Staffing Robot - Healthcare Staffing Technology, Design & Marketing Blog

Vendor Management Services (VMS) – What’s in a Name? [pt. 3]

Managed Service Providers (MSP) / Vendor on Premise (VOPs)

Summary of Model:

In the healthcare staffing industry, the Managed Service Provider (MSP) model is a modern variant of the Vendor on Premise (VOP) model.  Essentially, both models provide the same service of healthcare vendor management.  One distinction often made is that a VOP may only be on-site for one particular location but a MSP may manage a client's multiple locations from a central point.

MSPs function as intermediaries between the client and sub-contracted staffing suppliers.  The MSP often uses a VMS Technology Solution to manage this service for the client.  In some cases, a client may contract directly with a VMS technology provider for the application and separately with a MSP for the on-site or centralized management. The MSP manages all aspects of the procurement process including supplier selection/recommendation, staff procurement, and compliance oversight.

Services Offered:

• Recruitment assistance
• Temporary staff procurement
• Internal staffing management
• On-boarding and orientation process management
• Supplier management
• Contract negotiation/standardization
• Compliance oversight
• Time keeping and invoice management

Strengths:

• Clients benefits from the full service management of their staffing process by a third party.  MSPs can become a completely integrated part of a client's environment acting as a financial and management partner.  Such a situation can create great efficiencies and cost savings for the client.
• Improved efficiency in staffing process.
• Cost savings.
• Aggregated data reporting services.
• Improved fill rates.

Weaknesses:

• The client has a long implementation cycle to reconfigure their entire staffing process with a new management team from the MSP and/or fully educating the MSP on the client's practices and needs.
• Lack of client direct control that still requires client reliance, contracting, oversight, and management of the MSP.
• Supplier sub-contractor resistance.  Most suppliers don’t like the idea of working directly through one of their competitors.  Specifically, suppliers have a difficult time sending all of their staff information directly through another supplier. In addition, often times the MSP compresses the rates of the sub-contractors or charges them service fees of 5% or more.  Many of these relationships have resulted in lawsuits that ultimately destroy the benefits of the MSP model for all parties involved. 
• No vendor neutrality.  Suppliers providing vendor management services often have conflicting goals with their clients.  The typical goal of a healthcare client is to reduce, if not eliminate, supplier spending and ensure the highest quality staff at the best rate for every assignment.  However, the goal of the supplier is to constantly increase their margins while filling more and more of the client's business.  This often means, filling as many of the client's shifts with staff from their company whether or not their staff are the most qualified or at the best rate.

Opportunities:

• Suppliers that have strong relationships with their clients and the bandwidth to provide MSP services are in a great position to deliver such services.  Even though vendor management technology exists, allowing clients to be their own vendor manager, many clients still look to have an outside company take full control over their staffing process. 
• MSPs can form mutually beneficial partnerships with VMS technology providers.  The process of providing vendor management services is manual and labor intensive.  Implementing a technology solution to manage this process is the best way for an MSP to streamline their workflow and ensure they control their costs when delivering MSP services.
• In the last 1 - 2 years the MSP model has grown in popularity.

Threats:

• MSPs face threats from other suppliers offering the same/similar services.  According to a recent survey conducted by the Staffing Industry Analyst, 22% of suppliers currently offer MSP services and 38% plan on offering such services within two years.  Therefore, more and more suppliers will be offering the same/similar services making differentiation a challenge.
• MSPs are most largely threatened by companies offering VMS Technology or Internal Resource Pool Management solutions.  Offering direct client control and vendor neutrality, the VMS Technology Solution model has had considerably higher adoption rates in the market and shows no signs of slowing. 
• Hospitals still largely view staffing suppliers in a negative light and work diligently to reduce if not eliminate their reliance on these suppliers by implementing Internal Resource Pools and partnering with Internal Resource Pool Management companies.  MSPs will need to figure out how to better position their offerings and better sell clients on the benefits of their staffing services. 

Provider List:
AMN
Cross Country
Favorite Healthcare Staffing
Medical Staffing Network (One Source)
Aureus (Focus One)

Should your company name be on this list? If so, email me.

