Are you struggling with staffing demands, vendor management, compliance issues, mounting costs, and administrative overload? It might be time to consider a Managed Services Provider (MSP).
Staffing excellence is the heartbeat of healthcare, but so is administrative excellence. Many healthcare facilities begin with direct contracts to handle their staffing needs, which is a smart approach. However, as demands grow and the industry evolves, switching to a Managed Services Provider (MSP) offers several noteworthy advantages. Knowing the exact formula of when and why to make the switch from Direct to MSP can help enhance your quality of care and organizational success in many ways.
Direct Contracts: Pros and Cons
In many cases, direct contracts are the best route—they give you a direct line to vendors, which can make communication straightforward and personal. This can be particularly effective when your staffing needs are small or just starting out. However, as your organization grows, the limitations of direct contracts are more apparent:
- Administrative Headaches: Managing multiple direct contracts can quickly turn into a full-time job, leading to mountains of paperwork and room for potential errors.
- Compliance Chaos: Each vendor may have different compliance standards, making it difficult to stay on top of industry regulations.
- Mounting Costs: Without centralized negotiation, costs can easily get out of hand, eating into your budget.
- Disparate Reporting: Handling key performance indicators (KPIs) and financial reporting from multiple agencies can lead to inconsistent data and a significant internal lift to consolidate all the information. This fragmented approach complicates performance tracking and financial oversight, making it challenging to get a clear, unified picture of your staffing effectiveness and costs.
The MSP Solution
An MSP is your all-in-one staffing solution. Instead of dealing with the hassles of managing multiple direct contracts, an MSP centralizes everything. It takes care of management, compliance, and a host of other tasks, making your life easier and your operations smoother. Here’s how:
- Access to Top Talent: MSPs offer a larger and more diverse pool of healthcare professionals, ensuring you always have the best talent available.
- Cost Savings: MSPs often negotiate better rates with vendors, leading to significant cost reductions.
- Centralized Management: An MSP consolidates vendor management, handling compliance, credentialing, and administrative tasks in one place.
- Enhanced Efficiency: With an MSP, unit managers are freed from the burden of staffing logistics, allowing them to focus on patient care.
- Improved Compliance: MSPs help keep you on the right side of industry regulations with enhanced compliance monitoring.
- Data-Driven Insights: MSPs provide consolidated reporting and competitive analytics, offering data-driven market insights to guide decision-making, staffing effectiveness, and financial health.
Finding an MSP that you can call a true partner and resource can alleviate many of the challenges you face with direct contracts while also making progress on your long-term strategic staffing goals. Scott Armstrong, Vice President of Client Growth at Medical Solutions, explains the ideal MSP/Client relationship perfectly—one Medical Solutions strives to emulate with each of our valued clients:
“The ideas and initiatives that are important to you are also important to us, and the solution we ultimately design will enhance and support your strategic initiatives and goals, ultimately benefiting your system and the communities you serve. We never apply a “one-size-fits-all” approach for any client; we meet our clients exactly where they are.”
4 Signs You Might Need an MSP
Timing is everything, and recognizing the right moment to switch to an MSP can be crucial. Wait too long, and you might face severe staffing shortages and operational inefficiencies. If you start to encounter any of these signs, it might be time to consider an MSP:
- Staffing Costs and Needs Are Rising: Increasing complexity and volume of staffing requirements can overwhelm your current system. An MSP can efficiently manage this growth, optimizing resource allocation and controlling costs.
- Vendor Management is a Nightmare: If coordinating with multiple vendors is causing more trouble than it’s worth, such as delays and inefficiencies, it’s time for a change. An MSP consolidates vendor management for smoother operations.
- Compliance is Getting Tricky: Are you struggling to keep up with industry regulations? MSPs offer compliance monitoring, reducing the risk of legal issues and keeping you on the right track.
- Administrative Overload: If managing direct contracts is taking up too much of your team’s time and resources, an MSP can alleviate this burden, allowing you to focus on what really matters—patient care.
Real-Life Success Stories
CASE STUDY: WVU Medicine Streamlines Compliance Management
Medical Solutions partnered with WVU Medicine to streamline compliance management, improving on-time clinician start rates from 75-85% to over 92% by creating the Client Success Credentialing Specialist role.
CASE STUDY: Relieving Administrative Burden Through Efficient Best Practices
Medical Solutions’ managed services program helped a Level III Trauma Center in Manchester, NH, streamline their staffing processes, reduce administrative burdens, and improve compliance, resulting in cost savings and enhanced patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic.
CASE STUDY: The Power of an MSP
FocusOne Solutions, part of the Medical Solutions healthcare talent ecosystem, partnered with a large Pennsylvania hospital to urgently hire 37 contract RNs, successfully opening a new unit on time and later filling an additional 60 positions.
Ready to Make the Switch to MSP?
Every healthcare facility is unique. If you’re already a direct customer, reach out to your Account Manager to discuss how an MSP program can benefit your organization. If you’re new to Medical Solutions, simply fill out our contact form to get started. Upgrading to an MSP could be the strategic move that elevates your healthcare staffing to the next level.
