Like any other business, starting, running, and scaling a healthcare facility is no easy task. In the beginning, you’d likely have to take on multiple roles. By leveraging transferable skills, you’d be able to handle anything from scheduling patients yourself to validating insurance information and collecting medical bill balances.
However, as your healthcare business grows, you’d have to let go of the reigns on some roles and hire employees with the skills for the positions. Nevertheless, your healthcare team must also possess and leverage transferable skills to help your organization thrive.
What are Transferable Skills?
Transferable skills are skills that can be transferred from one role, job, or industry to another. These skills not only contribute to your organization’s success but also help your employees grow professionally.
Employees with transferable skills are able to perform their job duties more effectively. These skills also enable them to perform outside their primary job roles, which benefits your healthcare facility.
Why are Transferable Skills Important for My Healthcare Team?
There are several reasons why transferable skills are important for your healthcare team. First and foremost, these skills make your employees more versatile. As a result, they’re able to take on multiple roles or responsibilities, which is extremely beneficial when someone is out sick or on vacation. Having employees with transferable skills also allows you to be more flexible with your staffing.
Second, transferable skills make your employees more marketable. In other words, these skills make your team members more attractive to potential employers. As a result, they’re less likely to leave your organization for another opportunity.
Third, transferable skills help your employees grow professionally. For instance, an employee who’s able to effectively communicate with patients and staff is likely to be promoted to a leadership position. Alternatively, an employee who’s able to use data and analytics to improve patient outcomes is likely to be in high demand by other healthcare organizations.
Fourth, transferable skills help your organization save money. For example, if an employee is able to effectively multitask, you wouldn’t have to hire additional staff to cover that employee’s workload.
Finally, transferable skills help your organization adapt to change. As the healthcare industry continues to evolve, it’s important for your team to be able to adapt as well. For instance, if you implement a new electronic health record system, your team would need to be trained on how to use it. However, if your team members are already comfortable with using new technology, they’d be able to adapt to the change more easily.
What Transferable Skills Does My Healthcare Team Need?
From your clinical medical personnel to the front desk staff and back-office billing team, possessing these transferable skills can help your team become more effective and contribute to the success of your organization, culturally and financially.
Problem-Solving Skills
The ability to identify and solve problems can be utilized in diverse circumstances and roles. However, an individual with problem-solving skills is also able to create an environment that allows team members to contribute to problem-solving. Thereby, varying ideas and solutions are shared, and problems are solved faster. The cliché adage "two heads are better than one" holds true!
Patience
The ability to be patient is a virtue that is needed in most professions but especially in healthcare. From long days and nights to back-to-back shifts, there are times when it can be difficult to maintain a level of patience. Nevertheless, impatience can lead to errors, low morale, and a lack of productivity.
Flexibility
Being flexible means being able to adapt to change. And in the healthcare industry, change is inevitable. Whether it’s a new health insurance policy or a new EHR system, your team will need to be able to adjust accordingly. Not only does this help reduce stress levels but it also helps improve patient care.
Time Management Skills
The ability to manage time effectively is a necessity in any profession. But in healthcare, it’s especially important. This is because there are always deadlines that need to be met, whether it’s submitting insurance claims or completing patient charts.
Organizational Skills
The ability to stay organized is critical for all members of a healthcare team. This is because there is a lot of paperwork that needs to be completed on a daily basis, from patient charts to insurance forms. If this paperwork isn’t organized, it can lead to errors and delays.
Technology Skills
In today’s world, it’s important for all employees to have at least basic computer skills. But in healthcare, it’s especially important for staff to be comfortable using computers. This is because many tasks, from scheduling appointments to billing patients, are now done electronically.
Interpersonal Skills
The ability to interact with others in a positive way is essential for all members of a healthcare team. This is because they need to be able to work together in order to provide the best possible care for patients.
Communication Skills
Miscommunications can have disastrous consequences in the healthcare sector – internally and patient-facing. Thus, your healthcare team must be able to communicate effectively and efficiently with patients and colleagues.
This means communicating clearly - with no room for misunderstanding and misinterpretation – verbally, visually, and in writing. Keep in mind too, body language has a huge impact on what is perceived versus what is actually said.
On the flip side, written communication can convey a different tone than your intent due to the lack of a visual component.
Listening vs Active Listening Skills
Listening skills aren’t just the ability to be quiet when the other party is speaking and thinking about how you'll respond. Active listening is vital to understanding the other party and clarifying the situation before taking action. This enables your healthcare team to provide excellent services and solve problems before they escalate.
Collaboration Skills
This transferable skill is the ability to work with a team to achieve a common goal. It involves building rapport with team members across functional areas and being open to other people’s ideas. It also requires flexibility and mutual respect. For instance, doctors, nurses, and staff need collaboration skills to effectually work together, thus serving patients at the highest service level.
Leadership Skills
Leadership skills go beyond leading (an act of guiding) and managing (an act of directing) a team. It’s a transferable skill that enables your employee to show initiative and take charge when necessary. It’s also the ability to delegate tasks, inspire others to get the job done, and take responsibility for ‘bad’ outcomes. In other words, instill a sense of ownership.
Taking Ownership Skills
By entrusting your team to support what’s best overall for the company via their personal values rather than hard and fast rules, you’ll instill a sense of ownership and autonomy, leading to individuals with a shared vision, more engagement, and sense of purpose within the organization. An ownership culture means your team is invested in everyone’s success to build trust and create informed decisions.
Bottom Line
Transferable skills enable your healthcare team to perform their job roles more effectively, as they are able to transfer and utilize these skills in different circumstances.
Therefore, when hiring employees, or even working with external organizations, you should ensure that they possess these skills. A crucial component of your healthcare company's success is on the back office operations and the bill collection side.
By partnering with a self-pay and slow pay account resolution team that has the skills necessary to effectively take on tough conversations, your patients' experience will result in a positive outcome.
Contact RMK today to discuss your business' needs and how we can help you!