Dramatic Increase in Hospital Adoption Rates of VMS

The Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) recently released the results of their 2008 Buyer Survey showing the impressive adoption of Vendor Management Services (VMS) in healthcare staffing. (PDF link)

Over the last three years, adoption of VMS in the Non-Clinical and IT industries have more than doubled while the adoption in healthcare has nearly quadrupled.

There are several things contributing to the vast adoption of VMS in the healthcare staffing industry such as:

• Growth in sophistication of buyers
• Measurable improvements in performance and cost savings for hospitals and staffing suppliers
• Increased hospital acceptance of VMS/MSP offerings by staffing suppliers
• VMS technology solution providers delivering proven value

Interestingly, the SIA announcement omits any mention of the role VMS Technology companies have played in this rapid increase in adoption. In fact, they somewhat suggest that the increase in adoption is due solely to staffing suppliers offering more VMS services with “their own platform” in their new founded "if you can't beat them, join them" approach.

Although there has certainly been an increase in healthcare staffing suppliers winning more Managed Service Provider (MSP) and Vendor Management business in recent years, there are some important clarifications needed in this announcement:

• MSP/VMS solutions are not new service offerings for healthcare staffing suppliers. Most of the successful staffing suppliers in this area were offering these services years prior to VMS technology companies entering the healthcare vertical. 
• Perhaps we just need to have a better understanding of terms but the SIA states that staffing suppliers are now offering their own “VMS platforms.” To me, platform implies technology. To be clear, most healthcare staffing suppliers offering “VMS platforms” offer products they have licensed from VMS technology providers. This is especially true for three of the top five performing healthcare staffing suppliers that offer MSP/VMS services.
• According to the U.S. Census Bureau there are 7,569 hospitals in the U.S. If the SIA report is correct and 50% of hospitals are using VMS services (3,784 approximately), at least 70% of these hospitals work directly with VMS technology providers, without a staffing supplier managing the service.
  

VMS adoption by hospitals has had an impressive increase over the last several years due to multiple factors mentioned above. Healthcare staffing suppliers of course play an important role in increasing this adoption. However, the SIA seems to continually discount the role VMS technology providers play in this industry. In addition, after reviewing previous presentations from the Healthcare Staffing Summit data, I realized that the increase in VMS adoption has far exceeded the SIA's previous predictions. Not mentioning the success of the VMS model that has captured over 70% of the current market paints an inaccurate picture of industry trends.

Comments

[Susan Hyde]

Its interesting to me that this increase corresponds to a the timing when Shiftwise rolled out in 06 a staffing vendor partnership program. They partnered with Cross Country and then several others who shifted their opinion and started to support the technology.

Shiftwise had hired a guy from InteliStaf I think who was an earlier leader in the manual VMS type programs. Do not recall the guys name but he was Shiftwise VP Sales/marketing 06-08.

Probably not likely one company could have this much impact but likely the program moved the industry in its direction.

[Jason Lander]

Hi Susan,

Thanks for the comments. Yes, we've enjoyed much success at ShiftWise and I do like to think we, along with our valued partners, contributed greatly to widespread adoption of VMS in the healthcare staffing industry. In 6 years time our company has gone from 4 hospitals to just under 1500.

The gentlemen from InteliStaf to whom you are referring is named Mitch Gillies. He helped me start ShiftWise and was with us from 2002 - 2004.