Finding the right staffing partner isn’t just a convenience—it’s a necessity. With ongoing challenges like labor shortages, rising costs, and fluctuating patient needs, healthcare organizations require partners who not only provide staffing solutions but also help drive efficiency, quality, and reliability in care delivery.
So, how do you identify the ideal healthcare staffing partner for your facility? This SnapCare guide breaks down the key traits and services to look for, ensuring that your partnership aligns with your facility’s goals, values, and operational needs.
Why Choosing the Right Staffing Partner Matters
The impact of staffing on healthcare facilities goes beyond merely filling shifts. The right partner contributes to seamless operations, enhanced patient care, and long-term workforce stability. Conversely, an ineffective partner can lead to costly inefficiencies, burnout, and compromised patient satisfaction.
By choosing wisely, you can:
- Improve retention rates by ensuring a positive work environment for clinicians.
- Optimize costs through transparent, efficient staffing models.
- Ensure continuity of care in the event of attrition, avoiding gaps in staffing that disrupt patient care.
- Bolster occupancy by continuing to accept referrals, ensuring your facility maintains high occupancy levels without sacrificing care quality.
- Deliver higher-quality care by placing the right talent in the right roles.
The stakes are high, but with the right information, you can make a choice that sets your facility up for success.
Understanding Your Needs
Before selecting a healthcare staffing partner, it’s essential to take a step back and evaluate your facility’s specific needs. By thoroughly understanding what you’re looking for, you can ensure that your partnership aligns with your goals and addresses your challenges effectively.
Here are some key areas to consider:
Staffing Requirements
Start by identifying the types of positions you need to fill. Are you looking for Registered Nurses (RNs) to support your ICU or Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) to provide bedside care in long-term care facilities? Perhaps you need specialists in high-demand fields like labor and delivery, oncology, or surgical nursing.
Take inventory of the following:
- Roles and Specialties: Do you need generalists, specialists, or a mix of both?
- Skill Levels: Are you looking for seasoned professionals or new clinicians with up-to-date training?
- Shifts: Will these positions cover PRN (as needed), night shifts, or weekends?
For example, a rural hospital might need travel nurses to fill critical care roles, while an urban facility may seek per diem CNAs to handle high patient turnover during flu season.
Staffing Model
In addition to understanding the roles and specialties you need, it’s essential to consider the type of employment model your staffing partner uses. The difference between 1099 and W2 staffing organizations can significantly impact both your operational efficiency and compliance.
1099 Staffing (Independent Contractors):
- Flexibility: Independent contractors often offer greater flexibility, allowing you to hire on-demand staff for short-term assignments or peak seasons.
- Cost Savings: Since you are not responsible for benefits, taxes, or payroll, 1099 staffing can seem like a cost-effective solution for short-term needs.
- Lack of Stability: However, with 1099 workers, you may encounter high turnover, lack of continuity in care, and issues with ensuring compliance with labor laws. Independent contractors can also be more challenging to integrate into your facility’s culture or work environment.
W2 Staffing (Full-Time Employees):
- Stability: W2 employees are often more reliable, with a long-term commitment to your facility. They are more likely to have a sense of belonging and stay for extended periods.
- Compliance and Benefits: With W2 staffing, the employer is responsible for taxes, benefits (healthcare, retirement plans), and legal compliance, which can create a more predictable and stable workforce.
- Higher Costs: While W2 staff are generally more expensive in terms of pay and benefits, they bring long-term value by reducing turnover and improving patient care continuity.
When evaluating your staffing needs, consider how each model aligns with your facility’s goals, operational priorities, and financial considerations.
Short-Term vs. Long-Term Needs
Another important consideration is the duration of your staffing needs. This will help you determine the type of staffing solutions to prioritize:
- Short-Term Solutions: Are you facing seasonal surges, such as flu season or snowbird migrations in states like Florida? Temporary staffing solutions, including PRN, 13-week contracts, or short-term placements, can help address these fluctuations without long-term commitments.
