Case Study

By Karen Branz

"Early in 2007 we had our controller leave with just a month's notice. Though that is what we require of our executives, it's really not enough time to find a replacement," said the CEO of a mid-size North Carolina hospital.

To provide continuity in the transition, the CFO decided to recruit an interim controller. "I called the Nielsen Healthcare Group (NHG) because they are a preferred provider of the North Carolina Hospital Association. I had seen mailings about them, and decided to give them a try," he explained.

"Within a few days they presented me with two or three good candidates. That's a very short period of time to come up with well-qualified candidates that had the hospital experience we needed," he added.

"We see our role as being a matchmaker," said Craig Venneman, vice president of NHG. "We search our database and find the best candidates among the 16,000 experienced healthcare managers in our network. We present the candidates to the client with references, confirmed degrees, verified licensure and more and they choose whom they want to interview."

The Nielsen Healthcare Group has a unique fee system. Hospitals pay them a finder's fee when the candidate arrives on site and begins work. The fee is equal to 8.33% of the candidate's annualized salary. No other fees are paid unless the hospital hires the candidate on a regular/permanent basis or the candidate stays more than six months. In that case, the hospital pays Nielsen a second, final fee of 8.33%. Members of the North Carolina Hospital Association receive a 7% discount.

The unique fee system was designed to keep the fees predictable for the client. Unlike ongoing fee arrangements, said Venneman, the client knows that, no matter how long the candidate is there, the hospital will pay no more than 16.66% of the annualized salary. "The fees have remained the same since Bruce Nielsen started the business in 1991," he said.

The CFO said he looked to NHG for guidance on the appropriate salary for the position, and combined with the NHG fees, felt the price was fair. "It was a reasonable cost, in my opinion, considering the depth and breadth of experience we were looking for," he said.

"The interim controller stayed about two months, and helped us through the transition to the new, permanent controller. He was a good resource for the staff. They felt comfortable going to him to get their questions answered," he explained.

"I felt we got our money's worth. If anything, he was probably overqualified for the position, but that's good. Speaking from the finance point of view, I think NHG did an outstanding job of providing us good candidates very quickly."

A human resources executive with one of North Carolina's largest teaching hospitals had a similar experience when she used NHG to recruit two interim directors-surgery director and director of biomedical engineering.

"I was looking at three large recruiting firms that offer similar services. I chose NHG because I liked the way I was received when I called them. I had the same contact throughout the initial stage of the process, up until the job was assigned to the recruiter. I appreciated that," she said. "Also, we were hoping at least one of the interim directors might decide to stay on, and NHG's pricing would offer us significant cost savings if we hired either of the two permanently."

The HR executive said NHG had great turn-around-time on presenting candidates, and she was able to get the two interim directors on board quickly. "They had some really good people they sent to us," she said.

"The OR is a big revenue source for us, so we needed stability in the transition. We got lots of compliments about the interim director from the physicians, and she did a good job of supporting the staff," she said.

The HR executive said NHG also allowed the hospital to negotiate terms directly with the candidates. "It was not just salary. We were also negotiating housing and transportation costs for visits home. We appreciated the opportunity to work directly with the candidates," she said.

Both candidates worked out very well, in part because both had good financial backgrounds and experience in working in large medical organizations, she explained.

"We feel fortunate that the OR director decided that she liked working here and asked to be considered for the permanent position. She will be coming on board with us as a regular employee," said the executive.

The director of biomedical engineering also was a good fit for them. "It takes time to do a national search, and the interim director took the pressure off us. Having him here allowed us time to find the right person, not just a person," she added.

"We definitely got our money's worth with NHG. How can you put a price on good physician and staff relations and a good patient experience? And in the engineering area, how do you put a price on keeping your equipment running well and maintaining morale for a group of valued employees with terrific technical expertise? It was more than worth the money we spent."

To learn more about the Nielsen Healthcare Group, contact Bruce Nielsen or Craig Venneman at 800.581.8901.