27 Oct Human resource function

Response to this discussion post. Consider the following question as you write the reply: 

How has the human resource function changed in the past two decades?

“There are multiple environmental factors today that affect the human resources function in health services organizations. One issue is the declining reimbursements which deals with third-party payers and the government deciding to cover less with reimbursement payments, which effects organization’s revenue and competitive recruiting compensation. Another issue is the low supply of primary care health professionals as recruitment has become challenging due to shortages leaving other staff such as nurses who are also dealing with a shortage to work longer hours leading to burnout (Buchbinder et al., 2021). One more issue would be the population’s needs for health and medical care has only increased as experienced with the recent COVID-19 pandemic and the aging population of Baby Boomers who are retiring requiring more health care without also being able to replace the health care workforce. Finally, the issue of the increasing regulation and scrutiny of health services organization which deals with licensing and accreditation made available to the public for accountability purposes along with government and third-party payers increasing requirements for reimbursement payments.

Factors such as these impact the healthcare workforce and the ability for human resources to maintain healthy numbers to alleviate burnouts. If reimbursements are declining than human resources do not have the budget to offer competitive salaries. Lytle (2020) discusses how “health care is one industry in which staffing deficiencies can literally mean life or death” (para 8). The pressure to comply to increased requirements and still cover the same amount of work can be stressful on the mental health of the health professionals. With shortages and the health care workforce working longer hours it leads to easy burnout and mistakes. If human resources cannot help the shortages and offer employees proper benefits and compensation, they will look elsewhere which only demotivates the professionals and creates a cycle of constant turnover.

Buchbinder, S. B., Shanks, N. H., & Kite, B. J. (2021). Introduction to health care management (4th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Lytle, T. (2020, February 24). The health care industry’s top HR challenges. SHRM. Retrieved October 10, 2022, from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/spring2020/pages/health-care-industry-top-hr-challenges.aspx.”