By Matthew Haddad, President & CEO, Medversant Technologies, LLC
In today’s globalized market, it is generally recognized that the talent of an organization’s personnel can make or break a business enterprise in mere moments. Nowhere is this statement truer than within the healthcare industry where entities compete on a daily basis for a limited number of providers, administrators and other vital staff members. As the leaders of personnel and talent management, it therefore falls to the Human Resources (HR) and/or Medical Staff Management (MSM) departments of a healthcare organization to guarantee the competitive caliber and qualified capabilities of not only healthcare providers, but the non-medical staff that support and surround them. This is made even more challenging by healthcare reform legislation, which has led to increased screening requirements for both healthcare providers and non-medical healthcare staff and has placed the responsibility for personnel quality assurance squarely on the shoulders of the individual healthcare organization.
Faced with these increased regulations, along with budget reductions and a more diverse and widespread workforce, many HR and MSM departments are on the hunt for ways to improve efficiency in a compliant and cost-effective manner. One simple solution that organizations are exploring is Web-based Human Resource Management (HRM) via various HR technologies. Through innovative automation, data centralization, and knowledge-based workflows, these technologies are able to improve process efficiency and quality assurance compliance for any HR or MSM department.
Healthcare Human Resource Management-Technology Baby Steps
Generally, Human Resource Management (HRM) is defined as the comprehensive, strategic management of employees to achieve organizational and employee career goals. HRM also typically includes an element of organizational risk management to, at a minimum, ensure legislative or regulatory compliance. In the healthcare industry, basic technology solutions are being progressively used to support and streamline HRM processes including recruitment, day-to-day staff management, performance tracking, and career path development. These systems may also feature rudimentary integration with payroll or accounting systems for further process improvement.
Systems built to serve these functions are typically database systems which improve efficiency through a centralized, electronic employee record, but still require time-consuming data entry by HR or MSM team members. While these are distinct advantages over manual, paper-based processes, these HR technologies are still only the first step toward comprehensive efficiency.
Legislative and Regulatory Compliance-A Changing Landscape
While general database systems may prove sufficient for other industries, healthcare organizations have additional challenges that require further technological streamlining. As healthcare reform legislation takes hold, healthcare HR and MSM departments are being confronted by new requirements for non-medical staff to undergo the same level of qualification screening and monitoring that healthcare professionals experience during the credentialing process. Under new rules published by regulatory bodies including Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and The Joint Commission, healthcare organizations are now held responsible for ensuring that both medical and certain non-medical staff meets industry-mandated qualifications and that these qualifications are verified at least monthly. Faced with non-compliance fines, loss of Medicare or Medicaid privileges, or loss of other organizational certification, HRM strategies must be adapted and new tools must be utilized to allow diminished resources to perform these additional activities.
Real-Time, Continuous Monitoring & Integration-The Light at the End of the Tunnel
For HR and MSM departments already stressed under the pressure of current operational requirements, the addition of continuous personnel qualifications monitoring may seem like a burden too big to bear. Luckily, with the advent of innovative, automated verification technologies, a limited selection of HR technologies can now offer automated, continuous monitoring of personnel qualifications. Continuous monitoring of personnel qualifications allows immediate regulatory compliance and offers the HR or MSM department automated notification of any discrepancy in employee information as compared against trusted primary sources (e.g., State License Boards, etc.).
HR technology tools capable of meeting ongoing qualification monitoring requirements are the wave of the future for healthcare HR and MSM departments. Products like Encompass HR from Medversant Technologies, LLC offer HR/MSM offices an integrated, online platform that supports the general HRM functionalities previously described while offering real-time data verification of necessary professional credentials. This automated, continuous verification meets all regulatory requirements and ensures that HR/MSM teams are able to efficiently recruit, maintain, and support personnel of the highest caliber. In addition, systems such as Encompass HR offer further benefits through enterprise-wide centralization of medical and non-medical personnel data and inter-departmental system integration, allowing extensive personnel data sharing for the first time. From hiring and day-to-day management through performance tracking and on-demand reporting, Encompass HR and similar technologies are able to offer unparalleled support to HR/MSM teams through a single, always accurate employee record.
Web-Based Human Resource and Talent Management: Everyone Can Win
In every organization, “intellectual capital” is one of the most important assets of the business. It is a mission-critical function to identify, disseminate, and monitor the skills and knowledge of personnel. Yet the US healthcare industry, which features one of the most highly educated and skilled labor classes in the world, traditionally places virtually no value on the personnel information it collects beyond the avoidance of audit issues. How much could be accomplished if such information were not only efficiently collected and processed but expanded upon and made accessible to all in real time? As regulation increases and reform continues, previously marginalized HR and MSM departments will increasingly turn to innovative tools to help achieve these goals while jettisoning the manual processes that are now obsolete.
Imagine a world where HRM was completely electronic and monitoring of staff qualifications was continuous. In order to effectively deal with the growing number of patients and the ever-increasing levels of regulation, organizations must have real-time knowledge of their providers and non-medical staff shared within one centralized technology platform to mitigate risk and ensure high-quality talent management. This type of technology will provide an effective turnkey approach for achieving continuous credentialing and simultaneously centralizing employee data for enterprise-wide use. Only through HR technology of this complexity can HR and MSM departments finally find the streamlined simplicity they need.
About Medversant
Medversant Technologies, LLC is the nation’s exclusive provider of continuously monitored Web-based credentials verification solutions through its patented AutoVerifi(tm) technology (U.S. Patent 7,529,682) for government, health insurance plans, hospitals and other healthcare organizations. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Calif., Medversant can be reached at (213) 291-6139 or www.medversant.com
Matthew Haddad, J.D., is President and CEO of Medversant Technologies, LLC. Medversant is the nation’s leading provider of automated continuous credentialing and provider data management solutions. He is also a patent holder of Medversant’s AutoVerifi(tm) technology (US Patent No. 7,529,682). Mr. Haddad received a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the State University of New York at Albany and his law degree from Boston University. He maintains state bar licensure in New York, California and Massachusetts and can be reached at: matt.haddad@medversant.com
