Along with its newly released financial results in a Feb. 16 earnings call, Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems this week also noted nurse recruitment was up 18 percent in 2022.
The health system had implemented a companywide centralized nurse recruitment function that drove the numbers up year over year and allowed it to see "strong gains in employee recruitment and retention."
Its CEO, Tim Hingtgen, said that throughout the last year, the health system has also "significantly reduced contract labor from its peak in early 2022, while improving overall employee recruitment and retention levels," according to a Feb. 15 press release.
In addition, the company noted that while it is optimistic about 2023, "the impact of competitive labor market conditions and the shortage of nurses, including in connection with our ability to hire and retain qualified nurses, physicians, other medical personnel and key management, and increased labor expenses as a result," have potential to drive changes to current outcomes going forward.
In 2023, the CEO said the company will continue to focus on graduating and recruiting nurses through its education partnership — which it expects to graduate 1,000 new nurses each year. CHS will also continue efforts to reduce contract labor while simultaneously improving its trajectory of year-over-year improvements in patient safety.