Healthcare Heroes2020-05-11T18:38:21+00:00

Healthcare Heroes

Dr. Dana Corriel, Founder of SoMEDocs

Dr. David B Nash, Founding
Dean Emeritus of the Jefferson College of Population Health

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Recent Posts

Staffing Services and Healthcare Provider Shortages During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many challenges – one of the biggest being the shortage of healthcare workers throughout the industry. In Houston, Baton Rouge, and other cities hit particularly hard, shortages continue to grow as the virus spreads, making it increasingly difficult for hospitals to cope with the influx of cases. In Florida, as COVID patients continue to test positive in record numbers, finding enough experienced workers to attend to the critically ill patients is becoming increasingly difficult.

Across the United States, another pressing issue looms: testing. Testing before asymptomatic carriers spread the virus is vitally important to controlling the pandemic’s reach. However, many sites are having trouble finding qualified staff to perform this testing – leaving them overworked, understaffed, and with a high employee turnover rate. As the system begins to reach its maximum capacity during this secondary surge – and as healthcare professionals themselves begin to get sick and quarantine — hospitals, nursing homes, and other healthcare facilities are all in need of additional help and backup staff.

Our Commitment to Our Clients – Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

Choosing where to focus our efforts to address the issues resulting from the pandemic was a difficult task.  As healthcare recruiters, our business modelis designed to allow us to quickly provide help when our clients – and, most importantly, their patients – need us.Here’s what we are doing to help our clients address the challenges brought on by the pandemic.

Staffing Testing Sites

With COVID-related healthcare needs rapidly and urgently increasing, we knew that it was vitally important to place providers where they would make the greatest impact, and that meant staffing static and pop-up COVID testing sites – specifically in underserved populations. By doing so, we were able to serve locations having difficulty remaining staffed so they could continue the vital work of testing patients. These pop-up and static testing sites have contributed to the over 74 million tests that have now been performed in the United States. In cases of communicable outbreaks, such testing is vital not only for patient care, but also for understanding and tracking the spread of the disease. Without reliable data from testing, researchers and healthcare providers are unable to pinpoint trends and insights that help with the development of treatment options and mitigation of infection rates.

Creating a Plan for the Future

The hiring process has changed significantly as both healthcare organizations and their staffing partners have adapted to a virtual environment, but the industry continues to find strength in collaboration – sharing everything from PPE inventory and employees to innovative ideas and insight.For our part in this process, we have expanded the staffing services that began to address testing site shortages into a full staffing service line for healthcare organizations and providers. This service has already enabled us to address the staffing needs of vital COVID-19 care sites, including nursing homes, hospitals, community clinics, and other healthcare centers in need. By compiling and thoroughly vetting a broad database of nurses, nurse practitioners, CNAs, medical assistants, physician assistants, and other mid-level providers, we are able to respond swiftly to staffing needs for clients across the country. This allows them to focus on mission critical items without sacrificing the recruitment of top-tier staff to serve as permanent or interim support as they cope with the continued demands of COVID-19 patient care.

As we move towards the next phase of the pandemic, we cannot predict what will happen, but we can continue to prepare. By connecting in new ways and evolving our solutions alongside the evolving needs of healthcare systems and hospitals across the country, staffing and recruitment companies will continue to play a critical role in the current pandemic and beyond. If you have urgent healthcare staffing needs, we’re here to help – contact us today.

How COVID-19 is Transforming Healthcare Recruitment

Recruitment Video Interview

As health systems recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, they face an ever-worsening provider shortage. Last year, the Association of American Medical Colleges predicted the U.S. would see a shortfall of up to 122,000 physicians by 2032. Now, lost revenue due to the pandemic has caused many hospitals to furlough employees and slowed, or completely delayed, recruitment efforts. The end result will be unprecedented demand for providers unlike what hospitals have ever dealt with before.

The lack of funding from cancelled elective procedures and high costs associated with treating COVID-19 patients were financially devastating for healthcare systems around the country. In May, the American Hospital Association estimated that hospitals were losing more than $50 billion per month. The U.S. Labor Department reported that 1.4 million healthcare workers lost their jobs in April. Nearly 135,000 of those job losses were in hospitals.

Even prior to the pandemic, healthcare leaders had been increasingly worried about their ability to fill key provider positions. According to J.P. Morgan’s 2019 Healthcare Industry Outlook, 97% of senior healthcare executives were concerned about the provider shortage and 35% listed it as one of their top three challenges.

In this blog, we’ll outline some of the changes on the horizon for healthcare recruiting and the ways recruitment firms employ innovative solutions to fill key roles in hospitals and health organizations.

Virtual Recruiting Will Become the Norm

Some of the biggest challenges for recruiters during this time are travel restrictions and in-person meeting limitations. Just as many other industries have turned to virtual meetings, so have healthcare systems and recruiters.

