How Healthcare Facilities Can Navigate Staffing Shortages

IN A NUTSHELL:

• Healthcare facilities dealing with burnout, staffing shortage of nurses and physicians
• Providers and administrators must find ways to improve workflows to maintain patient care
• All industries across the country rocked by staffing shortages

Staffing shortages are happening nationwide affecting all industries, including healthcare.

The lack of an active workforce is not expected to be temporary as the effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic linger and employees across the board are going on strike or not going back to work at all. Increased wages, better benefits, and an improved work-life balance are only a few of the reasons for the scarcity of people willing to work.

As for healthcare, the industry is expected to face shortages over the next five to 10 years, according to the 2021 External Healthcare Labor Market Analysis by Mercer. Researchers examined labor statistics in healthcare at local, state, regional, and national levels.

Results of the study found several important factors which medical facility administrators should be aware of when examining healthcare staffing shortages.

• Jobs that pay less will experience some of the highest staffing shortages, directly affecting access to homecare. As it currently stands, nearly 10 million people work in lower-wage healthcare positions. The demand for the same positions will rise to nearly 11 million within the next five years.
• Research projects nearly 6.5 million employees will permanently leave their positions by 2026 for a career outside of healthcare with approximately 2 million people replacing them.
• There will be a decrease in physicians providing primary care while there will be an increase in demand for primary care physicians during the same time period
• There will be a nursing shortage in a majority of the country, with a surplus in the South and Southwest.
• The demand for nurses is set to grow 5 percent during the next five years, causing for an increase in travel nursing opportunities.

The issues of healthcare staffing shortages is in such dire straits that the Department of Health and Human Services is committing $100 million through the American Rescue Plan in an attempt to resolve the problem. The money is set aside for “state-run programs that support, recruit, and retain primary care clinicians who live and work in underserved communities,” according to officials.

The ultimate goal is the retention of healthcare workers in underserved areas will improve equal access to healthcare services. The struggle to hire and retain physicians in rural areas existed before the pandemic, yet worsened in the last few years. This past month, the American Nurses Association sent a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services requesting the agency to declare the ongoing nursing shortage a national crisis.

The group cited overwhelmed health systems and burnt out staff as the two primary reasons for the crisis.

How Ready Doc™ Alleviates Healthcare Staffing Shortages:

Ready Doc™ is an ideal solution for medical facility administrators, credentialing specialists, and healthcare providers to maintain an effective level of patient care despite nationwide staffing shortages. The medical credentialing and healthcare management platform expedites administrative workflows, reduces the risk of compliance breaches, and enhances care team coordination with HIPPA-complaint communication tools.

The end result is a greater number of qualified healthcare professionals treating patients sooner, with less burnout amongst clinical and administrative staff members. The solution is a win-win for providers, patients, and facilities.

Ready Doc™ Features:

• Every feature within the dashboard is three clicks away or less
• Access provider credentials which are securely stored and verified with immutable timestamps
• Automatic expiration alerts
• Automated payer enrollment
• Payer enrollment tracking
• Appointments and privileging
• Task management, tracking
• Report generations
• Custom folders
• Custom digital forms automatically populated with provider data
• Electronic signatures
• Continuous monitoring of state and federal databanks
• Continuing Medical Education Courses for physicians and Continuing Education Units for nurses

These features allow healthcare facilities of all sizes and specialties to ensure their provider roster is up-to-date and in compliance to provide premium care for their patients. Ready Doc™ is beneficial for healthcare staffing agencies as well, ensuring that their entire roster is contract-ready as soon as there is a need for licensed medical professionals.

Make healthcare administration a breeze and alleviate burden for an entire facility with Ready Doc™ for free. Learn how to get started and schedule a demo today.

While medical facility administrators and credentialing specialists grapple with the ongoing staffing crisis, individual healthcare providers must take the lead on managing their own career and reputation.

How Vigil Improves Career Management for Healthcare Professionals:

Any licensed medical professional, no matter their scope of practice or career level, must take some form of responsibility in managing their career and reputation. This includes being able to verify their identity when needed with appropriate credentials, knowing their OIG Exclusion List status, and compiling vetted patient/peer reviews.

Having all of this information up-to-date and instantaneously accessible can allow healthcare professionals to treat patients when they are needed during a time when there is a widespread shortage of workers.

Yet this is not an easy task, especially given the busy lifestyle of a medical professional.

This is why Intiva Health developed Vigil—the essential app for the healthcare professional. Vigil is an advanced medical smart device app that creates an immutable digital badge including a healthcare professional’s identity, credentials, credibility, and scope of practice.

Healthcare Career Tools:

• Immutable digital badge with NPI, medical license, state ID, and picture
• Continuous career tracking and informs for federal and state exemption lists
• Ability to curate and contest client and peer evaluations

The app allows certified licensed medical professionals to validate their credentials to supply healthcare anytime, anywhere. Whether it is getting to the scene of a national disaster, on-board an aircraft high in the sky, or at a new medical facility when they are needed most.

Vigil’s ingenious, personalized functions are designed to be used throughout a healthcare career from residency up until retirement. All information is readily available with a unique, QR Code.

Get started today and check your career health with Vigil by downloading for free. Vigil is ideal for physicians, nurses, and all of licensed medical professionals in any scope of practice. The healthcare industry can be tricky to navigate throughout any career stage, which makes Vigil ideal for a time when there is a widespread staffing shortage.

Vigil puts a healthcare career in a pocket and allows experts in any field of medicine to be ready to work when they are needed most.

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