James B. Hayden, M.D

J.C. Blair President & CEO Lisa Mallon is pleased to announce the appointment of James B. Hayden, M.D., as J.C. Blair’s first medical director.  As medical director, Hayden will work part time as a liaison between the medical staff and the Health System’s administration and board.  His primary focus will be related to clinical quality and the development of a medical care model that will meet the requirements of the Affordable Care Act.

Hayden joined J.C. Blair Medical Services in January, after serving as family physician and medical director of the Broad Top Area Medical Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center, for a number of years. Board certified in family medicine, he has been on the medical staff at J.C. Blair since 1986.  He currently sees patients in the new Huntingdon Family Care Center at 835 Washington Street in Huntingdon and at the Trough Creek Medical Care Center in Cassville.  He will continue to see patients in these practices.

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Robert Arnold, M.D., medical director of the UPMC Palliative and Supportive Institute, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM), a professional organization for physicians who care for patients with serious illness.

Dr. Arnold, professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, is a national leader in palliative care, and his research focuses on educational interventions to improve communication between doctors and patients when patients face life-threatening illnesses.  He is widely published on end-of-life, hospice and palliative care issues and is working with UPMC leaders to integrate palliative services throughout the UPMC system.

“It is truly an honor to be recognized by my colleagues for my work in the field of hospice and palliative medicine,” Dr. Arnold said. “I am lucky to be working in an incredibly supportive environment and to have colleagues who support and promote palliative care.”

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By David C. Sawyer, CPP

In today’s fast-paced society the need for speed often supersedes thoroughness, but in the absence of comprehensive background checks on prospective healthcare employees, haste can result in waste…and sometimes worse.

Background checks are not a “one size fits all” commodity; as such it is imperative that employers consider the inherent risks associated with each position when determining the searches and testing conducted in a pre-employment assessment.  Ultimately, the greater the risk involved in a particular role, the more comprehensive the background check.

Healthcare workers often have unsupervised contact with patients in their most vulnerable states; inasmuch the risks associated with a bad hire could literally be matters of life and death.  Standard drug tests may not be adequate for healthcare employees who will have access to a large variety of medications that are deemed highly addictive.  Facilities should examine the types of medications to which employees will have access and test for the presence of those drugs in prospective hires.

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By Dr. Robyn Odegaard

You might call it office politics, a personality conflict, workplace bullying or drama, whatever label it has, gossip, backstabbing and catty behavior are alive and well in many medical facilities.  It will undermine the productivity of your team and cause your patients to question the professionalism of your office.  That is in addition to you wasting your time dealing with ‘petty’ problems between your staff.  If you are like many leaders there are days you want to scream, “Just shut-up and do your job!”  Fortunately there are proactive steps you can take to address and eliminate workplace drama.

Every human being has a unique way he/she uses language called a communication fingerprint.  What words and inflections mean, what types of behavior are rude or insulting as opposed to funny and what silence means vary from person to person.  The more diverse your staff, the better chance you have of misunderstandings and hurt feelings boiling over into emotional war.  Most leaders make the mistake of ignoring these differences and assuming everyone will just ‘act like adults’.  On rare occasions people will just click.  But the majority of the time when left up to hope and luck, a negative, resentful undercurrent will develop and may turn into angry confrontations.

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By Rhonda Larimore

Recruitment and selection for a healthcare organization is step two of creating the right healthcare culture.  What is step one?  I am sure that you will figure it out.   Selection of the right candidate who best matches the organizational culture sets the baseline for employee behavior, employee interaction with patients and families and employee to employee relationships.  Without a match to culture, organizations are setting themselves up for long-term retention issues.  Without retention of employees who match organizational culture, results at best will not improve and at worse will suffer.

First, it is important to realize that recruitment and selection decisions cannot be made on the spot.  There was a past trend to interview and make a job offer on the spot pending background  checks.  This type of recruitment and selection practice is adverse to creating the best healthcare culture and work environment.  Selection decisions take time.  Hiring decisions take specific effort and focus on the organizational values and mission.  They cannot be made instantaneously after one quick meeting with a prospective employee.   When you have a vacancy or multiple vacancies, you may think that time is the last thing you have.  Just remember, rushing hiring decisions likely means you will be making them again in the near future due to turnover.

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By Richard D. Bryer, Sr.

Voluntary benefits provide a great way for employers to offer their employees benefits without incurring the direct cost of buying benefits for everyone.  The benefits landscape has changed and is changing rapidly.  Rising healthcare costs, healthcare reform, older employees and changing family needs are influencing the way employers look at their benefits.  Cradle to grave benefits are a thing of the past.  Employers are faced with very tough decisions when it comes to benefits and the cost of providing them.  They need to remain competitive, but also spend benefit dollars wisely.

The biggest thing driving benefit decisions is healthcare.  Healthcare remains the number one concern for employers and employees.  Employers and brokers have struggled with effective ways to curve the costs of healthcare. Wellness programs, claims management and self-funding arrangements are among a few ways that have been implemented.  However, employers are continuing to make drastic changes to their healthcare plan to keep it affordable.  The result of these changes are more employees are left with increased exposure in the form of higher deductibles, co-pays and cost sharing.  With these increased costs, employees are left with increased gaps in their benefit package.

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By Mary Gormandy White, M.A., SPHR

Are you thinking about enlisting the services of an HR consultant? Whether you need professional assistance creating an employee manual, if you are seeking guidance regarding how to handle the difficult employee issues that arise from time to time or if you are in need of some other type of employee relations assistance, it’s important to choose a skilled professional with the expertise and knowledge necessary to provide you with the help that you need. While there is not a licensure requirement for human resource consultants, there are steps you can take to ensure that any individual or company you are considering hiring has the expertise required to provide you with the guidance you are seeking.

5 Tips for Selecting an HR Consultant

1. Look for Senior-Level Certification

If you are bringing in an outside consultant to provide issues or guidance on matters of significance, look for someone who holds a Senior Professional in Human Resource Management (SPHR) certification. When you select a consultant with this credential, you can be sure that the person you are hiring has knowledge on all key aspects of HR at an executive decision-making level, and that the individual stays current with what is going on in the field by keeping up with continuing education requirements. You can verify that an individual holds a valid certification at HRCI.org, the official website of the HR Certification Institute.

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By Mary Gormandy White, M.A. SPHR

When you became a manager, there’s a good chance that you didn’t realize that providing employee training would become a major portion of your job. However, it’s a fact that teaching is an essential function of every managerial job. When you’re in charge of managing and motivating other workers – no matter how small or large your team may be – training is something that you’re going to have to do on a regular basis.

Providing training to employees is a very specific skill, and it’s one that many managers don’t realize they need to have. Sharing information and teaching people how to perform tasks are two very different things. When you are providing training to team members, you have to focus on conveying information to them in a manner that is motivating and that will enable them to truly understand what you are saying so they will be able to transfer that knowledge to on-the-job performance.

3 Keys to Effective Employee Training 

1. Recognize Your Training Responsibilities

Too many mangers think that employee training is “someone else’s job”. Even if your company has someone in charge of training, those who hold supervisory roles bear responsibility when it comes to employee training and development. If you want to lead a peak performing team, you must be prepared to coach and train your team members to excel.

Managers at every organizational level are responsible for making sure that the employees on their teams have the skills needed to perform the work required. Accomplishing this managerial duty involves providing effective training to team members about company polices and procedures and industry standards, as well as recognizing the need for skill-based training and making sure that it is available to employees who need it.

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