Even as health systems are breathing a sigh of relief in the home stretch of the first wave of COVID-19 patients, they are facing staggering financial disruptions of key service lines. Some health systems continue to have surge staff needs and others are furloughing employees. In either case, all organizations should take this opportunity to thoroughly assess all aspects of staffing needs and processes and evaluate how best to progress forward.
The Ideal Time to Renegotiate Vendor Rates
Market conditions post COVID-19 are compressing rates. With shifting market dynamics, healthcare organizations are in a unique position to renegotiate vendor rates. A market analysis will ensure rates are competitive and that suppliers are committed to providing healthcare workers at the negotiated rate structures that are market equitable.
Healthcare organizations will need a workforce solutions partner to help them take advantage of these unusual conditions in the staffing market. Look for a partner with these traits:
- vendor-neutral philosophy
- access to real-time market intelligence
- insights into demand activity for healthcare professionals
- first-hand knowledge of the inner workings of agencies and their cost structures
- strong, broad agency support
Healthcare Workforce Logistics (HWL) is uniquely positioned to act as an honest broker for healthcare organizations.
Additionally, healthcare leaders are beginning to recognize the need to be able to flex care capacity up and down and to pivot care across modalities. A workforce solutions partner with the ability for rapid staffing deployment can help to fill multi-disciplinary roles within health systems while also providing increased transparency into vendor spend.
Evaluating Past Performance in Preparation for COVID-19 Wave 2
HWL is partnering with organizations across the country to evaluate their surge staffing performance by pinpointing the challenges of ramping up to meet increased COVID-19 cases and modifying approaches to prepare for the impending second wave of cases. With a resurgence likely to occur in tandem with seasonal system stressors such as flu, health systems must have access to flexible, right-size staffing—critical staff in the right place at the right time.
The summer months are a golden opportunity to focus on calibrating all staffing needs, costs and processes.
What better time is there to verify that your staffing processes are as time-efficient, flexible and cost-effective as possible? A market-rate analysis for the rates in your area is the first step to ensuring a financially sound approach.
HWL can help:
- Re-negotiate rates with agencies
- Develop an internal agency in place of external agencies
- Minimize agency needs by using internal agency
- Standardize contracts
- Use data to monitor key performance indicators
COVID-19: One of Healthcare’s Greatest Challenges
While some hospitals are still overwhelmed with patients, other hospitals have admitted very few COVID-19 patients. In both cases, hospital revenues are flatlining. With most hospitals across the U.S. not allowed to conduct lucrative elective procedures, revenue is down exponentially.
Rick Pollack, President and CEO of the American Hospital Association (AHA), estimates that hospitals are losing $50 billion a month as a result of the pandemic. Hospital systems are facing a unique challenge. In order for organizations to surmount these financial and operational challenges, hospital leaders must verify that they are getting the numbers and quality of supplemental staff at the very lowest rates.
A Scalable Solution
HWL’s superior staffing solution helped many health systems save the lives of their COVID-19 patients by delivering 100% of the supplemental physician, nursing, and allied health professionals needed. Just as importantly, HWL’s open market approach created competition among agencies and kept rates an average of 20% below the maximum cap rates authorized by their state. Levels of surge staffing that usually take months to deploy took HWL only a few weeks, proof of HWL’s remarkably fast, efficient and cost-conscious solution.
HWL’s Proven Capabilities
- Streamline processes
- Consolidate rates
- Standardize contracts
- Ease staffing and credentialing processes
- Ensure quality of care and staff
- No out of pocket costs for perennial program or surge program
Through HWL’s vendor-neutral model, healthcare delivery organizations can easily access locum tenens, nursing, and allied health professionals, allowing them to rapidly address the shortage of healthcare staff and meet rising demands for professionals in the field due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Contact HWL today to take advantage of the shift in market dynamics to gain better pricing and prepare for the unknown.
Complete our no-obligation COVID-19 Program Request Form or contact the HWL Sales Department at sales@hwlmsp.com or 1-833-495-4636 to begin the conversation.
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