Q: What are you doing to recruit and retain the best talent for your team?
Will Conaway: I am fortunate to have an interactive and creative vice president of human resources and marketing as a partner. No IT department can build and retain the best staff without the assistance of others. We have made tremendous progress in recruiting and retaining the best people in technology while promoting our objective of being a world class IT department. Internal leadership coalitions dedicated to this common purpose are fueling this objective.
After IT was able to establish and disseminate our organizationally aligned vision, values and end goals to our business partners, we then updated all of our job descriptions. If you don’t have a JD that depicts what you are looking for, you have little chance of attracting the proper applicant. We have also made great efforts to look for people who not only have solid ideas but know how to implement them. Recruiting for Prime Healthcare’s IT department is a well-thought-out process. We are not looking for just anyone to fill a role; we are looking for those who are capable of working with a fast-paced and innovative team of professionals.
For example, Prime Healthcare’s IT is unique in that we continue to develop applications in-house. With more than 30 proprietary applications being used daily and many more being rolled out at our sites, from sepsis monitors to secure texting to a physician rounding tool, we require the best talent in the industry. We have launched an internship program in conjunction with a local college, and we have interest from several other schools to place their students at Prime Healthcare’s IT department. Additionally, we’ve found great value with our diversity and inclusion program.
Q: How do you handle competition for the best talent?
WC: We know we have great people and that these people will be on the radar of recruiters. We have developed and will continue to create programs that provide a career path for our people. When people have a career path, they are more likely to want to stay. We’ve initiated a mentoring program pilot and selected a new education and training platform to get our people the best training in the market. We’re enhancing our skills inventory to confirm that we have more people promoted from within, we’re implementing a succession planning tool and we’re using distributed engagement surveys to ensure we’re listening to our people.
We continue to promote Brown Bag Lunch learning sessions and encourage everyone to lead a session. We implemented a series titled Leadership Journeys that features a live interview with successful people to discuss how they got to where they are today. We’ve dedicated a physical space called the Creativity Cove, where employees can gather to share ideas. One of our most exciting stories is that of the recent What is Idea (Innovative Design Enhancement Approval), an application which was designed, produced and implemented by an employee and is now in production.
Our people are involved in the day-to-day operations, and we consistently communicate to them that they own their career. Everyone in Prime Healthcare’s IT department is not only asked to be a leader, but they are also expected to be a leader by driving change, innovation and creativity. The expectations are very high, and it is a fun and exciting place to be right now.
To participate in future Becker’s Q&As, contact Laura Dyrda at ldyrda@beckershealthcare.com.
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