Locums Digest 37: Rising Demand for Locums, Telehealth & APPs; Barton Acquired; New Leaders at Interim, All Star & More

In This Issue:

  1. LocumTenens.com Survey: Rising Demand for Locums Staffing Incorporating Telehealth, Advanced Practitioners
  2. Wendy Barton Joins Tandym Group as EVP of Healthcare
  3. HIG Capital Portfolio Company Acquires Barton Associates
  4. Interim Physicians Promotes from Within, Naming New President and COO
  5. All Star Healthcare Solutions Announces Leadership Changes, Is Recognized as a 2022 “Best Company to Work For in Florida”
  6. Cross Country, The Delta Companies Win Multiple Awards for Best-In-Class Marketing
  7. CareRev Welcomes Amazon Veteran Patty Bedard as Chief People Officer
  8. Health Carousel’s CNO Earl Dalton Recognized as a “Health Care Hero” Award Finalist
  9. The Digital Future of Healthcare Staffing: 5 Solutions to Improve Hiring and Retention
  10. Socially Speaking: Social posts of note From CHG Healthcare, Hayes Locums, and Medicus
  11. Staffing-Related Snippets: Amazon, CVS, HHS, and Walmart are featured

LocumTenens.com Survey: Rising Demand for Locums Staffing Incorporating Telehealth, Advanced Practitioners

(Edited from Yahoo! Finance, 8/22/2022, & RevCycle Intelligence, 8/19/2022)

LocumTenens.com recently surveyed healthcare leaders from across the country to better understand how hospitals and medical practices are adapting delivery of patient care to address current staffing challenges.

Detailed in a report titled, Innovation & Flexibility: Journey to Sustainable Healthcare, the survey’s findings from 129 responding hospital administrators represent a broad range of facility types and sizes. The responses uncovered new interest in alternative staffing models – including increased use of locum tenens staff, supplemented with advanced practice providers (APPs) and telehealth solutions to extend patient access.

“Healthcare leaders recognize the impact the gig economy is having on their workforce. They are evolving their hiring models to reflect a new appreciation for the flexibility that hybrid staffing models represent,” LocumTenens.com President Chris Franklin said. “Solely relying on traditional staffing models and solutions won’t work anymore. Through staffing innovation, hospitals are actively seeking options to improve access to care with more sustainable models.”

Highlights from the survey, which can be found here, include:

  • The biggest concerns for healthcare facilities are attracting talent (25.8%), avoiding burnout (20.6%), and retaining talent (19.4%).
  • Nearly 57% of facilities that have not used locum staffing in the past plan to use it in the next year.
  • Respondents said using locum tenens providers helped increase patient access to care (69%), their ability to fill previously unfilled positions (61%), and staffing flexibility (55.6%).
  • The strategy of using APPs in combination with physicians is growing, with 74% responding affirmatively to the question, “Do you plan to expand APP coverage?”
  • However, 78 percent of respondents reported that APPs required supervision from an MD or DO at their facility. Relaxing these regulations could help facilities expand APP utilization and improve access to care.
RevCycle Intellgience: Nurse Practitioners Recruited More Than Physicians

RevCycle Intelligence also reported recently that nurse practitioners surpassed physicians as the most-recruited providers for the first time in 27 years, according to a new Merritt Hawkins report. Healthcare leaders responding to LocumTenens.com see the benefits of integrating APPs into the care model as improving access, lowering costs, and increasing flexibility in staffing.

For most respondents, using locum tenens providers did not affect patient satisfaction scores or the morale of permanent staff. “From a patient perspective, there is little difference between an MD or an APP providing care,” LocumTenens.com noted. “It’s about the experience and the quality of care.”

Writing for RevCycle Intelligence, Victoria Bailey summarized the study’s implications for broadening telehealth as follows:

“Although hospitals use onsite locum tenens staffing more than three times as often as telehealth, more facilities are leveraging telehealth or hybrid care following the COVID-19 pandemic. Sixty percent of respondents plan to expand telehealth, the report found.

