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Healthcare and the Gig Economy: New White Paper Illuminates the Role of Technology in Engaging the Gig Workforce

Leaders at Hallmark Health Care Solutions and Trinity Health co-author a paper on building internal agencies for better hospital staffing at lower labor spend.

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y. (August 22, 2022) – The number of agency jobs for nurses has quadrupled in the last two years, creating costly shifts in labor supply and demand for hospitals and health systems. In a new white paper from Hallmark Health Care Solutions (HHCS), Gay Landstrom and Isaac Ullatil – executive leaders from Trinity Health and HHCS, respectively – outline a path forward for healthcare organizations facing unsustainable labor costs from the current workforce crisis. In the white paper, “The Gig Economy in Healthcare: Leveraging Technology to Engage the Workforce on Their Own Terms,” Ullatil and Landstrom elaborate on a way forward that is paved by smart technology.

“External staffing agencies have illustrated exactly how to attract the growing segment of the labor force that is drawn to flexible ‘gig-style’ employment,” says Ullatil, CEO and Co-founder of HHCS, adding that the increased use of higher-cost contract labor is financially unsustainable for the long term. “Fortunately, there are innovative software solutions like Einstein II that empower hospitals and health systems to build their own internal agencies, which can successfully draw those gig workers back into the fold.”

Landstrom’s perspective as Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer of Trinity Health lends a real-world success story to the white paper. The organization’s use of HHCS’ Einstein II technology platform enabled Trinity to successfully implement an in-house mobile staffing approach across 88 hospitals in 25 states. Through this program called FirstChoice, Landstrom and her team are saving the system tens of millions of dollars each year by replacing agency contracted labor with direct sourcing and deployment.  

“It’s been a devastating trend as nurses continue leaving full-time/part-time employment for higher paying, more flexible gigs as travel or per-diem nurses,” says Landstrom. For those leaving because they want gig-style freedom, she says the internal agency model provides “the best of both worlds” – the ability to stay employed at their health system of choice while having highly flexible scheduling options.

In the paper, Ullatil and Landstrom highlight the impact of an engaged, tech-enabled workforce on both operations and financials, including: 

  • The ability to provide care to a larger patient population
  • Lower clinician-to-patient ratios for safer, more effective, and timelier care
  • Improved patient satisfaction and outcomes
  • Increased employee satisfaction, leading to improved retention and recruitment
  • Decreased vacancy rates and faster shift fulfillment
  • Increased productivity and efficiency through intelligent automation

Rethinking employment models to accommodate gig-style workers is not an easy transition, but the days of the typical full-time employee with preset schedules are long gone. Organization leaders must realize they have to meet the workforce where they are, and with the flexibility workers demand, in order to attract and retain enough resources.

About Hallmark Health Care Solutions, Inc.

Hallmark Health Care Solutions, Inc. (HHCS) is a healthcare technology firm headquartered in New York. Each of our experienced executive team members brings an average of 20+ years in IT, nursing, process engineering, finance, and healthcare. HHCS is ranked No. 318 in the 2021 Inc. 5000 List of Fastest Growing Private Companies in the U.S. The company’s simply intelligent provider and workforce solutions are used by over 100,000 healthcare professionals in more than 4,000 healthcare facilities across all 50 states. In the past decade, we have collectively delivered over $250 million in cost savings and revenue gains to our clients and calculated nearly $5 billion in physician compensation, thanks to our best-in-class workforce and compensation management technologies.

HHCS workforce solutions include Einstein II, a workforce sourcing, deployment, and vendor management solution, and Heisenberg II, a physician compensation and contract management solution. For more information, visit www.einsteinii.com and www.heisenbergii.com.

Media Contact

Kelly Faville
Rocket Social Impact
kelly@rocketsocialimpact.com
978-621-6667