MHC6306 WEEK 5 LECTURE, DISCUSSION, AND PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS

MHC6306 WEEK 5 LECTURE, DISCUSSION, AND PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS

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Employee Training Development

Every healthcare organization wants to attract, motivate, and retain the most qualified workforce. To achieve this, a healthcare organization should identify the talent needed, find the best people, and develop skills of the people. Enhancing employee skills can increase individual and organizational performance and help an organization achieve strategic and operational results.

The aim of every organization is to enhance the morale and increase the productivity and performance of its employees, limit job turnover, and improve results. To achieve this, the human resources (HR) professional needs to help the healthcare organization:

·  Effectively use employee skills.

·  Provide training and development opportunities to improve employee skills.

· Increase employees' satisfaction with their jobs and working conditions.

Increasingly, healthcare organizations are realizing that developing the skills and knowledge of their workforce is a business imperative that can give them a competitive edge in recruiting and retaining high-quality employees. Successful employee development requires a balance between individual career goals and organizational goals.

Training employees on the latest trends is important in today's fast-changing world. In the healthcare industry, it is all the more important to keep your employees abreast of the latest developments in order to provide the best healthcare and services to patients. Most skill-training programs provide some combination of hands-on instruction, demonstration, and practice and are usually conducted on a dummy or in a practice area where trainees gain experience and confidence.

So far you have learned about employee development and training. The lecture also focuses on succession planning and competency reviews. Next you will gain knowledge of developing and managing a competitive compensation and benefits package, while maintaining appropriate use of technology, monitoring legal implications, assessing and maintaining employee competencies, and maximizing organizational performance. In addition, you will explore some of the major challenges that healthcare organizations face today and the role of HRM in dealing with these challenges.

Resources:

Amy, Y. L., & Hearld, L. R. (2013). Did we learn everything we need to know in school? Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 34(2), 164-181. doi:  https://su.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=psyh&AN=2013-19227-004&site=eds-live

SHIH, Y., LEE, T., LIU, C., & MILLS, M. E. (2013). Evaluation of an online orientation program for new healthcare employees. CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 31(7), 343-350. doi:10.1097/NXN.0b013e3182999e11

Compensation and Benefits

HR professionals must adhere to the compensation regulations, which are constantly changing.

In 1938, federal law passed the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which has since been revised and updated. The act establishes base and overtime pay rates, documentation, and underage labor standards that impact employees. This act protects employees' rights to fair pay and requires organizations to abide.

HRM is crucial for restructuring and realignment of positions. This also needs the HR manager to effectively deal with and make recommendations regarding compensation practices.

HRM is also responsible for designing any programs related to incentives and benefits.

A healthcare organization's benefit plan is typically established or maintained by the employer, often through the HR department. This is one of the primary roles of HRM.

Let's learn how the HR manager creates and maintains the organization's pay structure.

Creating and maintaining the organization's pay structure is one of the key functions of the HR department. The HR manager develops policies to ensure fair and equitable pay rates to all employees.

To ensure the organization is in sync with trends and remains competitive, the HR manager might select benchmark surveys to compare the organization's pay rates and other data with that of other similar organizations.

The HR professional must be an expert in developing and negotiating benefit programs for the organization. The HR manager often recommends the most cost-effective and competitive programs for the organization. HRM is typically responsible for developing and implementing the plans with administrator approval.

There are various types of benefits and plans, depending on the organization's size, type, and finances. Often, the benefits and plans include health benefits, earned time or paid time off, and disability and life insurance. Sometimes, organizations may offer incentives such as a sign-on bonus paid after a certain amount of time following the hire date. Health benefits are typically a huge incentive to employees and may cover medical needs, dental needs, or vision needs.

Resource:

Bjork, D. A. (2012). Healthcare executive compensation: A guide for leaders and trustees. Chicago, Illinois: Health Administration Press.

Healthcare organizations face major challenges

These challenges include, but are not limited to:

· Economic and technology challenges: Spending on health information technology is significantly increasing, and spending on operations needs to be reduced.

· Mergers, acquisitions, and downsizing: Mergers and acquisitions in healthcare systems are rising. Clinical integration has become the predominant strategy, driving mergers and acquisitions. It could be to secure finances, downsize, or address a practice issue.

· Physician privileges: Before physicians are allowed to work for any facility, they must be credentialed, which requires collecting their background information. The credentialing process requires that every physician be qualified according to his or her medical specialty and adhere to the organization's medical staff bylaws, policies, and regulations.

