The U.S. has many of the best healthcare providers in the world. However, it also has worse health outcomes than many comparable countries—even with all of its highly trained physicians. According to research by the Commonwealth Fund, life expectancy for Americans is 78.6 years–over two years lower than the average for their peers.
Because of this, improving healthcare outcomes is listed as a priority for almost every healthcare reform initiative. Many of these efforts are directed at physicians and nurses since they have the most contact with patients and, seemingly, the most significant impact on health outcomes. However, there are nearly 9.8 million employees in the healthcare industry, and 5.3 million (54%) are support staff. These support staff have limited or no direct contact with patients but play a significant role in patient outcomes.
From medical assistants who administer medications and take vital measurements to non-medical employees like cooks and janitors, every team member is expected to contribute toward providing a positive patient experience and improving healthcare outcomes.
Healthcare institutions, from large hospitals to small medical practices, rely on skills tests to hire support staff who can help them achieve their goals. By administering assessments to applicants and current employees, they can improve the quality of hire and also leverage skills testing to drive employee development.
From basic computer skills tests to medical billing skills tests, a leading assessment solution like the eSkill Talent Assessment PlatformTM provides the tools healthcare provider HR teams need to hire top candidates and manage training and professional development programs.
Pre-Employment Assessments for Healthcare Support Roles
Healthcare providers face various challenges when recruiting support staff, and the biggest is avoiding hiring mistakes. High turnover is a problem for many entities, the main reason being that the new hire was not a good fit for the institutional culture.
The problem is that there is often a mismatch between the position and the employee’s skill level. This is a big issue when institutions recruit medical billers. According to the Kaiser Health Network, the error rate in medical billing can run as high as 75% to 80%. This suggests there is a significant skills gap when it comes to abilities that are essential for medical billers.
HR leaders agree that requiring a basic computer skills test is a good idea for almost all potential employees. There are other assessments available for roles that require specialized skills. For example, if you want to attract candidates interested in a billing position, you can use the Medical Coding and Medical Billing Skills Tests to evaluate candidates’ abilities in both areas.
How Skills Tests Help You Make Good Hiring Decisions
The eSkill Talent Assessment Platform makes identifying skills and knowledge gaps easy because you can administer pre-employment assessments based on a job or a specific skill. This flexibility allows you to create skills tests that specifically target abilities and aptitudes essential for each job role. As employees complete training, you can continue administering assessments to measure progress.
HR teams can choose from hundreds of pre-prepared skills tests in the eSkill Assessment Library or create custom assessments by selecting questions from one or more tests and adding their own content. For instance, if you want to hire administrative staff to manage billing and perform front office duties, you can create an assessment using questions from the MS Word®, MS Excel®, Customer Service, and Medical Terminology skills tests to ensure candidates can handle all job-related tasks.
When you review test scores, you can quickly eliminate applicants who lack the skills required for the job. You can also study the results in more detail to see which questions candidates answered correctly. You may find that a candidate got difficult questions right but was unfamiliar with a few terms they could quickly learn with minimal training.
Medical Billing and Medical Terminology Skills Tests for Professional Development
Skills tests provide value for healthcare providers after the hiring process is complete. They provide insight into new hires’ and employees’ abilities and help HR and training leaders identify deficient areas. This enables them to create personalized training plans that address each employee’s skills and knowledge gaps.
Organizations can use skills tests to proactively manage employees’ professional development throughout their tenure. In addition to addressing strengths and weaknesses, pre-employment assessment results help you identify the high-level skills employees can develop so they can be promoted to more challenging roles.
Get Started with Skills Testing
Skills testing improves recruiting outcomes by ensuring you hire the best possible candidates. They also support training and development efforts by helping employees succeed in their current assignments, learn new skills so they can advance their careers, and gain valuable experience that will help them meet personal and career goals. All of these will have a significant impact on delivering a positive experience for patients and improving health outcomes throughout your organization.
Do you want to learn how the eSkill Talent Assessment PlatformTM can help you meet hiring and training goals and improve patient healthcare outcomes? Contact us to request a demo.