“Nearly 80 percent of telehealth services for LocumTenens.com were for behavioral healthcare, but more hospitals have started to use telehealth for specialty care, such as oncology, cardiology, and physiatry. However, the report noted that establishing telehealth reimbursement parity would likely increase the adoption of the care modality.”

All News Is Locums

Wendy Barton Joins Tandym Group as EVP of Healthcare

(Edited from Cision/PRNewswire news release, 8/23/2022)

Wendy Barton has joined Tandym Group  as executive vice president of the company’s healthcare vertical, Tandym Health. She will oversee the unit’s daily operations and future growth plans,

Barton joined the company from CompHealth Locum Tenens, where she most recently served as vice president of sales. During her 13-year tenure at CompHealth Locum Tenens, she consistently led her team to exceed sales expectations.

“We are thrilled to have Ms. Barton join our leadership team to continue our momentum as we scale our healthcare business,’ Tandym Group CEO Larry Dolinko said. “Her deep experience in building and leading high-performing sales teams is a perfect fit for Tandym during this critical growth phase.”

HIG Capital Portfolio Company Acquires MA-based Locum Tenens Provider Barton Associates

(Edited from SIA Daily News, 8/1/2022)

Private equity firm HIG Capital announced one of its portfolio companies acquired Barton Associates Inc., a Peabody, Massachusetts-based locum tenens provider.

“Barton possesses industry-leading capabilities in the locum tenens space and plays a critical role in matching premier talent with healthcare facilities across the country,” HIG Managing Director Mike Gallagher said.

In addition to locum tenens, Barton & Associates provides services in travel nursing, allied healthcare, and government-related physician staffing markets. It has 10 offices and more than 1,000 active customers across the nation. The company was founded in 2001.

“What we do at Barton is critical to the US healthcare industry, especially when demand continues to outstrip supply following a global pandemic,” Barton & Associates President and CEO Rob Indresano said. “We expect to continue on this same path with HIG Capital and are confident that a partnership will enable us to continue executing on our long-term vision.”

Interim Physicians Promotes from Within, Naming New President and COO

(Edited from Interim Physicians Company News, 8/4/2022)

Interim Physicians, a top-10 national locum tenens staffing firm, has announced the promotion of two senior executives to higher levels of responsibility.

Shawn Mullen has been promoted to president and chief revenue officer. Having served as vice president of client sales since December 2020, Mullen now oversees all sales and recruiting functions for the organization, while directing Interim’s sales operations and marketing.

Before joining Interim Physicians, Mullen spent more than five years with Medicus Healthcare Solutions. He earned a BA from Boston College and a law degree from Suffolk University.

Having joined Interim in 2009, CFO Tim Sarlone now holds the additional title of chief operations officer (COO). In addition to managing Interim’s accounting and finance functions, Sarlone oversees the company’s quality assurance and risk management teams, as well as the travel department and human resources.

Prior to Interim, Sarlone spent his career in public accounting and holds his CPA license in Missouri, where he earned his BS in accounting from Maryville University in St. Louis.

“We are thrilled to announce these well-deserved promotions during another record-setting year of production,” said Tim Hand, Sr., who remains CEO at Interim Physicians. “These two professionals have earned the respect of not only their departments, but of the whole organization. Together, they make an excellent team in serving all stakeholders.”

All Star Healthcare Solutions Announces Leadership Changes, Is Recognized as a 2022 “Best Company to Work For in Florida”

(Edited from Cision/PRNewswire news release, 8/25/2020, & Yahoo News, 8/3/2022)

All Star Healthcare Solutions®, a full-service healthcare staffing firm, has announced changes to its executive leadership team, including the promotion of CFO Ken Bernstein to president. Bernstein, who had oversight of the organization’s financial strategic planning and analysis, has participated in executive-level decisions for nearly a decade and has sat on the company’s Partners’ Board since its formation.

