Martha White, Author at Adaptive Workforce Solutions

Digital Technology – a Driving Force for Hospitals in Maintaining Patient Satisfaction

If there is one positive thing about the modern day’s digital revolution, and there is more than one, it is that the new and emerging innovative digital technologies are intended to improve the lives of all who utilize them. Throughout recent years, new digital technologies like Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have made their way through various different global industries such as manufacturing, media and entertainment, retail, and healthcare. While these new and innovative technologies have begun to greatly influence a more efficient digitized workflow across all industries, healthcare aims to achieve the goal of improving patient satisfaction, engagement, outreach, and access.

Achieving Successful Patient Outreach

Patients who are actively engaged in their healthcare tend to experience greater satisfaction than those who aren’t. The introduction of digital technology to the healthcare space has given patients greater access and allows them to feel more in control of their health and outcomes. Hospitals and clinics have begun using AR and VR technologies in the workplace with the ultimate goal of improving patient satisfaction. Healthcare providers believe the key to improving patient satisfaction is to provide adequate patient care access, a modern and efficient experience, and a more sophisticated workflow. Most importantly, they believe the key to improving patient satisfaction lies in the proper and efficient use of these new technologies by hospital administrators.

Hospital administrators have been using data and communication technologies to improve patient outreach before and after specific procedures. They believe this collection of data will allow them to better understand exactly what factors throughout the patient experience are most impactful to patient satisfaction. In addition, they believe an effective patient communication platform will inherently increase overall patient satisfaction simply because patients should be and would have an interest in staying up-to-date regarding any possible future treatment or procedures they could end up needing to undergo.

Clear and concise communication between family members, hospital administrators, doctors, and nurses can also not be understated. Hospitals are utilizing digital platforms to ensure family members of patients are able to stay informed and maintain a positive experience.

What Types of Technologies Are Being Utilized to Promote Patient Satisfaction?

Wearable technologies are among some of the new technological and digital innovations currently being utilized within the healthcare industry. Patients who are required to wear some form of wearable technologies often report a positive patient satisfaction score. This is most likely due to the fact that patients feel informed by their wearable technology. In addition, it seems to elicit feelings of control and comfort knowing that they are able to self-monitor.

Hospital administrations are also implementing massive digital data operations to ensure that patient data is protected and readily available for doctors and patients alike. Some hospitals and healthcare providers allow users to access this data through the use of mobile apps. These apps can also be used to schedule a doctor’s visit, pay a bill, track a treatment protocol, or receive other health-related information and updates. Essentially, healthcare providers are looking to improve patient satisfaction by placing each individual patient’s healthcare history in the palm of their hand.

Each of these actions taken by healthcare providers to successfully engage with their patients ultimately improves patient safety. Clear communication between healthcare providers and patients, wearable technologies that permit self-monitoring, innovative and convenient mobile applications, and patient-centered care have all been shown to have a positive and significant impact on overall patient satisfaction. The healthcare industry is expected to continue developing and adopting emerging technologies in the near future to continue to improve overall patient satisfaction.

The Why, What and How of Physician Burnout

While there are many different types of professions and employment positions that cause workers to feel burnt out and detached, those working in the medical profession and within the healthcare industry experience alarmingly high rates of burnout. Physicians, doctors, and nurses alike experience some of the highest turnover rates in the United States.

According to a report by the Mayo Clinic, in partnership with the American Medical Association, more than half of physicians in the United States experience burnout. This study was conducted over a period of three years from 2011 through 2014. Even more alarming than the overall number of physicians who have reported an experienced burnout, is the fact that this number grew throughout all three years.

Before hospitals and healthcare providers can figure out a way to prevent physician burnout, they must understand why it occurs in the first place.

What Is The Cause Of Physician Burnout?

Burnout symptoms include chronic fatigue, insomnia, forgetfulness, and can even bring on symptoms of anxiety or depression. Burnout occurs when an individual feels severely stressed out and overwhelmed. Oftentimes, they self-heal by detaching themselves from the stressful/overwhelming environment. Burnout is extremely prevalent among physicians in the healthcare industry because of the nature of the environment.

The Mayo Clinic/AMA study officially defined burnout as, “loss of enthusiasm for work, feelings of cynicism, and a low sense of personal accomplishment.” In other words, burnout is much more than simply feeling tired and overwhelmed. Although these feelings most certainly are present, the overall symptoms are far more detrimental to an individual’s overall mental health.

What is Being Done to Address Physician Burnout?

While burnout is almost an inevitable experience among physicians, there are some solutions for physician burnout. Among them, would be to design an effective diagnostic process to help identify burnout before it occurs.

