| Challenges: Staff recruitment, retention, and development are one of management's greatest challenges. The most difficult area of recruitment and retention is with primary care physicians. Not only have training programs for primary care physicians decreased, but the need for primary care physicians has increased, making it very competitive to add to our provider staff. Neighborhood Health meets this challenge as it can generally get loan repayments for clinician, however, retention after an initial three years continues to be difficult. We also partner with medical schools to train providers and encourage them to select community care as their career choice. Other high demand areas include licensed behavioral health providers. Few are trained in a primary care setting and are primarily attracted to mental health settings. Strong Management staff is also at a premium. STAFF TRAINING AND RETRAINING: Staff training in technology is also a challenge. Electronic Health Records are becoming the standard for health organizations. Implementation requires significant retraining and retooling. The level of technology expertise among staff and contractors must constantly improve. CERTIFICATIONS: Certification as a Patient Centered Medical Home as well as Joint Commission accredited. FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY: Neighborhood Health is exceptionally dependent upon Federal grants. Given the stress on public resources, we do not expect significant funding growth. Neighborhood Health launched its community fund-raising plan and annual fund-raising breakfast. LEADERSHIP SUCCESSION: The transition of leadership is critical in the next few years. Neighborhood Health has put in place a strong management team that can support leadership transition. Opportunities: The greatest opportunities are with health reform and partnerships. These continue to be an important part of Neighborhood Health strategy. |
