Did you know that medical contract staffing can boost your revenue?

Healthcare is one industry where you can’t afford to be short-staffed. The demand is constant even during summer, which is when most people book their vacations. If you run a healthcare facility, a medical staffing agency can not only provide the personnel needed to fill vacation-related gaps, but also boost your revenue.

Hospitals and clinics stay in operation by delivering the widest possible range of services. Being short-staffed can result in service interruption, extended wait times and, by extension, loss of reputation or revenue. In this blog, we highlight how turning to medical contract staffing as a solution can help prevent these outcomes and even grow the practice.

Medical Contract Staffing Can Overcome Staff Shortage Issues

A recent study by workforce solutions firm Mercer found that by 2025, demand for healthcare service providers in North America is likely to surpass supply. Reasons include:

• Aging population (by 2032, the number of people aged 65 and up is projected to increase by 45%)
• Higher instances of chronic disease

This means that even a routine vacation can leave your remaining medical care staff working longer hours and handling a heavier workload. During periods of extended absence, such as maternity leave, burnout and departure become real possibilities that can cost you: replacing a healthcare employee can cost an average of 33% of the person’s salary and have a negative impact on staff morale. For Canadian hospitals, the average rate of turnover is 19.9%, which is a major problem.

With medical contract staffing, you can cover scheduled absences with skilled and experienced personnel instead of burdening your existing team. When they’re not under so much pressure, your employees will feel more productive and satisfied with their jobs and be less inclined to leave. Since retaining existing staff is much less expensive than hiring and training new people, you’ll save a lot of money.

You Save Money on Staffing Costs

Temporary physiotherapists, sonographers, and other personnel are a cost-effective resource for replacing employers who go on vacation, sabbatical, maternity leave, or family leave. Although the compensation is competitive, you don’t have to provide company-paid health insurance or other benefits offered to regular employees. Benefits can add anywhere from 30 to 50% to your payroll costs, which adds up to a lot of money.

By engaging workers on a locum basis through a medical staffing agency, your facility provides necessary coverage without taking a large hit to its revenue stream.

Save Money By Reducing Overtime

When you rely on existing staff to cover absences, they’ll typically be working longer hours, which can add up to expensive overtime. When you use locum healthcare professionals to ensure that schedules are covered, you can cut your labour costs by as much as 25%. In a busy hospital or clinic, that can translate to significant savings.

Closing Skills Gaps Can Increase Revenue

Many travel healthcare providers specialize in services that your facility may not currently offer. For example, the travel physiotherapist you hire to work with post-surgery patients may also be qualified to treat children. If they’re on a longer-term contract, expanding your facility’s offers to include pediatric physiotherapy could create a new source of revenue- one that you can maintain after the contract ends by hiring qualified staff. This advantage also applies to other areas, such as medical imaging and lab work.

Medical Contract Staffing Makes It Easier to Scale Your Clinic

If you’ve recently opened your clinic, you may not have a solid idea of workload and demand until you’ve been operating for a while. Engaging contract staff to support your core team is a low-risk and lower-cost means of accommodating growth until you know for sure that demand is high enough to support your permanent employees.

Patient and Client Retention Can Be Higher

Healthcare facilities aren’t the only ones that benefit from a smooth and uninterrupted workflow. Patients and clients also have a better experience when the location is not understaffed. When employees work excessive hours, morale can take a dive and they don’t deliver the expected quality of care. 

Overwork can also increase the possibility of mistakes being made, which can be disastrous for hospitals and clinics as well as patients. ‌Having a full complement of care providers whenever needed can encourage repeat appointments as well as prevent errors that may lead to injury for either patient or your staff.

Medical Contract Staffing Can Improve Workplace Flexibility 

In the healthcare industry, flexible working hours are becoming more popular. ‌It‌ ‌offers‌ ‌many benefits, including allowing employees to maintain a better work-life balance, reducing the risk of burnout, and even enhancing the appeal of your job advertisements. ‌The problem is that this can easily get out of hand – covering 24/7 working hours and multiple shifts is no easy task, making flexible hours difficult if not impossible to accommodate.