Related Posts:
Vendor Management Services (VMS) – What’s in a name? [pt. 2]
Vendor Management Services (VMS) – What’s in a name? [pt. 1]

Are good employees and loyal customers standing in the way of your new revenue?

This week I was able to attend the Staffing Industry Analysts – Staffing Trends Webinar.  The SIA did a great job of presenting data that covered everything from negative trends, to opportunities, to macro-economic employment information.  Although they pointed to many factors that suggested things were stabalizing their first slide of an arrow pointing to the center of a hurricane reading “we are still here” kept our optimism in check.

Of all the data presented two slides stood out to me the most.  These two slides compared survey data of what staffing suppliers said they were focusing on this year versus last, and compared this information with the current priorities being reported by top performing staffing firms.

Some top priorities listed, as reported by staffing suppliers nation wide:

• Growing Revenue: 56%
• Expanding/Diversifying Clients: 41%
• Growing Market Share: 31%
• Retaining Clients: 26%

This seems somewhat obvious right?  Grow your business and keep the business you have.  However, what surprised me was from where these same suppliers were shifting their focus.

35% of top performing staffing firms listed - Retaining/Recruiting Top Quality Internal Staff - as a key success factor.  However, the survey results for suppliers nationwide showed a significant decrease from this year to last in this area.

• All firms in 2008: 31%
• All firms in 2009: 9%

31% of top performing staffing firms listed - Providing Excellent Customer Service - as a key success factor.  But again, the survey results for suppliers nationwide showed a decrease from this year to last in this area.

• All firms in 2008: 30%
• All firms in 2009: 22%

To me, it begs two questions:

1. Who is going to grow your revenue if you are not focusing on your internal employees and keeping them happy?
2. How is it you will retain your customers by lowering your standards of support?

IMHO: I think sometimes it’s easy for owners and executives of companies to become so focused on revenue that they forget who brought in and created that revenue in the first place.  This downturn won’t last forever.  When things do change be careful you don’t look up and realize you have a whole new set of problems – unhappy customers and a shortage of good employees. 

Related Posts:
Oh where oh where have all the jobs gone?

Is there a nursing shortage or not?

Apparently, it depends on who you ask these days.

According to some articles, there are 100,000 registered nursing positions currently open at hospitals across the country and new grads are confident in their job search.

Other articles are suggesting that the shortage is still so drastic that the only way to solve it is through legislation and importing internationally trained nurses.

But then there was this story from the Washington Post reporting that the current economy has somewhat lessened the nations shortage of healthcare professionals.

The article suggests that many nurses are postponing retirement or returning to the workforce for financial reasons. Combine this with the other economic factors negatively affecting the healthcare staffing industry and suddenly there are fewer available jobs.

The article also points to low vacancy rates at hospitals in certain regions, although this only provides us with a snapshot of one particular area of the country.

So what gives?  Is the economy affecting the shortage or not?

My take is that, although some regions are experiencing a glut and there is certainly a slow down across the board, the shortage is still very real.  Perhaps the Washington Post was just looking for interesting headlines but I think it’s fair to say that most people believe the economy will turn around and when it does, the shortage will still be here.

The biggest issue still seems to be getting new nurses into the workforce.  The Washington Post article also speaks to this, citing the average age, high educational requirements and relatively low compensation for nursing school instructors as being a major barrier for getting more students in and through these programs.  Until this changes, it seems that nothing will really resolve the shortage – not even the economy.

What's your take? Is the economy affecting jobs for healthcare professionals in your region?

Company Soundbite: Clearview Staffing Software

Clearview Staffing Software
Addison, TX.
Dave Gorman -CEO

Company Soundbite:  Leading providers of healthcare staffing solutions for the healthcare staffing industry; delivering on demand, web based software to assist with everything from recruiting to billing.

Q&A

How do you feel your technology helps the healthcare staffing industry?   
"Our products tie everything together.  ClearviewTSS is the only solution that delivers to the entire value chain of healthcare staffing.  Whether it’s the nurse looking for a job, the agency recruiting and staffing that nurse or the hospital specifying where their human resource needs exist."

