Hospitals and health systems in the U.S. face a growing demand for healthcare services while dealing with staffing challenges and increased labor costs. Healthcare leaders are increasingly turning to technology and integrated systems to retain nurses and fill shifts with qualified staff.
Lennie Sliwinski, co-founder and CEO of Works, recently spoke with Becker's Healthcare about the innovations enabling top health systems like Mercy Health (St. Louis) and Deaconess Health System (Evansville, Ind.) to strengthen their workforce, reduce clinical staffing costs and enhance operational efficiency.
Technology scales flexible workforce programs and helps clinicians thrive
Centralizing clinical staffing operations across multi-facility health systems, retaining top talent, and decreasing reliance on expensive contingent labor have emerged as essential priorities for healthcare organizations. From sourcing to onboarding and ongoing compliance, having one centralized workforce management platform that's available on-demand, reduces administrative burden for nurse managers, and caters to clinician preferences is paramount.
With health system leaders and clinicians in mind, Trusted Health sought to address these issues and launched Works in 2021.
"Before the pandemic, clinicians around the country were beginning to demand more from their employers and health systems were struggling to attract and retain enough clinicians.” Mr. Sliwinski said. "Works is the result of a vision shared with our innovation partners where hospitals & health systems can offer much more flexibility and control to their clinical workforce while bringing labor costs down by matching shifts to right resources across all of their workforce programs---from incentive and float pools to PRN and contract."
With predictive insights and data-based recommendations, Works helps hospitals optimize sourcing for and fulfillment of contingent staffing needs as demand fluctuates. Works' staffing marketplace unifies internal and external sources of flexible labor available to optimize shift pick-up by matching open shifts with the best-fit clinicians based on eligibility and cost.
In 2023, Works deployed a dynamic pricing algorithm that uses AI to dynamically adjust and set hourly shift rates based on market demand and nurse availability.
Efficiency and cost-savings highlight tech benefits for leading health systems
Mercy Health was one of Trusted Health's first Works customers. After implementing Works, Mercy saw a 16% decrease in its total cost to deliver care, a 7.5% reduction in nurse turnover and $22.6 million lower premium labor spend.
"Mercy Health has been an incredible innovation partner and our shared success has shown that adopting a flexible, AI-powered workforce operating system is a competitive advantage in the battle for talent, and has led to the adoption of our technology by other top health systems, which has led to the broader adoption of our model by other top health systems and speaks to the early success of Works' modern approach to staffing," Mr. Sliwinski said. “Our mission is to help people everywhere get care, and I’m proud that we've been able to help our partners keep their beds staffed in a sustainable way while enabling our clinicians to work in ways that also work for them .."
Other organizations have seen a direct impact on their recruiting efforts and more. Deaconess Health System automated contract management, credentialing and recruiting tasks that were previously manual, which resulted in a 16% reduction in staffing costs. Works also reduce the system’s reliance on external labor while empowering internal core staff to pick up more shifts using Works mobile app that enables nurses to own their schedules and select shifts that work best for them. . The platform’s AI-powered dynamic pricing feature also allowed Deaconess to optimize shift rates and incentives, reducing premium spend by 14%.
"Works has been a game changer for our staffing strategy," Katie Burnett, director of HR administration at Deaconess Health System, said. "We were seeking a smart solution to control incentive costs, optimize our approach to contingent labor, improve shift pickup and empower our nurses with flexibility and ownership over their schedules."
Research shows AI-based technology reduces clinician burnout
In an Emerging Company Spotlight Report published in October 2024, KLAS surveyed nine current Works customers from six organizations. Based on this information, KLAS has recognized Works' potential to reduce clinician fatigue and attrition, citing Works' customizable and easy-to-use mobile app and dynamic pricing technology as an innovative new solution.
"Clinician burnout continues to plague health systems and remains top of mind for industry leaders," Niel Oscarson, director of research and analysis at KLAS, said. "Platforms like Works help to address key contributors to burnout, including a lack of flexibility, while empowering health systems to quickly fill open shifts without overly relying on contingent labor. Our research on Works showed the solution is having a significant impact for customers and the value of the solution is apparent."
All of the customers surveyed by KLAS indicated that with Works, they can provide clinician leaders with a simple, accessible platform to fill shifts, while reducing costs through dynamic pricing. The customers also said their top factors for selecting Works included collaborative solution customization, accessibility and ease of use. The organizations report that Works' greatest strengths relate to the reliable, nimble and high-touch support they receive from the Works team. In addition, all of the customers surveyed said they would purchase Works again.
"Our vision is to help hospitals and health systems create a more efficient and resilient workforce through our AI-enabled platform," Mr. Sliwinski said. "This report by KLAS validates that our approach is delivering real, lasting value to our customers and we are grateful to have such an innovative group of customers that view flexible staffing as a strategic advantage for their organization."