#1: Redeploying FTE Staff
The redeployment of full-time staff based on the demands of the hospital has been an effective strategy throughout the COVID-19 health crisis. During the first wave, select specialty areas experienced severely decreased volume. Elective surgeries were completely suspended in an effort to reduce overnight hospital stays and the potential spread of COVID-19. Other areas like MedSurg, ICU, and dedicated COVID-19 units saw an increase in patients resulting in hospitals not having enough dedicated staff in these units to meet the influx of patients.
To compensate for this, hospitals redeployed their staff from underutilized areas to consistently busy areas. This strategy allowed hospitals to utilize the workforce they had to better meet the rising patient counts caused by COVID-19, and provide relief for the fatigued staff who had already been working in these units. In this second surge, the increase in COVID-19 patients coupled with patient volume across the rest of the hospital has proven difficult for hospitals to find available staff to redeploy, and several health systems have shifted to the use of local or regional float pools to meet the increased demand.
#2: Using Local and Regional Float Pools
Float pools enable health systems to meet fluctuating patient care demand over a wider range of specialties and geography. Local float pools can be set up to provide help across multiple units of the same specialty in a single facility, whereas regional float pools cover multiple facilities at distances of 20 miles or less. Float pools also allow for health systems to use contingent labor to boost bandwidth across a larger area, sending travelers to the areas where extra help is needed most.
While the float pool strategy can be quite effective, many health systems struggle when it comes to its implementation due to either not having an MSP, or having one that doesn’t align with their goals. SimpliFi’s team of clinicians is led by a former hospital CNO and spends time in clinical discovery aligning with the goals of our hospital partners to develop specific strategies to meet both their patient care and financial objectives. If you would like to learn more about how we can partner with your health system to meet today’s rising patient care demands, please reach out to our team today.