What unique/innovative solutions do your products provide? 
"Our healthcare-only focus is what really sets us apart. Understanding how medical professionals, agencies and hospitals need to be able to communicate is vitally important as it helps us craft our solutions in meaningful ways. For example, streamlining the credential verification process that occurs between the nurse and the agency during onboarding and then making that information easily accessible to the hospital where that nurse will end up working. The opportunities to improve these types of communications are practically unlimited."

How do you see your product offerings in 5 years?   
"5 Years is tough to project. But, two things seem pretty evident; the first is continuing to open the lines of communication and make it easier for our customers to transact with their own customers. The second is making sure that we stay focused on helping customers recruit the highest caliber of healthcare professionals. Within these parameters our solutions will evolve in many interesting directions."

How do you see the technology itself evolving and changing?
"This year we have a larger focus on interacting with our partners.  We’ve created interfaces to several other technologies solutions to offer additional workflow improvements to our mutual clients.  In addition, we’re looking at new technology solutions that are consistent with popular trends in web application development.  All of these efforts will have an affect on how our products evolve."

How does technology affect your day to day business?   
"We rely heavily on technology every day. We’re a small business but having critical business functions such as sales, marketing, technical support and to a lesser degree, engineering tied together is huge."

How do you use social networking sites to further your business?   
"We just got set up on Twitter.  We’re still accessing the value of these kinds of sites and determining our best opportunities in using them."

Any new deals? 
"We are currently in the process of implementing our TSS product with Maxim Healthcare and Medical Staffing Network.  In addition, we have completed our interface with ShiftWise that will allow our customers to work seamlessly between Clearview TSS and ShiftWise healthcare VMS."

What events/trade shows will you attend this year?  
The Healthcare Staffing summit, ASA, AONE, HIMSS, ASHHRA

Stats:
Date Started:    2.2.2000
# of Internal Employees:    63
Products Delivered:    TSS, RSS, Clearview IRP
Services Offered:    Training, Support, Project Management, Data Migration & Integration
Products/Services Sold To:    Healthcare Staffing Suppliers & Hospitals
Product Platform(s):     Cold Fusion - SQL
Exclusively Healthcare?:    Yes
Regions Serviced:    US - Canada - Ireland
Technology Systems Used Internally:    Net Suite
Favorite System Used:    Net Suite
Why?:    "It completely closes the communication loop from billing, to payroll, to sales."
Favorite Personal Technology or Website:     Apple TV

Vendor Management Services (VMS) – What’s in a name? [pt. 2]

VMS – Technology Solution

Summary of Model:
The healthcare VMS – Technology Solution model refers to the delivery of a web-based software application for the purposes of empowering a client to manage the services of their suppliers in an efficient and controlled way.  Technically, this is the only model that should use the term VMS.  VMS Technology Solutions are delivered by Vendor Neutral, 3rd parties that are not owned, operated or managed by a staffing supplier.  Deploying a VMS Technology Solution is the only way a client can achieve true vendor neutrality.  Healthcare VMS companies may or may not offer multiple product offerings as well as a suite of services.

Services Offered:

• Healthcare VMS systems may include such features as: job requisition management, credential management, interview scheduling, time keeping, invoicing, performance measures, notification systems and reporting.
• Internal resources pool and employee self-scheduling/shift bidding applications.
• Time tracking and attendance applications.
• 24x7x365 live customer support.
• On-site or web-based training.
• Contract consolidation/management
• On or off-site management.

Strengths:

• Over 1500 hospitals nationwide have adopted the VMS Technology Solution, making this model more widely adopted than any other.
• Direct client control and compliance assurance.
• Automated efficiency.
• Vendor neutrality.
• Rapid implementation.
• Aggregated data/reporting tools.
• Decreased spending on outside suppliers.

Weaknesses:

• Implementation and training of new technology system is required.
• Potential resistance from suppliers to VMS fees and technology adoption.
• Requires direct oversight, management and control by the client.
• Some VMS companies compress or “set” rates for their clients. Such a service can provide the client with simplicity by having one set of rates and can potentially lower spending if the rates end up being lower overall.  However, such a practice has to be done skillfully and with much research.  If rates are set below what the market delivers the client can end up with insufficient staff or lose suppliers due to the ability of the suppliers to find market rates in other areas.