Additional promotions include those of Vice President, Sales Katie Escalante to chief sales officer; Vice President, Finance Dianne Hunsaker to CFO; and Vice President, Operations and Technology Lee Kennedy to chief operating officer. President Pat Kennedy has moved into the role of chief strategy officer, and both Craig Shattuck and Matt Young continue to serve on the company’s Partners’ Board.

“Like our marketplace and our world, our organization is evolving,” CEO Keith Shattuck said. “Our roster of recruiters continues to grow, and we’re pleased to share we are enjoying record-breaking year-over-year fiscal performance. We are positioning ourselves for the future in support of our long-term goals.”

Florida Trend’s “Best Places to Work

Earlier this month All Star Healthcare Solutions® was again named one of the “Best Companies to Work For in Florida” by Florida Trend.

“This distinction…reflects our people’s feedback and their experiences at All Star..,” All Star Healthcare Solutions CEO Keith Shattuck said. “Our people are the heart of [this company], and we’re committed to further enhancing an environment and building programs that encourage collaboration, professional and personal growth, fun, and community outreach.”

Employees at participating organizations completed an online survey conducted by Workforce Research Group. The anonymous survey measured several key areas for engaging cultures, including policies, practices, and employee satisfaction.

“The competition for high-quality talent has never been greater and employees are raising their expectations of their workplaces,” Florida Trend Executive Editor Vickie Chachere said. “Companies that support, elevate, and celebrate their employees and are changemakers in creating positive workplace cultures will be the winners in the talent race.”

The Healthcare Staffing Story

Cross Country, The Delta Companies Win Multiple Telly Awards for Best-In-Class Marketing

(Edited from Business Wire release, 8/2/2022, & news post @www.thedeltacompanies.com, 6/15/2022)

Both Cross Country Healthcare, Inc., and The Delta Companies (TDC) recently received multiple Telly Awards for their best-in-class marketing-communications campaigns and vehicles.

Out of 12,000+ entries from all 50 states and five continents, Cross Country’s wins included:

  • Silver Award: CrossCountryNurses.com Launch, Craft Use of Stock Footage
  • Silver Award: CrossCountryNurses.com Launch, General Recruitment
  • Bronze Award: 2021 Internal Kick-Off Video, General Internal Communications

“These Telly Awards are a testament to our commitment to continue delivering impactful content and storytelling of not just our work as an organization, but of the front-line healthcare professionals who give back to their communities every day,” Cross Country Healthcare Chief Marketing Officer Gerald Purgay said.

TDC’s awards from among more than 12,000 submissions included:

  • Silver Award: “Life at TDC,” Online-Webseries/Corporate Image
  • Bronze Award: “The Delta Companies–Rockstar Award,” Non-Broadcast/Employee Communications

TDC created the latter videos to highlight the company’s workplace culture and to reach potential new agency talent. This marks the fifth year that TDC has been honored by the Telly Awards, receiving the agency’s 10th and 11th trophies.

“We are always looking for unique ways to connect with both our internal and external audiences and are honored to be recognized with these prestigious awards,” said Tommy Fulmer, executive vice president of client services. “These awards are a testament to our team’s creativity with communication and engagement in an ever-changing environment.”

The 43rd Annual Telly Awards honored excellence in video and television across all screens and was judged by The Telly Awards Judging Council—a group of over 200 leading experts including advertising agencies, production companies, and major television networks.

“This year’s submissions reflect an industry that has returned to the important work of storytelling–one that has returned with a new perspective that values innovation, agility, equity, and tenacious creativity,” Telly Awards Executive Director Sabrina Dridje said.

The full list of the 43rd Annual Telly Awards winners can be found at www.tellyawards.com/winners.

