Symbio Solutions Files for Bankruptcy

Late last year I blogged about the struggle of several healthcare VMS companies in the industry. Symbio Solutions was no exception. As they began having trouble paying their staffing agencies, organizations such as the National Association of Travel Healthcare Organizations (NATHO) started calling them out.

It looks as though the situation has not improved for them and this week, Symbio Solutions filed bankruptcy. Symbio Solutions was started in 2003 and was a viable competitor, selling workforce management solutions, in the healthcare staffing industry for several years.

And then there was 1...

I do my best to remain objective and not overly promote ShiftWise on this blog but I think it's relevant and fair to point out that, in terms of vendor neutral healthcare VMS systems, ShiftWise appears to be the only company left in the industry. It will be an interesting year.

Comments

[Mike Wheeden]

Hey Jason:

Hope you are well....saw the article on Symbio. They certainly had some false starts around the DC Metro area.

Don't forget about your friends at B4Health as an end to end workforce scheduling/staffing automation tool and VMS...still going strong!

Cheers

Mike Wheeden
301-652-0444

[Jason Lander]

Hi Mike,

I always saw you guys as more of an internal staff scheduling system. If this is incorrect and in fact you also provide VMS to hospitals please let me know so I can be sure to be more accurate in the future.

[Candace Berk]

Jason
Late to respond and relatively new joiner of your blog..

.. But I have to throw in another significant player in the vendor neutral space, my company, COMFORCE.

Comforce has over $2Billion in spend and almost 20 years in VMS - pioneers. Yes, much of the $2 Billion is commercial but our Healthcare VMS solution has been around 8+ years and has a significant list of clients and growing alliances.

With that said, I respect all the significant VMS players. In the end, it comes down to the clients desire for neutrality, full service options, technology, and the relationship.

Keep blogging, this site is great.

Candace

[Jason Lander]

Hey Candace!

Thanks for the comment. Comforce is a big player in this space. However, I don't list them as being vendor neutral because they aren't. Many staffing agencies promote a 'vendor neutral' offering. However, it's just marketing.

If a company is owned by a staffing agency or advocates for a staffing agency over other agencies it is not vendor neutral. Even if the company is truly allowing the orders to be distributed equally they simply cannot be counted as vendor neutral because 1) they still supply staff and make a significant portion of their revenue from doing so 2) They have access to the data of their competitors and own that data since it's flowing through their system.

Companies such as Comforce (and other agencies) started spinning themselves as being vendor neutral when the term and acceptance of the vendor neutral model started gaining traction. I think it was unnecessary, as it didn't help them differentiate their model and better promote their benefits. Now that vendor neutrality doesn't seem to matter so much, it would be nice to see them simply promoting the benefits of their model, as opposed to trying to jump on to the popularity of another.

[Candace Berk]

Jason,

I just saw your post. I have to respectfully disagree with you as a person who sits in the company.

Comforce is absolutely vendor neutral. Suppliers and clients would be a testament to this. In the last few years, we have acquired several clients by large MSPs bringing us to their client because the client would only consider a vendor neutral partner. In Comforce's case, vendor neutrality is a reality that they've practiced for 15 years.

If Comforce is staffing a Comforce VMS account, it is usually because the staffing group has a long standing relationship prior to the VMS program. Case in point, of all the VMS spend Comforce manages, Comforce staffs less than 5%.

Yes, Comforce has several business units but they act independently as it relates their VMS business.

[Jason Lander]

I guess it just depends on how you define "vendor neutral." From my perspective, a company can only be vendor neutral if they are not a staffing agency. However, I know a lot of staffing agencies disagree with the definition.

But really, it's all about the clients perspective. Many hospitals I worked with over the past 10 years agreed that vendor neutrality only existed from 3rd party, non-staffing agency companies. However, some completely accepted staffing agencies as being vendor neutral.

If the client feels a company such as Comforce is vendor neutral then that's all that matters.

[kern]

I worked at a hospital that had comforce. We have had nothing but problems with Comforce. Their lack of knowledge and customer care is sad. They used to be a good VMS but they are falling apart and do NOT provide a good service

[George R.]

Comforce~! Try dealing with their inconsistent/irrational management! Good luck.

[upset client in CA]

I would never reccomend this comany to anyone - they have taken over my hospital and have made a major mess of the staffing and billing. They were kicked out here once and we let them back (why??) and the service is terrible. It is sad because I heard good things about them in the past few years but the onsite person told me that most of their good people left because of the boss and her innapropriate behavior, so things are not good

[CF Vendor]

These comments are all so interesting. I felt compelled to post a comment because one of my candidates has recently been contacted by a recruiter from a company called RightSourcing?? Does this have affilation to Comforce? I think so! Vendor Neutral?? I don't think so! Any feedback??? Sounds like an MSP