By Julie Koenig, COO
For the past few months, our HR and marketing teams, PDs, RDs and RCDs have been working in fifth gear to recruit critical roles across the country. I’m happy to share that the hard work is paying off and some of our locations are starting to see some relief. Thank you all for what you are doing to help us find the right people to provide the quality care our patients deserve and to help your teammates carry the load while filling capacity gaps. From facilities operations to front-line colleagues, you’ve waded through a lot of challenges the past two years, and some of you have been taking on two-to-three times the caseloads waiting for the right people to come on board. I’m so appreciative for all that you’ve done and continue to do for our recruiting blitz.
Press pause on auditing
To free up bandwidth for doubling down on critical-level recruitment, BHG hit pause on internal clinical and quality audits and/or reporting through the end of April, including:
- Quality Audits and Scorecards
- Compliance Monitoring Program – CMP
- HR File audit – review only specific requirements, no need to upload the audit
Note: we must continue to comply with all external audits. This pause only applies to BHG internal items listed above.
Shifting focus
We’ve hired enough counselors and still have openings for nurses and doctors and are continuing that work for other critical-level roles. Now, we can start focusing on patient and staff retention again. We’re starting to see improvement with patient retention and are up 4% over last year. That correlates with passionate people — all of you — who want to be here.
We’re committed to meeting you where you are and providing support that sets you up for a successful career path and work-life balance, including new training, hiring new Regional Clinical Directors, and tuition reimbursement. We want to be your employer of choice.
Our whole team shares a deep gratitude for every one of you and for making BHG what is today and what it will be tomorrow.
Other Ops Happenings
Watch these two great, recorded webinars from the February NAADAC: Engagement in the Black Community Summit where Samson Teklemariam, LPC, CPTM, VP and Director of Clinical Services, and other team members shared their wisdom.
Incorporating Peers into MAT Settings , presented by Samson, Maury Long, RD of Alabama, a BHG Peer from Virginia, a BHG Peer from Colorado. One of the biggest challenges in medication assisted treatment and recovery (MATR) settings is managing the volume and variety of patient need to counselor ratio. Often, patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) can benefit from additional support in care coordination and case management. Even when a patient has reached a phase of healthy maintenance, their care often slips during transition of care and referral management. A dedicated peer recovery support specialist (PRSS) can address this gap and many more patient needs. Lived experience can have tremendous value in MATR settings, but care coordination is an additional benefit to adding PRSS to the treatment and recovery workforce. https://www.naadac.org/peer-recovery-MATR-webinar
Black Professionals in Excellence: Overcoming Barriers by Stepping into Our Professional Growth. Members of NAADAC’s Critical Issues in the Black Community Committee shared their own strategies for career development, advancement, and honestly explore systemic issues within the Black community that hinder advancement and systemic barriers with the healthcare industry that need to be addressed. Panel facilitated by Samson Teklemariam. https://www.naadac.org/professionals-in-excellence-EBC2022-webinar