CareRev Welcomes Amazon Veteran Patty Bedard as Chief People Officer

(Edited from Cision/PR Newswire news release, 8/25/2022)

CareRev, an on-demand provider of healthcare clinicians, announced former Amazon and Amazon Web Services executive Patty Bedard as its first chief people officer. Bedard will build strategies and processes to drive employee engagement and retention among CareRev’s internal employees and the network of healthcare professionals who use CareRev’s app to work local shifts when they want.

“I believe one of CareRev’s strongest assets is our internal team working to disrupt the traditional healthcare staffing model and empower our professionals. Ensuring our team is given the best possible employee experience means we can continue to deliver on our mission..”
Bedard said.

Bedard joins CareRev’s growing leadership team alongside several key executive hires in recent months.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome Patty to the team,” CareRev CEO Will Patterson said. “One of Patty’s many strengths lies in leading impressive professional development and employee education programs that we are initiating at CareRev. I’m honored to work alongside her and other leaders across the company.”

CareRev serves more than 32 major metropolitan areas at some 70 hospitals and health systems, and over 540 outpatient centers and skilled nursing facilities. More than 22,000 clinical professionals are included in CareRev’s network.

Cincinnati Business Courier Recognizes Health Carousel’s CNO Earl Dalton as a “Health Care Hero” Award Finalist

(Edited from Science World Report post, 7/29/2022)

Each year, the Cincinnati Business Courier honors individuals and organizations that have contributed to better-quality healthcare in Greater Cincinnati. In 2021, these finalists included Health Carousel’s Chief Nursing Officer Earl Dalton.

In choosing its Health Care Hero, the Cincinnati Business Courier considers professionals who have positively impacted the region’s healthcare in multiple ways–like concern for patients, superior management skills, dedication to industry-enhancing research, and development of career-enhancing employee programs.

Having joined Health Carousel in 2016, Dalton appreciates the value of placing the right nurse in the right role at the right time, enabling Health Carousel to reduce its nurse-termination rate by 75%.

As the COVID-19 pandemic set in, he worked with the company’s leadership team to develop in-office work protocols for “essential employees.” He ensured that sick or quarantined Health Carousel team members were paid appropriately. He also took measures to help Health Carousel employees prioritize their mental health during challenging times.

Supporting Health Carousel and Its Nurses

To enhance clinical knowledge and skills overall, Dalton engineered a partnership with HealthStream, a major online learning company offering a wide range of nursing programs. Since the program’s 2016 inception, some 4,000 nurses have taken more than 50,000 HealthStream classes.

When he learned that frontline caregivers were experiencing high levels of stress and not practicing good self-care during the pandemic, Dalton teamed with HealthStream to create a Nurse Burnout/Resilience Program to help nurses care for themselves in healthy ways.

He also designed the “Clinical 101 Program” for the company’s non-medical employees. This well-received program is now included in Health Carousel’s standard onboarding and orientation procedures.

Along the way, he has helped Health Carousel become the 9th-largest US healthcare staffing company, up from 34th place in 2016. In 2020, Health Carousel received formal recognition from the staffing industry, earning a “Best in Staffing” award for client and talent satisfaction.

Although he was not named the Cincinnati Business Courier’s Health Care Hero for 2022, Dalton has earned the respect of his company, his community, and his colleagues in both nursing and healthcare staffing.

Tools to Try/News to Use

The Digital Future of Healthcare Staffing: 5 Solutions to Improve Hiring and Retention

(Source: Fierce Healthcare)

Delivering quality care requires close collaboration among healthcare professionals and staff who work around the clock to meet patient needs. Download Fierce Healthcare’s white paper to read about the critical role healthcare staffing companies play in recruiting and onboarding talent to ensure healthcare operations don’t skip a beat.

Request Your Free White Paper Now

Space is limited so early registration is recommended!

Join AAPPR this fall for our in-person courses being offered in October at The Ritz-Carlton in Amelia Island, FL, and November at The Alexander in Indianapolis, IN!

