Background
Mesquite Gastroenterology and Surgery Center (MGSC) was founded in 2009 by Dr. Miguel A. Arenas and his wife Katie Belk-Arenas. MGSC is a medical office and outpatient procedure facility, built to provide its patients with the latest technology in endoscopy and the highest level of service. With 46 employees, the practice strives to attract and retain the best personnel by offering a robust benefits package and an excellent work environment. Practice administrator, Katie Belk-Arenas, has responsibility for all key operations of the practice, including scheduling, billing, personnel management and HR administration.
The Challenge
Since the inception of the practice, Mesquite has cycled through several national and regional payroll providers, struggling to find a solution that would deliver consistent results and minimize Katie’s workload. This proved difficult and switching from provider to provider didn’t yield a better result. According to Katie, “the transition to each company was a nightmare, a complete mess of errors and omissions” that required her to spend countless hours both correcting payroll/tax data and on the phone with payroll companies and government agencies to get things fixed. Ensuring accuracy required manually entering data, building spreadsheets and having to check and re-check information to ensure appropriate contributions, deductions and taxes were correct. Benefit administration was also a hassle, including getting employees on the plan, off the plan, doing COBRA administration and handling inquiries.
Additionally, integration with Quickbooks and reconciling transactions became problematic. All combined, the time, energy and stress involved in fixing continuous errors became overwhelming and unsustainable. Something had to change.
The Solution
When Katie learned of Focus HR, she agreed to meet with Clint Parry, who took the time to really understand her needs and develop a solution to address the myriad of issues Mesquite Gastroenterology had been experiencing for so long. Katie was particularly excited to learn that Focus HR was a Tucson-based, women-owned HR Outsourcing firm that seemed to offer a much different experience. However, given painful transitions in the past, she was very nervous to yet again switch providers. Her employees shared that same sentiment, as past changes brought numerous technology glitches and pay issues. But, after doing appropriate due diligence, Katie decided to outsource all HR administrative functions to Focus HR.
The Result
Mesquite Gastroenterology is thrilled with the difference Focus HR has made. According to Katie, the “transition was so amazing…completely seamless!” Her staff agrees and has found the professionalism and personalized care they receive from the Focus HR team to be nothing like the past. Katie added, “I simply cannot imagine life now without Focus HR! They have fixed all the issues we had in the past and provide a robust technology platform and a fabulous team who handles what used to just overwhelm me.” With HR administrative functions now running on all cylinders, Katie has turned her attention back to what matters most: creating a great company culture and patient experience that is second to none.
Employees are happier, costs are down, and Katie can now breathe easier knowing that Focus HR has everything under control. When asked what she would say to someone considering Focus HR, she said:
“I wouldn’t hesitate at all! Focus HR is so accessible and it makes all the difference to talk to someone local. I now have complete confidence that everything is correct and for the first time in 12 years, I don’t have to freak out about payroll every week. That is such a gift!”
Katie Belk-Arenas
