Staffing issues are a common problem among many healthcare organizations. Unfilled shifts and vacant positions can present challenges and risks for hospitals and healthcare organizations focused on quality care. The costs of leaving a shift unfilled, or deploying the wrong combination of internal, float pool, and supplemental staff, can add up quickly.
The cost for unfilled shifts is only part of the challenge organizations face. To alleviate the pressure of unfilled shifts, many facilities turn to contingent labor. However, the concerns that come with credential and compliance issues can be equally overwhelming: billing, administrative tasks, and reporting take up time that could be better spent focused on other high-value tasks.
To address these staffing and administrative concerns, a growing number of healthcare facilities are implementing a Vendor-Neutral Managed Services Program (MSP). This approach is not only a time-saving method, but also represents significant savings to the bottom line.
A vendor-neutral MSP is a service that handles the operational aspects of temporary staffing by using a combination of a vendor management system (VMS) and third-party staffing vendors to find the clinical and non-clinical personnel that a given healthcare provider needs. A vendor-neutral MSP is typically used when a facility wants hands-on involvement and direct oversight of the growing demands of contingent staff, as well as dedicated resources for recruitment, credential oversight, or additional scope.
There are a number of advantages to the vendor-neutral MSP approach:
- Save Time
With an automated process, healthcare providers don’t have to reach out to each vendor when a staff need arises. The vendor-neutral MSP sends out the job order to a wide range of staffing vendors at one time, rather than picking up the phone to call every vendor individually. - Minimize Costs
A vendor-neutral MSP partner helps minimize costs and maximize the bottom line. Vendors compete to place candidates, offering their best rates. Additionally, reduced administrative-labor hours allow for more efficient use of resources. Program transparency provides insight into spending, keeping you on budget when making financial decisions. - Support High-Quality Care
Real-time profile matching helps deliver candidates that are compliant and credentialed, for reliable and consistent quality. Additionally, with positions filled more rapidly, patients are receiving the care they need sooner. - Level the Playing Field
A vendor-neutral MSP provides a level playing field, making it a competitive landscape where staffing vendors can compete to provide the best candidates at the best rates. - Allows You to Continue Working with the Vendors You Trust
Changing processes can be difficult for healthcare systems. Using familiar vendors, whether they be technology providers or staffing vendors, can be a great comfort during times of transition. A vendor-neutral MSP enables you to keep working with the same vendors you’ve always worked with. - Lowers Risk
By using a vendor-neutral MSP, the risk of unfilled positions is lowered significantly. This is because a vendor-neutral MSP works with numerous and various associate vendors, any of whom may represent the right candidate for the position. Additionally, by using a vendor-neutral MSP, all associate vendors are held to the same standard. Compliance takes precedence and enhances the quality of individuals working on site. Vendors receive the strong message that compliant practices are vital to successful placement. These compliant practices are completed in a timelier manner as a prerequisite to placement. - Better Alignment with Client Goals
A vendor-neutral MSP aligns the service to the client goals. Enhanced support of onsite teams supports alignment with client goals for diversity, compliance, and cost reduction methods, such as employee conversions. A vendor-neutral MSP has no vested interest in placing candidates at higher rates, advising against employee conversions, or reducing the amount of positions submitted in the VMS.
At Medefis, we’re pleased to provide our clients with all this and more. As a leading provider of vendor-neutral MSP, we combine a personalized, hands-on managed service experience with our easy-to-use VMS. This provides a streamlined, centralized approach to contingent labor management, while also giving you access to millions of healthcare professionals from hundreds of Medefis-vetted staffing agencies — at real time market rates.
Talk to a member of the Medefis team today for more information on how you can start enjoying the many benefits of our vendor-neutral MSP.