State of American Healthcare: The Staff Experience

Written by Katherine Foley on Jul 24, 2019
Estimated reading time: 1 minutes

This is Part 4 concluding our series on the State of American Healthcare. Don't miss the previous editions on Veteran Care, Accessibility, and Costs of U.S. healthcare.

“Please rate your experience. Would you recommend us?” Questions of this sort may be something you’re used to asking patients. But do you also have a good pulse on your staff satisfaction?

With the range of tasks healthcare employees deal with, it’s critical to understand your staff’s day-to-day experience and provide appropriate training. An employee may only have one official job title, but unofficially they can be juggling tasks across billing, patient data, clinic reputation, and more. Some organizations are realizing this and responding with new initiatives. Walgreens is now training its pharmacy staff in mental health first aid. And the state of Massachusetts, seeing a gap in digital knowledge within the healthcare sector, recently announced funding for a pilot program to expand digital training for new healthcare employees.

It’s hard enough to hire great employees. Once you have them, take steps to retain them. Below we’ve laid out three pillars for offering a positive staff experience

Time

Know how much time your team members spend on each task. From transferring paper forms into an EMR to verifying insurance information, every step of a patient’s journey involves some use of staff time. If you don’t know what their time is spent on, it could cost you (literally).

Technology

Research what technology could make clinic workflow more efficient. Too much time spent deciphering scribbles on paper forms? Consider digital paperwork to cut down on manual data entry. Or, too much time spent talking to patients on the phone? See how a secure text message platform could automate or expedite patient communications.

Training

When considering vendors, look at the training and support they offer. Once new technology or processes are adapted, make sure all staff get trained. Here at Solv, ongoing training is available to all partners and we have an in-platform chatbox so clinic staff can reach out to us anytime.

While feedback from patients often takes center stage, surveying your staff is often just as important in order to build a strong business and deliver excellent service.