Staffing Robot - Healthcare Staffing Technology, Design & Marketing Blog

Follow the U.S. Hospital Twitter List Created by Ed Bennett

Ed Bennett keeps a great list of hospitals using social media. He recently created a Twitter List for all the hospitals on Twitter in the U.S. Following this list will let you see all the tweets from these hospitals. He has a page on his site that organizes all of these hospitals by state and also lists the childrens hospitals separately.

Don't forget to also follow the Twitter List I created a few weeks ago of healthcare staffing agencies on Twitter.

Good Sign for the Economy: Demand for Temporary Staff Increasing

Some potentially good news in regard to the economy and staffing: Demand for temporary workers is rising according to the American Staffing Association.

The staffing index of the American Staffing Association has risen in recent weeks. The index stood at 83 starting in mid October and jumped to 85 by mid November.

The 85 reading is still about 10% below year-ago numbers indicating that the job market remains weak. However, demand for workers has picked up 21% since July according to the American Staffing Association.

The staffing industry is considered a leading indicator for the overall performance of the general job market. Typically, a rise in temporary hiring usually precedes an increase in general hiring. With a current U.S. unemployment rate at the highest it's been in 26 years (10.2 %) this is welcome news indeed.

Vendor Neutral Healthcare VMS Not So Neutral Anymore

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about the recent acquisition of the healthcare vendor management company Medefis by the private equity group Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe. What I didn't realize is that this private equity group also owns a very large healthcare staffing company called Onward Healthcare.

This definitely changes the game for Medefis and the companies working with them. Being owned by a staffing agency or a company that owns staffing agencies definitely negates your vendor neutrality. This private equity company, as well as Onward Healthcare  will now have access to all the data within Medefis including bill rates, pay rates, job order and candidate data.

What does this really mean? Keeping the new ownership ties between Medefis and Onward Healthcare quiet was probably wise. Most likely if they're smart, Medefis will continue to bill themselves as being vendor neutral. However, the acquisition will also provide a huge benefit to Onward Healthcare in terms of being promoted to hospitals, as well as increased access to job requisitions and candidate profiles.

This isn't necessarily bad for the hospitals, depending on how much distance exists between them and Onward Healthcare and as long as they continue to get their needs met by quality, cost effective staff. The biggest losers are the staffing agencies that entered into a relationship with Medefis under the guise of vendor neutrality. Staffing agencies typically participate with vendor neutral companies more than working through a MSP delivered by one of their competitiors because they have equal chance at filling requisitions, and the company won't be attempting to recruit their staff with the data they have in the system. What happens when this all changes?

I guess we're about to find out.

St. Vincents Medical Center Gets It Right With Their Video That's Going Viral

The video below is an exceptional example of a hospital using a catchy, fun video to promote their hospital. The video features the entire staff of St Vincent’s Medical Center in Portland, Oregon dancing in pink gloves for breast cancer awareness. I've personally known several women from family members, to friends, to co-workers that have all survived breast cancer so I found this video inspiring.

From a marketing perspective this video is perfect. This is exactly the kind of marketing that can go viral and really promote your hospital or healthcare staffing company. Interestingly, nothing is being sold here. There is no pitch, no "contact us today."

So what makes it great?

Basically, this video sends the message that the staff at St. Vincent's Medical Center in Portland are approachable, real people. From the healthcare professionals, to the lab techs, to the service employees, this video makes you feel that these people are fun, thoughtful and caring. It leaves the viewer with the impression that both the employees and the environment at the hospital are upbeat and inspiring. They make their sale without overtly selling anything.

If you're considering making a video to promote your company do yourself a favor and take some notes here. Kudos to the St. Vincent's Medical Center.

Social Media Revolution

I found this video fascinating. It asks if you think social media is a fad. It then goes on to show you several statistics (in a very interesting way) to suggest it is anything but.

What's your social media strategy?

via www.youtube.com

Hospital Acceptance of VMS and MSP Models Predicted to Continue Steady Growth

Earlier this year the Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) put out a report suggesting that 50% of buyers (hospitals and health systems) in the healthcare staffing industry now manage their agency usage through a VMS or MSP model. In an earlier blog post I discussed this in more detail and showed that more hospitals are choosing a vendor neutral VMS technology solution than they are an agency led MSP model.

