7 Reasons Why Healthcare Facilities Need a Staffing Partner Alongside Their Managed Service Providers

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.

1. Specialized Expertise

Effective healthcare staffing requires an understanding of the industry’s evolving workforce challenges and the complex talent needs of healthcare facilities. A true staffing partner, like Medix, gets to know your immediate needs and helps you build a strategy for the future. For example, Medix’s staffing knowledge stretches 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 ensures healthcare organizations have access to the right talent to maintain smooth operations and high-quality patient care.

2. Relationship-Focused Approach

A strategic staffing partnership goes beyond filling roles — it fosters long-term workforce stability. Staffing partners prioritize building relationships with healthcare teams and local talent to secure candidates who align with the culture, operational needs, and long-term goals of their clients. This results in better talent matches, higher retention rates, and an uplifting experience for everyone.

3. Speed, Flexibility, and Responsiveness

Staffing needs can change rapidly, especially in outpatient settings. A flexible staffing strategy allows organizations to quickly adapt to evolving needs, ensuring they have the talent they need when they need them. Healthcare facilities can fill vacancies quicker — often weeks sooner than other hiring models — with specialized talent who can provide superior patient care.

4. Quality Candidates

A strong healthcare staffing strategy prioritizes quality talent who can provide superior patient care. Using rigorous screening and vetting processes, Medix identifies and places qualified candidates at healthcare facilities with not only the hard skills but also the soft skills and culture fit that results in happier, more engaged employees. 

5. Local Talent, Nationwide Reach

Staffing partners have pools of candidates in virtually every market nationwide. Our pool of candidates is 3 million deep around the country, so that means we have talent available at a moment’s notice in your community. 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. 

6. Focus on Outpatient/Nonclinical Staffing

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

7. Complementary Expertise

Staffing partners offer a range of staffing solutions that complement your existing managed service provider program. They operate alongside your MSP, providing specialized services that add significant value and improve overall staffing results. By focusing on areas where they excel, a staffing partner works in conjunction with your MSP to achieve staffing objectives more efficiently. Learn how Medix can be the right partner to your MSP here. 

The Pros and Cons 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 they also come with limitations. Healthcare leaders can make more informed staffing decisions when taking the pros and cons 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: MSPs leverage technology to automate and standardize hiring processes, improving efficiency.
• Compliance and risk management: MSPs have deep experience 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 handle the entire hiring process, from requisition to payment. This tech provides real-time visibility into spending, compliance, and supplier performance. Managed service providers 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: High-volume hiring models can lead to a transactional approach, prioritizing speed over cultural fit and retention. This can lead to lower-quality candidates, especially when nuanced understanding of specific roles and organizational culture is crucial. If you need a more hands-on approach, managed service providers might not deliver.
• Inflexibility: Standardized processes may not accommodate the unique demands 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. Managed service providers’ lack of specialized talent means your new hire is often only temporary or even the costly “travel” talent. Demand for travel talent soared — as did related costs — during the pandemic, devastating the bottom lines at many hospitals.

Build a Complete Staffing Solution with Medix and Your MSP

Two heads are better than one, the old adage insists — and that can be true for your healthcare staffing solution. Incorporating Medix into your existing MSP program gives you a trusted partner that enhances your workforce strategy with industry-specific expertise and responsive service, balancing efficiency and specialization.

With a sharper focus on the nuanced demands of outpatient and nonclinical roles, our Joint Commission-certified 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.