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Saint Francis Healthcare partnered with Qualivis to address workforce challenges like a 22% RN vacancy rate and high contingent labor spend. Through innovative solutions and consulting, they’ve streamlined labor management and achieved measurable cost savings.
Saint Francis Healthcare, a leading healthcare provider in Southeast Missouri, serves a population of 750,000 with more than 3,100 staff and 40 clinics. Faced with significant workforce challenges, including a 22% RN vacancy rate (the highest in Missouri) and an over reliance on contingent labor, Saint Francis Healthcare needed a comprehensive solution to stabilize its workforce and optimize labor management. To address these challenges, Saint Francis Healthcare turned to Qualivis to solve its vendor management struggles and find innovative workforce solutions to engage its float and optimize workforce utilization.
Roadmap to Workforce Transformation with Qualivis
- Upgrade vendor management to a managed service program: Saint Francis Healthcare selected Qualivis as their managed service provider for its innovative technology and comprehensive approach to workforce management and optimization, including offering workforce consulting through Aya Advisory Solutions. They began to see immediate results in efficiency through Qualivis’ technology automation and transparent reporting.
- Implement Shifts, an app-based solution for float pool management: Before implementing Shifts, the Saint Francis Healthcare team managed their resource pool through spreadsheets and texting software. Shifts brought an app-based approach that enabled nurses to pick up open shifts and manage their schedules from their phones.
- Analyze historical data to optimize workforce staffing: Qualivis introduced the Saint Francis Healthcare team to Aya Advisory Solutions to develop a Workforce Insights study focused on six units in the organization plus the float pool and contingent labor pool. The Aya Advisory Solutions team conducted a deep analysis of Saint Francis Healthcare’s data, including three years of census history, inpatient nursing unit staffing plans, average base wages and historical premium labor expenses. From the Workforce Insights study, Aya Advisory Solutions identified 30% annual savings on contingent labor based on the following recommendations:
- In general, the census increased to a mid-week hump and fell for the weekend, so staffing could be adjusted for the weekday variance.
- Vacancies were a key driver for premium labor, and open positions could be adjusted to optimize unit core staffing.
- Simplifying the float pool structure to only two tiers compared to the original four tiers would provide greater workforce flexibility and coverage for open shift needs.
- Undergo an Employer Brand Analysis to improve recruitment: The Aya Advisory Solutions team completed a brand audit to investigate current employee and job seeker perception of the Saint Francis Healthcare brand compared to that of nearby health system competitors. The team recommended that Saint Francis Healthcare revamp its online presence on platforms like Indeed and Glassdoor, use employee testimonials in video content and put a stronger focus on organizational culture to appeal to potential recruits. “The brand analysis created opportunity by showing some blind spots that we didn’t realize we had,” said Snow.
Results and Impact
The partnership between Saint Francis Healthcare and Qualivis has already produced measurable results. They have begun to see cost savings in premium labor, streamlined contingent labor management and efficiencies in internal resource pool management.
Snow summed up the partnership like this:
“I’m amazed by the genuineness and the authenticity of the Qualivis team. I’ve not worked with a vendor in my career that is genuinely and authentically concerned for your success as an organization.”