The healthcare staffing landscape has changed significantly over the past 5 years. The market has changed, demand has changed, the conversations we were having a year ago have changed. The technology healthcare staffing firms use has also been a part of this change. Today the highest-performing healthcare staffing agencies are incorporating AI, automation, VMS, and more into their everyday processes.
With the influx of AI and new vendors entering the industry, it can be overwhelming to decide on what to implement at your staffing agency that will drive true profitability. Today’s technology is helping tackle expensive friction points for healthcare staffing firms by eliminating the time it takes to place workers on an assignment and incorporating more automation into their processes.
In a recent episode on our podcast, The Staffing Buzz Network, we welcomed Crystal Fullilove, Senior Healthcare Staffing Analyst at Staffing Industry Analysts. One of the conversations we had was about how automation and technology is driving profitability for staffing firms. In this article, we outline some of the top automation and technology tools that we discussed that today’s top staffing firms are using.
How to Choose the Right Technology for Your Staffing Firm
As mentioned in the beginning of this article, today there are so many different vendors where it makes it impossible to choose the best technology to implement at your staffing company. At the end of the day, you are looking to implement tools that will drive efficiency, help outpace the competition, and drive growth for your staffing firm. When it comes to implementing new technology, the best place to start is with your healthcare staffing software solution. First, see what tools they already have for you to take advantage of.
Second, see what tools they integrate with. The more your healthcare staffing software is connected to the automation and AI tools you are implementing, the more streamlined every process will be. When tools are disconnected and not working with each other, it will make it hard to find true value and profitability from them.
Top Automation Technology Driving Profitability for Healthcare Staffing Companies
Automated Credentialing
Automated credentialing prevents major compliance problems and eliminates manual follow up. Automated credential tracking is vital for every healthcare staffing company. Manually keeping track of credentials leaves room for error. Not to mention the time you need to put into keeping the information up to date and reaching out to employees with expiring credentials.
Staffing companies are using their healthcare staffing software to send automatic reminders to individuals with expiring or expired credentials. This alerts the employees of their credential expiration date and will prompt them to provide their updated credentials, otherwise they won’t be placed.
Another imperative tool is the ability to put a hard stop on placing candidates with missing or expiring credentials in your staffing software. This is critical, as you don’t want to be held responsible for placing clinicians who do not have the proper credentials.
Your healthcare staffing software should also have a credential expiration report that helps you monitor which employees have expiring or expired credentials.
AI Shift Matching
AI talent matching in healthcare staffing software solutions is helping improve submission speed and improve shift matching. In a time when facilities need quicker turnaround times, AI talent matching tools are helping staffing companies identify the best clinicians for open shifts based on skills, credentials, education, location, and more. This eliminates countless hours searching your staffing software for clinicians that are a match. You can get immediate results on who the top matches are for an open shift.
In conjunction with AI talent matching, predictive intelligence is also helping staffing companies determine how risky a placement is going to be based on their engagement with your staffing agency, retention, previous placement success, and more. If someone has a high-risk score, that may be an immediate red flag that they might not be the best placement for the shift.
Mobile App for Healthcare Workers
Mobile technology is helping clinicians manage credentials and assignments, log availability and time, and look for new shift opportunities without recruiter intervention. These self-service tools give clinicians the flexibility and control they are looking for and helps staffing agencies save time by eliminating unnecessary back and forth communication.
Healthcare staffing agencies can also send AI-powered job invites overnight within the mobile app. Some healthcare staffing software solutions can identify clinicians that are a match for a shift and send out automatic job invites. These job invites can be accepted right within the mobile app, and their status is automatically updated to ‘working’ within the staffing software. This technology is a big game changer for healthcare staffing firms and is especially beneficial when needing to fill shifts quickly.
ATS and VMS Connectivity
In general, there has been a big rise of MSP’s and VMS in healthcare staffing. VMS connectivity is essential with your ATS, aka your staffing software. When your ATS and VMS speak, it provides a seamless automated experience for operations. Manual work is significantly eliminated as well by not needing to enter information twice within your ATS and VMS platform. All VMS data flows directly into your staffing software platform, allowing for automated billing and supplier payments.
Self-Service Web Portals for Facilities and Employees
Like the mobile app experience, clinician and facility web portals also provide convenient self-service tools. Everyone is on the go so having the ability to complete tasks easily and on their own is huge from both a clinician and facility point of view.
Similar to a mobile app, clinicians can use the web portal to enter availability, time, upload credentials, and view upcoming assignments. On the other hand, facilities can use a web portal to view upcoming shift schedules, invoices, and reporting. They can also use the portal to submit open shifts to your staffing agency. Having a mobile-friendly web portal is also beneficial, as it gives them access to everything they need right at their fingertips, which is especially important as they aren’t always by a computer. All data from your staffing software flows into the web portal and vice versa.
Pay Package Calculator Built-In to Your Healthcare Staffing Software
In healthcare staffing, you are managing many different shift types, from long-term assignments that involve sign-on bonuses to per-diem and other travel perks that require gross margin to be assessed. A pay package calculator that is built into your staffing software that integrates with the GSA Rates Calculator will provide a detailed calculation and analysis of Pay/Bill Hours, Pay/Bill Rates, Overtime Calculations, Bonuses, Holidays, and more. The calculation will also provide your expected gross margin percentage and markup.
A built-in pay package calculator within your healthcare staffing software will save you time, help you save and earn more money by correct gross margin calculations, and relieve the stress of manual, complex pay calculations. All of this happening without needing to leave your staffing software. Some built-in pay package calculators can even send the pay package to your candidate for approval right from the pay package calculator screen.
Boosting Profitability with Automation
The healthcare staffing landscape has completely changed and the staffing companies that are taking advantage of AI and automation within their workflow will continue to drive growth and profitability. Start with your healthcare staffing software to determine if they have the above tools and then see who they integrate. Today, it can be overwhelming with
the number of AI and automation vendors in the industry, but the more you stay connected and integrated within your staffing software platform, the more results you are going to see. The healthcare staffing landscape is changing, but you can outpace the competition and drive growth for your staffing agency by incorporating the right automation tools within your processes.
Interested in learning more? Schedule a Demo of Ultra-Staff EDGE Healthcare Staffing Software to see how you can incorporate the above tools into your everyday processes to drive profitability.