A medical staffing agency can provide locum personnel to cover times when your employees want the most flexibility (typically during summer and the December holidays). These professionals can also step in if someone is off ill for a long period of time or needs time off to deal with a personal situation. By offering this degree of flexibility, you’re in the best position to attract top talent who can make your facility’s bottom line even stronger.

Questions About  Medical Contract Staffing? Talk to a Medical Staffing Agency You Can Trust!

The demand for healthcare services is ever-increasing, and staying on top of that need without compromising your employees is key to steady revenue. At ProMed HR Solutions, we can provide your hospital or clinic with experienced and pre-vetted professionals in the categories like the following:

• Ultrasound Technologists
• MRI Technologists
• Echo Technologists
• Nuclear Medicine Technologists
• CT Technologists
• Rehabilitation Assistants
• X-Ray Technologists
• CLXT Technologists
• Laboratory Technologists
• Physiotherapists
• Physiotherapist Assistants

Our skilled medical technologists can cover vacations, personal leave, and other types of extended absences, so that your facility maintains both capacity and profitability. To learn more about what ProMed HR Solutions can do for you, visit us at www.promedhr.ca or call us today at 1-833-776-6336.

Schedules can be pretty tight in a healthcare setting. If you’re even one person short, it can cause a backlog and all the associated hassle: annoyed patients, tired staff, and treatment delays. 

While some absences are sudden, others are planned. When you know what to expect, hiring a locum can help. In this blog, the team at ProMed HR Solutions explains how temporary healthcare personnel can cover your holiday staffing needs.

Who Uses Holiday Staffing in Healthcare?

This one’s easy: everyone! From assisted living facilities and medical offices to hospitals and clinics, all kinds of healthcare providers have experienced the benefit of hiring a locum to cover staff absences. When you deal with a trusted and reputable healthcare staffing agency, you can access pre-vetted, qualified personnel who blend seamlessly into your current team and ensure uninterrupted service delivery.

What Healthcare Professionals Are Available on a Locum Basis?

A wide variety of medical personnel earn additional income by working as locums. At ProMed HR Solutions, we have the skilled healthcare workers available in the following disciplines:

• CLXT Technologists
• CT Technologists
• Echo Technologists
• Laboratory Technologists
• MRI Technologists
• Nuclear Medicine Technologists
• Radiation Therapists
• Rehabilitation Assistants
• Ultrasound Technologists
• X-Ray Technologists
• Physiotherapists

When you know you have a staff absence coming up, you can arrange for a locum to cover their shifts and responsibilities instead of increasing the workload for your existing team members. This way, you avoid staff burnout and everyone is in the best position to deliver quality patient care.

At ProMed HR Solutions, we ensure that all matters related to credentialing and licensing are taken care of before we send locum providers on an assignment. To ensure that we have a candidate ready when the need arises, we take a proactive approach to assure all paperwork is facilitated and we try our best to ensure your facility’s needs are met within their timeline.

How Does Hiring a Locum Keep You Covered?

Healthcare is too important to be short-staffed. By engaging a locum to cover the duties of an absent team member, your facility benefits on multiple levels, such as reliable service delivery, reduced burden on your team, and the potential to scale your services.

Quicker Availability

If you’ve ever conducted a traditional candidate search, you probably know how tricky it can be to coordinate start dates. Locums don’t usually need to give an existing employer several weeks’ notice. When they’re with a staffing agency, they are usually available to start working immediately: you don’t have to balance schedules while waiting for them to start.

When you confirm your requirements, ProMed HR Solutions will match you with a technologist from our talent pool. We typically require at least a few weeks prior notice to identify the best candidate for your needs, confirm their availability, and arrange travel and accommodation If one of your technologists is suddenly off sick for an extended period, call us to see what we can do for you.

Uninterrupted Patient Care

With an increasing demand for healthcare services across multiple settings, no one can afford to risk a backlog. When staff members get sick, have family emergencies, or need to schedule time off, your patients’ needs could be compromised. A staffing agency that offers holiday staffing can fill those positions without risking slower patient care delivery.

Improved Patient Safety

When healthcare workforces are stretched too thin, it makes service quality and patient safety harder to maintain. The healthcare trends reporter ECRI listed staffing shortages among its top patient safety concerns for 2022, emphasizing that the problem has existed before the pandemic and is becoming more urgent. With adequate staffing, you can prevent many of the safety issues that can result when employees are pulling double shifts and going without time off.

