The open healthcare marketplace eliminates the extra effort and cost associated with searching through staffing agencies, offering a convenient and cost-effective solution for finding the providers that hospitals and healthcare facilities need.
The healthcare industry is full of acronyms and jargon, new jargon born of new technologies and events. While in some instances, the meanings are obvious or quickly explained, in other instances, the new term is easily confused with an old one; take, for example, staffing agencies or staffing apps. What's the difference between a staffing agency and a staffing app? Is there a difference? Is one better than the other? Is your administration telling you to avoid staffing agencies? We're going to tackle this topic today so that when you're done, you can be confident in how to best develop your short-term staffing strategies in an affordable and low-stress manner.
What is Agency Staffing?
Facilities contract with a staffing agency to screen and source qualified temporary employees for a specific job for a specified period of time. Contracts with staffing agencies may include various fees and limits or quota requirements in exchange for short-term staffing solutions.
How Can Hospitals Avoid Temp Staffing Agencies?
Hospitals can avoid medical staffing agencies by utilizing healthcare staffing apps like Nursa. Of course, this begs the question, how is that any different?
How is a Healthcare Marketplace App Different?
Nursa is a healthcare staffing app that was developed and in use before the pandemic and subsequent gig economy explosion hit. This means Nursa was uniquely situated with prior experience to inform the development of the app's processes and adapt quickly to meet crisis staffing situations across multiple states. Grounded in the weight of experience, using Nursa is a quick per diem solution that is streamlined and economically sound for all types of hospitals and healthcare facilities.
Using Nursa is different than using a staffing agency for several reasons:
1. Nursa saves hospitals and facilities money. This is a game-changer for many, and again, in multiple ways. There are no hidden fees when a facility or hospital uses Nursa. The facility only pays for the hours that are worked by PRN staff sourced through the app. Furthermore, there are no quota requirements for how often a hospital uses the Nursa app. This allows facilities to adjust their per diem contract staff needs in real-time to line up with fluctuating intake numbers. Additionally, PRN staff that pick up jobs through the app are independent contractors, which means hospitals and facilities do not pay for any employee benefits (health insurance, retirement, vacation/sick days). Top off this list of money-saving strategies by remembering that source per diem staff to cover shifts. You save your facility from paying your staff clinicians overtime.
2. Nursa verifies licensure and completes background checks. This saves hospitals and facilities both time and money. Clinicians can only apply for PRN shifts on the app once they have been verified and approved to work.
3. Independent contractors are motivated to do their best. With Nursa, the facility hires a selection of interested PRN clinicians on a shift-by-shift basis. Unlike short-term workers for staffing agencies that fill a role for a set number of weeks or even months and therefore may have a sense of job security (even if only for a short period of time), PRN clinicians need to do their best work every shift so that you will continue to hire them for jobs. These nurses and assistants are actively looking for shifts because they have a financial need. Some of them actually work independently at their full-time job. These clinicians are motivated to show up and get the job done well every single shift.
4. PRN clinicians help facilities keep their staff happy. The word burnout is scary for any manager or administrator in healthcare, and the statistics about nurses and burnout are alarming. Many nurses struggle with fatigue and burnout, feeling unsupported and overworked. Sourcing independent contractors to pick up shifts and opting to avoid enforcing mandatory overtime for your staff can assist your other strategies and efforts in boosting staff retention and reducing turnover (this saves you money, too, because turnover is expensive).
Why is the Open Marketplace Better than Healthcare Staffing Agencies?
The open marketplace allows for greater flexibility for both the gig worker and the company hiring them. Flexibility for the company means they can adjust staffing levels with fluctuating needs, while for the gig worker, it means they set their schedule.
What are the Pros and Cons of Using a Staffing Agency?
Some staffing agencies put in the dedication and time to proactively recruit staff to meet specific work needs for their clients. This specialized attention can be a benefit to using a staffing agency. The downside of that, however, is that kind of proactive recruitment has a cost.
Most often, staffing agencies don't have problems finding a good candidate for the job you need temporarily filled. They do, however, struggle with maintaining a talent pool because so many people who take temporary jobs through a staffing agency are actively looking for long-term work commitments, which means they may leave.
Not all staffing agencies are equal. The same is true in all things, but the risk is present when it comes to healthcare staffing. For example, is the staffing agency you are preparing to hire able to deliver? If they can't deliver quality staff when you need them, do you still have to pay the agency? This isn't the same situation as deciding which shirt to buy online. In that scenario, you can return it and get a refund with no obligation to buy something else from that same shirt company. With a staffing agency, however, is there an obligation in the contract to continue using their services even if you are unsatisfied with the results? Many hospitals and healthcare facilities are making the switch to the healthcare marketplace by using tools such as Nursa. Has yours?