Many health systems have pivoted to an entirely virtual recruitment process, utilizing virtual job fairs and online job sites to identify potential candidates. If the candidate is deemed a possible fit for the organization, they’ll advance to phone and Zoom video interviews with key decision makers. Their final interview will take place in-person, with COVID-19 screening and social distancing guidelines.

The innovation doesn’t end there. In order to obtain buy-in from a candidate, the health systems offer video tours and photos of the facility they’ll be working in, as well as the opportunity to talk with future colleagues for a more personal look into the organization.  Recruiters have also partnered with local realtors to provide candidates information on the community and available housing options—all through a virtual screen.

Health Systems Will Shift Hiring Priorities, Optimize Screening Processes

There is a staggering amount of provider positions that need to be replaced, and it is going to take an extended period of time to fill these roles. To ensure health systems are providing the best possible care to their patients, they will need to prioritize which key positions are on the top of their list.

This prioritization will also extend to the screening process. Health systems and recruiters will need to work together to establish which skills and experience are most important in potential candidates.  As telehealth continues to rise in popularity, possessing a “virtual bedside manner” will also become essential. Consulting with patients and colleagues through video will require providers to be highly attentive and empathetic. Recruiters will make greater use of behavioral interviewing to ensure candidates possess soft skills and high levels of emotional intelligence.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major setbacks for health systems that were already contending with provider shortages. However, they are not alone in their struggle. With the help of an experienced recruitment firm, advanced technology, and streamlined recruitment practices, hospitals can recoup their losses and find talented individuals to provide the much-needed care our nation needs to heal and move forward.

Telehealth and the Future of Healthcare in a Post-COVID World

Within just a few months, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused rapid, widespread changes to our ways of life—including the way providers deliver care to patients.

During the height of the pandemic, non-essential healthcare services were forced to take a backseat. However, the need for these services remained; patients, especially older and at-risk individuals, chose to forego care for their serious health issues for fear of contracting the virus. A survey by the SCAN Foundation and the John A. Hartford Foundation found that more than half of older Americans put off seeking medical treatment in March. As a result of the reduced visits, hospitals are reporting over a 100% decrease in operating margins.

To meet demand and sustain revenue, health systems are turning to telehealth—the use of technology and electronic communications to provide long distance care to patients in need. While many providers and hospitals were already making telehealth investments, the pandemic has accelerated its implementation and solidified its role in the future of healthcare.

Convenience and choice for patients

In an age of social distancing, telehealth services allow patients to receive care for minor issues from the comfort of their own homes, and the convenience and peace of mind it offers has won over many Americans already. According to a recent survey, 25% of consumer respondents say they’ve used telehealth services prior to the pandemic; 59% say they’re more likely to use telehealth services now, and 33% would even leave their current physician for a provider that offered telehealth access.

Telehealth also has the potential to address social determinants of health (SDOH) through its advanced technology and artificial intelligence capabilities. Providers can track SDOH factors like job status, education level, social and physical environments, and more to make customized treatment plans that take into account the patient’s total wellbeing. Furthermore, telehealth can also help provide greater access to healthcare for underserved or rural populations by eliminating financial and geographic barriers.

As evidenced by the consumer survey, patients in the future will choose providers based on the quality of their telehealth services. Hospitals and private practices will need to ensure they have a robust telehealth network in place going forward, otherwise they may find themselves falling far behind their competitors.

The need for a new virtual “bedside manner”

A generational divide is likely to develop between younger generations who will quickly embrace telehealth as just another technological service, and the older adults who may feel isolated and left in the lurch. Forty percent of older adults surveyed by the SCAN Foundation and the John A. Hartford Foundation say that telehealth visits are worse, or much worse, than a regular office visit.

Many seniors live alone and go long periods of time without social contact. For these older adults, the physical touch they receive from their physician is vital for their mental wellbeing. Without it, they may experience elevated levels of depression—which has been shown to worsen chronic conditions. And because of social distancing requirements, even younger individuals can experience similar side effects from lack of physical, in-person interaction.

Providers must develop more advanced emotional intelligence skills to be able to provide compassionate care to their patients. Skills like communication, empathy, and self-awareness will be what defines an adequate physician from an exceptional one. And not only must they be aware of their patient’s mindset, they need to observe their own as well to ensure they’re mentally able to provide the level of care and attention that is necessary.

It’s clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has generated a revolutionary change in healthcare that is here to stay. While there are many benefits to telehealth, there are also a multitude of challenges that providers must navigate in this ever-evolving landscape to ensure they’re providing quality care, even from a distance.

 

Jordan Search Consultants

Jordan Search Consultants

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