Yesterday, the SIA released another report suggesting that by 2011, 93% of healthcare buyers in the U.S. will be using a VMS or MSP. The numbers come from a survey they did of 171 healthcare buyers. The survey results also suggested that the breakdown of these accepted offerings will be:

• 55% MSP
• 42% VMS

According to my estimates of hospitals using a VMS or MSP model, the 50% current adoption is probably pretty close to accurate. This adoption of VMS by hospitals is up 24% from last year according to the SIA. The SIA is partially basing their prediction of a jump to 93% in 2011 based on a similar growth pattern from the previous two years. However, I don't think this jump is accurate because I think there previous year (2008) estimate of 24% was much too low.

Further, in terms of the number of hospitals, the vendor neutral VMS technology model has been much more widely accepted than agency MSP offerings. Therefore, I don't see how in two years the MSP model will overtake the VMS model by 13%.

So, place your bets on who's crystal ball is clearer. We'll see what 2011 brings.

Side note: I would love to share the entire SIA report with you. However, the SIA does not allow for redistribution of their data and you can only access it if you're a corporate member. I won't say anything about this being an outdated business model or how much more success they would have and members they would earn if they allowed for a more free distribution of their data. At least, I won't say any more than that.

AMN Poll: Reform may worsen healthcare worker shortage

In partnership with The Council on Physician and Nurses Supply, AMN Healthcare released the results of a recently conducted poll of hospital CEOs suggesting that healthcare reform will exacerbate the shortage of healthcare professionals.

"While the short-term economic environment may have temporarily eased the ability to recruit and retain clinical staff, the long-term dynamics of an aging population will drive the need for thousands of additional healthcare professionals," Susan Nowakowski, president of AMN Healthcare, said. "Any plan to expand access to care would intensify an already anticipated critical shortage of clinicians."

Healthcare reform has been a big topic this year. How healthcare reform will affect the healthcare staffing industry remains to be seen. However, most people seem to think it will definitely have a positive impact on the healthcare staffing industry as the demand for healthcare staff increases.

Hospital Recovery Appears V-shaped

There have been some positive articles in the last couple of weeks suggesting that the financial health of hospitals is improving.

Health Leaders Media is reporting that hospitals are not only recovering but showing signs a 'V' shaped recovery (one that both declines and recovers quickly).

"There has been an improvement at the hospital level that has allowed them [hospitals] to ease up on the cost containments," he says. "To the extent that they can, hospitals do not want to get caught not operating at appropriate levels in terms of staffing because that is going to hurt them in the long run. Job growth may not come back to historical levels, but over the next 12 months it will definitely be up from what we have seen through much of this year."

Of course, the only thing to be leery of when predicting 'V' shaped recoveries is that the prediction is too early and in fact, what we're seeing is a 'W' (an economy that declines, recovers and declines again). There are several predictions being thrown around in regard to the healthcare staffing industry and the 2010 economic outlook.

Hopefully this won't be the case. Reading about specific regions, such as Texas, also seeing signs of hospital recovery is also good news.

The percentage of hospital revenue left over after regular business expenses increased from zero in the third quarter of 2008 to 4 percent in the second quarter this year. In Texas, the proportion increased from 6 percent to 8 percent.

via www.dallasnews.com

Only time will tell. But let's hope for the best.

Leveraging Human Capital Supply Chains in Healthcare Staffing

Guest Post by: Tim Giehll - CEO, Bond Talent US and the co-author of “Human Capital Supply Chains."

The Healthcare staffing industry has always had its ups and downs over the past few years and with revolutionary healthcare legislation on the horizon, it is hard to know how to plan for the future.  Aside from the whole legislative uproar, we do know 3 important facts that the Healthcare staffing industry needs to prepare for, starting today:

1. As the Baby Boomer Generation eventually retires (even though the recession has delayed some retirement plans), there will be a lot more elderly people for the us (society) to take care. 
2. The “supply” of doctors and nurses will not be able to keep up with the “demands” of this retiring BB generation.
3. As we recruit and train more healthcare professionals, we also need to find new ways for the Healthcare industry to become MORE PRODUCTIVE!!  For all the talk about electronic medical records, that alone will NOT be enough to rebalance our “supply” of healthcare professionals with the “demand” for healthcare services.   

This is where the concept of  human capital supply chains comes into the picture to help save the day.  

Corporations have been building and optimizing manufacturing supply chains for over three decades. Companies like Dell and Wal-Mart are famous for leveraging supply chain management techniques and technologies to better streamline supply with demand. It’s time to refocus the Healthcare industry and apply the lessons learned from optimizing production lines to optimizing our Healthcare workforce and processes. Building a just-in-time human capital supply chain is a big commitment, but one with the potential for big cost savings.