Opportunities:

• Deploying technology as a service allows VMS companies to quickly adapt to market needs and take full advantage of new technologies in order to improve their existing and offer new applications. 
• VMS companies in the healthcare industry have the luxury of learning from the successes and mistakes of VMS companies in other, more mature industries. 
• Established healthcare VMS companies will be able to provide more insight on the industry as a whole to their clients, supplier partners and other industry participants.

Threats:

• Healhtcare VMS companies face threats from new competitors offering newer technologies and from other software companies encroaching on their offerings, such as core scheduling companies offering internal employee self-scheduling and shift bidding. 
• VMS companies must always be mindful of the reasons staffing suppliers resist participation and acceptance of a VMS system, as well as their ability to disrupt successful client adoption. 
• Now that VMS companies have established themselves in the market it’s time to figure out which ones are here to stay. The companies that adapt to their client needs, work hard for the support and trust of their supplier partners and improve their product offerings by deploying new technologies will prove to be the leaders in this space.

List of companies that provide healthcare VMS technology solutions:
ShiftWise
Medefis
Symbio
Vendtegrity
eWork*
IQ Navigator*
People Click*
B-Line*
Field Glass*
Ringo*
Chimes*

*Not specific to healthcare

Related Posts:

Vendor Management Services (VMS) - What's in a name? [pt.1]

Signs of Spring?

I know it isn't news to say this economy is no picnic – but I’ll say it anyway. It’s no picnic. In recent posts I shared information on some of the reasons for the decline in available jobs in healthcare staffing.  However, lately I’ve been seeing some signs that suggest some improvement in jobs and the economy could be coming.

For example, even though the ASA’s Staffing Index has shown a considerable drop since last year, it showed signs of stabilization for the first time this year by remaining flat from February to March.

Seasonality also plays a big part in healthcare staffing.  In several parts of the country, Spring and Summer is when usage of temporary healthcare professionals tends to pick up.  Over the last month I asked several hospitals across the country if they expected their reliance on healthcare stafifng suppliers to increase this spring and summer. Here are the results from the 18 respondents:

In addition to industry indicators some overall indicators on the economy as a whole seem to be offering (although minimal) some signs of hope as well.

Yes, much of this “good news” is really just “not as bad news.”  However, considering the state of things – “not as bad news” is sounding pretty good at the moment. 

Top 10 reasons to use temporary healthcare professionals

Using temporary healthcare staff gets a bad wrap.  At best it’s often considered a necessary evil by many hospitals.  Yes, there are several potentially negative things such as high costs, internal political issues, additional risk and managing a time consuming/manual process.

However, if used effectively, temporary per diem or contract (traveler) staff from healthcare suppliers can be incredibly beneficial and advantageous to your organization.

Here are my top 10 reasons for effectively using temporary healthcare staff at your hospital:

1. It doesn’t have to be time consuming.  There are several ways to automate the management of staff from healthcare suppliers.  Everything from job requisitions, credential management, timekeeping, invoicing and reporting can now be automated.  The methods for doing so can be as simple as better using email and expanding existing staffing or timekeeping systems to partnering with a staffing supplier that offers Managed Services or a healthcare VMS company.

2. Last minute needs.  Your census changes daily, sometime hourly.  If a major fluctuation occurs you can’t hire to your census.  Having contracts with valued staffing suppliers that can assist you in these times can ensure you are properly staffed when you are in need.

3. Increase your hospitals revenue.  Unmet staffing levels can lead to turfing patients, which can lead to unfilled beds.  Unfilled beds can lead to a lack of revenue for your hospital.  Therefore, ensuring proper staffing levels or even increasing your staffing levels in order to take care of more patients can help your hospitals bottom line.

4. It’s not always more expensive.  Lets face it. Employees are expensive.  Depending on what metrics you are using – employers can spend up to an extra 35 – 50% on top of an employees salary for benefits and other overhead costs, not to mention costs associated with attrition.  So, with that, consider the typical markup of a healthcare staffing supplier (35 - 50%).  Remember, the client only pays for time worked and orientation costs (in some cases).  There are no associated recruitment, hiring or attrition costs.  Therefore, using temporary staff in a well planned and managed way can actually end up saving you quite a bit of money.  Lisa Amorao from ATR has a post specifically on this topic in her company's staffing blog.

