March 15th, 2022 | Valerya Poltorak, General Manager, Sterling Healthcare & Life Sciences

Accelerate Healthcare Hiring: Streamline Your Workflow

The high demand to hire top talent in the healthcare industry has been an ongoing challenge, compelling HR teams to find ways to onboard personnel quickly. The process behind screening and hiring comes with an array of difficulties, especially with healthcare being one of the most highly- regulated industries.

With the need to accelerate hiring quickly and safely, healthcare organizations should consider streamlining their hiring workflow. Here are a few key benefits that can be seen when implementing background screening technology.

Simplify the Hiring Process for Both Employer and Candidate

Background screening is one of the most critical components of the hiring process; however, it can be both complicated and time-consuming for not only employers but for candidates as well.

Nearly one in six HR managers would rate their candidates’ background check experience as fair to poor, and nearly 40% of employers have lost a candidate due to a poor background check experience. Healthcare providers must follow specific requirements, including gathering information on primary source verifications, navigating Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requirements, and meeting healthcare regulations.

On the other hand, if a candidate has trouble submitting their required information, they may find themselves dropping out and moving on to another opportunity that is able to get them to Day One faster. It’s also very common for candidates to feel nervous and anxious when going through the background screening process, even if they have nothing to hide. Long turnaround times and infrequent communications can increase the risk of losing a quality candidate.

Investing in a technology-based screening service can result in increased speed and quality by reducing both the complexity of background screening as well as the risk of human error. Sterling’s CourtDirect^SM technology, for example, has digital access to 85% of US criminal search records, resulting in 90% of criminal background checks being delivered in one day. Efficient networks like this can help reduce the complexity of the hiring process and simplify background screening for faster turnaround times.

Keep Up-to-Date on Evolving Healthcare Compliance Regulations

Keeping up with healthcare regulations on the federal, state, and local level can be a time-consuming and cumbersome task, yet it is important to be as thorough as possible.

Maintaining compliance can be a struggle to manage, especially for healthcare organizations that operate across multiple states. Failing to comply with applicable law can quickly become a public relations liability for healthcare entities. In the last decade alone, companies have paid more than $34 billion in consumer protection litigation damages, while filings have risen about 20%. By the end of 2017, the number of consumer protection class-action lawsuits tripled.

A streamlined hiring workflow offering industry-specific services can simplify managing healthcare requirements around hiring, credentialing, and monitoring. A background screening service that is familiar with how healthcare systems operate can provide the expertise needed to help navigate FCRA requirements, healthcare regulations, and requirements from accredited bodies.

Lower the High Cost of Inefficient Hiring

With many healthcare organizations looking to lower their expenses, healthcare teams may struggle with how to operate at reduced resources while constantly worrying about putting the company at risk. However, contracting multiple vendors for various departments (or using internal resources to support manual processes to maintain HR and compliance paperwork) can increase spending exponentially. Compounding the problem, inaccurate or outdated information can result in HR teams losing precious time. Performing healthcare background screening and monitoring without first having a streamlined process in place can cost in-house HR teams additional work hours.

On the other hand, rushing to onboard healthcare workers should not be done at the expense of quality. The risk of failing to run an accurate background check on the right candidate can be financially costly. Northwestern University’s HR newsletter states that “[…] the US Department of Labor’s estimate is simple – the average cost of a bad hiring decision is at least 30% of the individual’s first-year expected earnings. Others argue the cost is actually greater.”

Integrating a background screening partner into your existing ATS can streamline the recruiting process and efficiently identify quality talent all in one place. This also helps reduce operational costs by streamlining workflows and saving time by freeing staff from manual duties. With the highest number of integrations in the background screening industry, Sterling’s ATS and provider management software reduces the time to initiate background checks, enabling HR teams to make better decisions around candidates.

Provide a Superior Candidate Experience

With growing market competition for candidates, healthcare organizations are looking to recruit top talent as quickly as possible. Often, these organizations use extreme measures to hire and onboard critical talent, such as implementing hiring bonuses that in turn can demotivate current staff. Other approaches include overstaffing in-house recruitment teams or investing in multiple technology solutions which don’t integrate, creating a disjointed candidate experience.

Introducing technology that streamlines the hiring process can help provide a better candidate experience. For example, younger applicants generally prefer the convenience and accessibility of smartphones. Mobile job applications officially surpassed those submitted on desktop computers in 2020 with 61% of all applications submitted via mobile devices.

Sterling encourages candidates to use our mobile Candidate Hub when asking for additional information, which increases the likelihood of a quick response, in turn reducing overall turnaround time. An intuitive interface with pre-filled information reduces redundancy and allows candidates to provide the required information easily. A dedicated mobile portal also allows HR teams to stay in constant communication with candidates (and vice versa) on next steps and easily maintain process transparency.

Conclusion

Healthcare background screening doesn’t have to be a complex part of the hiring and onboarding process. A streamlined hiring workflow can help organizations manage their candidates, monitor changing healthcare regulations, and minimize cost inefficiencies so they can continue focusing on delivering quality patient care.

Sterling is not a law firm. This publication is for informational purposes only and nothing contained in it should be construed as legal advice. We expressly disclaim any warranty or responsibility for damages arising out this information. We encourage you to consult with legal counsel regarding your specific needs. We do not undertake any duty to update previously posted materials.