As the leader of a healthcare technology company providing services that help dental and medical practices communicate information to payers more efficiently and securely, and because of my years in the business, I’ve developed a certain knack for understanding the software and technology needs of the modern practice. Practices seek software solutions to make their business lives easier. Software is designed and sold in similar fashion: to streamline workflows, eliminate needless tasks, enhance security and remove inefficiencies and obsolescence.
Many voices contribute to the conversation about how much and what type of technology a practice needs, and even how a practice should use that technology. There are far fewer conversations about the resources—employees—a practice must use to implement, manage and care for the technology so that the practice’s investment pays dividends and produces returns.
Most practices, especially smaller ones, don’t have time or resources to manage IT without some outside guidance because they are primarily focused on the delivery of care. In fact, few dentists desire to spend their time dealing with software and troubleshooting IT issues. Most never thought they’d need to evaluate such technicalities, especially following such a rigorous path of education. Few dentists are equally skilled in the art of seeing patients, managing their practices and managing their people, including hiring top IT talent.
The hiring process for new employees is often overwhelming and sometimes gets rushed along, but I’d like to share some advice that I’ve gained throughout my career to help guide dental practice owners along the path to finding the best IT candidate for your practice.
First, you not only need to keep in mind the basic requirements of the current position, but also think beyond the basics and ask questions to test the forward-thinking abilities of the candidate. Anyone who works in IT should have a basic knowledge of information technology terms and protocols, but not everyone has the vision for how what they do can impact the business they work for. With technology driving so many of the revenue streams in today’s dental practices, it’s critical that your IT team has ideas and experience to help maximize your revenue while eliminating old technology and processes that are holding back the practice.
One of the things you should do is ask if the candidate is aware of the trends currently taking place in the dental industry. You want someone who is ahead of the curve, not struggling to keep up as your practice plans for the future, using software and hardware tools to replace outdated manual and paper-laden processes. For example, the candidate should have in-depth knowledge of how IT can affect HIPAA and how best to secure your practice’s data. It’s your responsibility as the practice leader and owner to extrapolate that information and make sure the candidate you hire knows not only technology, but also understands the special requirements of the dental industry.
Next, you need to make sure that the candidate has people skills as well as technical skills. It’s inevitable that IT will be called upon at some point to provide advice and assistance to individuals throughout your practice and that those individuals may have varying levels of technical expertise. Whomever you hire needs to have knowledge, patience and the right personality to work effectively with other team members. They must be able to develop protocols and provide guidance for such issues as a system crash, system outage or something seemingly as innocuous as a strange email that comes into the practice. How will these challenges be addressed? What will you need to do, and what will your IT team need to address? How will you inform and manage other employees in the practice? You need to be sure that the candidate you hire can provide the proper answers to these questions, outline a process for your consideration and oversee its implementation.
As you move through the interview process, maintain eye contact and measure the candidate’s responses as you proceed through the questions. This sounds simple, but if you’re asking questions and see a blank look or a roll of the eyes, these could be signs that you need to look elsewhere, and quickly. Making excuses for a potential employee during the interview process will likely cost you both time and trouble in the future.
Another thing to look for in candidates—other than basic credentials such as years of experience, education required and certifications needed, for example—is interest. Do the interviewees show any real interest in the position? Can you see fire in their eyes? Do they seem to understand the landscape and the lingo needed to successfully lead the IT operations of your practice? Demonstrated knowledge means their heads, and likely their hearts, are in the game and that the candidates will be on board with you to do whatever it takes to win.
Finally, dive in. Get into the meat of the interview by providing relevant questions that help extrapolate the candidates’ information and demonstrate how they would handle certain situations, under a deadline, when needed. Do some research prior to the interview to gain an understanding of the most pressing IT issues your dental practice is facing if you don’t already understand them. If you have the time, study a bit yourself and come to the table with some opinions on the direction you feel might be the best to take on certain issues. But don’t go so far as to dictate the end game, or the candidates themselves may not want to join your team even if you’re interested in having them onboard.
If you must, seek detailed responses to real-life scenarios to understand the candidates’ breadth of knowledge on the subject. Consider having them list or draw out what they’d like to establish in the organization’s IT infrastructure, or even have them submit a proposal prior to a job offer so you can review the information with advisors to determine if the plan, and employee, are up to your expectations. Test the candidate with a real-world example your practice is currently taking on now. Ask for examples of their previous work and what they have done. What do they consider their specialty: security, implementation, maintenance, etc.?
The interview is only beginning of the hiring process. You’ve got to dig a little deeper into the personality and makeup of all employees in the practice to see if the new candidate will be a good fit. And remember that a friendly personality is just as important for someone who doesn’t work directly with patients as it is for those who are 100 percent patient-facing. After all, just because your future IT service professional won’t be chair-side caring for patients, there’s still a good chance that they’ll interact with patients at some level. For example, their help may be needed when patients have trouble navigating technology such as patient portals, or if your staff are having a technical issue with a computer in a patient room and need immediate assistance.
If you’re under pressure to bring some much-needed technology support into your practice, remember not to succumb too quickly to the need of filling the vacancy. Don’t rush to add an employee simply to fill a gap; hiring the wrong person will only exacerbate problems in the long-run. Even after performing the mentioned best practices, don’t be afraid to take time to review, re-define and detail the roles and responsibilities of the position you’re hiring to ensure you’re finding the right person to meet all of your needs—not just part of them. Doing so will empower you with the necessary perspective to understand the requisite qualifications and experience from those you interview.
Finally, if during the interview process you need a little support or assistance, consider bringing in someone from the outside who understands IT terminology and techniques. They can help you objectively identify potential disconnects between a candidate's resume and his or her actual experience, qualifications and accomplishments.
Lindy Benton is CEO and president of MEA|NEA|TWSG, a provider of secure healthcare communications, electronic attachment and health information exchange solutions for hospitals and dental practices. MEA|NEA|TWSG serves more than one million providers in the U.S.