Staffing Shortages in Healthcare and Tech Solutions to Them
In 2023, the healthcare landscape remains dynamic and demanding, with constant changes. In the aftermath of the pandemic, numerous healthcare organizations find themselves in a perpetual pursuit of excellence to meet their patients' evolving needs. Simultaneously, they face financial challenges stemming from reduced reimbursements.
It is fair to say that the financial challenges healthcare systems currently face are intensified by three critical simultaneous occurrences:
Health care and social assistance job openings increased by 115,000 to an all-time high of 9.2% as of September and 18.5% of nursing homes are reporting a shortage of nurses and 19.3% are reporting a shortage of aides. This comes as average hourly earnings continue to increase... This represents wage growth ranging from 19% to 21% since just before the onset of the pandemic.
(Source: Fitch Ratings October 2022 )
A scarcity of nursing professionals has led to a substantial rise in the expenses associated with patient care. This predicament has compelled healthcare organizations to curtail their investments in information technology and hindered their ability to retain skilled IT personnel. This restriction has hampered organizations from implementing innovative digital healthcare solutions, which could enhance the capabilities and productivity of healthcare professionals.
In other words, the financial constraints hindering the adoption of superior technology and the recruitment of experienced IT professionals are exacerbating the shortage of healthcare staff and their long-term commitment.
This is a vicious cycle where healthcare professionals compete for resources against IT, resulting in diminished technological innovation in healthcare. This, in turn, leads to decreased patient satisfaction and a worsening shortage of qualified healthcare personnel. It's a damaging scenario affecting all three stakeholders: patients, healthcare staff, and IT personnel.
We recognize that this trend is likely to continue and that is why, we worked on packaging some effective offerings to retain workers, optimize IT operations, and leverage technological innovation. Here are some ways we are assisting healthcare organizations in mitigating the pervasive challenges in the sector in 2023 and beyond.
?Your M365 Subscription
Chances are your enterprise is among the 79% that has already embraced the power of the cloud and is taking advantage of M365’s robust functionality. However, you will be surprised many healthcare organizations are still not utilizing their Microsoft subscription to their full potential. That is why the first thing we’d recommend is conducting a full assessment of your cloud environment. Identify areas that can be improved and become more competitive by maximizing the capabilities of technology you already own.
M365 definitely takes remote workforce enablement to the next level and facilitates organizations to compete for the best talent, both on-premise and remotely. However, few organizations are taking advantage of other components in their subscription that allow them to better manage and monitor their remote workforce, such as M365 Usage Reports and Intune.
These are powerful tools that can truly bridge the gap between local and remote healthcare staff for seamless work allocation and shift sharing. Furthermore, valuable insights can be gained as to where effort needs to be made to improve efficiencies. To learn more about these capabilities, get in touch .
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Filling the Talent Gap in IT with Contingent Workers
One of the consequences of the rising costs of retaining nursing staff is the reduction in IT spending and the loss of IT talent. But there is a work-around. Adopt a modern agile hybrid approach to tech talent acquisition to avoid high hiring costs and still meet your staffing goals relatively quickly.
In fact, more and more industries, including healthcare, are turning to contract-based hiring in IT. Some of the advantages for opting for contingent workers are flexibility, cost savings, project-specific skills, and more agility. When you work with an experienced staffing partner, you get immediate access to a robust ecosystem of certified, versatile, and highly skilled IT professionals. You always have access to the right people, with the right skills, for the right time frame to achieve your strategic growth objectives.
Managed Cloud Services
Adding managed services to your organization’s IT strategy is another way to do more with less. Working with the right managed cloud provider will enable you to build a modern cloud-based platform without the high upfront costs or the shortage of IT talent. The managed IT team becomes an extension of your IT department. They take care over your IT infrastructure and allow your internal resources to dedicate their efforts strategic healthcare initiatives.
Partial IT outsourcing is another flexible option. In that case, the scope covers specialized projects, such as HIS implementation, cloud migration, data migration and archiving, backup and disaster recovery, or cloud health.?
Workforce Talent Retention Assessment and Roadmap
In healthcare, talent retention is critical for providing high-quality patient care and maintaining operational efficiency. However, there are numerous challenges when it comes to retaining top talent: steep competition from other employers, burnout, and the need to continually update skills to keep up with rapidly evolving technologies and medical practices.
A smart way to address these challenges is for healthcare organizations to conduct periodic workforce talent retention assessments, as well as develop a structured roadmap for retaining and developing staff. This process involves evaluating the current state of the workforce, proactively identifying areas for improvement, and implementing strategies to attract, engage, and retain talent.
iShift has several healthcare clients of different sizes and objectives. The iShift healthcare advisory team has developed a specialized workshop to help these organizations better understand, manage, and retain their employees. The Talent Retention Assessment in Healthcare workshop focuses on the primary challenges healthcare organizations face in retaining top talent. Ultimately, the goal is to create a healthcare workforce that is engaged, motivated, and committed to providing high-quality patient care.
In today's healthcare landscape, organizations are facing numerous challenges, such as rising costs, a shortage of healthcare professionals, and the need to meet steep regulatory requirements while providing high-quality care to patients. Fortunately, technology has a lot of potential to help organizations deal with these challenges. If you need guidance today, we are here to help .