Intervention strategies have been aimed at developing behavior patterns that can alter the culture of physicians and healthcare workers. In addition, hospital administrations are endlessly working to ensure physicians are not frequently overloaded in terms of patient care. They have implemented and adopted new and emerging technologies to increase efficiency and improve the overall workflow for physicians.

Studies have suggested that currently implemented resources that are readily available to physicians for the support, treatment, and prevention of physician burnout are in fact seldom being utilized. Although nine institution-wide measures for the improvement of physician wellness have been identified, only 5% to 7% of the population of physicians actually take advantage of the resources available to them. It has been suggested that a standardized and automated wellness approach be implemented into annual physicals or hospital-provided financial counseling to minimize the stigma and reduce barriers of asking for and receiving help.

Additionally, other studies have shown that increased job satisfaction among physicians themselves can ultimately result in higher, more positive rates of patient satisfaction. This could, in part, be due to the fact that a physician who has not yet experienced symptoms of burnout is more likely to perform their job functions more efficiently and effectively than a physician who has experienced or is currently experiencing symptoms of burnout thus increasing overall patient satisfaction.

Researching Solutions for Physician Burnout

Still, effective prevention and management strategies should be researched and implemented in order to address the physician turnover rate resulting from physician burnout. Perhaps, if cultural changes are made early on, as early as medical school or residency programs, significant gains could be made in the prevention or management of physician burnout. If physician burnout can be prevented or limited further in any capacity and also have positive implications in terms of patient satisfaction, this should be the focus of more extensive research.

While the causes of physician burnout have been well-documented, solutions for physician burnout must be further explored to address this debilitating experience for physicians throughout hospitals and healthcare clinics in the United States. In addition, further understanding exactly how burnout can affect a physician’s job performance is crucial for healthcare providers to increase their patient satisfaction ratings. Ultimately, the healthcare industry should continue to research solutions for physician burnout in order to protect both physicians and their patients.

Improve Patient Satisfaction and Communication With Digital Technologies

Patient satisfaction is a top priority for both doctor and patient and in this digital day and age, achieving this is easier than it’s ever been. Emerging innovative digital technologies are intended to improve the lives of all who utilize them. Throughout recent years, new digital technologies like Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have made their way through various different global industries such as manufacturing, media and entertainment, retail, and healthcare. While these new and innovative technologies have begun to greatly influence a more efficient digitized workflow across all industries, the healthcare space utilizes these innovative advances to make great gains in improving patient satisfaction, engagement, outreach, and access.

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Understanding how to manage health with wearable technologies improves patient satisfaction.

Achieving Successful Patient Outreach

Patients who are actively engaged in their healthcare tend to experience greater satisfaction than those who aren’t. The introduction of digital technology to the healthcare space has given patients greater access and allows them to feel more in control of their health and outcomes. Hospitals and clinics have begun using AR and VR technologies in the workplace with the ultimate goal of improving patient access. Healthcare providers believe the key to improving patient satisfaction is to provide adequate patient care access, a modern and efficient experience, and a more sophisticated workflow. Most importantly, they believe the key to improving patient communication lies in the proper and efficient use of these new technologies by hospital administrators.

Hospital administrators have been using data and communication technologies to improve patient outreach before and after specific procedures. They believe this collection of data will allow them to better understand exactly what factors throughout the patient experience are most impactful to patient satisfaction. In addition, they believe an effective patient communication platform will inherently increase overall patient satisfaction simply because patients should be and would have an interest in staying up-to-date regarding any possible future treatment or procedures they could end up needing to undergo.

convenient-patient-communication-improves-patient-satisfaction

Patient satisfaction increases with convenient access to provider communication.

What Types of Technologies Are Being Utilized to Promote Patient Satisfaction?

Hospital administrations are also implementing massive digital data operations to ensure that patient data is protected and readily available for doctors and patients alike. Some hospitals and healthcare providers allow users to access this data through the use of mobile apps. These apps can also be used to schedule a doctor’s visit, pay a bill, track a treatment protocol, or receive other health-related information and updates. Essentially, healthcare providers are looking to improve the patient experience as well as the doctor-patient relationship by placing each individual patient’s healthcare history in the palm of their hand.

Augmented Reality & Virtual Reality Technologies are Transforming Healthcare

Technology in the year 2018 has already more than surpassed the incredibly innovative technological advances made throughout the previous year. New technologies like Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) have been showcased around the globe on some of the world’s biggest stages, like the recent Winter Olympics in South Korea.

While these technologies continue to make their way into our daily digitized lives, we can expect to see them very soon and much more often in nearly every single aspect of modern society. AR and VR technologies have already made their way into the manufacturing industry, the media and entertainment industry, and the retail industry. It would be ignorant to assume that augmented reality and virtual reality technologies would not also make their way into the healthcare industry.