Reduced Overtime Costs

Overtime is expensive. When you have to pay your existing staff to cover someone’s maternity leave, holiday, or other extended absence, the cost can add up and take a chunk out of your operating budget. By hiring a locum, the work gets done without having to pay time and a half, which can amount to significant savings when you have a large team.

Avoid Staff Burnout and Turnover

Even before the pandemic, healthcare workers faced long hours and significant demand. Over two years later, many employees are not in a position to effectively do their own work while covering someone else, especially for extended periods of time. When you work with a medical holiday staffing agency, you have access to pre-screened professionals who are ready to manage a workload on their very first day. Other than a brief orientation, no training is necessary.

Scale Your Services

Hiring a locum can also assist you with staffing matters that aren’t related to sick days or planned absences. The needs of patients can change, even temporarily, in a way that requires either more staff or workers with a different skill set. Using a staffing agency may make it much easier to find the right people to fulfill your needs and those of your patients.

At ProMed HR Solutions, we only hire technologists who have a strong skills record and a proven ability to learn quickly and work independently. In all modalities, we require technologists to have a minimum of two years’ experience before applying with us, so when you approach us with your staffing needs, you know you’ll access candidates who can bring value to your facility.

With ProMed HR Solutions, Hiring a Locum is Easy!

As times change, so does the workforce. When Physiotherapists, X-ray technologists, and other professionals graduate from school, many are not seeking traditional full-time jobs, but work that allows them to practice a variety of disciplines in order to supplement their education. Some workers with experience are looking to try new work environments. Your facility can benefit from these additional workers in a variety of ways that include holiday and sick day coverage.

At ProMed HR Solutions, we can help you quickly find the qualified candidates you need. For years, we have been helping healthcare facilities access contract personnel for both short and long-term coverage, and can find the right professional for you much faster than if you were working alone. To schedule a consultation to discuss your holiday staffing needs, please visit promedhr.ca or call 1-833-776-6336 today.

Have you heard of locum tenens healthcare staff?

Also known as travel professionals, a locum tenens is someone (in this case a medical practitioner) who temporarily assumes the role of another. In some facilities, locum tenens coverage may be needed sporadically (e.g. for a day or a week at a time) while in others, long-term coverage may be required due to an absence or vacancy of a regular employee. While many practitioners do locum work to supplement their regular income, others have turned it into a full-time career because they enjoy the freedom, flexibility, and opportunity to travel.

When Might You Need a Locum?

There are many reasons why a healthcare facility might need to hire a locum Physiotherapist or Medical Imaging Technologist. Someone may be on parental leave or taking extended personal time off, or the facility may be experiencing a surge in demand for certain services. Whatever the reason for the opening, locum healthcare professionals like physiotherapists, Ultrasound Technologists, and X-Ray Technologists are vital. Across the country, they fill those gaps in healthcare that can interrupt patient services.

When you need this type of qualified and experienced help, you can source the best candidates through a healthcare staffing agency with an extensive pool of pre-vetted locum personnel. Whether you are looking for an extra hand in your physio department or a temporary Laboratory Technologist to keep those test results coming, a staffing agency can help you keep your facility running smoothly.

How a Healthcare Staffing Agency Can Help

Improve Productivity By Saving Time

Training new employees can take several days, which can be time-consuming when you’re dealing with a backlog. Even if the person has the right credentials, orientations can be extensive, especially if they’re new to their profession and have little experience with your facility’s processes and equipment.

A healthcare staffing agency will ensure that every Physiotherapist or Technologist they offer has the necessary qualifications before starting work. Consequently, you get candidates who are ready to start working right away without a lot of orientation. Professionals who travel a lot tend to adapt to new environments a lot more quickly, which is a bonus when you need help clearing a packed schedule.

Provide Access to a Wider Talent Pool

You will find it easier to fill temporary positions with skilled professionals through a healthcare staffing agency, especially if your facility is in a more remote location where the talent pool isn’t as great. For example, if you manage a clinic in the Northwest Territories and your CLXT Technologist has to take an emergency leave of absence, your options aren’t limited to your community alone. A Technologist in Toronto who’s always wanted to explore Canada’s northern regions can step in to assist until your employee returns.

