When it comes to tarting a new practice it is important to have a strong work staff because they are going to be a vital part of your success. By having a strong team you should be able to work together to make the work day flow productively and give your patients the best care and service. We have outlined the tasks needed for setting up a proper human resources department for your practice:

Delineate employee roles

At this point in the process of setting up your practice, you should be able to tell how many staff members you’ll need to run your medical practice.

For example, if you choose not to outsource billing and expect to build a large patient panel, you would benefit from a dedicated employee to handle billing and scheduling as well as a nurse or medical assistant.

Likewise, if your business depends heavily on medicare reimbursements, you may want to bring on a compliance officer to ensure all the requirements are met and to watch for regulatory changes.

Set up personnel benefits

Next you will need to define the expectations for each role before the hiring process begins. You also want to create an employee handbook that reiterates those expectations that can be referred to at any point.

In the handbook you’ll want include your medical office policies (e.g., time and attendance) and benefits (e.g., health insurance options and paid time off). Take the time to set up these benefits and arrange for payroll services, if needed.

Perform a security risk assessment

As you figure out staff workflows, you’ll also have to address patient privacy and security issues. To comply with HIPAA and MACRA, you’ll need to conduct a security risk assessment. The assessment should include documentation of the following:

  • An overview of all protected health information (PHI) you create, receive, or transmit
  • A list of all the physical and/or digital locations where PHI is stored or maintained
  • An assessment of current security measures at your medical practice
  • A rundown of the possible threats and vulnerabilities to PHI
  • An evaluation of each threat’s likelihood
  • A determination of the impact of potential threats

Make sure you’re training your staff on the best practices to avoid expensive HIPAA violations. Also, verify that your EHR system includes certain security features to provide additional protection.

Finally, don’t forget to create a HIPAA notice of privacy practices (NPP) for patients to sign when they fill out their registration and medical history forms.