In a perfect world, staffing issues in healthcare would not exist. But that’s not the reality healthcare organizations face today. Staffing issues create a negative feedback loop that threatens the entire operation of healthcare services. When there aren’t enough staff members to provide care, the quality of patient care suffers.
The increased workload and stress levels on remaining staff members cause burnout and high turnover rates, leading to significant staffing shortages and challenges. Staffing models in healthcare provide tailored solutions to address staffing issues in healthcare. This guide will help you understand the different models, their benefits, and how to implement them to improve operations and patient care at your healthcare organization.
One way to allow your healthcare organization to navigate staffing issues is with Azulity’s provider credentialing services. Our practical, accurate, and speedy processes for onboarding and verifying healthcare providers help your organization reduce avoidable delays and costly errors that can compound staffing issues and negatively impact patient care.
5 Types of Staffing Models in Healthcare
1. The In-House Staffing Approach
When you face staffing shortages, you can rely on your staff. The in-house staffing method prioritizes building your internal team and using them to fill gaps before looking outside the organization. This helps reduce excessive costs associated with travel contracts.
A recent survey reported that healthcare facilities spent 130% more on agency and temporary labor as of September 2021 than pre-pandemic. It also noted that these labor sources cost 50% more than employees. By building up your employee roster, you’ll have an opportunity to build and improve your facility’s culture and climate.
You may, however, face additional labor costs associated with onboarding, benefits, and overtime. To mitigate some of these costs, build up your internal float pool. An internal pool of per-diem professionals can fill in during vacations, maternity leaves, and emergencies.
2. The Top-of-License Staffing Strategy
You may be able to solve some of your facility’s staffing challenges by simply optimizing your current staff. Staffing top-of-license means making the best use of the clinicians on your team. This model ensures team members perform to the highest extent of their education, training, and experience.
Staffing top-of-license helps lower labor costs because you’re not assigning entry-level duties to providers with 20 years of experience. Other benefits include improved employee engagement, retention, and overall job satisfaction. These perks make top-of-license one of the most beneficial staffing models for nursing. As patient demand fluctuates, busy facilities must consider this approach.
3. The Cross-Training Staffing Model
To fill staffing gaps quickly and easily, cross-train clinicians so they can serve multiple roles. For example, cross-train nursing staff to serve in med-surg units or as OR RNs. Clinicians in non-patient-facing specialties can learn how to handle fundamental patient-facing roles.
Recent nursing school grads can take on administrative and/or less mission-critical tasks. Cross-training also applies to sharing knowledge. One specialist can advise multiple staff members on equipment operation and similar tasks using videoconferencing tools.
4. The Retention Staffing Model
According to Gallup research, replacing an employee costs between one-half and two times that employee’s salary. Why not focus on keeping your healthcare professionals happy? Mark Mahnfeldt, MSN, RN, Vice President of Patient Care and Chief Nursing Officer at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Massachusetts, told Becker’s Hospital Review that his push for 2022 is to invest in his people.
That push includes growth opportunities, fostering a supportive culture, and increasing compensation. In the same report, Greg Till, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer at Providence in Renton, Washington, said his organization included a gratitude bonus as part of its retention strategy. The healthcare system also improved access to mental health care and enabled new technology and other processes to mitigate burnout.
5. The Flexible Workforce Staffing Model
Workers across industries demand more flexibility in how, where, and when they work. While COVID-19 accelerated the work-from-home trend, the gig economy led to a new on-demand workforce. On-demand clinicians form the basis of a flexible workforce model. Flexible options allow healthcare facilities to match the right provider with the right patient at the right time without escalating labor costs.
How does it work? Instead of staffing at 90% capacity, which is hard to do during a staffing shortage and on a tight budget, hospitals staff at 60% capacity and fill in the gaps with per-diem talent. Flexible nursing staffing models that use on-demand talent and technology are among the most impactful ways to staff your healthcare facility while supporting healthcare professionals. Combine this with other cost-effective healthcare and medical clinic staffing models to cross-train staff, staff at the top of their license, and improve retention. Your facility has a winning model for your business and your people.
