How Gundersen Health System Streamlined Their Onboarding Process, Saved Time, and Reduced Staffing Costs with Staffency
Gundersen Health System faced a common challenge in the healthcare industry: they were struggling to fill their open nursing and coding positions. They were working with multiple agencies, but each came with its own set of challenges. Communication was inconsistent, some provided staff who were a poor fit for Gundersen, and some overcharged.
By partnering with Staffency, a comprehensive managed services provider, Gundersen acquired a high-quality talent pipeline, and has been able to save “time, money and Gundersen resources”-Melissa Heberlein, Recruiter-Recruiting Services.
Challenge:
Gundersen Health System needed a reliable pipeline of quality travel nurses and coders.
As a result of significant growth in services Gundersen experienced the need to fill gaps with skilled nurses and coders. To maintain staffing levels, they worked with multiple staffing agencies. Gundersen found they couldn’t constantly rely on several partners to fill their staffing needs. Although some firms were strong, at times, contingent staff would show up unexpectedly, or not at all. Communication broke down frequently and the health system would be left in a more challenging staffing predicament.
Gundersen needed a consistent reliable pipeline of high-quality travel nurses and coders without the hassle and waste time of working with multiple agencies.
Solution:
By partnering with Staffency, Gundersen Health System streamlined their onboarding process, saved time, and reduced staffing costs.
Gundersen solved their contingent staffing problems by partnering with Staffency. While working with multiple staffing agencies was timeconsuming, expensive, and unreliable, working with Staffency was easy.
Melissa Heberlein, Recruiter-Recruitment Services said that “Before Staffency when there was a staffing need I would reach out too many different agencies with the same communication. Then I would need to make sure I’ve reached back out to all the agencies again to let them know if we’ve filled the position. Lots of my time was spent on communicating. With Staffency I have one person to communicate all our needs to!”
The high level of service has continued throughout their partnership. Staffency checks in regularly and conducts routine on site visits and Quarterly Business Reviews.
“The turnaround time has been great!”
Heberlein says, “Staffency can screen candidates in advance to help with the selection process. This is a time saver for our hiring leaders. It can also be videotaped and watched later at a more convenient time if hiring leaders’ schedules are packed.”
Benefits of Staffency
Saved Time:
- With Staffency, Gundersen received a dedicated Coding Manager and a team of top contingent coders to tackle specific specialties and date ranges
- The time given back to HR has provided the ability to focus their efforts on recruiting their permanent in-house staff
Saved Money:
- With this customized staff augmentation model, Gundersen was able to reduce per hour coding rates from $75 to $65 and save staff time on training
Improved Scale:
- Onboarding and training of new contractors required too much bandwidth staff from facility staff. Staffency provided a dedicated coding manager
- Staffency provided experienced contingent nurses and coders. Staffency provided ongoing training and support for each coder
- Staffency provided an ongoing auditing to analyze accuracy and monitor productivity
About Gundersen Health System
Gundersen Health System is where caring meets excellence through a comprehensive health network of wholly owned services and regional partners. It’s where nationally recognized quality meets dedicated, compassionate professionals, caring for patients in all stages of life.
And we bring that care as close to you as possible, with regional partners and clinics, eye clinics, nursing homes and more. Many of our highly trained specialists provide outreach services throughout the Tri-state Region, in person and via telemedicine. Specialists are also able to quickly consult with their colleagues, system-wide, share medical records and tests, and together provide a level of care that repeatedly distinguishes us as among the top five percent of healthcare organizations in the country.
Quality emergency care begins near home too, with regional emergency departments and air and ground ambulances integrated with heart and stroke protocols to expedite treatment and improve outcomes.
Caring meets excellence again and again—wherever you live—if you’re receiving that care through the Gundersen Health System.
Gundersen is:
- A physician-led, not-for profit healthcare system
- Located throughout western Wisconsin, northeastern Iowa and southeastern Minnesota caring for patients in 19 counties
- A regional referral center with regional hospitals
- A teaching hospital with 325 beds and a Level II Trauma and Emergency Center
- Repeatedly named among the top 50 hospitals in the nation, placing us in the top one percent
- The designated Western Academic Campus for the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health
- Environmentally responsible, the first health system to achieve energy independence in October 2014