Within the walls of medical facilities nationwide, healthcare professionals collaborate to deliver vital care to patients. However, hospitals are grappling with a severe staffing crisis that threatens their operations. A 2022 survey by the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) revealed that workforce shortages are the top challenge faced by community hospital leaders. As we observe National Hospital Week, let’s examine these findings and explore how locum tenens providers can help alleviate hospital staffing deficiencies.
Is Staffing a Widespread Issue for U.S. Hospitals?
Absolutely. The ACHE survey asked hospital CEOs to rank pressing issues, and workforce challenges, including personnel shortages, emerged as the primary concern. Financial hurdles and behavioral health/addiction issues followed closely behind.
Delving deeper into staffing woes, 90% of CEOs cited registered nurse shortages as their top specific worry, while 83% struggled with technician deficits. Additionally, 66% reported shortages of physician specialists, 65% lacked sufficient primary care physicians, and 42% faced scarcities of advanced practice professionals like nurse practitioners and physician assistants.
It’s evident that hospital staffing is a paramount issue for many executives, with deficiencies across various medical roles nationwide. Fortunately, a solution exists—read on to learn how locum tenens providers can help ease these staffing pains.
How Can Locum Tenens Providers Solve Hospital Staffing Challenges?
Locum tenens professionals work temporary assignments at healthcare facilities, including hospitals, leveraging their exceptional clinical expertise to fill provider vacancies when organizations need them most. These practitioners offer immense value for hospitals facing staffing shortages, as they can often be rapidly deployed to provide patient care.
As locum tenens providers, they are accustomed to traveling to new locations, facilitating a smooth onboarding process for hospitals to utilize their services swiftly. Provider vacancies can result in substantial revenue losses for hospitals. By engaging locum tenens professionals, facilities can maintain consistent patient care delivery—improving outcomes and bolstering their financial performance.
Why Partner with Wellhart for Locum Tenens Providers?
At Wellhart, we’ve built our business around supporting hospital leaders with short-term talent acquisition solutions. To do so effectively, we’ve assembled a dedicated team to provide an all-inclusive staffing service, tailored to your hospital’s unique needs. Our account executives specialize in specific medical disciplines—not geographic regions—equipping them with in-depth knowledge and expertise to staff your hospital with top talent in each specialty.
We’ve cultivated a network of over 300,000 physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, dentists, and other providers who work as hospitalists, anesthesiologists, emergency medicine providers, radiologists, and CRNAs in all 50 states and many U.S. territories. Our licensing and credentialing team proactively verifies and credentials our providers, enabling our experienced account executives to rapidly identify network professionals with the required skill set and state licensure to start delivering value for your hospital promptly.
If you’re interested in learning more about how we can solve your hospital’s staffing shortages, contact us today.