Healthcare Employers Report Rising Demand for Contingent Workforce

Patient boon and shortage of specialists cause for growth in healthcare staffing

Though contingent workers were the first to go when healthcare bottom lines “bottomed out,” many are the first to return, as hospitals reconfigure healthcare staffing needs in the face of economic recovery and lingering uncertainty. Workflows need to be re-evaluated and nurses, physicians and therapists knowledgeable in healthcare information technologies need to be sourced to comply with pending government reform mandates.

Just two years ago, millions of newly unemployed Americans lost their healthcare benefits as the worst recession in decades swept the nation.  The demand for medical services declined and margins for some healthcare employers sank below sustainable standards. Pay and hiring freezes were implemented and spend on staffing got so tight that even some of the most seasoned medical specialists lost their jobs.

Now by granting 46 million more Americans access to healthcare they never had, healthcare reform promises to repopulate hospital floors and rekindle the demand for acute care and niche medical services. This boon in patient flow will call many back to work and result in modest growth for the healthcare staffing industry in 2011.

Naturally, a flood of new patients to the system means a return to the ill-fated healthcare staffing shortage, along with an increase in pricing pressures for qualified candidates. More doctors and nurses continue to retire from the profession than enter it and analysts with Philadelphia-based Hay Group project base salaries in healthcare to inch up half percentage point in 2011.

The Stay Staffed Candidate Direct Marketplace aids healthcare employers in dealing with this one-two punch. First, the Marketplace aids in sourcing and recruiting qualified candidates from anywhere in the country, and second, a competitive bill rate feature allows healthcare staffing agencies participating in the Marketplace to submit competitive base rates for candidates – rates often lower than salary caps posted by healthcare employers. Postings in the Candidate VMS have increased by more than 25 percent in the last 60 days.

The Marketplace requires no capital outlay and is supported by the industry standard of a 2- 3% fee charged directly to agencies for placing candidates. Healthcare employers incur no cost for the service. The Candidate Direct Marketplace is web-based and provides functionality to support contract data, requisitioning, vendor compliance, candidate screening, credentialing and licensure documentation, workflow automation, applicant processing and billing.*

The Candidate Direct Marketplace® provides a single place for healthcare providers to source, recruit, procure and manage contingent and direct hire needs. Our healthcare technology blog provides readers with information about current trends and aims to stay in the forefront of healthcare staffing technology and industry news. Please contact Candidate Direct for more information about our healthcare staffing software technology and hospital cost reduction.

*Candidate Direct Marketplace – a fully-configurable web-based staffing enterprise with features customizable to meet individual healthcare provider contingent workforce needs.