HOUSTON – Firm founder Ashish Mahendru recently connected with healthcare trade publication Part B News to provide insights regarding furloughing strategies in physician practices.

For practices who are looking to decrease payroll pressure during a difficult financial stretch, many are implementing employee furloughs. A recent survey by Decision Health revealed that more than one-third or 37 percent of practices reported letting go of staff for a duration of time, but with the prospect of taking employees back at a later date.

In the article “When Furloughs are on the Table: 6 Strategies to Put Your Employees First,” Mr. Mahendru cautions owners to keep a few points in mind to avoid exposure to legal liability.

“Consider furlough – reducing employee hours – rather than layoff,” he said. “Keeping the same headcount with reduced hours will provide some cost savings in the immediate terms without incurring the tangible and intangible costs of recruiting and training new hires once economic conditions improve. Furloughed employees would likely remain eligible for employee benefits, and they could even supplement their loss in income from reduced hours with partial unemployment benefits.”

To read “When Furloughs are on the Table: 6 Strategies to Put Your Employees First” in its entirety, visit Part B News at https://pbn.decisionhealth.com/Articles/Detail.aspx?id=532680 (subscription required.)