Due to staff shortages, there are millions of open healthcare positions across Canada. As a result, healthcare facilities are competing for workers, and it can be difficult securing skilled temporary help. When you have a strong relationship with a staffing agency that specializes in locum healthcare professionals, you are able to access qualified personnel when you need them, which reduces your worry about filling vacancies.

Ensure You Work With Top Talent

It’s no surprise that healthcare companies place higher expectations on their employees. While working with a healthcare staffing agency, you won’t have to weed out under-qualified candidates in order to access the top talent. With reputable staffing agencies, all locum personnel must undergo arduous assessments and questionnaires before they are even considered for a job. 

At ProMed HR Solutions, we make sure every candidate we recommend is suitable for the position in question by reviewing resumes, verifying licenses, and conducting background checks. Healthcare organizations can rest assured they are only getting the most qualified people for the job.

Quicker Hiring Process

Hiring can take a lot of time. Placing job ads, sifting through resumes, and conducting interviews are all activities that can increase your administrative burden when you’re already short-staffed. If the candidate doesn’t work out, you’re back to square one while scheduling pressures mount.

A healthcare staffing agency will find suitable candidates for you more quickly, which is important when an employee has to take time off without a lot of notice. Although many agencies typically require some notice before sending you a candidate, others can accommodate emergencies. In either case, you’ll have the help you need much sooner than you would have if you advertised for the position.

You Never Know When You Will Need Temporary Staffing!

In recent years, locum tenens staffing has steadily increased, with more than 90% of healthcare facilities throughout North America using locum tenens providers every year. Factors contributing to this rise include:

• Underserved areas are experiencing an increase in demand for health care providers.
• Provider gaps that many facilities experience when employees go on vacation, take parental leave, or resign.

In many parts of the country, these factors create a gap in services. By utilizing locum technologists, rural and critical access hospitals are able to function more efficiently. With the aging of baby boomers, the demand for health care providers will increase, and the current provider gap will widen.

Need Locum Healthcare Professionals? Our Healthcare Staffing Agency Can Help!

For hospitals, clinics, and other facilities  looking for additional resources to manage their workload, working with a healthcare staffing agency can be extremely beneficial. Locating qualified Physiotherapists and Technologists that fit your needs can be challenging, but once you partner with the right agency, you’ll find it much easier to access locum staff when you need them.

At ProMed HR Solutions, we have skilled locum professionals available in the following modalities: 

• Ultrasound Technologists
• MRI Technologists
• Echo Technologists
• Nuclear Medicine Technologists
• CT Technologists
• X-Ray Technologists
• CLXT Technologists
• Medical Laboratory Technologists
• Medical Laboratory Assistants
• Physiotherapists
• Rehabilitation Assistant

Matching the skills, experience, and travel goals of our candidates with the needs of our clients results in a seamless experience for both parties. To learn more about how we can support your facility, visit www.promedhr.ca or call (833) 776-6336.

As someone working in a healthcare staffing agency or handling health care careers in Canada, it can feel like a hefty responsibility to staff facilities with the ideal mixture of qualified, reliable and capable professionals to ensure patients receive the best possible care. 

After all, people seeking assistance from hospitals, physio clinics, and medical centres do so in hopes of improving their quality of life, thereby placing a lot of trust in those providing their care, and it’s not something that should be taken lightly. 

That said, depending on a facility’s location, namely those in more rural areas and communities, prioritizing which services are most necessary and which can be outsourced or delegated to nearby larger centres can be a challenging balance to strike. This is particularly relevant when it comes to considering whether or not your facility requires rehab staff. 

The term ‘rehab’ – short for rehabilitation – staff can encapsulate many different roles, including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, rehabilitation assistants, and speech therapists, all of whom work alongside patients to help them recover from accidents, injuries, illnesses or surgeries. 

Here are just a few reasons why exploring the possibility of bringing on rehab staff could transform your facility’s capacity and enhance the quality of care. 

Easing workloads while improving patient outcomes 

When considering recovery periods, rehab staff serve as an essential component for patient care in a variety of healthcare settings, including hospitals, nursing facilities, and outpatient clinics.  

They occupy some of the most critical medical jobs in Canada, helping patients recover faster while achieving better, longer-lasting outcomes following injuries, illness and surgery.

