A New York City-based Northwell Health staff program that started to hire medical assistants in ambulatory practices has expanded to a pipeline that has saved the system $200 million and brought in thousands of employees in the last 10 years.
"One of the things we've done from the beginning is to identify high-volume job titles that we anticipate health systems will always need and hire those roles proactively," Carolyn Doyle, CEO of FlexStaff and system vice president at Northwell, told Becker's.
FlexStaff, run by 145 Northwell employees, launched in 2014 and has expanded to multiple job titles and services including shift-based coverage, 13-week contracts, moonlighters and internal travelers. The program now fills 80% of all just-in-time needs at Northwell hospitals.
Today, FlexStaff has more than 4,000 employees in its pool that are vetted to Northwell's standards. About 2,000 to 3,000 employees work doing temporary assignments, and 800 to 900 employees transition to full-time roles at Northwell each year, Ms. Doyle said.
"Since inception, we've saved Northwell in excess of $200 million," Ms. Doyle said.
Those savings are split between Northwell and FlexStaff.
"The most critical piece of the program is the technology infrastructure," Ms. Doyle said. "Our technology partner Prolucent has given us a single platform that manages our internal and external agency in one space."