Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., Healthcare Workforce Logistics (HWL) has doubled down on what it does best - mobilizing healthcare professionals where they’re needed most, at competitive rates - in the nation’s hot spots, including a pivotal role in our home state of Georgia.
Launched COVID-19 Rapid Response Program
In mid-March, HWL launched its COVID-19 Rapid Response Program to help healthcare delivery organizations meet the urgent staffing needs driven by increased demand for healthcare professionals and shortages of core staff due to a COVID-19 outbreak, at no cost to the organization.
Placed 600 Healthcare Workers Throughout Georgia
On April 14, 2020, the governor of Georgia announced a partnership with our parent company, Jackson Healthcare, to help build COVID-19 response capacity by placing nearly 600 healthcare workers in cities across the state, including Rome, Gainesville and Macon, as well as Albany – one of the hardest hit communities in the nation.
To date, we have placed nearly double that number of staff in Georgia alone, some 1,500 healthcare professionals, in hospitals, overflow care facilities, nursing homes and more.
But how do you get 1,500+ healthcare workers immediately deployed to the areas of greatest need? HWL’s Vendor Management System (VMS) technology platform was central to the program’s success.
Accommodating Surge Staffing Needs with Vendor-Neutral VMS Platform
By using HWL’s VMS platform, healthcare organizations across the country and across the hemisphere are filling their surge staffing needs more quickly than ever before. As a vendor-neutral, web-based platform, HWL’s VMS allows healthcare organizations 24-7 access to 100+ staffing suppliers to facilitate:
- posting staffing needs
- matching staff to opportunities
- scheduling interviews
- credentialing
- reporting on cost, utilization and agency performance in real time
A process that typically takes 60 or 90-day lead time has been compressed to 10-days or less.
HWL’s Open Market Approach to Control Costs
Just as important, HWL’s open market approach creates competition among agencies which serves to keep costs under control. In fact, in one Georgia health system, HWL’s vendor neutral approach delivered 100% of staffing needs at rates 20% below the maximum rates authorized by the state. Further, as a supplier funded model, HWL’s services are not charged to the care delivery organization.
Placing Healthcare Professionals When & Where They’re Needed Most
It has been inspiring to see the doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists and other advanced practice professionals with whom we work every day living up to the calling of their professions. In a time where we are hearing so much negative news, we continue to see amazing stories of healthcare workers raising their hands to care for others and help those in need.
With the pandemic have come great challenges – challenges that our family of companies has mobilized around in order to be part of the bigger solution. We are proud to be uniquely qualified to quickly activate and respond to evolving needs across the U.S. by placing healthcare professionals when and where they’re needed most. We’re honored to be part of a vibrant healthcare ecosystem and the national response to COVID-19 and are encouraged to see so many working together in the name of health, wellness and the common good.
"Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital was able to increase our capacity to care for COVID-19 patients substantially and quickly only because of HWL’s focused and immediate attention.We were amazed at their ability – in a short timeframe – to deliver the hundreds of physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals necessary to stand up multiple new COVID-19 units. They came through, allowing us to provide the care our community needed in a time of crisis."
--Joe Austin, President & CEO, Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital
Learn more about the COVID-19 Rapid Response Program and how HWL can manage the entire staffing process from order to invoice. Please contact us with any questions.