Every health care organization while restructuring its functions and corporate structure has to consider the implications of Human Resources Management on recruitment and retention, training and development, employee performance management, regulatory compliance, and compensation and benefits. It is imperative for every organization to carefully chalk out its HR strategy in keeping with its overall strategy for growth and development. People resources are one of the most important resources for any organization and it has the responsibility to bring about the best allocation of its efforts and resources in catering to the need of its workforce so as to extract maximum productivity. This paper will examine in detail how each of the above HR practices is related to the restructuring process of a health care company.
The human resource management’s functional responsibilities in terms of recruitment and retention entail that it should aim at increasing the supply of the required health care professionals and invigorate those that are already employed by acting on a number of parameters. The organization must increase the interest of employees in health careers both in general areas of operations and also in areas where there is a shortage of manpower. The diversity of health care workers has to be increased along with the enhancement of workers in departments in order to ensure their timely availability. Barriers should be removed for the entry of competent health care workers in the organization and efforts should be made for the optimum utilization of services of such employees. The workplace environment must be made conducive to supporting the specifications of excellent quality of health care services. The environment should also be made healthier for health care providers. Health care workers can be retained gainfully if there is increased support for family physicians in primary care. Promotional strategies that bring about enhanced images of family medicine have to be implemented and projects and training be provided to retain valued and experienced nurses.
Organizations must ensure that the health care provider facilitates the patient in acquiring the understanding, skills, knowledge and positive attitude as related to his or her medical state and its management. The process of training the health care provider in this regard entails that the process includes assuring the acquisition of adequate knowledge and mastery in attitude to develop rapport with patients. Appropriate education has to be provided by the health care worker to the patient so as to understand better his condition and to effectively take part in the health care. This enables a cooperative effort between the patient and the health care worker. All locations in which health care workers are required to work must be compliant with education resources including rehabilitation centres, skilled nursing facilities, educational seminars, symposiums and workshops along with affiliations with medical schools and colleges. It is imperative for the health care organization to ensure that adequate training is provided to its workers in all spheres of services failing which harm can result to the patient due to inability in participating in his or her health care management (René Schalk, 2005).
Employee performance management is about evaluating and ascertaining the pattern of employee behaviour in regard to the achievement of strategic objectives of the health care organization. Employee performance management outlines the framework for HR decisions and policies. In health care organizations the framework includes incentives, pay, promotions and other employee benefits that accrue on account of individual competency levels in dealing with patients and in assuming the team spirit with other health care workers. In keeping such perspectives constant, the tools of employee performance will enable the health care organization to analyze the gaps existing in health care workers in regard to the specific skills required by them. This would enable the organization to provide appropriate training and learning to the workers so as to improve their skills. The employee performance appraisal helps the management in getting performance ratings for each employee that further helps in the restructuring process by way of transfer, salary fixation, promotions, demotions and confirmations (Maria G Mackavey, 2006).
While engaging in a corporate restructuring the health care organization has to take care of the prevailing regulations and comply with all the requirements. The organization must adhere to regulations in regard to legal and ethical issues to comply with the regulations in order to avoid malpractices and violation of compliance issues. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 is one of the first regulations that health care organizations have to comply with in the USA. Additionally, organizations that provide services for health care must be aware of the regulations that influence management decisions emanating from information technology resources. This becomes essential to avoid fines and penalties and the extent of applicable regulations depends on several factors such as the size of the health care organization, whether it is a federal agency and whether it is publicly listed. The respect for privacy is deeply ingrained in the medical profession and is one of the oldest agreements that bind professionals in this industry. A key business trend in the health care industry will have to be imbibed while restructuring the organization by examining how information technology is being utilized in satisfying drivers that originate from customer satisfaction, cost controls and regulatory compliance (John Brandon, 2008).
There has been relatively high growth in talent in the health care industry in recent times. But there is a strong need to retain the best talent which is vital for the commercial viability of the health care organization. It becomes all the more important while restructuring the health care organization since it is aimed at providing better services to patients. It is important to keep employees healthy by bringing in a benefits package that is better and which provides clarity in regard to the vision of available benefits. The rewards package plays a very important in any economic environment. This would deliver results that can be sustained in keeping the organization in good health and with ample potential for the long-term success of the health care organization (Anonymous, 2006).
References
- Anonymous, How Business Intelligence Can Help HR, 2006 HR Focus; ABI/INFORM Global
- John Brandon, Regulatory Compliance: What You Should Know, 2008.
- Maria G Mackavey, Practicing Ethics in Hr: Where’s the Action? 2006, Journal of American Academy of Business, Cambridge
- René Schalk; Wim Van Dijk, Quality management and employee commitment illustrated with examples from Dut…, 2005, International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance; ABI/INFORM Global