Benefits of Choosing a Flexible Staffing Model
Swift Responsiveness to Change
Flexible staffing models significantly enhance an organization’s ability to adapt to change. With a flexible workforce, businesses can quickly scale their staffing levels up or down in response to changes in demand. This allows organizations to respond to market changes faster, making them more competitive and able to take advantage of new opportunities.
Significant Cost Savings
Another benefit of flexible staffing models is reduced labor costs. By hiring temporary or part-time staff instead of full-time employees, businesses can save on the costs associated with benefits, such as health insurance and retirement plans. Additionally, temporary or part-time staff are typically paid hourly, which means businesses only pay for the hours worked.
Boosted Staff Productivity
Flexible staffing models can also increase productivity. With a flexible workforce, businesses can ensure that they have the right staff in place to handle the workload. This reduces the likelihood of burnout and overwork, which can lead to decreased productivity and increased turnover.
Access to Specialized Skills
Flexible staffing models also provide businesses access to specialized skills that may not be available in-house. For example, companies can hire contractors or consultants with specific expertise to complete projects or tasks that require specialized knowledge or experience. This can help companies improve their work quality and stay ahead of the competition.
Greater Workforce Diversity
Finally, flexible staffing models can help businesses achieve greater diversity. By hiring staff on a temporary or part-time basis, companies can tap into a wider pool of talent, including those who may not be able to commit to a full-time role due to family or personal obligations. This can help to increase diversity in the workplace, which has been shown to have a positive impact on creativity, innovation, and problem-solving.
Azulity specializes in healthcare master data management and provider credentialing services, bringing proven expertise in implementing healthcare data solutions and credentialing across the US. Our comprehensive platform ensures consistent patient, provider, location, and claims data synchronization across all systems and departments.
Key features include: healthcare MDM, provider MDM, reference data management, credentialing, and provider enrollment. We serve healthcare technology leaders – from CIOs and CDOs to VPs of data platforms and credentialing – helping them eliminate the costly problems of fragmented data systems. Book a call to learn more about our healthcare master data management services today!
Related Reading
- Resource Allocation in Healthcare
- Healthcare Workforce Shortage Solutions
- How to Recruit Healthcare Professionals
How to Recruit Healthcare Staff in 15 Simple Steps
1. Transform Your Healthcare Recruitment with Azulity
Azulity focuses on master data management and provider credentialing services for healthcare organizations. Azulity’s comprehensive platform helps healthcare organizations eliminate the costly problems of fragmented data systems.
Azulity ensures consistent synchronization of patient, provider, location, and claims data across all systems and departments. With features that include healthcare MDM, provider MDM, reference data management, credentialing, and provider enrollment, Azulity can help you improve your healthcare staffing model. Book a call to learn more about Azulity’s healthcare master data management services today!
2. Widen Your Reach for Candidates by Leveraging Job Boards
Job boards are powerful healthcare recruitment tools because they give organizations access to a wide pool of candidates. Recruiting staff can use job boards to advertise open roles and monitor their performance, tracking the number of candidates who apply.
Candidates can also see how many people have clicked on their advertisements, giving them insight into their brand awareness in the marketplace. If recruitment staff have any questions about applicants, job boards allow them to contact these candidates directly through email or other means.
3. Provide Competitive Compensation and Benefits
Evaluate your organization’s compensation packages to ensure you provide healthcare candidates with attractive incentives. Update any outdated company policies, and draw attention to new benefits that will likely resonate with your audience. Compensation and benefits may be the deciding factor for candidates choosing between your organization and a competitor.
Some common benefits to highlight include flexible work environments, telecommuting options, career growth opportunities, training programs, financial bonuses, and mentoring sessions. Be sure to capitalize on various types of benefits to capture a wider talent pool.
4. Use Internships as a Recruitment Tool
Internships introduce students to what it’s like working on the job. They also allow students to see if they like the work environment and how healthcare organizations operate. Internships can also help recruitment officers identify individuals talented in areas that may not be immediately apparent when interviewing them for full-time roles.
