Observations from three healthcare conferences suggest the short-term remedy for backfilling vacant provider positions may be making the problem worse in the long run
by Intelliworx
There’s an intense shortage of provider talent in healthcare. While there’s no disagreement over that fact, leaders may be unknowingly adding to the problem. That’s our takeaway after having exhibited at three healthcare conferences over the last six months or so.
These conferences included the 3RNET annual conference, which is aimed at hospital administrators; the AAPPR annual conference serving recruiters who specialize in finding providers; and the ASHHRA which is for healthcare human resources staff.
We sent a handful of people to work at the booth and walk the floor at each event. We universally heard about the talent shortage at these conferences – and made some observations about the way the industry is addressing this key issue.
1. Healthcare leaders are too busy firefighting to think about the talent shortage
It’s a difficult time to be an administrator in healthcare. Report after report describes a long list of challenges. About half of all hospitals are running at a loss.
The talent shortage is certainly a contributing factor since the business model in healthcare is a service. If providers aren’t seeing patients, the healthcare facility isn’t earning revenue. Yet when patients need medical attention, they are forced to seek out a provider elsewhere, which potentially means that revenue is never coming back.
Yet healthcare leadership isn’t thinking about this problem deeply enough. Most are just trying to get through the day and that means filling those vacancies the fastest way possible. Often this is with temporary staff, who may or may not embrace the same values and work ethic.
We know this is easier said than done, but healthcare leaders have got to find a way to step back from the firefighting and think strategically about the talent shortage. It’s not going away soon, and it might get worse, but the first step is thinking about what is within your grasp to influence. One easy way is to get a handle on the related requirements and processes.
2. Temporary healthcare may be making the talent shortage worse
Temporary help is a common way to solve acute staffing shortages in healthcare. It’s often floated as the ‘right’ solution to a challenge that is supposed to be temporary. However, it’s also a convenient and expensive short-term solution with lasting consequences. Healthcare facilities are usually busy and therefore easily tempted to reach for the quick solution. In turn, this may be compounding the overall shortage of talent.
How? Some providers are increasingly able to make a career out of temporary work. The shortage has created this new market with high demand for temporary providers – and they’re being compensated accordingly. That’s taking permanent talent out of the market, so it’s become a vicious cycle.
The situation is complicated by the fact that the best doctors tend to be gainfully employed. As a result, the temporary workforce is being filled by providers who are technically proficient, but never have the opportunity to build the true and positive rapport with a patient that a full-time physician would. This has a profound impact on a healthcare institution’s relationship with its patients and the local community.
3. Solution providers are too focused on selling and not enough on problem-solving
Too many of the software vendors in healthcare are overly focused on selling their products instead of listening to the problem. Moreover, many are pushing products that solve just one part of the problem but aren’t helping the institution to analyze talent needs and orchestrate a systemic program to fill those needs.
That sounds like a mouthful, but you can see this in a typical search for a provider. For example, that applicant tracking system (ATS) a hospital has used forever doesn’t parse resumes well. As a result, applicants (providers) are left copying and pasting basic data from their beautifully formatted resume, which they spent hours preparing, just to submit an application.
Another common frustration we hear is when providers are asked to repeatedly submit documents, credentials or references multiple times to a different department in the same institution. In effect, a hospital spends a lot of money recruiting providers and subsequently comes across as inefficient and disorganized because it asks the talent it is desperate to hire for the same documents three times.
And all that’s driven by siloed point systems that don’t talk to each other and don’t support cohesive business processes. This has profound implications for recruiting because one in two providers (45%) surveyed said they will stop pursuing a position if the experience is poor. As the saying goes, if the courtship is rocky, so too will the marriage.
As a technology community, we have a collective responsibility to stay focused on the problem. Problems in health tend to be dynamic and evolve over time, and the proposed technology solutions need to respond accordingly.
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