Beyond Managed Service Providers: Why Healthcare Facilities Also Need a Strategic Staffing Partner

Healthcare facilities everywhere are ailing: Staffing challenges and shortages are a chronic problem with seemingly no end in sight. These talent troubles can negatively impact healthcare teams, everyday operations, and — worst of all — patient care. For some healthcare facilities, managed service providers (MSPs) are the staffing solution that eases the pain of talent shortages. While MSPs offer certain benefits, they might not be the complete solution healthcare leaders are looking for, particularly in specialized outpatient roles or settings and nonclinical services like revenue cycle management or insurance services. That’s why a flexible, responsive, specialized healthcare staffing partner like Medix should be a critical part of your talent treatment plan in addition to an MSP. 

Advantages and Disadvantages of Traditional MSP Models

Managed service providers offer several compelling benefits, especially for larger healthcare systems with complex staffing needs or high turnover rates. But MSPs also come with limitations that must be taken into account.

MSP Strengths 

• Consolidated vendor management: Centralizing this cumbersome task, MSPs reduce the administrative burden associated with managing multiple staffing agencies.  
• Streamlined hiring processes: Leveraging technology to automate and standardize hiring processes, MSPs improve efficiency.
• Compliance and risk management: MSPs are deeply experienced in healthcare standards and regulations, ensuring talent compliance and certification. This helps maintain quality of patient care and overall safety.
• Technology and reporting capabilities: Often using a vendor management system (VMS), MSPs manage the entire hiring process, from requisition to payment. This tech provides real-time visibility into spending, compliance, and supplier performance. They can also offer advanced analytics and reporting to help businesses make data-driven decisions about their contingent workforce strategies.

MSP Limitations

• Lack of specialization/too specialized: For organizations in need of talent with specialized skills, the MSP remedy can fall short. Since many MSPs provide staffing solutions across multiple industries, this breadth can mean a lack of depth in all sectors, including healthcare. Other MSPs might be too niche, focusing only on in-patient nursing and allied healthcare roles, for example, while lacking knowledge in outpatient or nonclinical services like revenue cycle management.
• Impersonal service: With MSPs sometimes prioritizing volume over building relationships, their solutions can lack personalization. This can result in lower-quality candidates, especially when nuanced understanding of specific roles and organizational culture is crucial. If you need a more hands-on approach, MSPs might not deliver.
• Inflexibility: The standardized processes that MSPs use can reduce spending variances and allow organizations to more accurately forecast staffing costs, but those same processes may not accommodate the unique needs of individual departments or the fast-paced nature of outpatient settings, where swift hiring decisions are essential.
• Higher long-term costs: While the streamlined hiring process and automation an MSP offers can lower initial costs, in the long run those savings could vanish. A managed service provider’s lack of specialized talent means your new hire is often only temporary or even the costly “travel.” Demand for travel talent soared — as did related costs — during the pandemic, devastating the bottom lines at many hospitals.

Medix: A Specialized Healthcare Staffing Partner

Medix is a leading, specialized staffing partner with 20 years of proven, award-winning experience in healthcare staffing — The Joint Commission recertified our Gold Seal of Approval, and ClearlyRated awarded us its Best of Staffing Client Diamond and Talent Awards. Our deep understanding of the complexities of healthcare staffing, including specialized and nonclinical roles, combined with managed service providers’ efficiency and streamlined processes can ensure a healthcare facility is covering all its staffing bases. Here’s why partnering with Medix alongside your MSP is so beneficial: 

Specialized Expertise

The experienced Medix team understands the healthcare industry and the complex staffing needs of healthcare facilities. We know what your needs are now — and can help you build a strategy for the future. Our staffing knowledge goes beyond clinical roles to revenue cycle management, insurance, front- and back-office support staff, and more, filling the MSP gap in nonclinical talent. This targeted expertise enables us to identify and place highly qualified candidates with the skills and experience required in healthcare.

Relationship-Focused Approach

Partnership matters — it’s one of our priorities at Medix. It means we care about a healthcare team’s success in providing high-quality patient care. As part of that mission, we build lasting relationships with our healthcare clients and our pool of local talent. Getting to know our customers and our candidates results in better talent matches, higher retention rates, and an uplifting experience for everyone.

Flexibility and Responsiveness

We get it — staffing needs can change rapidly, especially in outpatient settings. Our flexible teams can adapt quickly and provide customized staffing solutions so you have the talent you need when you need them. You’ll fill vacancies quicker — often weeks quicker than other hiring models — with specialized talent who can provide superior patient care.

Quality Candidates

Patient care is our healthcare clients’ number one priority — and it’s also ours. Using rigorous screening and vetting processes, we identify and place qualified candidates at healthcare facilities. We focus not only on hard skills but also on soft skills and culture fit, which results in happier, more engaged employees who find a long-term home on your team. Our Joint Commission Gold Seal of Approval means you can trust us to place healthcare professionals who uphold the highest levels of quality and safety, ultimately contributing to exceptional patient outcomes.

Focus on Outpatient/Nonclinical Staffing

With extensive experience in specialized staffing solutions for niche areas like outpatient settings and nonclinical staff, Medix effectively addresses the challenges MSPs might face. We bridge the gap, sourcing and placing highly skilled professionals in these specialized fields, ensuring our clients always have access to talent to build their team.

Local Talent

Our pool of candidates is 3 million deep around the country, so that means we have talent available at a moment’s notice in virtually every market nationwide. This local talent allows healthcare facilities to consider them for full-time employment, creating a pipeline of candidates and contributing to long-term workforce stability.

Complementary Expertise

Medix offers a suite of staffing solutions that complement your existing managed service provider program. We operate alongside your MSP, providing specialized services that add significant value and improve your overall staffing results. By focusing on areas where we excel, we work in conjunction with your MSP to achieve your staffing objectives more efficiently.

Build a Complete Staffing Solution With Medix Plus Your MSP

Two heads are better than one, the old adage insists — and that can be true for your healthcare staffing solution. Incorporating the Medix suite of staffing solutions into your existing managed service provider framework can make your staffing strategy airtight. With a sharper focus on the nuanced demands of outpatient and nonclinical roles, our team brings speed, quality, and cultural alignment to your recruitment process. Our approach goes beyond simply filling positions; we focus on building lasting relationships and understanding your immediate and future needs. We provide local talent, helping to build a pipeline of candidates  for your facility, creating long-term stability and reducing costly turnover.

Get in touch with us today to complement your MSP and create a comprehensive staffing solution that ensures lasting success. Using our specialized knowledge and responsive service, you can optimize your team and deliver exceptional patient care.