Healthcare Staffing Remains a Top Concern for Compliance Pros

There are two certainties in life: death and taxes. For healthcare organizations, there’s a third — turnover. Hospital turnover in 2023 was 22.7%, so healthcare staffs are down one of every five employees at some point during the year. Replacing staff is a given, yet every gap disrupts daily operations at the expense of compliance and patient care. 

MedTrainer polled healthcare teams throughout 2023 and staffing concerns repeatedly topped the list. Here’s a look at the numbers.

Missing the Mark

In a 2023 MedTrainer poll, 85% of respondents say they’re trying to reduce turnover while only 10% report their strategies are actually working. It’s very difficult to reduce turnover because there are so many factors that play into an employee’s decision to leave.

Solution: Shift your focus from reducing turnover to managing it. Staffing is no longer low-volume tasks — it is now a high-volume process that has become core to the business. Technology can help to automate these processes and ensure they can continue even if the person running the process becomes part of the turnover. 

Onboarding Obstacles

With a high volume of new hires, completing the onboarding process in healthcare can be grueling. There are an average of 54 onboarding tasks that need to be completed per new hire. That’s a ton of work for HR and compliance teams.

Solution: Automated systems reduce task volume with one-click onboarding processes and automatic reminders for new hires to complete training and sign documents. When your compliance system integrates with HRIS, such as UKG or ADP, onboarding becomes completely automated. When a new employee is added to the HRIS, it triggers the onboarding process in all-in-one platforms like MedTrainer.

Keeping All the Balls in the Air

If a healthcare organization was a circus, the credentialing staff would be jugglers. Providers are moving between organizations more than ever before. They cannot start seeing patients until the credentialer’s job is complete, but 47% of 2023 MedTrainer poll respondents say credentialing isn’t the only job on a specialist’s plate. Nearly half report difficulties in balancing credentialing tasks with other job responsibilities. It’s no wonder a third say it takes 11 to 20 hours to complete the process. 

Solution: Credentialing software can be like an extra pair of hands by automating reminders, exclusions monitoring, and reporting. With all documents in a single provider profile and completion percentages keeping gaps top of mind, you can stay organized and get more done. If that isn’t enough, consider outsourcing credentialing to a team of specialists. 

Hiring and Retention Nightmares

Nearly half of poll respondents said hiring and retaining staff is what keeps them up at night — especially in growing organizations. Specifically, it is high salary expectations that present the biggest challenge for more than half of respondents. Another 26% say that candidate sourcing is the biggest challenge. Both make hiring qualified candidates a real challenge. 

Solution: Get your HR recruiter more involved in exit interviews and check ins. The recruiter can then continually refine the ideal candidate profile to bring in new hires that are less likely to churn. Learn more in this on-demand webinar. 

Tackling Turnover Turbulence

One gap in staffing can impact many areas within a healthcare organization. For example, when evaluating their emergency preparedness plans, a third of poll respondents said the biggest changes to be made involved addressing staffing shortages. Gaps and even new hires can result in substandard patient care — making it an indirect result of turnover. 

Solution: Keeping policies and plans updated and accessible to all employees is critical with high turnover. It offers new employees a reference anytime a new situation arises. Plus, when you’ve planned ahead and incorporated turnover into your plans, you’re prepared for nearly any situation.