Authored by: Angie Adams
With the industry facing a record-breaking number of medical retirements, many organizations grapple with the best way to address the challenge while avoiding burnout and employee turnover.
The number of physicians 60 or older climbed 48% between 2010 and 2020, while physicians under 50 grew by only 16% — hardly enough to replace those leaving to retire. Additionally, an estimated 100,000 nurses left the workforce over the past two years due to stress, burnout, and retirement, with another 610,388 intending to leave by 2027.
With increased vacancies, the staff left behind could face a higher risk of burnout and turnover. And while it’s true there isn’t a single clear path forward, one thing is certain: Retention efforts are becoming more critical than ever. We’ve outlined a few healthcare retention strategies that may help.
Healthcare retention strategies: Supporting workers facing rising costs
The cost of practically everything has risen over the past few years, and while medical wages have increased, it’s often not by enough to keep pace with increased expenses. Furthermore, due to budget constraints, facilities might not be able to increase salaries; however, according to Angie Adams, Vice President of product management, healthcare at i3 Verticals, another area to target is benefits.
Research finds that 94% of employees report they would stay at a company longer because of good benefits. Adams suggests that many providers offer benefits programs similar to those of non-medical industry employers, which can include high deductibles that undermine affordability.
“When benefits aren’t robust enough, it can create a cycle,” says Adams. “Without enough coverage, employees can have unaddressed medical needs, such as burnout, impacting retention. So, there is a need to ensure employees are compensated well to avoid that cycle.”
Healthcare retention strategies: Creatively promoting entry into the field
Another challenge of the increased retirements is that it takes a long time to train direct medical providers, such as physicians and nurse practitioners.
“It’s not like we can say, ‘OK, we’re going to invest in the education system, and in a couple of years, we’ll have more providers,’” says Adams. “There is a significant lag between those actions and results.”
However, investing in education is still viable, even if the results aren’t immediate. And of course, getting more providers in the field takes pressure off employees left in the wake of medical retirements — potentially reducing turnover.
“As a retention strategy, providers could potentially sponsor a student,” says Adams. “Maybe that student takes out a loan to pay for their training, and then the provider pays it back based on the years of service or similar.”
Retention ideas for healthcare employees: Retention through empowerment
Job satisfaction is critical to retention, which is why supporting staff while reminding them why they entered the field is critical. And of course, that’s serving the patient. While technological advancements have created greater efficiency, it’s essential to ensure those advancements are adding to rather than subtracting from this mission.
“Visiting the doctor should be a very human experience, and the tools should support that,” says Adams. “One thing I’ve seen is a staff member sitting in the corner during a visit and handling the technical details, like entering chart notes, to free up the provider in those human, face-to-face interactions. And while this might not be practical for every practice, in the future I can see technology, such as speech-to-text recognition, filling this void — allowing the practitioner to get back to what they love, serving the patient.”
The challenge with retention is that a single strategy won’t accomplish it. Since the problem is multifaceted, so must be the solution. However, supporting an employee’s well-being, addressing burnout, and aligning people with their missions are good starting points for addressing this challenge.
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The post How to Retain Employees When Facing a Record-Breaking Number of Medical Retirements appeared first on Software Solutions at i3 Verticals.