The registration fee includes the in-person course and access to the online course materials (where applicable). To view pricing and additional details about the courses click here.

October Course Offering

Certified Physician/Provider Recruitment Professional (CPRP)

October 8-9 | Amelia Island, Florida

The CPRP program takes the certification experience a step further, allowing recruitment professionals to polish those skills they already have and acquire additional knowledge to stay ahead of the curve in this fast-paced industry.

Register here.

November Course Offerings

Onboarding & Retention Certificate Course – Two-Day Course

November 14-15 | Indianapolis, Indiana

This course will provide participants with best practices on creating or enhancing your program. Whether you have all onboarding tasks handled by one person, or a dedicated onboarding team, you’ll learn how a successful program looks, tips for incorporating virtual & in-person tactics, and measurable ways to track the program’s sustainability.

Certified Physician/Provider Recruitment Professional (CPRP) – Two-Day Course

November 14- 15 | Indianapolis, Indiana

The CPRP program takes the certification experience a step further, allowing recruitment professionals to polish those skills they already have and gain knowledge to stay ahead of the curve in this fast-paced industry.

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Micro Certification Course – One Day Course

November 16 | Indianapolis, Indiana

Prerequisite: CPRP certification

This course helps attendees develop effective diversity recruitment and leadership skills, further fostering their ability to influence effective DEI recruitment strategies to support and drive systemic change.

Locum Tenens Management Certificate Course – One Day Course

November 16 | Indianapolis, Indiana

This course will improve attendees’ ability to engage with instructors and colleagues to learn the many nuances of locum tenens, while gaining crucial skills/knowledge to lead locum management within their organizations.

Register here

Continuing Education Credits

Those that already hold their CPRP certification can earn the following continuing education (CE) credits towards their CPRP renewal by attending these courses. CE credits are not awarded to those earning their CPRP for the first time.

  • CPRP course – 6 CE credits
  • OAR course – 12.75 CE credits
  • Locums course – 7 CE credits
  • DEI course – 5 CE credits

Socially Speaking

From Twitter

Staffing-Related Snippets

Amazon, CVS Health Look to Primary Care Amid Increasing Healthcare Consolidation

(Edited from Becker’s ASC Review, 8/26/2022)

Giant companies like Amazon, CVS Health, Walgreens, and Walmart are all looking to primary care and physicians amid an increasingly consolidating industry.

Amazon recently announced its plan to acquire primary care provider company One Medical, which could further alter the dynamics of physician recruiting and acquisitions, Forbes reported.

Independent physicians should be prepared for “an entirely new dynamic” when it comes to prospective buyers, the report said. The new market will include unconventional buyers, such as larger retail companies, and there will be a bigger push toward consolidation as more buyers look to buy physician practices.

HHS Investing $60m to Boost Rural Healthcare Workforce

(Edited from Healthcare Dive, 8/9/2022)

The US Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) is investing $60 million through the Health Resources and Services Administration to strengthen healthcare workforces in rural communities.

About $46 million in funding through the American Rescue Plan will go to 31 recipients to expand healthcare capacity in rural and tribal areas by developing jobs, and training and placing dental hygienists, medical assistants, doulas, and other community-based healthcare professionals.

Another $10 million will go to 13 organizations to create new medical residency programs in rural communities…And about $4 million will go to 18 recipients to improve health outcomes and quality for rural patients and veterans living in those communities.

Walmart Healthcare: 5 Updates from the Last 60 Days

(Excerpt from the story identified above, from Becker’s ASC Review, 8/4/2022)

At the end of June, Walmart heir Alice Walton released more details about the development of her four-year, medical-degree-granting program that integrates conventional medicine with holistic principles and self-care practices, including a name change from the “Whole Health School of Medicine and Health Sciences”, now dubbed “the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine.”

The school, set in northwestern Arkansas, is planned for completion by spring 2023, aiming to host its first class of medical students in fall 2025.

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