Remote work has been in effect for some time now, but will it impact community health in 2023? Keep reading to find out why working from home plays a large role within the health industry.
Like every other business, community healthcare has been impacted by the remote work trend. By the end of this year, 25% of our workforce will be remote. Predictions state these numbers will continue to increase. But how does this impact community health, a profession that for the obvious reasons a hands-on business?
What is the Impact of Remote Work?
The work world shifted to remote models during COVID. After nearly three years, that should come as no surprise. We all felt the pressure of adapting care delivery to lessen the physical risks of a global pandemic. During the crisis, Harvard Business Review stated,“Exploring remote work options is no longer an exercise in creative brainstorming, but an essential business priority.”
Some of the most forward-thinking community healthcare organizations are responding to these trends. Many have already identified the work that is appropriate to be completed remotely. That’s a first step toward redesigning workflows to permanently embrace remote work models. Organizations must lay out the ground rules for these positions, then build security and other workplace policies to protect themselves in this new remote work world that we find ourselves in. Why go to all this work when traditional work models still seem to be getting the job done? We should consider several benefits of remote work in the FQHC and community healthcare universe.
Why Should Community Healthcare Incorporate Remote Work?
There are four key arguments for remote work adoption that community healthcare organizations should consider. Adopting the flexibility of remote work can provide:
- Safety enhancements for community healthcare workers to lessen their exposure to infection or other patient-related issues. For example, community healthcare workers are not immune to the increase in violence in the workplace.
- Improvements in resource and capacity planning. For example, remote telemedicine applications can help triage patients, lessening traditional patient visits, and even increasing the number of patients seen each day.
- Increasing productivity and efficiency for community healthcare staff while increasing patient engagement. Using video conferencing to connect with home-bound patients to save them the trip to your facility can not only save them travel costs, but it can lessen overhead for your community health center.
- A larger candidate pool. Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) reports 59% of medical practices moved at least some of their workforce to remote work in 2021. This is a hugely attractive alternative for potential community healthcare workers. It also enables you to broaden your candidate pool to look at employees who don’t reside within driving distance to your facility.
UHC Solutions works exclusively with community healthcare providers to tackle the remote work issue by providing highly qualified talent to meet your hiring needs. Talk with our team. We offer a solution to community healthcare hiring shortages.