For example, hiring professionals for physiotherapist jobs in B.C., especially more remote communities, can help alleviate the workloads for other medical professionals by having staff solely dedicated to creating targeted therapies and exercises for patients. This allows patients to work on regaining their strength, mobility and independence while promoting more efficient, streamlined patient processes. 

Another impact of introducing rehab staff to your facility is minimizing the length of stay in hospitals or nursing facilities by helping patients recover faster and more effectively. This leads to more beds being made available sooner for incoming patients who need them.    

Increased access to care 

Typically, when seeking qualified professionals for health care jobs in Canada, the regions      experiencing the most difficulty in health care staffing are remote communities. Staff shortages result in many patients having to travel far distances to receive appropriate care.

Medical wait times are already notorious in Canada, and the durations for receiving rehab services are no different, often resulting in prolonged pain, immobility, and discomfort for those waiting to be seen. 

Hiring more rehab workers in remote locations can help increase patients’ access to care for those who genuinely need it, and thus reduce waitlists. This will ensure that patients receive treatment sooner rather than later, which will optimize long-term outcomes.  

Improving staffing levels 

It’s no secret that, on top of long wait times, the Canadian medical system is also severely understaffed in both high-traffic and remote areas, resulting in decreased morale, longer hours and increased wait times. 

Occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech therapists, and other rehab roles are always in high demand. Hiring more rehabilitation professionals can serve as a natural solution to staffing deficiencies and shortages, presenting a solution to help ensure there is adequate staff to provide high-quality care to patients, regardless of whether they live in urban or smaller rural communities. 

Broadening your facility’s realm of expertise 

As anyone living in a highly populated area knows, getting a prompt specialist consultation can be difficult. As we alluded to previously, this point is further emphasized in remote communities, causing many people to travel to neighbouring communities to receive the care they need. 

Hiring qualified rehabilitation staff allows patients to receive expert personalized care for      their particular needs without the physical and financial sacrifice of travelling to get it. Hiring experienced professionals trained in best practices also broadens the scope and medical collaboration within a facility.

For example, if a patient suffered a stroke or experienced an injury that impacted their mobility, having an experienced physical therapist on hand can ensure the patient receives a curated exercise regimen during their inpatient stay, and in the community following their hospital discharge. This consistent practice can lead to improved function over time while alleviating the risk of immobility during recovery periods.  

Picking the right people 

The desire to hire rehabilitation staff is one thing, finding the appropriate people to fill these roles is another task entirely. Luckily, ProMed HR Solutions is here to help. 

ProMed specializes in staffing a variety of healthcare specialties, possessing a comprehensive collection of qualified, passionate and eager rehabilitation professionals seeking new locum opportunities. 

We understand the obstacles organizations face when seeking top talent, and realize that it’s not just about hiring someone, it’s about the quality of the people that are hired.

Understanding that people truly make the place, we work diligently to match experienced and skilled professionals that have the right personality with appropriate locum opportunities.      We strive to ensure the rehabilitation needs of facilities, and patients are fulfilled and expectations are exceeded. 

To learn more about ProMed HR Solutions, visit promedhr.ca. 

The warm weather season is finally here! Have you obtained temporary staffing for holiday coverage?

Aside from a few rainy days and the occasional cold spell, it’s been bright and sunny enough for employees to start planning their summer vacations. If you’re a Healthcare manager, this means it’s time to start considering how you will cover their shifts.

Healthcare is a field where demand remains steady all year round, especially when it comes to Medical Imaging. Even during the height of summer, the Medical Imaging techs on your team stay busy with diagnostic imaging procedures like X-rays, MRI scans, and CT scans, to name a few. When they take their much-deserved time off, the reduction in staffing can put pressure on everyone else, leading to costly overtime and increased waitlists for exams.

The solution may be to hire a Medical Imaging tech to assist with patient load when your staff goes on vacation. At ProMed HR Solutions, we assist hospitals, clinics, and related facilities with their healthcare holiday staffing needs. This blog shares some tips for ensuring that your facility maintains the personnel needed to stay on schedule this summer.

