Becker's Hospital Review

87 Clinician onboarding: Modern approaches for greater flexibility, scalability and meaningful moments for new hires W hen it comes to onboarding newly hired clinicians, first impressions matter. A poor user experience can lead to frustration, slower onboarding times and lost revenue. During a webinar on April 7, sponsored by KPMG and hosted by Becker's Hospital Review, two industry experts described the onboarding challenges that healthcare systems face. They discussed a solution that can speed time to productivity, improve revenue generation and enhance the provider experience. The presenters were: • Brad Bach, principal of healthcare and HCM, KPMG • Vishakha Sant, Global Head of Healthcare Provider Industry Solutions, ServiceNow Five key takeaways from the webinar: 1. The onboarding experience matters to both physician satisfaction and the bottom line. The physician onboarding process is complex and can take as long as six months. There can be hundreds of steps and large volumes of data are collected across different functions. "If clinicians aren't onboarded properly, organizations can lose as much as $200,000 in revenue per physician per month," said Ms. Sant. At the same time, the onboarding experience has a direct impact on physician satisfaction which also affects retention. 2. Clinician onboarding isn't only about creating efficiency, it's about creating the best user experience. The best onboarding processes are designed around the moments that matter to providers. "We need to think about the user experience in its totality and determine where the emotional energy is the highest," Mr. Bach said. A differentiated onboarding experience amplifies positive emotions, such as excitement, enthusiasm and pride. At the same time, it mitigates or eliminates negative emotions like frustration or anxiety. The overarching goal is to enhance the physician experience. ServiceNow serves as a one-stop shop for all onboarding requirements, such as reviewing documentation and uploading materials. Users can access the system using laptops, tablets or other mobile devices. "It's not only about making the process as efficient as possible," Mr. Bach said. "It's about generating a great experience that results in higher engagement for new hires. If people aren't engaged, they either won't complete onboarding tasks or will take a long time to finish them." 3. A platform solution is an ideal way to address clinician onboarding challenges. Onboarding is complex because many processes and systems are involved. Ripping out multiple systems and replacing them with one solution isn't the answer, however. A better approach is to deploy a platform that connects disparate systems. "With a single platform, users don't have to worry about what's happening behind the scenes," Ms. Sant said. Onboarding platforms decrease physician recruitment costs, improve time to productivity and reduce clinician turnover. Preliminary results from a health system using ServiceNow are impressive. The organization expects to save $500 million annually by retaining physicians. In addition, advanced practice providers are experiencing a 30 percent reduction in their onboarding time, according to Ms. Sant. 4. Automated workflows streamline the new hire experience and back-office operations. ServiceNow provides out-of-the-box workflows for onboarding and credentialing which include automation of forms and enrollments. Provider onboarding specialists can configure these workflows easily without IT support. As soon as a provider is ready to onboard, the ServiceNow system notifies IT that new devices are required. It also notifies the Accounting and HR teams, so the clinician can be set up in payroll and enrolled in benefits programs. All of this is possible, thanks to integration with third-party applications. On the back end, ServiceNow also monitors stalled processes and places where clinicians are encountering difficulties. Analytics and metrics quantify the value delivered by enhanced processes. 5. Flexible onboarding systems enable healthcare organizations to scale up and down as patient needs change. ServiceNow is a scalable and flexible system. The same principles that apply to provider onboarding are just as important for offboarding. Healthcare organizations can use the system to revoke credentials, turn off clinician access to systems and facilities and retrieve IT assets like laptops. ServiceNow also enables organizations to scale up and down easily. "Last year, many healthcare systems needed to onboard clinicians rapidly so they could test and treat COVID-19 patients," Ms. Sant said. "Looking ahead, there's no doubt that we will run into other situations where contingent workers will be needed. Wouldn't it be great to plan for that more efficiently?" To learn more about the onboarding solution, view the full webinar at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBc4xstxfOk. n Sponsored by: About KPMG: Improving business performance, turning risk and compliance into opportunities, developing strategies and enhancing value are at the core of what we do for leading organizations.

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