SCENARIO

You are hired as the new Director of HIM for a community health clinic under new ownership, management, and leadership. The founding owners recently retired and sold the clinic to a group of healthcare professionals who want to own and manage the facility where they work. The clinic is in San Marcos, TX and offers a variety of outpatient services. The new owners formed a private corporation with shareholders including three physicians, four nurses, four physical therapists, two respiratory therapists, and one hospital administrator. There are several other employees who are not shareholders. The shareholders elected a board of directors with the physicians filling the roles of the corporate officers. In this lean organization, you report to the hospital administrator who reports to the board of directors.

You are not an owner/shareholder. You have been hired to provide leadership to the organization regarding all aspects of health information management as well as to direct the HIM department. At the time of the sale, the HIM department consisted of one supervisor with no HIM credential and fifteen years' experience, two outpatient coders, and four HIM team members with the RHIT credential who perform all HIM functions. The HIM department has been handling paper medical records and operating without any major incidents for many years. The new owners recognize the need to move to an electronic health record system and wanted a fresh leadership perspective for the HIM department.

QUESTION

Curriculum Objective: VI.D.1 Leverage human capital

Question: As you enter the role of new Director of the HIM department, what potential personnel issues do you see in the scenario and what are your plans to address them, if needed? Your response should include 1) identification of at least 3 potential personnel issues, 2) factors that led you to identify each of the potential issues, and 3) practices and strategies from HIM5390 and your personal experience that you would use to help address the issues. This response should concisely demonstrate mastery of skills and knowledge related to leveraging human capital.