by The U.S. healthcare industry has been facing a shortage of qualified professionals for several years now. With an aging population and more patients needing care, demand has been steadily increasing. However, the supply of nurses, doctors, technicians and other medical staff has not kept pace. Various factors have contributed to this imbalance between supply and demand.
One challenge lies in attracting people to healthcare careers. Many young adults view these jobs as stressful and burned-out. Long hours, emotionally draining work, and significant student loan debt turn people away from professions like nursing. While the need is great, healthcare struggles to compete for talent against other industries that often offer better work-life balance.
U.S. Healthcare Staffing organizations also struggle to hire for hard-to-fill specialty roles. Finding qualified candidates for jobs like occupational therapists, MRI technicians, and even general surgeons can be very difficult depending on location. Certain specialties tend to be underserved across large parts of the country. Rural and Inner-city areas often find it nearly impossible to recruit top talent.
Finally, the growth and graying of the U.S. population is exacerbating the staffing shortfall. As baby boomers age into older demographics needing more medical care, the volume of patients is rising dramatically. At the same time, many seasoned healthcare workers are retiring. Replacing these experienced employees has proven challenging without finding ways to increase the overall supply of workers.
The Rise Of U.S. Healthcare Staffing Agencies
To help bridge gaps in staffing levels, healthcare providers increasingly turned to flexible staffing solutions in the form of travel and per diem nurses, allied professionals and physicians. These contingent workers—provided by a network of national and local staffing agencies—allow hospitals and clinics to supplement core staff during times of high demand. They also bring in hard-to-find specialties on a temporary basis.
A few benefits have driven strong growth of staffing agencies in healthcare:
– Flexibility: Facilities can scale staff numbers up or down depending on patient volumes or acuity levels. Agencies provide on-demand labor without long-term commitments.
– Hard skills: Agencies recruit candidates for roles that are chronically understaffed, such as certain nurse specialties or medical technicians with advanced qualifications.
– Cost control: Using contingent staff allows organizations to control labor costs. They only pay for hours that supplement core staff rather than maintain full fixed payroll.
– Retention tool: Working short-term assignments provides flexibility that many healthcare professionals desire. Some use contract work to avoid burnout or spend time with family between roles.
– Experience: Travel professionals bring clinical experience unavailable locally from prior roles elsewhere. This broadens the expertise pool for communities.
As a result, U.S. Healthcare Staffing has boomed into a multi-billion dollar industry. Agencies provide millions of shifts annually to supplement hospital and clinic staffing. They now represent an indispensable labor extension for many healthcare providers struggling to find workers on their own.
Opportunities And Challenges For Staffing Firms
The continuously growing market presents new opportunities for staffing companies that can develop innovative solutions. However, it also creates ongoing challenges:
– Competition: As demand rises, more entrants crowd the market seeking profitable growth. Agencies must differentiate through service, compensation, career growth, and recruiting.
– Regulations: Healthcare rules around licensing, credentialing, and compliance require extensive expertise and infrastructure from agencies. Oversight gets more complex each year.
– Supply constraints: Finding enough qualified candidates, especially for certain high-skill jobs and remote locations, remains very difficult. Continual recruitment efforts are required.
– Cost inflation: Wages are rising as labor markets tighten, impacting agencies’ ability to profitably serve clients needing more affordable alternatives than full-time staff.
– Changing models: New staffing models like predictive scheduling and embedded/onsite teams are gaining favor with providers seeking flexibility. Agencies adapt offerings accordingly.
– Technology: Digital natives entering the workforce expect modern tech experiences of agencies as employers and clients. Constant upgrades are essential.
Leading the way are those firms able to master multifaceted recruitment using data and analytics, offer attractive career benefits and environments, deploy the latest talent management tools, and create client outcomes that outpace competitors. Overcoming these strategic obstacles will determine winners in the evolution of healthcare staffing.
As demand for healthcare continues increasing nationwide, properly staffing facilities will remain a core challenge for providers. Yet flexible and experienced contingent staff delivered through agencies provide an indispensable solution amid worsening worker shortages. Both healthcare organizations and staffing companies must work collaboratively and creatively to develop innovative labor models and find qualified candidates that can help close persistent supply gaps. Doing so will ensure patients receive quality care despite industry-wide workforce constraints for the foreseeable future.
*Note:
1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research
2. We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it