Identify Your Temporary Staffing for Holiday Coverage Requirements

It’s important to plan backup coverage for all of your working shifts. Although unexpected surges in demand can always happen, last summer’s schedule can give you a good idea of how many hands you’ll need on board this year. Review staffing levels for June, July, and August 2021, and then see how much time has been booked off. Do you need someone for a month? Two months? Maybe the entire summer to cover different staff vacations?

Determine how many Medical Imaging techs will be taking time off for vacation and for how long. If July is a popular choice, you may need more than one temporary replacement that month to keep service flow from being interrupted. Once you have a good idea of what your temporary staffing for holiday coverage needs are going to be, you can start looking for the right professionals.

Find the Right Healthcare Holiday Staffing Agency

When you want to hire a Medical Imaging tech on a contract basis (also known as a locum tenens arrangement), your next step should be to look for a staffing agency that serves the healthcare industry exclusively. The best locum tenens staffing agencies will adhere to the industry-wide standards for ethics and professionalism.

 At ProMed HR Solutions, we have pre-vetted professionals who can provide temporary staffing for holiday coverage. They can care for your patients and support your team during staff holidays and periods of ‌increased‌ ‌demand. In addition to covering scheduled vacations, our Medical Imaging techs can support your facility this summer by:

• Substituting for any employees who need to take time off due to illness. Unlike new hires, who may need some extra training and orientation, travel Medical Imaging techs are experienced in entering new workplaces, mastering the systems and processes quickly, and getting right to work on helping the department and patients.
• Helping with any backlog you may have accumulated when COVID-19 restrictions were in place. Some patients are still facing an extended wait for certain services, and a travel Medical Imaging tech can help you manage it without risking burnout among your staff.
• Making a better work-life balance available to your staff during times of increased patient load. Working extended hours in healthcare can be taxing, and having someone on hand to get the additional work done means that your employees get the balanced schedule they need and value. In this respect, temporary staffing for holiday coverage can increase morale/
• Increasing your service offering. If you don’t have a Sonographer on staff but demand is high, a travel Sonographer can serve your patients until you engage someone full-time. This also increases facility revenue: when you have a Medical Imaging tech with a niche skillset, area residents will come to your facility instead of traveling to get the services they need.    
• Keeping your standards high. When you’re short-staffed, your remaining team members may rush to get their work done on time. Not only can a travel Medical Imaging tech help you stay on track and minimize patient wait times, but they help ensure that your standard of care stays at its usual high level. 
• Keeping your costs lower. Hiring a locum Medical Imaging technologist is a much more cost-effective option than hiring a permanent employee, as you might expect. ‌They‌ ‌do‌ ‌not‌ ‌require‌ ‌a fixed salary or some of the training and benefits that come with hiring a permanent employee – this flexibility is especially crucial if you are hiring purely to cover vacations or provide ‌support‌ ‌during‌ ‌a‌ ‌busy‌ ‌period.
• Providing a competitive advantage. If you have had trouble obtaining Medical Imaging technologists with a particular skill set, a locum tenens can help. ‌Bringing on a temporary professional to fill a skills gap now can assist your facility in getting ahead of the competition.

The schools are going to be out soon, the weather is warming up, and medical staff everywhere are contemplating summer vacations. This can be one of the trickiest times of the year for hospitals and clinics to get temporary staffing for holiday coverage, but travel Medical Imaging techs can help you avoid the difficulties involved in both planned and unplanned absences. They also adapt quickly to new environments, allowing your facility to keep running at maximum efficiency this summer.                                                                             

We Have Medical Imaging Techs Available! Talk to Us About Your Temporary Staffing for Holiday Coverage Needs.

If your Medical Imaging technologists are booking their summer vacations, you can ensure service continuity by arranging for temporary staffing for holiday coverage now. 

ProMed HR Solutions assists hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare facilities in filling their short or long-term staffing gaps. Our skilled team includes Medical Imaging techs who can assist you in all modalities.  

We will work with you to make sure‌ ‌your‌ ‌facility‌ ‌is‌ ‌always‌ ‌staffed‌ ‌during‌ ‌busy‌ ‌seasons, holidays,‌ ‌or‌ ‌while‌ ‌you‌ ‌search‌ ‌for‌ ‌the right ‌permanent‌ ‌hire. ‌When you need to hire a Medical Imaging tech, call  1-833-776-6336 to learn about our solutions.