Making financially-sound decisions to fortify the workforce requires proactivity and discipline.
The financial toll of the workforce crisis facing healthcare is placing immense stress on the bottom lines of hospitals and health systems.
Labor costs are high and continue to rise as a result of recruitment and retention efforts to mitigate employee turnover, which continues to plague organizations in the current climate.
Executives spanning the C-suite got together in Washington, D.C. at the recent HealthLeaders Workforce Decision Makers Exchange to shares ideas on how to improve ROI with the workforce. Here’s what they said.
Taking risks with technology
Whether it’s AI or virtual nursing, leaders should be welcoming technology into the workplace to improve efficiency, attract talent, and combat burnout.
Investing in technology means pouring financial and operational resources into solutions without knowing for certain that the direct ROI will be there, especially in the short term, but organizations can’t afford to be risk-averse with battling workforce shortages.
The technology doesn’t even need to be outside-the-box. “We’re chasing bells and whistles” instead of trying to solve for areas like clinical and administrative burden, said Praveen Chopra, chief digital and information officer for Emplify Health.
Solutions like ambient listening tools to automate transcribing not only reduce time spent on tasks for clinicians, resulting in fresher workers, but allow for that extra time to be used more effectively instead of cramming in more time for patients.
Virtual nursing can also be a valuable investment to provide flexibility for nurses wanting more optionality.
Sharla Baenen, chief operating officer at Emplify Health, Bellin region, said that her organization wanted to use virtual nursing to become a destination workplace. However, measuring its impact wasn’t so clear. On the clinical side, Bellin focused on decreasing vacancy rates and the length of stay and saw that those targets were being met. From a workforce perspective, ROI can be quantified through recruitment and retention rates, and qualified through nurse engagement, which Baenen shared has gone up.
Regardless of the technology providers are considering though, clinicians should be involved from the get-go in the process of designing solutions that are easy to use and don’t require extensive training—another clinical and administrative burden. How clinicians are educated and re-educated on using technology can often make-or-break whether the juice is worth the financial squeeze.
Pictured: Sharla Baenen, chief operating officer, Emplify Health, Bellin region.
Workforce governance
Managing labor resources is critical for organizations right now with 40 cents of every dollar going towards labor, said Mike Marquardt, CFO of UVA Health System.
Leaders should look at a holistic approach to the workforce, with CFOs needing to partner with CMOs, CNOs, and COOs to get the right employees at the bedside. Hearing from those employees on how to create more efficiency and make their lives easier will also enable for greater engagement.
It’s incumbent on executives to set the tone for management and hold them accountable as well. That may involve creating more opportunities for training or education of managers, allowing them to be better equipped to allocate resources and put workers in the best position possible.
One of the primary ways organizations can be more cost-effective with staffing is by phasing out expensive contract labor, Marquardt stated. For example, traveling nurses, while instrumental for providers during the pandemic, aren’t delivering the bang for your buck to sustain a workforce. The focus should be on recruitment of new staff and retention of employees already in the building, which have clearer ROI.
By aligning workforce initiatives with strategic goals and optimizing labor expenses, organizations will be able to overcome staffing shortages while maintaining financial health.
See more coverage from the HealthLeaders Workforce Decision Makers Exchange here.
The HealthLeaders Exchange is an executive community for sharing ideas, solutions, and insights. Please join the community at our LinkedIn page.
To inquire about attending a HealthLeaders Exchange event, email us at exchange@healthleadersmedia.com.
Jay Asser is the CEO editor for HealthLeaders.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
The upfront cost may be high, but investing in and implementing technology like AI and virtual nursing can yield long term savings by improving recruitment, retention, and engagement, as well as cutting down on turnover.
Leaders need to take a collaborative approach to workforce governance to manage labor resources and ensure expenses are optimized.