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Executive Summary

In this report, trends in the healthcare system are analyzed with a significant focus on understanding the role of the human resource manager in the health care system. The trends are based on crucial aspects entailing human resource management: job performance, duties, needs, and typical environment.  The report identifies the human resource department as a central player in implementing performance appraisal, recruitment, and overall human capital management. The health care workers directly impact the performance and overall patient outcomes, which are the two core principles of health care organizations. The report recommends for the health care system to support and invest in their human resource departments.

Trends in Health Care Analysis

Introduction

The healthcare system has undergone some of the most remarkable transformations over the years. Ranging from digitizing health care service, precision medicine to patient–centered care models; the health care sector exhibit promising developments in improving medical practice and providing better health for the population. A significant trend is shifting from a volume-based model to high-value care that emphasizes reduced cost, improved care delivery, and overall health for populations. Value-based care models are designed to provide team-driven, patient-centered, and evidence-based (Novikovet al., 2018). As the health care sector is transitioning towards value-based care, the role of human resource management becomes of great significance. The human resource is responsible for a critical asset of the health care system, the employees, who directly impact the healthcare performance and client satisfaction. The report concludes that the human resource department plays a central role in ensuring sustained prospects for the healthcare system. 

Trends in health care system

Job performance

With the healthcare sector’s continued flooding with various healthcare facilities and organizations, organizational performance has become a trend in recent times. One reason for increased interest in organization performance is its ability to create and sustain competitive advantages for organizations, directly influencing prospects (Ravish & Gautam,2018). The health care system features multiple stakeholders, including physicians, investors, and clients, making its operations vulnerable to overlapping interests. A common dilemma inflicting management is the demand to foster growth and expansion versus the need to maintain high-quality performance in terms of care provision and health outcomes. Hence, when measuring healthcare performance, dimensions such as economy, efficiency, and finances are considered. Today’s performance management in the healthcare system takes three dimensions; economy, efficiency, and effectiveness (Ravish & Gautam,2018). For example, the economy as a performance parameter may be in waste and cost control, restructuring claims handling, or revenue reforms. Meanwhile, effectiveness may include team collaboration and engagement, while efficiency may be inpatient confidence management or patient outcomes. 

The human resource department plays a central role in implementing performance appraisals. A current health care trend related to performance management in health care accountability and transparency. Health care facilities must be accountable and transparent to their stakeholders, including their staff, patients, and board of directors. The human resource department is responsible for ensuring that the organization remains transparent to its employees regarding its financial performance. For instance, if the organization falls short of funds, the human resource manager must inform its employees of the current situation and find sustainable solutions such as maximizing resource usage or cutting costs.

Duties

Technology advancements and globalization have impacted how businesses operate, and the health care system is not an exemption. With the growth of social media and reviews and rating sites, the human resource department is gradually moving towards online employer branding. The millennial purchase behavior is primarily influenced by online reviews and media coverage, and influencers’ viewpoint (Herrando et al., 2019). Hence, in order to get their attentions towards the brand, the human resource department has to monitor and manage the organization’s healthcare influence to avoid negative implications from bad publicities. Another trend that is impacting on the human resource duties is on employee recruitment, retainment and satisfaction. With increasing legislation, employees’ rights are becoming more publicized and emphasized. The current health care staff are becoming highly sensitive over matters that may impact their performance and satisfaction, such as inequality, culture insensitivity, and poor working conditions (Dixon-Fowler et al., 2020). In that light, the human resource department’s duties have shifted towards employee performance and satisfaction management by improving their responsibilities and obligations towards the healthcare employees.

Needs

As the healthcare system experiences rapid changes in technologies, population shifts, and increased legislation, the human resource department becomes an effective tool to ensure these needs are met. Now more than ever, the health care system is highly reliable on its staff to ensure sustainable and efficient performance. Hence, the human resource department has a more prominent role in ensuring the facilities recruits and maintains a solid and proficient team.

Recent trends indicate that America is at higher risk of nursing shortage related to the increased retirements of the aging population. The health care system is in dire need of filling a newly created position for the retiring baby boomers. For effective and efficient recruitment of new employees, the health care system relies on human resource departments’ human resource information systems and recruitment management tools (Karami et al., 2017). Through the recruitment software applications, the human resource department can effectively track and manage the evolving workforce.

Typical Environment

Overall, the current health care system environment features positive and negative changes that impact human resource management. On the brighter side are technology advancement and a shift towards value-based care, improving the role of human resource management. The contrary is the increased risk of professional medical shortages, wage competition, burnout, and overall safety challenging the part of the HRM. As a result of increased medical professional needs and delayed wages, burnout has become more intense for the healthcare profession. The implications of burnout range from poor performance, mental and emotional stress, and job dissatisfaction (Karami et al., 2017). With adverse consequences, the human resource department is challenged to address work stressors by creating an inclusive and friendly working environment. Lastly is the increased threat to safety among healthcare workers related to pathogens and infections. The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the vulnerabilities experiences of the healthcare professional workforce and the need for more strict and precise safety policies for the profession. This again redirects to the role of the human resource department in implementing and enforcing safety regulations in the healthcare system.

Conclusion and Recommendations

The healthcare system has undergone massive evolution over the years, including technological advancement, a shift in organizational models, and transformation of human resource management. With performance management and job satisfaction becoming a new imperative for the health care industry, the human resource department plays an even more prominent role in ensuring the healthcare staff is satisfied and that the working environment is friendly and inclusive. Hence, to promote quality performance and excellence in healthcare, I would recommend for the health care system to support and invest in their human resource departments. This may include investing in human resource tools, supporting human resources programs and overall activities.