But how do healthcare organizations get their arms around their total human capital spending and estimate the value of implementing a human capital supply chain? My new book, Human Capital Supply Chains, provides the practical steps of designing and implementing your own human capital supply chain. The book is structured as a “How To” handbook for implementing and managing the new processes, technologies and organizational roles that are required to create a successful human capital supply chain. As we learned in manufacturing, establishing and managing a supply chain not only reduces costs in the short-term, but the long-term tuning of the supply chain can result in strategic advantages, advantages that will define the most successful companies across industries in the years to come.

Tim Giehll is the CEO of Bond Talent US and the co-author of “Human Capital Supply Chains” with The Code Works CEO Sara Moss. Tim lives in the Minneapolis are and can be contacted at tgiehll@eempact.com.

 

Major Healthcare Staffing Companies Take Major Hit to Revenue

It's not news to talk about how much the economy has negatively impacted the healthcare staffing industry this year. No company in the space has been immune. However, reading the Q3 financial reports of some of the major, public healthcare staffing companies is just downright depressing.

After be delisted from the New York stock exchange late last year, Medical Staffing Network has continued to take a pounding. Medical Staffing Network Holdings Inc. (OTCBB: MNSW.PK), a Boca Raton FL-based healthcare staffing firm, reported third-quarter revenue fell 41.9% to $78.9 million from $135.8 million in the same period last year.

"The healthcare staffing industry is still experiencing a difficult economic environment, although we are beginning to see some very early-stage positive trends," said Chairman and CEO Robert Adamson. "We have experienced an increase in demand in October, up from September levels, seemingly due to the flu pandemic."

Medical Staffing Network posted a net loss of $15.2 million compared with net income of $2.5 million in the third quarter of 2008. The company reported a $14.0 million charge for goodwill impairment in the most-recent quarter as well as a $700,000 charge for impairment of intangible assets.

Medical Staffing Network Holdings Inc. (OTCBB: MSNW.PK)
For the third quarter ended Sept. 27, 2009, compared with the same period in 2008.
Revenue: $78.9 million, -41.9%
Net loss: $15.2 million vs. net income of $2.5 million

The largest company in the industry - AMN Healthcare Services Inc. (NYSE: AHS), reported third-quarter revenue fell 47.2% to $166.4 million from $315.0 million in the year-ago quarter.

Nurse and allied healthcare staffing revenue fell 62.2% on a year-over-year basis in the third quarter to $82.1 million. Physician permanent placement revenue fell 30.6% in the third-quarter to $8.7 million. And third-quarter locum tenens revenue fell 11.5% to $75.5 million.

"The unprecedented market contraction experienced by the healthcare staffing industry over the past year is a direct reflection of the rapid rise to historically high levels of general unemployment," President and CEO Susan Nowakowski said. "The decline in volumes we experienced during the first nine months of 2009 have certainly highlighted the importance of our ability to remain agile and disciplined in our execution."

AMN posted a third-quarter net loss of $2.0 million compared to net income of $9.5 million in the same period last year. The most-recent quarter included a restructuring charge of $6.2 million. Fourth-quarter revenue is estimated to decline 10% to 15% compared with the third quarter, according to the company.

AMN Healthcare Services Inc. (NYSE: AHS)
For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2009, compared with the same period in 2008.
Revenue: $166.4 million, -47.2%
Net loss: $2.0 million vs. net income of $9.5 million

Cross Country, who only a few short years ago held the #1 spot in the industry, also took a dramatic loss. Third-quarter revenue for Cross Country Healthcare Inc. (NASD: CCRN) fell 27.2% to $129.6 million from $178.1 million in the third quarter of 2008.

Third-quarter nurse and allied staffing revenue at the Boca Raton FL-based healthcare staffing firm fell 50.3% to $64.1 million from $128.9 million in the year-ago quarter. Clinical trials third-quarter revenue fell 35.4% to $16.4 million.

Travel nurse staffing volume rose 6% since mid-September, President and CEO Joseph Boshart said. "This improvement in staffing volume has resulted from a significant increase in demand since the spring, with current open order levels for travel nurses six times the levels seen prior to the summer."

Third-quarter net income fell 84.3% to $968,000 from $6.2 million in the year-ago quarter.

Cross Country estimated fourth-quarter revenue of $120 million to $123 million, a year-over-year decline of approximately 40% to 42%.

Cross Country Healthcare Inc. (NASD: CCRN)
For the third quarter ended Sept. 30, 2009, compared with the same period in 2008.
Revenue: $129.6 million, -27.2%
Net income: $968,000, -84.3%

Although I want to be optimistic and there are several signs out there suggesting stabilization, it's discouraging to still be seeing such dismal numbers from the top players.