5. Maintaining steady usage ensures you have staff when you need it.  If you infrequently contact your staffing suppliers they will place you in a lower priority.  However, if you maintain a steady relationship with them you ensure they can meet your needs when you most need it.  Further, if you’re a hospital that has an in-depth orientation process it’s a good idea to keep orientation slots open and candidates moving through them so that when you do request temporary healthcare professionals you have a pool of staff ready to go in your area - not sitting through orientation.

6. Use more travelers (contract staff).  Hospitals that primarily use travelers have more control over their staffing needs.  Working with travelers requires more planning and preparation but can help you fill in anticipated staffing gaps due to seasonality and other occurrences.  The bill rates for travelers are typically lower due to a longer guarantee of work or from differences in economic factors in different parts of the country.  In addition, using travelers allows you to work with individuals who will be at your facility longer and therefore have a greater understanding of your practices and become more efficient in their patient care delivery.  Finally, if you find the traveler is someone you would consider hiring – do that.  Work with the staffing company to offer the caregiver a new job.

7. Avoid costly overtime pay.  The amount your hospital spends on overtime can end up being much more expensive than using temporary staff.  I’ve worked with several hospitals that were attempting to reduce their spending on staffing by cutting back on outside staff.  However, because these hospitals were inappropriately managing their overtime hours they ended up spending more money than before.

8. Avoid staff burnout.  There is a lot of talk about nursing burnout these days.  Hospitals have cut back on healthcare supplier usage, however, there is still a nursing shortage.  Therefore, in a lot of cases, that means hospitals are asking their staff to work harder.  Doing so can be an effective solution in the short term.  However, eventually your employees will start suffering from burn out and need reprieve.

9. Starting new projects.  Implementing an EMR system?  Opening new units?  If so, most likely you will become quickly understaffed as your internal staff are dedicated to these new initiatives.  Planning ahead of time to cover these projects by partnering with good staffing suppliers will ensure adequate coverage.

10. Insert your reason here.  I’m leaving number 10 open for others to provide.  Feel free to chime in.

Nurse Testing 2.0 Development Summit

Earlier this week I attended the Nurse Testing2.0 Developers Summit.  It was 2 days in a room with industry thought leaders planning and preparing to deliver new and innovative products and services to the healthcare staffing industry.

In attendance were healthcare staffing suppliers, staffing software and healthcare vendor management companies as well as companies outside of healthcare.

Ron Gonzales welcomed all of us and showed us his vision of the future that included efficient delivery of nursing tests, to predictive hiring measure tools, to pipe cleaners. Yes, pipe cleaners.

The thing I most enjoyed about the two days was the spirit of collaboration the event inspired.  Companies offering overlapping and somewhat competitive services we’re sharing information and collaborating on how to accomplish world peace most effectively deliver increased value to their mutual clients in the industry.  This type of collaboration will undoubtedly produce largely beneficial market solutions. 

I personally hope to see more of this type of openness and collaboration in the industry, especially being centered around exciting and innovative technology.  In the end it can only benefit us all.

Thanks to Nurse Testing for the great event and entire concept it promoted.

Related Events - April

April 15-19	AONE - 42nd Annual Meeting & Expo	San Antonio, TX.
April 22-23	Innotech	Portland, OR.
	= I'm attending

Changing healthcare staffing

The link provided (.PDF document) will allow you to download and read my Q&A interview with Employment Marketplace about how on-line workforce solutions are streamlining healthcare staffing.

Q: "What are the benefits to staffing suppliers using these systems and how many suppliers have adopted them?”

A: "Hundreds of staffing suppliers nationwide are embracing online workforce management and have realized the benefits.  These staffing suppliers are seeing their time and labor costs drop as their revenue increases because they are able to focus more on filling open positions with less effort.  Further, by utilizing direct interfaces to these systems, suppliers are eliminating the duplication of entry with their internal system….”