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7 Best Tips for Hiring Clinical Staff in a Small Medical Practice

November 19, 2019

Medical Practice StaffMost physicians and small medical practice administrators understand the importance of hiring qualified staff. Not only does having the right people make a difference in how smoothly everything runs, but it can also make a huge impact on your patients. But how do you find the right people and—more importantly—how do you find ways to afford them? Here are seven of our best tips for hiring clinical staff in a small medical practice.

#1: Look to Future Doctors

One of the easiest ways of finding qualified staff for your medical practice? Look to future doctors. Talk to local medical schools and training centers about forming on-the-job partnerships. In many cases, they’ll be open to the idea of giving students a chance to learn about small practice or specialized forms of medicine. You can even develop a program that offers internships for six or eight months. This gives you the chance to train someone who might end up being a full-time employee after graduation and contribute to the regional medical field while saving a bit of money on payroll. Not only do they get practical experience in the industry, but your small medical practice also gets to enjoy the benefits of having an excited staff member.

#2: Get Creative with Recruiting

If there aren’t a whole lot of medical schools nearby or finding candidates is tough, get creative with the process. Offer incentives to current employees for referring friends, family, or acquaintances when filling medical practice positions. For strictly clerical positions, you can also look to local organizations and clubs that help single parents or empty nesters find office work. These are all great ways to root out possible candidates from places you wouldn’t ordinarily consider and could even allow you to find the perfect person for the job.

#3: Utilize Social Media

It might sound a little bit odd for a medical practice to utilize social media for hiring, but it can be a great way to fill vacancies with qualified individuals. Create a LinkedIn profile for hiring and regularly post information about the medical industry tailored to medical professionals. Connect with doctors and nurses in your area and start to build relationships with them by regularly checking in through private messages. This way you have a custom created pool of candidates to offer positions to when one finally becomes available at your practice. You can also use your practice Facebook or Instagram account to discuss potential job openings with existing patients. After all, you never know who’s aunt, cousin, or sister would make a great member of your team.

#4: Provide Flexible Works Schedules

Hiring is tough if competing clinics offer better work hours. Another way you can easily attract quality clinical staff is by providing a flexible work schedule. What this looks like for your individual practice might vary, but it could include late starts for parents with school-age children or the ability to take floating holidays as needed. You could even consider offer employees who have ailing or senior parents a set amount of approved elder care or bereavement leave. There is a multitude of ways to make this happen, so it is important to sit down and determine a list of the best options for your particular practice hours and specialty. And, as always, try to include your existing staff for getting great input on how they feel this should be done.  

#5: Offer Competitive Compensation

There’s an old saying that money talks. Finding great employees is easy if you offer competitive compensation, but it doesn’t have to just be dollars and cents. Consider additional benefits such as extra vacation time, paid gym memberships, quality health benefits, and more. Some clinics also provide a stipend for childcare to make getting to work easier for parents. Others even provide partial tuition assistance for certain medical continuing education classes.  You can also partner up with businesses in your local community that offers enrichment classes or special events to provide your staff with added perks. Employees today love these types of benefits and might even choose to work for your practice over another in the neighborhood because of them.

#6: Budget Accordingly Ahead of Time

Of course, it might be difficult to offer a comprehensive compensation package if you have a small practice. To help offset this, think ahead. Begin to budget accordingly and start saving to bring on a new physician or staff member. By adequately planning, it becomes easier to hire someone when the need arises instead of waiting until you can afford it. This is also a great way to determine how much you can really afford when it comes to finding the right staff member and creating a range that matches your most to least qualified candidates’ skills.

#7: Outsource Billing Tasks to Help Free Up Payroll

Another thing to consider is outsourcing billing tasks to help free up payroll. It’s no secret that this can be an incredibly time-consuming job that eats up a large amount of hourly pay budget. By working with a qualified medical billing company such as M-Scribe, you can help keep these costs to a minimum, allowing you to afford to bring on a new team member in a different area of the practice. Plus, companies that specialize in this type of work are often more efficient, which allows for better overall billing practices.

While these seven tips are all great ideas, they are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to hiring great staff for your small medical practice. Have any additional ideas? We would love to hear them! Please post a comment with how you found your perfect employee and why this worked so well for you.

M-Scribe offers medical billing services custom-tailored to your exact needs, along with free hiring services locally in Georgia. Please contact us today to learn how we can help make your medical practice  more efficient and save you time, money, and hassle. Call us today at 770-666-0470 or email me at patrick.dougherty@m-scribe.com.{{cta(‘c5f31411-6cf2-445a-bb8c-d187cedc744b’,’justifycenter’)}}

 

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