For example, if they’re looking for someone with specific medical knowledge or skills, but don’t have the budget to hire someone with those qualifications right away, they can offer students an internship where they receive training on those topics. At the same time, they work on other projects that do not require that expertise. If they do well during their internship, they can offer students a full-time position.
5. Expand Your Search and Appeal to Other Brands
When seeking qualified candidates, look at other medical or public healthcare branches that relate to your field. This will allow you to widen your talent pool and attract candidates who may not have applied for your job opening of their own volition.
Nurses who previously avoided progressing in their career because of the challenges associated with the healthcare sector may feel more confident applying if your recruitment strategy outlines how your company intends to relieve these challenges and foster a more positive work environment. Consider targeting travel nurses or temporary nurses who may want more permanent work.
6. Create an Employee Referral Program
The development of a referral program is a good healthcare recruitment strategy because it helps organizations keep their employees happy while also helping them attract new hires. If employees feel like they’re treated well, they will be more likely to refer others to the organization.
This means that instead of spending money on advertising, they can use this money to provide bonuses and other rewards to employees. This approach also helps them attract new hires by helping them settle into their work faster, as they have an ally in their new workplace.
7. Embrace Diversity and Inclusion
Recruiting healthcare professionals from diverse backgrounds is essential to increase creativity and widen your talent pipeline. A diverse workforce allows you to draw from varied perspectives and use insider information to target more diverse patient markets.
Promoting diversity in the workplace also fosters a more positive work environment that focuses on collaboration between people. This commitment to inclusivity helps boost staff retention and referral hires, thereby making you spend less on recruitment strategies in the future.
8. Create a Career Page on the Organization’s Website
Creating a career page on an organization’s website is a good healthcare recruitment strategy because it helps attract and retain top talent by providing employees with the information necessary for applicants to make informed career decisions. It also allows them to see what it’s like to work at the company, which can help you attract more applicants. This is because they can look at photos of the premises to gauge an understanding of practices. Blog posts and newsletters posted regularly can also provide additional insight.
9. Assess Candidates’ Soft Skills
Alongside specialized knowledge and skills, healthcare professionals also require a range of soft skills to ensure they approach patients correctly. Some soft skills essential to look for during the recruitment process include:
- Interpersonal skills
- Communication skills
- Teamwork skills
- Time management skills
- Adaptive skills
- Patience
Focusing on these skills throughout the recruitment process guarantees that you hire candidates who take a people-centered approach to their work and place a high value on helping patients. Be sure to prepare interview questions that allow candidates to demonstrate these traits. Before the interview stage, you can use scenario-based questions, evidence-based questions, or psychometric assessment tools.
10. Conduct Interviews Using Technology
There are several reasons why virtual interviewing tools are a good healthcare recruitment strategy. This is because it allows candidates to experience the new position before accepting any offer, which can help reduce turnover. Also, it saves both time and money for the hiring company as less travel is subsequently required. Video conferencing allows interviewers to select a time that works best for them, rather than working around travel schedules at different locations. This technology also allows hiring companies to see how applicants present themselves, which helps them to determine if a candidate can fit into the corporate culture.
11. Create a Behavioral Health Assessment Routine
A behavioral health assessment allows you to determine candidates’ future performance by using past behaviors or experiences as an indicator. The evaluation involves a series of questions and interviews that help you identify how candidates responded to specific situations in the past.
It provides information on a candidate’s behavioral competencies, traits, and temperament while working in a healthcare setting. Drawing conclusions based on real-life experiences is a good way to determine whether a candidate’s actions or thought process align with the company culture or vision.
12. Build Relationships with Healthcare Professionals From Other Countries
Building relationships with healthcare professionals from other countries is a good healthcare recruitment strategy because it helps an organization find new talent. Recruitment officers looking for more qualified doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals should go where the best ones are.
Another reason is that it can help a hospital or clinic’s reputation internationally, leading to a better applicant pool. As these employees settle in, they can make suggestions on how to improve a medical practice by recommending lesser-known practices from different cultures and traditions.