· Diversity: The changing demographics and economics of the workforce in healthcare organizations should make HR managers think about cultural diversity impacts. Healthcare clinicians and non-clinicians must learn how to become culturally aware when trying to meet patient needs. They must be prepared to deal with any race, color, or ethnic background because diversity is a given in today's society.

· Labor shortages: The healthcare industry has grown and is expected to continue to grow in the future. This means new positions to provide care to patients or to provide services that impact the care of patient delivery. In addition, baby boomers employed in healthcare are retiring, creating labor shortages in the healthcare industry, while adding to the patient roles.

· Health-planning policy initiatives: Insurance plans are mandated to spend a certain percentage of every dollar on healthcare and quality improvement strategies. If they spend less, healthcare organizations have to grant rebates to their patients or customers.

Healthcare leaders must be prepared for what is on the horizon. Human Resource Management plays a vital role in dealing with these changes.

Lastly you learned about the importance of HRM and its function as it relates to healthcare employee development, compensation practices, and programs related to incentives and benefits. In addition, you learned about the role of HRM in maintaining an employee, implementing training development programs for employees, and establishing competitive benefits and compensation programs for employees, while minimizing costs to the organization.

Resource:

Robinson, M. (2008). Labor shortages plague the healthcare sector. http://www.healthcarejobsite.com/articles/labor-shortages-plague-the-healthcare-sector-3796-article.html Sultan, N. (2014). Making use of cloud computing for healthcare provision: Opportunities and challenges. International Journal of Information Management, 34(2), 177-184. doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2013.12.011

Zuckerman, A. M. (2011). Healthcare mergers and acquisitions: Strategies for consolidation. Frontiers of Health Services Management, 27(4), 3.

Abdallah, A. (2014). Implementing quality initiatives in healthcare organizations: Drivers and challenges. International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, 27(3), 166-181. doi:10.1108/IJHCQA-05-2012-0047

· Week 5 Discussion

Discussion Topic

 

Top of Form

 Due October 21 at 11:59 PM

Bottom of Form

Before beginning work on this discussion forum, please review the link “Doing Discussion Questions Right,” the expanded grading rubric for the forum, and any specific instructions for this topic.

Before the end of the week, begin commenting on at least two of your classmates’ responses. You can ask technical questions or respond generally to the overall experience. Be objective, clear, and concise. Always use constructive language, even in criticism, to work toward the goal of positive progress. Submit your responses in the Discussion Area.

Major Issues in Healthcare

As healthcare organizations move forward to the future, how healthcare is delivered in the United States will continue to be scrutinized.

Tasks:

Post to the Discussion Area your responses to the following:

· Identify the three major issues affecting healthcare organizations today.

· Describe the role HRM plays in dealing with or addressing these issues.

· Give an example of a healthcare setting and explain how you, as an HR manager in that setting, would respond to the three issues.

Provide reasons and evidence in support of your responses.

To support your work, use your course and textbook readings and also use the South University Online Library. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.

Your initial posting should be addressed at 300-500 words. Submit your document to this Discussion Area by the due date assigned. Be sure to cite your sources using APA format.

Respond to your peers throughout the week. Justify your answers with examples, research, and reasoning. Follow up posts need to be submitted by the end of the week.

Week 5 Project

Assignment

Top of Form

Due October 25 at 11:59 PM

Bottom of Form

Before beginning work on this assignment, please review the expanded grading rubric for specific instructions relating to content and formatting.

In this assignment, you will review compensation packages in healthcare organizations.

Tasks:

Select one healthcare organization of interest to you and research the compensation package in the organization.

· On the basis of your research and findings your paper should address the following:

· Do a cost-benefit analysis of the selected healthcare organization. Explain your analysis of the cost-benefit ratio and how it helps an organization.

· Explain the impact of the cost-benefit ratio on recruitment and retention strategies of a healthcare organization.

· Outline ways to improve the cost-benefit ratio of the selected healthcare organization.

· Explain the role of HRM in ensuring the most competitive compensation package for employees.

· Describe methods of improving the compensation package of the selected healthcare organization. Explain how your recommendations could enhance recruitment and retention strategies of the organization.

· Discuss how you would address competitive compensation, benefits packages, career development, and succession planning in working towards the selected healthcare organization's strategic goals.

Submission Details:

· To support your work, use your course and textbook readings and also use the South University Online Library. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.

· Your assignment should be addressed in an 8- to 10-page document.