Bigger and better than ever before, the 2017 NAOHP National Conference in Chicago made tremendous strides toward strengthening the occupational health industry by improving the knowledge, relationships, and skillsets of all the professionals who attended.
Almost all of us have some direct knowledge about violence, and for some, that knowledge is unfortunately intimate. Yet, despite our familiarity with violence, we repeatedly and collectively misunderstand violence in two fundamental ways. First, we continue to think about violence in terms of “normal” and “abnormal” behavior, yet this is a false dichotomy.
Q: What do we look for when we hire a physician?
A: “Look at the three pillars of a strong occupational health physician: productivity, patient satisfaction, and outcomes. Try to discover your applicant’s commitment to each.”
Q: I have never understood, do we integrate services for marketing purposes, delivery purposes, or both? A: “Clients usually want the broadest range of services.”
Q: Should we routinely gather information about our competitor’s pricing?
A: “We do it once or whenever we are responding to an RFP.”
Q: Physician compensation kills our bottom line. What can we do?
A: “Every situation is different. Pull out indirects such as benefits and overhead, as they can really skew things. Set incentives: a portion of physician compensation should be based on productivity, patient satisfaction scores, and outcomes.”
In Wisconsin, a year after a worker amputated part of her right index finger on a spot welder at a metal stamping plant, a 19-year-old co-worker suffered a similar injury on her ninth day using the same machine.
NIOSH’s mission is to generate new knowledge in occupational safety and health and to transfer that knowledge to employers and workers. We are solutions, people. By working collaboratively with public and private sector partners, NIOSH transfers its research findings into cost-effective solutions to make work safer, healthier, and more productive for workers, employers, and the Nation. NIOSH is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the Department of Health and Human Services.
Medical Practice Management for Poor Profits
The Fitness for Duty (FFD) exam is often an under-utilized service many occupational health programs do not educate their clients enough on the benefits of an exam of this caliber.