13. Refine Your Hiring Process
It’s critical to update your outreach methods frequently so that you’re able to reach more candidates. Individuals are also less likely to apply for a position if they feel that the practice is outdated. Leverage a hiring process that allows you to capitalize on modern outreach methods, such as social media and in-built website applications.
Be sure to improve other areas of the recruitment process, too. This includes updating the questions you ask in the interview, the compensation and benefits you offer, and how you represent your brand culture throughout the various recruitment stages.
14. Start a Blog About Hiring and Interviewing Tips for Healthcare Professionals
Starting a blog about hiring and interviewing tips for healthcare professionals is a good healthcare recruitment strategy because it allows recruitment officers to connect with potential candidates in a way that’s more personal than other methods.
Blogs are an excellent way for professionals to share their expertise with others and to explain the reasons behind their hiring process. When looking at an organization’s job listing, it can be challenging to gauge the specifics of the role and what it’s like to work there. By reading a blog instead, applicants can better understand what explicitly working there involves.
15. Create a Multi-Platform Campaign
Creating a multi-platform campaign ensures you reach a wider range of qualified candidates than if you were to stick to posting on job boards or social media. This approach increases the visibility of your job offerings and makes it more likely that the right candidate sees them. Some platforms to consider posting your recruitment opportunities on include social media, the company careers page, job boards, the company newsletter, emails, and the company website.
Staffing Models vs Staffing Matrix
Staffing Models vs. Staffing Matrix: What’s the Difference?
Staffing models and staffing matrices are not interchangeable terms. While both are critical in organizing healthcare teams, they are very different. A staffing model outlines necessary staff types and numbers, while a staffing matrix details specific roles and reporting relationships. The staffing matrix is crucial for quality patient care and resource coordination. It has important budgetary implications, affecting resource utilization and cost management.
Structure and Function of Staffing Models and Staffing Matrices
The main difference between a staffing model and a staffing matrix is their structure and function. An organization uses a staffing model to determine the number and types of staff members required to meet its goals. It often considers factors like employee skills, workload, and organizational objectives.
In contrast, a staffing matrix is a more dynamic tool that outlines the specific roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships within a project or organization. It usually displays which employee reports to which manager and is helpful in complex environments where staff may report to multiple managers, such as in matrix organizations.
Why Staffing Matrices Matter in Health Care
In the health care setting, a staffing matrix is crucial for ensuring the right mix of staff with the appropriate skills to provide high-quality patient care. It helps coordinate multidisciplinary teams and manage the complex hierarchical structures in health care environments.
The Budgetary Implications of Staffing Matrices
Using a staffing matrix can have significant budgetary implications. Efficient staffing can lead to cost savings by optimizing resource utilization. Conversely, inadequate staffing may result in increased overtime costs or the need to hire temporary staff, which can escalate expenses. Budget decision-makers are concerned with maintaining the quality of care while managing costs effectively. Therefore, the staffing matrix should be aligned with the budgeting process to ensure financial sustainability and meet organizational goals.
Related Reading
- Employee Retention in Healthcare
- Recruitment Challenges in Healthcare Industry
- Healthcare Data Analyst Requirements
Book a Call to Learn More About Our Provider Credentialing Services
Staffing models in healthcare organize and define the roles of clinical and non-clinical staff to manage patient care and operations. These models help healthcare organizations meet patient and operational needs by determining how many staff are needed, their skill mix, and how they work together.
In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic put immense pressure on healthcare staffing models, revealing gaps in care delivery and performance that had previously gone unnoticed. As organizations addressed the staffing crisis, many discovered opportunities to optimize their existing staffing models to improve patient outcomes and operational efficiency.
Azulity specializes in healthcare master data management and provider credentialing services, bringing proven expertise in implementing healthcare data solutions and credentialing across the US. Our comprehensive platform ensures consistent patient, provider, location, and claims data synchronization across all systems and departments.
Key features include: healthcare MDM, provider MDM, reference data management, credentialing, and provider enrollment. We serve healthcare technology leaders – from CIOs and CDOs to VPs of data platforms and credentialing – helping them eliminate the costly problems of fragmented data systems. Book a call to learn more about our healthcare master data management services today!