Our team is fairly active on the American Staffing Association's forums, and during the last few days we were able to assist with some industry questions that could prove helpful for others. With that in mind, our team wanted to add it to our blog. Hope it helps!

Healthcare staffing is a pretty big process to improve. There are multiple pieces of this, per diem, travel or nontravel, locum tenens or only RN, Allied, and so many other pieces that all require nuanced handling. This is especially true if there is a facility float pool to consider in the management process.

Please bear in mind that we (BlueSky) are not a staffing agency but a software provider to staffing agencies and hospitals.

How would you streamline the documentation/credentialing and hiring process to meet service level agreements that demand quick submissions and/or to onboard specific candidates faster?

Typically this should be automated and handled via settings in your ATS or VMS. In general, it's also important to recognize the differences between an applicant tracking system, vendor management system, and managed services provider. Knowing those differences will lead you to the right product and providers without unnecessarily exposing your company to competitive risk.

Do your recruiters do credentialing or is it done by a separate group?

The answer again is software, this is the most time-consuming process in healthcare staffing that we see appropriately and efficiently handled with the right SaaS. Aside from the initial setup for a facility and unit required documents, which is done by a software administrator, the healthcare provider completes their credentialing themselves! If they are not filling it in, automated reminders can be sent out. Those same reminders can and should be set up for expiration and renewals as well. For verification, this is also something that can be done by the provider using free tools like Nurse Backpack and Nursys or quickly handled via an ATS.

How can we get RN's/Travel Nurses interested in the position so that they participate in administrative processes with urgency? How can we assist them in filling out documentation/credentialing forms?

Making sure they don't have to continually provide the same information is the biggest piece to success. If you already have those documents, having them in a standard profile per caregiver really helps with efficiency in a workflow and future speed to market. To get them interested, well, that depends on the job need I would say. The application and onboarding process should be mobile friendly, as automated as possible, with prompt and repeated reminders to the parties involved.

To bolster the process, rewards like badges, affordable gift cards, and other milestone perks really keep people involved. A personal recommendation I would make regarding this idea is to offer perks in tiers. For example, if a candidate fills in all their required documentation for five job needs they could receive a coffee shop gift card.

It may not always be the position that garners interest either. Throughout the market we are seeing ripple effects from burnout and bad experiences. Being sure your company is well represented and easy to research will bring providers to you naturally and keep them interested in working with your recruiters.

A team of healthcare recruiters is far more efficient when provided the best tools for the job.