HWL Insights

HWL is thrilled to welcome Jamie Herold, M. Ed., to our leadership team as Senior Vice President of Education. She is a strategic education leader with deep experience across K-12 schools, program development, and education workforce strategy. Her career spans a range of school and organizational settings, including work in school formation, instructional and organizational design, leadership development, educator professional practice, and education staffing and services. 

The workforce management landscape in 2025 told a story of both challenge and transformation. Healthcare organizations spent over 50% of their budgets on labor costs while facing unprecedented staffing shortages, according to Redesign Health analysis. Education wasn't far behind, with 1 in 8 teaching positions either vacant or filled by uncertified educators, reports the Learning Policy Institute. Yet amid these challenges, innovative solutions emerged that are reshaping how organizations approach workforce strategy. 

The alarm bells are ringing across America's school districts. In Philadelphia, school officials struggle to fill around 2,000 vacancies each year despite having over 12,000 teachers. In Clark County, Nevada, the 2024-2025 school year began with 163 special education openings out of 320 total classroom vacancies. These aren't isolated incidents; they're symptoms of a nationwide workforce crisis threatening public education. 

Special education staffing shortages remain one of the most pressing challenges for K-12 districts. With IDEA compliance being non-negotiable, districts are adopting innovative strategies to ensure students receive required services despite a shrinking talent pool.

If you’ve explored VMS or MSP solutions for managing locum tenens staffing, you’ve probably heard warnings like:

For over a decade, HWL has partnered with hundreds of leading healthcare systems nationwide to solve one of their most pressing challenges: workforce management. Through our integrated MSP and VMS solutions, we’ve helped hospitals and other healthcare providers streamline contingent labor, reduce costs, ensure compliance, and maintain operational excellence—even in the most complex environments. 

Healthcare never stops, and neither do the challenges that disrupt staffing. Pandemics, natural disasters, sudden medical group transitions, and unplanned leaves of absence can strike without warning, putting patient care at risk. When these moments hit, healthcare organizations need skilled, compassionate providers who can step in immediately and maintain continuity of care. This is where locums agencies shine. 

School district Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) face mounting financial pressures in 2025. Escalating labor costs, staffing shortages, and the expiration of federal COVID relief funds are driving operating fund balances down—from 26% in 2024 to 24% this year, with further declines expected in 2026, according to Moody's Ratings. Staffing costs now exceed pre-pandemic levels, while districts struggle with teacher shortages, rising contracted service expenses, declining enrollment, and compliance risks tied to contingent labor.

HWL is excited to welcome Miguel Castroman as the newest member of our sales team, where he will focus on expanding HWL’s Locums MSP and VMS partnerships nationwide. With more than 20 years of experience across the healthcare workforce landscape—including permanent, leadership, and locums staffing—Miguel has built a career on strengthening executive relationships, navigating complex workforce challenges, and delivering strategic solutions for health systems. His background includes notable roles at Doximity, AMN Healthcare, and VISTA Staffing Solutions, complemented by an MBA from Kennesaw State University and fluency in English, Spanish, and German. Miguel’s expertise and mission-driven approach align closely with HWL’s commitment to transparent, vendor-neutral workforce solutions, and we’re thrilled to have him join the team.

HWL is thrilled to welcome Eric Sylvia to our leadership team as Vice President of Business Development. Eric brings a proven track record of success in healthcare staffing and business development, having spearheaded growth initiatives at Krewe Anesthesia Solutions, Riverside Consulting Group, and Medicus Healthcare Solutions.

Across the nation, health systems and nursing schools are running into the same bottleneck: a shortage of preceptors. Without enough qualified nurses to guide students through clinical rotations, health systems are forced to overextend staff nurses, while academic institutions struggle to expand class sizes. The result? Student capacity shrinks, nurses burn out, and the workforce pipeline suffers. 

We’re thrilled to welcome Tay Person to HWL as Vice President of Business Development for our Education Vertical.

I was speaking to an executive in a health system that was six months into having implemented an MSP with a very large staffing agency that had promised everything under the sun from customer service, fill rates, quality and cost savings. I was not shocked to hear that almost none of the promises from sales had materialized.

In nearly every conversation I’ve had with unit-level nursing leaders about insourcing — regardless of health system size or type — one truth frequently prevails: on the surface, most would rather avoid working with per diem staffing companies or internal resource pools. 

The just-released SIA report shows that healthcare staffing revenues are expected to decline by about 6% year-over-year in 2025, to ~$39.4 billion. But there’s a silver lining: signs point toward stabilization, and modest improvement is projected in 2026.

Healthcare demand for locum tenens and contingent staffing has never been higher. The pandemic highlighted how critical staffing agencies are for delivering qualified providers quickly, but also exposed weaknesses in service quality, compliance, and transparency. As healthcare organizations rely on external staffing partners, vendor-neutral VMS/MSP platforms must streamline talent access while holding agencies accountable to higher service standards.

Healthcare leaders are facing unprecedented financial pressure. With rising costs from tariffs on medical imports and Medicare reimbursement cuts straining margins, hospital executives—from CFOs to COOs and CNOs—are being forced to make hard decisions. 

Healthcare organizations across the country continue to contend with unsustainable staffing costs that come with being trapped in a vortex of over-reliance on premium-rate travel nurses and non-local agency staff. But what if there was a better way? 

When you're responsible for serving over three million patients annually across 700 care locations, operational efficiency isn't just a goal - it's essential for patient care. RWJBarnabas Health (RWJ), New Jersey's largest integrated healthcare system, discovered this firsthand when their locum tenens program became a source of administrative burden rather than strategic support. 

Bottom Line Up Front: Healthcare organizations face unprecedented challenges in managing contingent labor costs, vendor relationships, and workforce optimization. Strategic vendor management systems deliver measurable cost savings, enhanced transparency, and oversight of contingent staffing programs—positioning procurement professionals to drive meaningful ROI while maintaining operational excellence.