How to Hire Great Staffers for Your Acupuncture Practice
As an acupuncture insurance billing company we undertand that acupuncture is unlike most medical specialties, acupuncture is more of a ‘niche’ healthcare environment. That can have its advantages: less local competition, more loyal patients, freedom to run your practice as you see fit.
But it also comes with drawbacks: problematic payer relationships, smaller patient populations, and a smaller pool of potential employees with a background in acupuncture or acupuncture billing. Since it’s difficult for most acupuncture practices to find job candidates with specialized experience, it’s critical for all of us to hire as smartly as possible.
The key is not to expect any employee to walk in with a keen understanding of the ins and outs of acupuncture; it’s to make sure to hire staff with the capacity to learn quickly and provide your patients with top-of-the-line service. Here are some tips on attracting best-in-class applicants, making sure they’re right for your practice, and getting them to choose to work for you.
Recruiting & Applications: Be Open & Thoughtful
To begin, look around your office and do a mental audit of your current staff. Are you happy or unhappy with their performance? What skills are missing from your current team? Which employee’s performance would you most like to see emulated by an incoming staffer?
Avoid making repeat mistakes. (Did your last two temp-agency hires prove unsuccessful? Try an online job listing instead.) Or, if you’re happy with the team you have, ask around for referrals; good people tend to know good people!
As you review resumes, think through your goals and the human capital on your team. Do you have a capable staff that could train a ‘blank slate’ hire without healthcare experience? If so, don’t discount recent graduates. If not, don’t feel bad about holding out for someone with a medical office background.
Callbacks & Interviews: Be Thorough & Honest
In the interest of time, you may want to just pluck out the first few qualified candidates from your applicant pool and bring them in right away. Avoid that impulse! Narrowing down your list too quickly can put you in a bind. If the interviews go poorly, you’ll be back to square one.
Instead, conduct five-minute phone interviews with 7-10 strong candidates, and bring the top four in for interviews. That way, you’ll have a good idea of the candidates’ interpersonal skills before they come in to your acupuncture practice.
When interviewing candidates, give them an honest overview of what the job entails (and how much it pays) and see how they react. Are they eager? Intimidated? Displeased? Don’t shy away from explaining the ‘tough parts’ of the job; the hire you choose should be prepared to accept the good and bad aspects of working at your practice.
Offers & Onboarding: Be Direct & Helpful
If you have only one opening, avoid making an on-the-spot offer until you’ve interviewed your top four candidates. Once you’ve met them all and narrowed it down to the right person, extend the offer right away and be direct about the start date and pay. Don’t give the offeree too much time to decide whether to accept; you don’t want to lose your #2 prospect to another opportunity if #1 doesn’t work out.
Then, prepare to make your new hire a well-informed one by one by plotting out your training plan in advance of your new staffer’s first day. Who will be the primary trainer? Who will cover the trainer’s other responsibilities while he or she tends to the new hire?
Lastly, set your expectations from the get-go. Make sure your new hire understands how long you expect training to take, and how soon you’ll expect the hire to start working with patients and contributing to office productivity. Careful planning is the best way to ensure any new hire’s success. Good luck!
Are you interested in learning more about healthcare management? Read our Blog!
And if you are thinking of starting to bill insurances for your acupuncture treatments...
