked—so sharing that information becomes invaluable.
Yesterday when speaker Byron Pitts spoke, the motivation
that he had and the message that he brought to the audience was that really we
need to take time to invest in people. People are our best resources, and if we
can spend a little bit of time during the course of our day to really lift
someone then we’ve really made a contribution. One of the things that he said
that really stuck with me was: "If your dream only includes you, then your
dream isn’t big enough."
 Thank You for Visiting the Exhibit Floor!On behalf of the Annual Conference Committee, the Host Committee, the staff, and the Board of Directors, we sincerely thank the exhibitors for their support and participation at this year's convention. And we thank YOU, the attendee, for taking the time to learn more about how their products and services can help you solve the challenges you face on a daily basis.
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