- Long-Term Placements: If your facility struggles with chronic shortages or retention issues, you may need a partner who can provide contract or permanent placements to stabilize your workforce over time.
Pro Tip: Some healthcare staffing agencies, like SnapCare, offer flexible solutions that adapt to both short-term surges and long-term needs, including 13-week contracts. This ensures your workforce remains resilient, even as circumstances change.
Operational Gaps
Beyond filling positions, consider how a staffing partner can address broader challenges in your operations. For example:
- Administrative Support: Do you need help managing credentialing and compliance?
- Workforce Efficiency: Could predictive analytics or AI-driven tools optimize your scheduling by more accurately aligning shits to match workload needs, prioritizing internal staff, and identifying gaps where external help is required?
Identifying these operational gaps allows you to choose a partner who offers more than just staffing—one who contributes to improving your facility’s overall efficiency and care quality.
What to Look for in a Healthcare Staffing Partner
1. Proven Expertise and Industry Knowledge
Healthcare staffing isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution. Each facility has unique needs based on patient populations, specialties, and regional demand. A staffing partner with extensive experience in the industry will understand these nuances and offer tailored solutions.
Look for a partner who can demonstrate:
- A proven track record in healthcare staffing across various settings (hospitals, clinics, long-term care facilities, etc.).
- Expertise in high-demand specialties like critical care, perioperative services, and labor and delivery.
- Knowledge of compliance requirements, such as licensure, credentialing, and background checks.
- Accreditations and certifications that demonstrate commitment to industry best practices and rigorous credentialing standards.
The SnapCare Difference:
Our proven expertise in healthcare workforce solutions ensures we understand the complexities of staffing across diverse facilities and specialties. With years of experience, including during the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve honed our ability to provide reliable, tailored solutions.
As a Joint Commission-certified organization with the Gold Seal of Approval, we demonstrate our commitment to maintaining the highest standards in healthcare staffing. This certification highlights our deep industry knowledge, dedication to compliance, and unwavering focus on quality care delivery.
2. Access to High-Quality Talent
Your staffing partner should have a deep pool of skilled professionals ready to step in and deliver exceptional care. Look for an agency that:
- Screens candidates rigorously to ensure they meet your facility’s standards.
- Offers a variety of clinicians, including RNs, LPNs, CNAs, and advanced practice providers.
- Focuses on matching candidates to positions that align with their expertise and interests.
- Demonstrates speed to fill, ensuring positions are filled quickly to minimize gaps in care.
How SnapCare Stands Out:
At SnapCare, our AI-driven matching technology pairs clinicians with the roles they’re best suited for, creating a win-win for both facilities and staff. Our tech-enabled platform provides complete transparency throughout the process, allowing you to secure the most qualified talent while keeping costs efficient.
With a network of over 380,000 vetted clinicians nationwide, we offer unparalleled access to a diverse pool of skilled healthcare professionals. Plus, we ensure fast deployment, with an average turnaround time of 6 to 8 days to source and fully deploy credentialed staff.
3. Transparent and Flexible Contracts
Transparency is critical when evaluating a staffing partner. The best agencies offer clear, upfront terms and a range of flexible contract options to suit your needs.
Key features to seek include:
- Transparent pricing with no hidden fees.
- Flexibility to scale staffing levels up or down based on fluctuating patient volumes.
- Options for short-term, long-term, and per diem staffing solutions.
How SnapCare Does It:
SnapCare simplifies staffing with flexible solutions that allow facilities to choose between PRN/Per Diem, Contract & Travel, and Local and Permanent placements. Our pricing models are transparent, ensuring no surprises.
4. Cutting-Edge Technology and Tools
Technology has revolutionized healthcare staffing, making it easier to streamline operations and optimize costs. A forward-thinking partner should provide tools that:
- Simplify scheduling and shift management.
- Offer real-time visibility into staffing needs and available talent.
- Enable data-driven decision-making through advanced analytics.
