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.
A Brief History of Agency Sizes
Since the 1990s, healthcare staffing has been shaped by large national agencies and smaller regional or specialty-focused firms. Larger organizations built national footprints and robust infrastructures, while smaller agencies thrived through geographic focus, specialties, or personalized service.
The industry continues evolving. Consolidation has brought regional firms into larger networks, while emerging agencies- including provider-owned and clinician-led firms - have entered the market, bringing fresh competition, innovative approaches, and new service models.
COVID Accelerated Emerging Agency Growth
COVID tested this diverse market. Demand surged to unprecedented levels, forcing every agency to dramatically increase production, scale operations, and expand provider databases.
For emerging agencies, the pandemic was a growth accelerator. Many delivering excellent regional or specialty service suddenly had the opportunity to prove they could operate at scale. They refined processes, invested in infrastructure, and built larger provider pools.
Many emerging agencies now compete directly with historically dominant national firms, creating a more competitive and balanced marketplace.
Raising Service Standards
With more capable agencies available, healthcare organizations gained greater choice but face a new challenge: ensuring every partner delivers the highest service standards.
Vendor-neutral VMS/MSP platforms hold agencies to consistent requirements, ensuring competition based on service quality, not just speed. This means:
Charting Completion: Providers must complete charting in a timely, compliant manner. Accountability continues through proper documentation impacting care quality and reimbursement.
How HWL Ensures This: HWL holds agency invoices until all charts are properly completed and signed. HWL monitors follow-through and gathers facility feedback to ensure providers meet documentation requirements, escalating issues quickly.
Credentialing Compliance: Agencies must maintain strict vigilance on provider credentials and onboarding requirements. Strong oversight reduces risk and ensures safe, high-quality care.
How HWL Ensures This: HWL's credentialing oversight team validates credentials across all agency submissions and blocks providers from placement until compliance standards are fully met.
Rate Transparency: Pricing should never be a guessing game. Vendor-neutral partners enforce rate transparency so healthcare organizations can balance cost with quality.
How HWL Ensures This: HWL requires agencies to submit all rates through its platform, giving clients full visibility into bill rates, pay packages, and markup structures.
Onboarding & Orientation Preparedness: Agencies should send providers ready to step in, trained on EMRs, facility protocols, and expectations.
How HWL Ensures This: HWL coordinates onboarding requirements through its system, ensuring agencies deliver completed documentation and training before provider arrival.
Ongoing Provider Reliability: No-shows and last-minute cancellations undermine trust and disrupt care. Agencies must be accountable for reliable scheduling and coverage.
How HWL Ensures This: HWL tracks provider reliability metrics and holds agencies accountable through performance scorecards, ensuring facilities work with partners committed to consistent coverage.
By enforcing these standards consistently across all agencies, HWL creates a level playing field where the best partners succeed based on service, compliance, and transparency.
The Competitive Advantage of Emerging Agencies
The combination of industry history and pandemic-driven acceleration highlighted a key truth: emerging agencies bring unique competitive advantages.
Operating with less overhead and more agility, emerging agencies can:
Why Vendor-Neutrality Matters More Than Ever
With such a wide variety of capable agencies, vendor neutrality is more important than ever. A vendor-neutral VMS/MSP ensures all agencies, whether national leaders or emerging competitors - are held to the same compliance, service, and transparency standards.
This approach gives healthcare organizations:
Conclusion
The future of healthcare staffing depends on more than filling shifts - it depends on ensuring providers and agencies deliver at the highest levels of compliance, transparency, and service. COVID changed the industry forever but also created opportunity: emerging agencies now compete alongside established national firms, driving greater competition and innovation.
The role of vendor-neutral VMS/MSP platforms is to harness this expanded marketplace, set consistent standards, and ensure every agency delivers on promises. When that happens, healthcare organizations win, and so do the patients they serve.