HWL Insights

Not all staffing solutions are built equal. And in healthcare, that difference isn't just operational. It's personal.

For today’s nursing leaders, clinical excellence depends on getting the right clinicians into the right units — all while maintaining compliance, controlling labor costs, and supporting care teams in a challenging workforce landscape.

When was the last time your nurse managers had bandwidth to focus on retention strategies, quality initiatives, or staff development without being buried in candidate phone screens?

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 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? 

The healthcare industry has become an increasingly complex balancing act. Between regulatory changes, staffing shortages, and patient volume fluctuations, running a healthcare organization today feels like performing surgery while the operating room transforms around you. The question isn't whether unexpected challenges will hit your facility—it's when, and how ready you'll be to handle them. 

In a time when the nursing workforce faces unprecedented challenges—burnout, turnover, and unsustainable costs—healthcare leaders must look beyond reactive staffing models. At this year’s AONL Annual Conference, Amanda Wheeler, Vice President of InSourcing at HWL, sat down with the AONL podcast team to discuss how organizations can shift from scrambling to fill shifts to building resilient, future-ready workforce strategies.

The concept of an Internal Resource Pool (IRP) is no longer a “nice to have” in healthcare—it’s a strategic imperative. With workforce volatility, increasing patient acuity, and tightening budgets, healthcare organizations must cultivate agile, cost-effective, and clinically competent staffing solutions.

As a flex pool or travel nurse, you're often the "new nurse" on different units. While this role brings exciting opportunities, it also presents unique challenges. Here's how to navigate them with confidence and professionalism.

As a nurse, you're always looking for ways to grow your skills and advance your career. Flex pool nursing, often seen primarily as a way to enjoy scheduling flexibility, actually offers a wealth of professional development opportunities. Let's explore how being part of a nursing flex pool can boost your career and expand your skillset. 

As a nurse who thrives in the dynamic and ever-changing environment of float pool assignments, you are part of a unique group within the healthcare community. Adaptable, resilient, and continually optimistic, you embrace the challenges and rewards that come with floating between various units within a healthcare institution.  

Over the past few years, since the turbulence of the pandemic, healthcare organizations' main focus has been having enough staff to fill vacancies due to increased demand and surges in patient volume. This led to unprecedented rates of burnout, permanently changing the course of staffing history as organizations became dependent on contingent labor. 

In the dynamic and unpredictable business of modern healthcare, the importance of an adaptable and resilient workforce cannot be overstated. After we experience the annual year end mad dash of elective procedures patients schedule strategically to beat resetting deductibles and the long winter months of seasonal illness that require us to “staff up” for volumes, late Spring & Summer can be deceptive seasons for healthcare leaders as patient volumes decrease and staffing appears to “stabilize.” Inevitably, the reprieve is always short lived, so it is imperative we spend those calmer times planning, implementing and/or optimizing our workforce strategies for the next evolution. Even healthcare systems currently experiencing low turnover rates and minimal reliance on external contingent labor should consider investing in and optimizing an internal resource pool, or Local Insourced Flex Team (LIFT). This strategic move is crucial in addressing seasonal fluctuations in patient volume, unexpected staff absences, and the prolonged time required to fill vacancies. Additionally, it provides a local solution to the ongoing nursing shortage and serves as a retention mechanism by offering flexible work options, alternatives to travel nursing & competitive compensation that benefit both the organization and its employees.

Internal resource pools (IRP), also referred to as float pools, are a fairly recent development in the healthcare space that were designed by helping organizations become more flexible and efficient in meeting their staffing needs. Different departments work at different paces and have varying needs based on fluctuating patient volume and other external factors. IRPs are a centralized database of part-time, full-time, and contracted staff who are pre-approved to work in various departments and can fill demand on short notice.

Healthcare as a whole has seen staffing challenges for decades now, with nursing staff taking the brunt of it. This has proven to be majorly concerning, since nursing turnover rates directly impact patient outcomes. Turnover contagion and burnout among staff results in thinly spread resources across the facility, decreasing quality of care and increasing the likelihood of mistakes.

Let’s be real - travel nursing is awesome, BUT it requires a LOT of coordination to achieve the maximum benefits of top pay and flexibility. What if you could achieve most of the benefits of travel nursing with the job security of a staff nursing position? Have you considered joining an Internal Resource Pool (IRP) aka Local Insourced Flex Teams (LIFT)?

We are pleased to introduce Amanda Wheeler, RN, BSN, MBA, as HWL's new VP of InSourcing (IRP)! Amanda brings a wealth of experience in hospital workforce management, having played a key role in developing and implementing an Internal Resource Pool for WellStar Health System and Emory Healthcare. In addition, she has been a crucial stakeholder in managing contingent labor/MSP programs, standardizing and centralizing VMS, MSP, and internal staffing & scheduling solutions, and working closely with HR and Nursing leaders. Amanda is a member of several nursing associations, including Nursing & Healthcare Associations, and is Six Sigma Yellow Belt certified. Get to know Amanda below!