Over the last several years, the healthcare industry faced an unprecedented labor shortage, spurred on by the COVID-19 pandemic and high levels of burnout. Becker’s reports that the nursing shortage is of particular concern, as the US faces a deficit of 200,000 to 450,000 registered nurses over the next two years, while physician labor is also facing a potential shortage. Implications are manifold: rural hospital closures and impacts on patient care, to name but two.
One solution to challenging recruiting landscapes is outsourcing clinical services. Hospitals and health systems that outsource clinical service lines can turn their focus to the vital functions of running a healthcare facility while knowing they have world-class clinicians caring for their communities and patients, while also having the support of national recruiting resources.
What’s the Solution?
When an outsourced clinical services provider partners with a health facility, they take on the recruitment and retention efforts of staffing a department. One of the most common fears with this transition is the idea of “unknown” clinicians in the hospital. Closely related is the fear of losing control over their clinical services. While these are real concerns, facilities must find the right clinical services partner.
When a partner like TeamHealth works alongside a healthcare facility, hospital leadership can rest assured that they have a partner who does more than staff their departments. True partnership encompasses support in human resources, operational excellence, leadership development and much more.
The Recruitment Solution
One of the key benefits of working with a clinical service partner is the recruitment, credentialing and retention of best-in-class clinicians. TeamHealth streamlines recruitment efforts to get the right clinicians in facilities nationwide. Our powerful recruitment team specializes in placing passionate and skilled clinicians dedicated to serving in our clients’ local facilities, which frees hospitals from this task and reduces associated costs. These clinicians become integral members of hospital staff, working collaboratively with other departments daily, assuming medical staff leadership roles, and also serving on important hospital committees and process improvement teams.
Not only do we support high-quality recruitment efforts, but we also emphasize retention. We know what it takes to support clinicians in an increasingly challenging workspace. When possible, we strive to retain internally employed clinicians when services transition and have an impressive clinician retention rate. No matter the situation, though, our goal is to provide uninterrupted patient care.
Our position as a physician-founded and physician-led company allows us to consider the distinct challenges clinicians face. From our robust diversity, equity and inclusion efforts to our perpetual emphasis on clinician well-being, we strive to build a highly-skilled, diverse and healthy workforce to best care for patients. Our commitment to our partners goes beyond the boots-on-the-ground teams we place. Every clinical team receives ample resources and operational expertise to support high-efficiency, high-quality performance.
The Human Resources Solution
Human resource functions in healthcare are complex and can be costly. An outsourced clinical partner can take on the administration of benefits, wellness services, continuing education and more – managing the departmental workforce from recruitment to retirement. With clinician employment outsourced, hospital leadership can focus on other human resources needs for internally employed workers, freeing them to manage hospital functions more readily and efficiently.
In addition, leadership does not have to worry about associated tasks around employing clinicians. For example, while rare, a clinician may not be the right fit for a facility. If this is the case, the hospital leadership informs their partner liaisons, who will take on any needed training or, uncommonly, replacement. At TeamHealth, we believe true partnerships stem from communication and collaboration, so we work closely with partner facilities to ensure we meet their needs and that our support extends wherever necessary.
The Leadership Solution
A principal aspect of effective departmental performance is strong leadership. Hospital staff are busy, and while leadership development and training are vital, more pressing concerns may overshadow them. Often, this means that hospitals rotate service line leadership, which can fracture processes, lead to instability, misaligned incentives and a negative impact on quality. Service line leaders set the tone and culture, and departments only run as well as their leadership.
Part of TeamHealth’s world-class recruiting includes finding the best leaders for each location. The ‘Leadership Dyad’ is our foundation, pairing seasoned clinical leaders with top business minds to promote growth and foster an environment where continuous improvement is a shared priority.
We invest in our clinical and operational leaders, providing ongoing training and leadership development; our Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) program and our Advanced Practice Clinician (APC) Council are just two examples among many. We also provide specialty-specific leadership that may be lacking, such as our Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) leadership model. Our national infrastructure uniquely positions us to provide these opportunities that many healthcare facilities may not otherwise access.
The TeamHealth Difference
Outsourcing clinical services alone is not enough. Healthcare facilities should seek outsourced partnerships that go above and beyond. At TeamHealth, we know we must earn the right to provide patient care in our partner facilities, so we do our best each day to exceed standards and expectations. We offer high-quality staffing, administrative support and management across the care continuum. Our care team model at every level of our organization – from our national leadership to our on-site teams – brings consistency and development to meet the needs of our patients and partners. Connect with us to learn how we can support your facility or system.
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