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-The old saw "It's hard to find good help these days" may hold some truth. It's not because solid, qualified, hard-working people aren't looking for jobs. The trick, says James Rienzo, is finding them-and that takes an organized, systematic approach.  

Rienzo, an eye-care business adviser with Allergan Inc., discussed the methodical approach to the hiring process during a recent presentation titled "Recruiting and Hiring Good Employees." 

"You have to know what your objectives are when you're looking to hire quality employees," he said. "There are a number of questions you have to ask yourself first, and then find the answers."  

"There are several signs that make themselves very apparent-red flags, if you will-indicating it's time to hire someone," Rienzo said. "Obviously, if someone leaves, you probably need to replace them. But also look for employees being overworked, always getting out of the office late, not getting patients through the system in a timely manner, or when someone calls in sick and it throws the whole day into turmoil. Those are all signs that you're understaffed.  

"The really big red flag is patient waiting time. If that's too long, you've got a problem that needs to be fixed fast," Rienzo emphasized.  

Once a need is identified-especially when the problem is patient wait time-the practitioner or manager must determine exactly what will be required of a new employee to fill that need. Rienzo suggested using various benchmarks.  

"Scheduling efficiency is a crucial benchmark," he said. "Aim for getting new patients into the office within 10 to 14 days and established patients in 14 to 21 days. Then look at patient throughput measures-how long it takes to get a patient through the system. Set a benchmark of 50 to 80 minutes total and figure out how many employees you'll need to reach that goal." 

Another benchmark is billing. "If you do billing in-house, you need one full-time biller for each $750,000 in collections," Rienzo said.  

Once needs are identified and the number of new employees needed to reach benchmarks is decided, the next step is creating job descriptions. "This is a very important factor," Rienzo said, "because it helps simplify your decision on who will be right for a particular job."  

The ideal job description should be about a page long, he said, and should include a clear, concise description of the position; the staff person to whom the new employee will report; and a summary of the training, experience, and skills the new employee will need to perform the job effectively.  

Advertising is key to the process of finding the right person for the jobs that need to be filled. "First of all, make sure you differentiate your ad," Rienzo said. "Make it stand out. Use colors, use words that attract, and don't skimp on the fee you'll be paying to create your ad. Also, be consistent in how and where the ads are placed."  

Articles

Smithtown, NY-The old saw "It's hard to find good help these days" may hold some truth. It's not because solid, qualified, hard-working people aren't looking for jobs. The trick, says James Rienzo, is finding them-and that takes an organized, systematic approach.

Star Search-ophthalmology edition

The chances are significantly-perhaps surprisingly-better than even that the typical eye-care practice will fall victim to internal theft. That being the case, practice managers need to know how to identify internal theft and how to prevent it from happening in their practices. 

Paul White, president of Dynasty Health-care LLC, an Atlanta-based medical consulting firm, discussed the identification and prevention of internal theft in a recent seminar. 

"Medical practices experience one of the highest theft rates of all service businesses," he said. "Theft is occurring in 50% to 75% of all medical practices, and 70% to 80% of all physicians will experience some kind of embezzlement in their careers." 

According to White, it's because practices tend to have minimal or ineffective financial controls, typically limited staffs make it difficult to segregate financial functions, administrators don't have time to monitor financial controls, and staffs often are granted a high level of trust with little or no oversight by the practice manager. In addition, medical-practice thieves are seldom prosecuted-and savvy wrongdoers know this. 

Internal thieves, White said, often are a practice's most trusted employees.  

"More than 50% of thefts are committed by front-office personnel, and 27% are committed by office managers or administrators," he said. "More than 60% of these thieves have never been arrested." 

All the more reason a practice manager should have some way of knowing what to look for in terms of identifying a potential internal thief. Certain common characteristics, White said, can serve as red flags signaling the existence of an internal thief. Some of White's red flags to watch for: 

Just as many red flags can warn of potential internal theft, several different kinds of theft exist, White said. 

"There is petty theft, like the stealing of contact-lens samples, frames, vials of Botox, that sort of thing," he explained. "Then there's the more sophisticated, higher-tiered theft of co-pays, cash payments, petty cash, and 'lapping,' which is taking one payment from a customer and using it to cover a previous embezzlement." 

Transactions and inventory can be monitored to help identify possible problems, White said. 

"Practice owners should compare all bank receipts and deposit slips, keep receipt books locked up, lock all contact-lens samples, and read all company credit-card receipts and compare them with credit-card statements at the end of the month," he said. "Also-and this may seem basic-use a time clock to keep track of employees' work hours, with an eye toward identifying those who frequently stay late or arrive very early." 

The chances are significantly-perhaps surprisingly-better than even that the typical eye-care practice will fall victim to internal theft. That being the case, practice managers need to know how to identify internal theft and how to prevent it from happening in their practices.

Bill Gillette

Articles

Star Search-ophthalmology edition

Minimize the risk of internal theft