- Provide a centralized repository for clinician credentials, ensuring your team is always ready for audits and surveys while maintaining compliance standards.
Snapcare’s AI-Enabled Platform:
SnapCare’s proprietary workforce platform integrates advanced AI with an intuitive, user-friendly interface, offering facilities complete transparency into their staffing operations. With the addition of Medecipher’s predictive staff scheduling optimization, our platform empowers healthcare facilities to create and implement flexible staffing models. This ensures the right number of staff with the right skills are scheduled to meet patient needs at every hour of the schedule.
The result? Facilities enjoy an average of 5% to 15% cost savings, a 60% increase in care quality, 100% personalized staffing capabilities, and an 80% reduction in planning time.
From scheduling to same-day payments for clinicians, our technology ensures efficiency and compliance at every step.
5. Commitment to Clinician Satisfaction
Clinician engagement directly impacts patient care quality and retention rates. A great staffing partner doesn’t just provide workers—they invest in their well-being and professional growth.
Look for an agency that offers:
- Comprehensive benefits, including healthcare, retirement plans, and paid time off.
- Programs to promote clinician recognition and rewards.
- Opportunities for training, reskilling, and career advancement.
SnapCare’s Clinician-First Approach:
SnapCare goes above and beyond to support healthcare professionals. Through our Rewards Program, our clinicians can earn points and redeem them for exciting rewards. Our Referral Program further enhances earning opportunities with cash incentives for successful referrals.
Every clinician enjoys the security of W2 employment, which includes comprehensive benefits such as medical and indemnity coverage, vision and dental plans, life insurance, employee assistance programs (EAPs), and perks for housing, travel, and accommodations. We also invest in professional growth through initiatives like the Oregon Licensure Program and offer 24/7 support to ensure our clinicians have the tools and resources they need to succeed.
6. Streamlined Credentialing and Compliance
Compliance and credentialing are non-negotiable in healthcare staffing. A reliable partner ensures that every clinician is fully vetted and meets state and federal regulations before stepping into your facility.
Essential features include:
- Thorough background checks and license verification that adhere to state and federal mandates.
- Tracking systems to ensure certifications remain current.
- Fast turnaround times for credentialing to minimize staffing gaps.
SnapCare’s Compliance Excellence:
Our credentialing process is both rigorous and efficient, powered by advanced technology and a dedicated team to ensure every clinician meets the highest standards. Facilities can rely on us to provide fully credentialed staff in just 6 to 8 days on average while maintaining strict adherence to state and federal regulations. With SnapCare, you gain peace of mind knowing that your workforce is not only qualified but also fully compliant.
7. Strong Communication and Support
A responsive staffing partner can mean the difference between a smooth operation and a chaotic one. Clear communication and round-the-clock support ensure that your needs are met promptly.
Key traits to look for:
- Dedicated client success managers who understand your facility’s unique requirements.
- 24/7 support for urgent staffing needs or troubleshooting.
- Proactive communication to keep you informed every step of the way.
SnapCare’s 24/7 Support:
At SnapCare, exceptional client service is at the heart of what we do. Our dedicated team is available 24/7 to answer your questions, resolve any concerns, and keep your operations running smoothly. Whether it’s last-minute staffing needs or ongoing support, you can count on us to be there whenever you need us.
Have questions or need assistance? Reach out to us today!
Finding Your Ideal Healthcare Staffing Partner
The right healthcare staffing partner does more than just fill positions—they become a vital collaborator invested in your success. By focusing on expertise, transparency, innovative technology, and unwavering workforce support, the right partnership can transform operations and improve outcomes for your facility, staff, and patients.
At SnapCare, we embody these values. Our tailored solutions, state-of-the-art platform, and dedication to excellence ensure we meet your unique needs. Whether it’s per diem staffing for immediate coverage or a comprehensive strategy for workforce efficiency, SnapCare is your trusted partner in healthcare staffing.
Let’s build the future of your workforce together. Contact SnapCare today to discover how we can support your facility’s success.
