What Is Healthcare Workforce Management?

Workforce management is essential in healthcare to maintain a successful and efficient acute/non-acute facility. With the rise of technology, workflow management software has become increasingly popular in improving productivity and streamlining processes. In this blog, we’ll explore how healthcare managers can benefit from workforce management solutions and why having one in place is essential.

Contingent Labor Management in healthcare involves overseeing the use of non-permanent staff—such as temporary, contract, or per diem workers—to meet fluctuating staffing needs. This process includes:

Recruitment and Onboarding: Identifying, hiring, and integrating qualified professionals quickly.
Credentialing and Compliance: Ensuring all contingent workers meet regulatory and institutional standards.
Scheduling and Coordination: Aligning workforce availability with patient care demands and operational needs.
Performance and Cost Management: Monitoring quality of care, ensuring adherence to protocols, and managing expenses effectively.

By leveraging a flexible workforce, healthcare organizations can maintain high-quality patient care, adapt to unexpected demand spikes, and manage staffing challenges efficiently while controlling costs.

What Does It Mean to Have a Healthcare Workforce Management Solution?

Workforce management is all about creating an effective workforce for your healthcare facility. It’s a series of processes and tools which manage and optimize hospital workforces, aiming to improve the organization’s efficiency, productivity, and performance. It includes planning, scheduling, recruitment, payroll, training, and performance evaluation.

To be competitive in today’s market, healthcare professionals must have accurate information on their staff’s skills and positioning. This ensures the right people are in the right place at the right time. Workforce management systems help healthcare professionals to streamline their workforce operations while enabling them to plan and execute their organizational strategies. Clinicians can more easily manage their staff’s assignments to deliver improved patient service quality and efficiencies for the facility.

• The Benefits of a Healthcare Workforce Management System

Healthcare workforce management solutions provide a comprehensive view of all staff members across the organization. Healthcare professionals can identify gaps in talent and make more informed hiring decisions. With the data, healthcare managers can plan for future staffing needs and ensure they have the best people to serve their patients.

Key benefits of a well-structured management system include:

• Increased efficiency and productivity of staff
• Improved communication between staff members and healthcare managers
• Reduced operational costs associated with staffing
• Improved patient outcomes due to more accurate scheduling
• Automated processes for tracking shift changes, attendance, and time off requests

What You Should Expect From Worthwhile Healthcare Workforce Management Software

Workforce management software is essential for healthcare professionals to maximize their resources and keep up with the changing needs of their patients. Healthcare organizations need a system to help manage nursing assignments and track shift changes. With workforce management software, facilities can easily see which staff members are available and identify staffing level or schedule discrepancies. With a well-implemented workforce management solution, organizations in the healthcare industry can:

• Streamline Tracking

Healthcare facility managers can have real-time visibility into the status of their staff with advanced management tools. Identifying discrepancies in resource allocation and quickly making adjustments is easier and less demanding. The software also allows for automated tracking of attendance and time off requests, which helps reduce operational costs associated with staffing.

• Reduce Administrative Burden

With workforce management software, healthcare facility managers can reduce the amount of manual labor required to manage their staff. The software simplifies administrative processes associated with human resources and automates many staffing-related tasks.The software also allows you to automatically import data from applicant tracking systems or other databases to generate employee records. Simplifying administrative processes reduces errors associated with manual data entry and increases the accuracy of your data.

• Ensure Compliance

Healthcare facilities must comply with many federal, state, and local regulations. Workforce management technology enables healthcare facilities to leverage rules-based governing to provide employee training, improve safety, and meet regulatory compliance obligations such as the Affordable Care Act (ACA).The ACA was enacted in 2010. It requires employers of 50 or more full-time employees to provide health insurance coverage. Workforce management technology helps healthcare facilities comply with the ACA by providing automated reporting and tracking of employee hours worked and other data that can help facility managers determine eligibility for health insurance coverage.

• Optimal Scheduling

Workforce management technology helps facilities create optimal schedules based on budget constraints and employee availability. Managers can quickly adjust staffing levels to meet changing needs without sacrificing the quality of care or patient service.

• Improve Payroll Processes

Payroll processes can become faster and more efficient when healthcare facilities use workforce management software. The management tools allow HR managers to automatically generate accurate payroll information based on time worked.Instead of manually entering employee pay details, healthcare facilities must only provide the software with pay rules and general pay frequencies. The software generates accurate payroll information based on time worked automatically, eliminating the need for manual data entry and allowing managers to quickly and easily access current clinician pay information.

• Enhance Communication

Workforce management technology can also improve communication between healthcare managers and employees by providing a central hub for employees to access their timecards and invoices, view overtime records, and review important announcements. This reduces the time spent responding to employee inquiries and shortens the correction cycle if there’s a dispute between vendors and facilities involving billing for contingent staff.

• Continued Education

A comprehensive HR solution goes beyond just tracking; the workforce system should include performance management and onboarding programs to keep everyone working at your facility up to speed with their education and certification needs. With the right approach, facility managers can easily track medical licensure (and expirations) to ensure their clinicians always comply with the latest industry standards.

• Control Labor Costs

Labor costs are rising, and there’s industry-wide pressure for hospitals to reduce costs. Workforce management systems can help by streamlining processes in your health system and eliminating manual paperwork.For example, with the right system, automated processes can ensure that staff members are only scheduled to work when necessary. This helps reduce labor costs while providing adequate coverage for shifts and duties. Many workforce management systems can also track overtime pay and alert managers if an employee is approaching their limit.

Connect With Expedient VMS Workforce Management Solutions

At Expedient VMS, we understand the unique needs of healthcare facilities and offer innovative solutions to help managers better oversee their workforce. We created our vendor management platform to help healthcare facilities meet qualified talent needs. Our team works with you to create a custom staffing plan that matches your immediate, short, and long-term staffing requirements. Our leading healthcare management system is an end-to-end solution that automates sourcing, onboarding, screening, placement and staffing, compliance, time and invoicing, and more.Ready to refine your staffing approach? Reach out to our team today.