Inside the walls of hospitals across the United States, physicians, nurse practitioners (NPs), physician assistants (PAs), and other key healthcare professionals work together to provide medical care to patients. But hospitals are grappling with serious staffing woes that loom large over their organizations. In fact, a 2022 survey of community hospital CEOs by the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) uncovered that workforce challenges, including personnel shortages, are at the number one issue that their hospital faces. This National Hospital Week, we’re taking a look at the survey results, and explaining how hospitals can take advantage of locum tenens providers to fill in hospital staffing gaps.
Is healthcare provider staffing a problem at U.S. hospitals?
Yes, as mentioned previously, workforce challenges (such as personnel shortages) were identified as a top concern for hospital CEOs, according to a survey conducted by the ACHE. These CEOs were asked to rank issues on how pressing it is to them, and workforce challenges topped the list, followed by financial challenges and behavioral health/addiction issues.
Diving deeper into the workforce challenges, 90% of CEOs cited shortages of registered nurses as their top specific concern; 83% cited technician shortages; 66% cited shortages of physician specialists; 65% cited shortages of primary care physicians; and 42% cited shortages of advanced practice professionals (APPs) such as NPs and PAs.
Clearly, staffing is at the top of many hospital executives’ minds, with doctors, NPs, PAs, and other specialties in need at hospitals across the country. Luckily, these executives have a solution—read on to learn more about how hiring locum tenens providers on temporary assignments can help ease staffing pains.
How can locum tenens providers help solve hospital staffing issues?
Locum tenens providers work temporary assignments at medical facilities including hospitals, leveraging their exceptional skills and clinical experiences to fill in provider vacancies when organizations need them the most.
These providers come with immense benefits for hospitals dealing with staffing shortages, as they can often be deployed quickly to a facility to provide care for patients. As locum tenens providers, these medical professionals are used to traveling to new places to provide care, making it simple for hospitals to onboard and utilize their services fast.
Hospital vacancies can also lead to large amounts of lost revenue. By utilizing locum tenens providers, hospitals can maintain a solid continuity of patient care—increasing positive patient outcomes and strengthening their bottom line.
Why partner with Barton Associates for locum tenens providers?
At Barton Associates, we’ve built our business around supporting hospital executives like you with short-term talent acquisition needs. To do so effectively and efficiently, we’ve employed more than 800 dedicated personnel to bring clients an all-inclusive staffing solution, regardless of your hospital’s staffing needs.
Barton’s account executives are organized by medical specialty—not geographic location—which equips them with in-depth knowledge and expertise in their respective specialties. This ensures you staff your hospital with the best talent available.
Over more than two decades in the staffing business, we’ve curated a network of over 300,000 doctors, NPs, PAs, dentists, and other providers in a wide variety of specialties and in all 50 states and some U.S. territories. Our licensing and credentialing team works to proactively license and credential our providers, meaning our experienced AEs can quickly find a provider in our network with the skill set and state license you need so they can start providing value for your hospital fast.
If you’re interested in learning more about how we can solve your hospital’s staffing shortages, reach out to us today.
