Care Management

Tomasz Rezik, Care Management

Headwinds facing healthcare workforce planning

The administrative burden and financial implications for a facility of finding nurses—whether full-time or part-time—are grave these days.

In 2023, Nursa, a healthcare staffing app, commissioned third-party Eliciting Insights to conduct an independent study of 203 hospital executives. The study revealed that 75 percent of chief financial officers (CFOs) and 69 percent of all executives agreed, “The financial impact of relying on travel nurses and traditional staffing agencies has been – and continues to be – a top concern for these healthcare executives.”

The nursing crisis didn’t suddenly appear with the pandemic.

It was a turning point for healthcare leaders to take a fresh look at why traditional recruitment for nursing staff just doesn’t work anymore.

Considering that 98 percent of CFOs surveyed see nursing as a significant challenge for their health systems during and after the pandemic, healthcare leaders have become much more inclined to look for proactive staffing strategies.

Here are some statistics that highlight the need for more flexible staffing models to exist in healthcare:

• Sixty-three percent of health system executives believe that a larger pool of nurses could allow them to offer greater flexibility to staff.

• Forty-one percent of CFOs surveyed have trouble filling open slots in the schedule over the next two
weeks.

• Two out of three CFOs surveyed have trouble filling long-term roles (13 weeks and longer).

Almost all survey respondents in this study unanimously agreed that nurses are vital to quality care delivery. However, this study also showed that facilities continue to have significant difficulties when it comes to nurse recruitment and retention.

“It’s been the biggest fiscal challenge. [Nurse staffing] is always the main topic at every meeting I go to, even at the board level, and has been for 15 months because of the cost impact.” – CFO of a northeastern academic medical center. The fact is that staffing gaps aren’t going anywhere. In fact, they may even get worse in the coming years as the baby boomer generation ages and requires more healthcare services. Executives need to adapt to these changes.

Crucial adaptations include leveraging technology in healthcare and depending on 1099 contract nurses to enhance care.

Some of the most impactful and proactive staffing strategies involve using digital staffing platforms, for example Nursa, to contract nurses quickly and get them at the bedside of every patient in need.

These digital transformations from traditional staffing to online platforms allow executives to take advantage of the quick filling of per diem shifts.

The following statistics highlight the impacts of using these online platforms:

• Two out of three healthcare leaders believe that technology platforms can help hospitals reduce costs
when filling nursing shifts.

• Facilities saw a 50 percent increase in shifts filled with per diem or contract nurses from pre-pandemic
to 2023.

• Sixty percent of chief human resources officers (CHROs) and HR executives surveyed say that platforms that enable the rapid filling of per diem shifts would significantly impact their organizations.

Redesigning staffing to prioritize patient care

Redesigning staffing to prioritize patient care means using digital innovation to empower nurses to work within their professional and personal limitations.

Facilities and clinicians that are still catching on to digital platform trends for flexible and fast staffing should consider the following advantages:

Advantages for facilities:

• Quickly recruit per diem staff for an external float pool.

• Post shifts for free, paying only for completed shifts.

• Efficiently find the right fit for hiring away with no extra fees.

• Fill shifts in as little as 15 minutes.

Advantages for clinicians:

• Potential to receive higher hourly wages than employed staff

• Ability to find and fill shifts in a matter of minutes

• Flexibility to pick up as many or as few shifts as desired

Flexible per diem staffing platforms are evolving so healthcare leaders and facility executives can meet fluctuating labor demands.

Nursa, for example, helps facilities find per diem nurses to work on short notice. This process quickly fills staffing gaps, providing an external float pool that only costs facilities when shifts are filled.

The end result is a flexible, high-paid work option that keeps nurses happy and facilities staffed when they need it most.