Administrative Manager, Tanida Hospital, Tanida Kai Specified Medical Corporation
Partner and CEO, Medical Environment Research Institute Co., Ltd.
Masashi Fujii
After graduating from Waseda University's School of Political Science and Economics, he worked for a medical management consulting company before becoming a management advisor at Okinawa Prefectural Chubu Hospital. He has been the administrative director of Tanida Hospital since 2015. In 2020, he founded Medical Environment Research Institute Co., Ltd. He is currently Serialization "Thinking about medical management with Masashi Fujii" in the Nikkei Medical Online. He also runs the online salon "Hospital Administration Wisdom Bag."
The efforts of Tanida Hospital, located in Kosamachi, Kamimashiki District, Kumamoto Prefecture, with a population of approximately 10,000 people, are attracting attention regarding human resource development for hospital administrative staff. We asked Mr. Masashi Fujii, the administrative manager of the hospital, who is cultivating "medical management positions" by developing a job rotation and training system with the motto "All administrative staff become administrative managers!" about his intentions and the results of his training.
Tanida Hospital opened in 1953 and has 85 beds (55 beds in the community comprehensive care ward, 30 beds in the medical recuperation ward), 14 beds in the nursing care clinic, a visiting nursing station, a home care support center, and an outpatient clinic. We also operate a rehabilitation center and senior housing with services. There are approximately 280 employees, of whom 36 are in administrative positions and 16 are in medical management positions (as of the end of October 2023).
I came to Kosa Town in 2015 as the administrative manager with no prior connections to the company. After that, I became involved in recruitment, but it was difficult for newly hired administrative staff to become established, and the number of people leaving the company increased due to the 2016 Kumamoto Earthquake, which led me to review the concept of administrative staff and recruitment conditions. Ta. We changed the requirement of ``having experience in medical administration'' to ``medical management position,'' which requires no experience in medical administration.
The unique feature of medical management positions is that employees spend 6 to 10 years experiencing duties in various administrative departments through job rotation, and are trained to become human resources who are actively involved in hospital management. Our goal is for everyone to become an office manager.
To begin job rotation, each department has prepared a job manual to eliminate the need for handovers. Additionally, medical management employees are required to participate in three hours of management training per month. There, students will learn about time management, business improvement, etc. using texts related to medical management, Master of Business Administration (MBA), medical fees, nursing care fees, etc. In addition to On-the-Job Training, we also regularly conduct Off-the-Job Training, which takes you away from your regular work or workplace. We also published ` `Competencies for Administrative Managers'' after a staff member we hired for a medical management position asked, ``What skills do administrative managers need?''
Administrative staff who were employed before the change in the recruitment system can also change their job type to a medical management position while maintaining their salary structure if they wish. I understand that there are people who place emphasis on specialization as an administrator, but I want to develop human resources who can understand the whole thing first. I think it will help brand the hospital if people know that we are putting effort into human resource development.
Employees who have completed their job rotation will be assigned to each department based on their wishes. Another option is to transfer to the Institute for Medical Environment Research, which I founded with my colleagues, and work in management support for other hospitals. Several people have completed job rotation so far, with one person taking up the position of section manager as originally planned, and two working in management support at the Institute for Medical Environment Research.
In 2020, when the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak began, the Kosa Town Medical Association decided to establish a temporary drive-through clinic for testing, and one of our hospital's medical management staff was dispatched. He handled all the establishment work by himself, including notification of establishment to the Health and Welfare Bureau and logistics. I am proud that this is the result of my job rotation and my perspective on medical management. Since then, the number of patients referred to our hospital has increased.
We are recruiting at any time, with approximately 10 applicants per year, and we are hiring with a ``no one is turned away'' attitude. During the interview, we first explain the characteristics of our hospital and the medical management position, and listen to what the applicant wants to do. Applications for employment will not be accepted on the spot, and we will not contact you after the interview. Applicants will be asked to give a 15-minute presentation on hospital management in front of medical management staff. In this process, we look at administrative skills such as organizational skills. Furthermore, we ask them to decide their own vision and goals in an interview with the section manager. As a result of this process, we decided to hire the position in less than a month after applying.
An increasing number of the employees we have hired have previously worked in workplaces not related to medical care, such as wedding planners, lunch box store owners, civil servants, and trading company employees.
In the near future, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare plans to standardize electronic medical records. Hospital administration and labor will continue to change with the introduction of digital transformation (DX) and artificial intelligence (AI). We need people who can make decisions based on hospital management, even in new situations, and who can apply this to their work.
Our hospital is currently accepting training candidates for office manager from other hospitals. In the future, we would like to accept part-time workers and interns from university students who are interested in medical management. In the medical industry, even young people have the potential to be involved in decision-making. I would like to continue my activities in order to increase the attractiveness of working in this industry.
Administrative Manager, Tanida Hospital, Tanida Kai Specified Medical Corporation
Partner and CEO, Medical Environment Research Institute Co., Ltd.
Masashi Fujii
After graduating from Waseda University's School of Political Science and Economics, he worked for a medical management consulting company before becoming a management advisor at Okinawa Prefectural Chubu Hospital. He has been the administrative director of Tanida Hospital since 2015. In 2020, he founded Medical Environment Research Institute Co., Ltd. He is currently Serialization "Thinking about medical management with Masashi Fujii" in the Nikkei Medical Online. He also runs the online salon "Hospital Administration Wisdom Bag."
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