This part of the web site is tailored to the needs of Physicians, and provides you with information and answers to your questions.

Physician Services

We provide both temporary and permanent placement of medical secretaries, medical office assistants, medical stenographers, office managers and registered nurses.

Permanent Placement

Why use Medi-Office Services?

Today’s physician is busier than ever with increasing amounts of paperwork on top of patient care. Finding new office staff takes valuable time away from patients and family. Time is your most valuable commodity. Reviewing 50 to 100 resumes, which is the average response from a newspaper ad for a medical secretary, is very time consuming. The majority of those who respond will not be qualified. Then, there is the cost of advertising, plus time for screening and checking references.

Medi-Office Services Inc. has been in business since 1990. Our President and chief recruiter, Sally Roth, has over twenty years of experience in the health care field and has a background in surgical office management. This contributes greatly to the success of our placements. With our reputation for professionalism, we are able to attract top candidates. These experienced medical office staff don’t answer newspaper ads. They appreciate the confidential, professional service that Medi-Office Services provides. You have exposure to an exclusive range of candidates.

To make the placement easier, we can help with salary and employment package negotiations. This can be a difficult process for both the employer and the prospective employee.  You want to be sure that the compensation package is fair but you don’t want to lose out on an outstanding candidate who feels uncomfortable about negotiating.  That’s where we can assist.  We know the going rates for qualified staff and the perks and benefits that are important to them.  We know if salary expectations are realistic based upon skills and experience. We know what your colleagues are paying. 

Finally, we offer a six week replacement guarantee whether you decide to terminate the employment or the employee decides not to stay. You have peace of mind.

How does our service work?

We assemble as much information as possible about the vacancy in your office including hours, location, salary, duties and even the personality traits that you are looking for in an employee.  We post a listing on our Job Board of your position, without identifying information.  This exposes your position to a wider variety of candidates.  We review our database of candidates and provide you with a selection that we feel most closely match your position.  We e-mail or fax resumes to you, tell you why we have chosen those individuals and what their references say about them.

We help you to schedule interviews at a mutually convenient time and are available after the interviews to discuss your selection. We help with the employment package if you desire.

We offer ongoing advice to clients regarding salaries and benefits.  Many clients call us annually for advice on salary increases for staff.

If for any reason, you choose not to accept one of our candidates, there is an administration fee.

Our fee is due and payable PRIOR to the employee’s start date in order to activate the replacement guarantee.

Temporary Placement

Our temp staff is all experienced.  Many of them have extensive experience in a variety of specialist and general practice offices.  Top staff know a wide range of medical billing packages, are competent with OR booking and medical transcription. Their rates vary depending upon their level of skills and experience.

How does our temporary placement service work?

You can phone, e-mail or fax a request for temporary staff. We need to know physician or clinic name, address, phone, fax number, e-mail address, dates, hours, duties and dress code.  We need to know your billing system. We check our temp board and let you know who is available and what their hourly rate is.  We bill a daily rate depending upon the complexity of the position and the experience level of the staff person.

When a booking is confirmed, we pass your information to the temp, who will contact your office.  If there is sufficient time before the assignment commences, the temp will usually come to your office for orientation. Generally speaking, if it is a half hour visit to familiarise herself with the office and pick up the key, the temp will not expect to be paid.  However, if you need to have the person in your office for several hours, you will be required to pay the temp for this time.

Payment of Temps

In cases of a short term position, under two weeks, payment is usually made to the temp at the end of the assignment.  We suggest that you have a cheque ready on the temp’s final day.  In cases of longer assignments, we suggest twice monthly as you would your permanent staff. 

We remind you that Medi-Office Services Inc. is an employment agency, NOT an employer.  You are responsible for payment to the temps and for CPP and EI deductions and employer contributions.  Revenue Canada has recently begun focusing on health professionals such as physicians and dentists who hire self-employed contractors as temporary staff.  Therefore, we are recommending to our clients that they put temporary staff on payroll for even short assignments.

We require 24 hours notice of cancellation, otherwise a fee will be charged.

Hiring Medi-Office Temporary Staff for a Permanent Position

Temporary staff is just that, temporary.  Many temps work year round on short term assignments because they prefer it and it suits their lifestyle.  Others will temp between semesters, such as nursing students.  Still others are looking for permanent work and using temp work as a stopgap.  If you are interested in hiring one of our temps on a permanent basis, it may be possible.  However, you will be required to pay a permanent placement fee for up to one year after the temp has been placed in your office.

Links for Physicians:

Employment Standards Act

http://www.qp.gov.bc.ca/statreg/stat/E/96113_01.htm

Medscape

Articles on medicine and practice management. http://www.medscape.com/

The Medical Post

Check out the May 20^th, 2003 article on "Strategies for Staffing" for some of Sally Roth’s comments on hiring. http://www.medicalpost.com/

Check back for upcoming tips for physicians on practice management.

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