With the swearing in of a new government administration at the beginning of this year, and much talk of big changes within the healthcare industry by our new president, the next year is bound to be a big one for hospitals all over the country.

This new administration, led by President Trump, has promised to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act with something that has yet to be clearly defined. There is a strong chance that a replacement will not immediately be put in place once the ACA is changed, which has caused uncertainty throughout the entire healthcare industry.

The uncertain future for healthcare in the United States has prompted a negative outlook for the bottom lines of hospitals.

The Fate of Medicare

President Trump’s appointment of Tom Price to lead the Department of Health and Human Services means that large changes in Medicare and Medicaid are likely in the future.

With Republicans holding both chambers of Congress, Democrats have promised to fight tooth-and-nail to defend these programs. Though it is too early to tell for certain what the direction of Medicare will be, the impact on the healthcare industry will be significant.

Potential reforms such as doing away with Stage 3 Meaningful Use, factoring socio-demographics into hospital readmissions, and protecting DSH payments could all have a significant effect on hospital operations.

Keeping an Eye on Financial Indicators

For a little bit of reassurance, we can look to bond rating agencies for their analyses. One of the largest, Moody’s Investors Service, projected a stable outlook for 2017, despite the potential for change.

Other projections include:

• Patient volume growth is stable at about 1%
• Overall expenses due to pharmaceutical and employment costs are on the rise, compressing profit margins
• Bad debt is on the rise in many areas due to a shrinkage in exchange enrollment rates

Though hospital outlook is uncertain now, as this new administration begins to make clear its plans for healthcare in 2017 and beyond, we will have a clearer picture of what to expect.

Managing people can be a thankless job– as a manager, it’s often difficult to find the balance between being well-liked and taking care of business. One important part of being a great manager is keeping employees motivated. But how? There are several things that a manager can do to maintain their employee’s happiness and productivity. Here are three tips to help improve your employee relationships and encourage success.

Be honest

Being transparent and accessible is a great start for maintaining Being open to your employee’s feedback makes them feel valued, as does keeping them informed of the bigger picture. If an employee feels like they’re toiling away or only do busy work, they won’t share your passion. Get them invested in succeeding as a team.

Reward their hard work

If your employees are doing a spectacular job, tell them. Share it with the whole team but also take the time to meet with them one-on-one. Are they gunning for a promotion or more responsibility? Understanding and encouraging their drive is a win-win situation for the employee and the company.

Show personal interest

Being nice is one thing, but learning about your team is a whole new ball game. Take time to get to know your employees and learn about them– what they do out of work and what makes them happy. Showing genuine interest in your employees is respectful, and a respectful manager gets respect in return.

Getting to know your team, being available and rewarding their efforts are all building blocks for a motivated staff. You need them to succeed, and vice-versa, which is why creating a mutual respect is the best way to get stuff done, together.

When it comes to managing millennials, especially in a tech-driven industry, it’s important to understand that though they are often lumped together in one group, younger and older millennials differ in many ways other than their age. Some of these differences include:

Dissimilar Views on Career Path and Trajectory

The older end of the millennial spectrum was a part of the workforce when the housing bubble burst and caused the ‘great recession’ of 2008, which likely created a situation in which a career or lifestyle change was necessary. This taught the ability to restructure and also imparted a certain respect or perspective on simply being employed. Older millennials tend to believe more in starting at the bottom of a particular company and working their way to the top, as the idea of a young CEO did not exist in their minds at the time of the recession.

On the other hand, younger millennials hold an almost opposite view. They subscribe much more to the thought that their performance in the moment is much more important that previous experience on a subject. As a result, the repetitive work that older millennials value as part of their path to the top, seems like some detriment to the rise of a young millennial’s career path.

Expectations of their Management

A common thought about the millennial generation is that they have a higher expectation of what they want from life, but this isn’t necessarily true for all. Older millennials tend to see management as humans who are inherently flawed – as we all are. They also tend to have some lower expectations on certain aspects of life to help avoid disappointment, which is great in some cases, but it does have a tendency to produce somewhat lower performance.

In turn, it is the younger section of the millennial generation who have the highest expectations of life, their work, and their management. Young millennials tend to see their management as a partner to help them realize their full potential.

With millennial employees said to make up the largest share of American workers, it is important to understand these differences to increase productivity in your workplace.

The Mental Health Reform Bill which was recently passed will help provide more psychiatric beds, additional child psychiatrists, and a new federal position for the assistant secretary for mental health services. The bill’s passing is said to help improve mental health care throughout the United States.

Legislators called for the immediate passage of the Helping Families in Mental Health Crisis Act in the Senate. “The legislation aims to make mental health a national priority and coordinate how mental health care is delivered,” said Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., a psychologist who treats patients with PTSD and traumatic brain injuries and the author of the bill.

With a licensed Psychologists or Psychiatrists filling the new position of Assistant Secretary for Mental Health and Substance Use and overseeing the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, approaches to mental illness treatments will be tested and qualified. An advisory board from the National Mental Health and Substance Use Policy Laboratory would also analyze treatments and services to help decide which ones should be expanded.

The passed bill will also help ensure more treatment services and options to address the nation’s lack of resources to treat severe mental illnesses. It’s also a way to bring light to the stigmas made against people with mental illnesses and prevent the jailing of people battling it.

Opportunities are plentiful- If you are looking for a new position as a Mental Health Nurse, Licensed Professional Counselor, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist or Social Worker our Recruiting Consultants are here to help! 407-478-0332

So, he did it. On November 9^th, in the early hours of the morning, Donald Trump was elected to be the 45^th president of the United States. Moving past this, we need to understand how this presidency will affect the US for the next four years. One of the hotly debated subjects is how the Trump Administration will effect Obamacare, or the Affordable Care Act. After all, Trump did promise that on the first day of his administration, he’d repeal and replace Obamacare. But what does all this actually mean for the state of healthcare in America?

The Changes

First of all, it is important to know how difficult of a task repealing all of Obamacare would be. It is so interwoven with our healthcare system, that it would be almost impossible to repeal all of it. Since most Republicans are of the same mindset when it comes to the Affordable Care Act, they would need to hold 60 seats in the Senate in order to vote it out, which they do not. However, since this election was such a huge win for Republicans, they could easily change specifically targeted laws within the ACA. Those specifics include:

• Eliminating the subsidies that assist many recipients in paying for their Obamacare
• Getting rid of a Medicaid expansion created for low-income Americans
• Restricting the health care coverage of certain organizations like Planned Parenthood

The good news, however, is that these changes will not affect some of the most popular provisions of the ACA which include the requirement that health insurers cannot refuse coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, and allowing citizens under the age of 26 to stay on their parent’s health insurance.

What Does this Mean for You?

After meeting with Obama himself, Trump released a statement that he was reconsidering his stance on repealing the ACA altogether. Trump said he would be open to working with Obama on how he would change the specifics of the ACA.

This all meaning, no one is sure on how much Trump will change Obamacare, and what that will mean for the 20 million people using it and healthcare providers nationwide. All we can do is watch and wait in anticipation.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about the benefits we offer our temps contact us at 407-478-0332.