HWL Insights

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.

As healthcare systems navigate ongoing financial challenges, a promising shift is emerging. Recent analysis from Moody's Investor Services reveals an encouraging trend in the sector's financial health, with operating cash flow margins approaching 7%. While this signals a positive trajectory toward recovery, healthcare organizations must strategically navigate ongoing challenges to maintain this momentum. 

In healthcare staffing, promoting diversity and inclusivity is not only ethically imperative but also strategically beneficial. Disadvantaged Business Enterprises (DBE) programs play a central role in achieving these goals. DBEs are businesses owned and operated by individuals confronting social and economic challenges, encompassing minority-owned, women-owned, veteran-owned, and disabled-owned enterprises, among others. These programs are designed to provide equitable access for DBEs to participate in federally funded contracts, particularly in healthcare staffing, thereby fostering supplier diversity and advancing equity in the healthcare sector.

In the complex world of healthcare staffing, staying ahead requires a deep understanding of the industry. The Staffing Industry Analysts’ (SIA) 2024 Workforce Solutions Buyer Survey, focusing on the United States, sheds light on how organizations manage their flexible workforce, their supplier strategies, and what they prioritize for the future.

Healthcare companies have been finding creative ways to minimize skill gaps through qualified talent for decades now. Staffing shortages were exacerbated throughout the pandemic, with some recovery happening in recent years. Most organizations became dependent on contingent labor in some form or another, for good reason — since 2020, nearly one in five healthcare workers left their jobs and recent surveys suggest that 47% of U.S. healthcare workers plan on leaving their positions by 2025.

Experts estimate that over 80% of businesses utilize a vendor management system (VMS) in some capacity, while only 71% of healthcare facilities use it. However, given the fact that around 90% of healthcare facilities utilize contingent labor, which has seen vast increases in reliance over the last few years, it may come as a surprise that more systems don't take advantage of a VMS. 

The past few years have seen a large increase in the utilization of contingent workers. In fact, it's estimated that "the global contingent workforce industry generated $171.5 trillion in 2021 and is estimated to reach $465.2 trillion by 2031." In the healthcare space, around 90% of healthcare executives said they employ travel nurses within their organization in 2021.

The Pandemic swept the nation and revealed the extreme pressures placed on our country's healthcare delivery system. Healthcare provider organizations face a highly competitive market due to chronic labor shortages and burnt-out medical workers. Additionally, inflation and unsustainable market rates that have yet to stabilize are making for the perfect storm. As a result, hospitals are being forced to find solutions that are both progressive and innovative to combat this clinical staffing dynamic. Healthcare organizations must address labor shortages with more creativity and business intelligence than before the Pandemic to operate in the black.

HWL’s agile solution, design, and delivery capabilities help clients navigate both turnkey and end-to-end enterprise solutions tailored to each of the client's unique requirements.  

ABOUT AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY HEALTH MEDICAL CENTER 

Located along Georgia’s border with South Carolina, Augusta University Health Medical Center (AUH) is a 520-bed tertiary hospital and ACS-verified Level I trauma center serving patients from over 13 counties across the State of Georgia. As the region’s only academic hospital, AUH conducts leading-edge clinical research and gives patients access to treatments not available elsewhere in the region.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, HWL has helped organizations across the country stay on top of cost-effective staffing needs in order to manage surges in necessary care. One particular place we managed to see great success is in Georgia.

It's no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic created unforeseen challenges and has forced every industry to innovate and adapt in order to survive; and the healthcare industry is certainly not an exception. Medical facilities have altered procedures and created new policies in order to accommodate massive influxes of patients and improve patient outcomes — but it certainly hasn't been easy, and there are still some common pain points that many organizations still deal with.

Healthcare Workforce Logistics (HWL) partnered with Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency (GEMA/HS) to provide a full-service Vaccination Staffing Program with a scalable platform designed for speed to delivery. 

COVID-19 has accelerated the digitalization of the hiring process. With increased emphasis on removing friction in regard to talent acquisition, streamlining the onboarding process to keep costs down, fill rates up, and the quality of staff consistent—this year technology and automation are even more important.