March 8th, 2019 | Val Poltorak, General Manager, Healthcare

5 Pain Points for Employee Background Screening and Monitoring

Finding, screening, hiring and retaining top talent is not as easy task in any industry, but in healthcare managing all necessary verifications, screenings and monitoring, while keeping abreast of changing compliance regulations can be a nightmare.

While you will no doubt encounter obstacles specific to your organization’s processes, there are some common screening challenges faced by healthcare organizations during the employee lifecycle. Sterling solutions can assist in providing a smarter and faster way to manage these challenges and help limit your regulatory exposure and reputational risk.

Pain point 1: The inability to execute primary source verification due diligence.

Primary source verifications of past employment, education, and professional license are an essential part of the screening process for healthcare organizations, as they are necessary to meet compliance regulations, accreditation standards, and internal policies. These verifications cannot only be difficult to acquire, but can also draw out the process, putting you at risk of losing qualified candidates.

Sterling brings the power of an international background check business to leverage over eight hundred thousand employer relationships, reducing our turnaround time and increasing the success rate for completing primary source verifications to nearly 90%.

Pain point 2: Utilizing archaic methods for acquiring background information.

Verifications are not the only causes for delay in screening. Criminal background checks, as well as drug and health screenings, can be time-consuming and cause long turnaround times that frustrate candidates and employers alike. Additionally, criminal background checks that are not thorough and produce incomplete results can cause compliance problems and patient risks that are particularly sensitive and potentially expensive for healthcare organizations.

At Sterling, we utilize technology and automation to determine where to best search for criminal records, whether at the state or county level, as well as what type of records to flag for review.

Pain point 3: Lacking the resources to stay on top of an evolving regulatory landscape.

Keeping up with changing federal, state, and local compliance regulations is a time-consuming task for healthcare organizations, particularly if your company is growing, expanding into other states and localities, or merging with other existing entities. When an organization is operating across multiple states, maintaining compliance can be especially complex to manage.

Sterling’s dedicated healthcare team serves as a guide for navigating new or pending regulatory changes. Because of our specialized industry knowledge, we not only monitor healthcare law, we understand how it applies to your organization, will alert you with updates, and help you implement process changes to keep you between the lines.

Pain point 4: The high cost of an inefficient hiring process.

Hiring a safe workforce and staying compliant can be a costly endeavor. With many healthcare organizations looking to lower expenses, you may be struggling with how to operate with reduced resources and worrying about putting you and your company at risk.

Consolidating onboarding processes and credentialing monitoring into one program, Sterling’s pre-hire and continuous monitoring solutions help to reduce redundancy, reduce time to onboard, and provide cost efficiency. With the highest number of integrations in the industry, Sterling is one of the premier partners to the top ATS solutions.

Paint point 5. The difficulty of consistently engaging candidates.

Traditionally, gathering needed information from your candidates to begin the screening process required the use of paper forms or online tools that could only be accessed via computer.  Moreover, if a candidate was away from home for the day, traveling or on vacation, they might not have immediate access to send the needed information.

Sterling’s Candidate Hub provides a modern streamlined process through a native mobile experience. Candidates use the technology they are most engaged with – their mobile phones – to respond to requests and start the background screening process faster.

To learn more about these challenges, and how Sterling’s product innovation and continuous technology improvements can help your organization, download our newest article today.

Sterling is not a law firm. This publication is for informational purposes only and nothing contained in it should be construed as legal advice. We expressly disclaim any warranty or responsibility for damages arising out this information. We encourage you to consult with legal counsel regarding your specific needs. We do not undertake any duty to update previously posted materials.