In recent years, the healthcare industry has recognized the incredible benefits these innovative technological advances can offer to both physicians and patients. Just like the other previously mentioned industries, healthcare has followed suit and is continuously implementing AR and VR technologies into daily operations throughout hospitals and clinics.

How Can AR and VR Technologies Benefit The Healthcare Industry?

As Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality technologies continue to be infused into the healthcare industry and revolutionize medicine as we know it, they have the potential to make a profound impact.

Augmented Reality in healthcare has provided physicians and additional healthcare workers the opportunity to fully immerse themselves in the care of their patients. AR technology, such as AR glasses, allow the wearer to view patient information while keeping their hands free to utilize gesture technology and issue commands to other applications. In addition, AR technology can be formatted to work as a preventative and diagnostic tool for doctors to use when determining care plans for their patients.

AR technology can also be used by surgeons for surgery training and preparation. Simulations of brain surgeries, spinal surgeries, or tumor resections can be practiced by surgeons down to the detail so that they are well prepared to provide the very best surgical care for each individual patient. In addition, AR technology is very useful for surgery assistance. For instance, AR technology can be used to display vital signs, patient records, and instructions/procedures for surgeries. The goal of implementing this innovative approach is to achieve a higher success rate for each surgery and to ensure the very best outcome for every patient.

How Can Healthcare Providers Use Virtual Reality?

Virtual Reality has been infused into and more widely practiced in the healthcare industry for longer than most realize. Doctors in Connecticut have been using VR technologies to help treat elderly patients who suffer from dementia by providing patients with an immersive virtual reality healthcare experience geared towards unlocking memories and improving overall cognitive function.

VR can also be used by practicing physicians, doctors, and surgeons as a means for an immersive training program to conduct everything from surgeries to standard treatment protocols. In addition, Virtual Reality technologies are continuously developed and innovated to perform new tasks and functions that can also be applied and further researched for future use within the healthcare industry.

As 2018 continues, it is safe to say that augmented reality and virtual reality technologies are here to stay, especially in the healthcare industry. Already, these two emerging and innovative technologies have improved the overall workflow for physicians and doctors, as well as the treatment protocols of patients. These two technologies alone have effectively initiated healthcare’s transformation into the digitized modern world.

The Detrimental Impact of the Physician Shortage on Patient Care Access

Physician and nursing shortages have become a major cause for concern affecting hospitals, clinics, and potential patients. The draining work environment and subsequent lifestyle physicians and nurses are subjected to, have led to physician burnout and an increased turnover rate which hospitals and clinics cannot afford. It is imperative that they find a way to retain these crucial healthcare workers to further improve patient access to much-needed health care. The physician shortage has plagued the healthcare industry for some time and is expected to continue growing exponentially by 2030, severely limiting patient care access.

A study released in March 2017 by the AAMC revealed that the United States could potentially find itself with a physician shortage upwards of 104,900 physicians by 2030. Due in part to population growth, an increase in the number of aging Americans and retirement of practicing doctors, this potential shortage has healthcare providers, hospitals, clinics, and private practices racing to discover and acquire long-lasting talent. Hopefully, this concerning effort will result in keeping the industry afloat throughout the next two decades, ensuring patient care access remains readily available for those who need it.

How Will This Physician Shortage Affect Patient Care?

Should a physician shortage persist for a sustained period of time, it would prove detrimental to patients and doctors. Patients will experience longer wait times at hospitals. It will become more difficult for patients to be admitted. Physicians and doctors will not be able to adequately treat patients due to extended shifts and patient overload. Ultimately, a physician shortage will negatively and dramatically impact the overall quality of healthcare across the United States.

While patients have always faced significant barriers to patient care access, this shortage will produce more widespread and long-lasting effects. A physician shortage not only affects hospital patients but even those who regularly visit their primary care physicians and family doctors. Overall patient satisfaction will drop and the risk for negative health consequences will rise.

The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) has been urging members of the United States Congress to design and craft federal initiative programs that extend outreach to hospitals and medical schools in order to help support them during this predicted physician shortage. The AAMC is hoping that the US federal government can help, at the very least, to alleviate or reverse some of the adverse effects the physician and doctor shortage will continue to have on patient care access. In addition, they hope the initiatives can increase medical knowledge and attract younger generations to the field of medicine through educational programs.

The Physician Shortage Study and Debate

While patient care access has decreased in recent years due to a number of factors, some argue that there really is no physician shortage whatsoever. For instance, The Institute of Medicine released a study in 2014 claiming that there was no statistical shortage of physicians or doctors in the United States. However, the system was criticized as being extremely inefficient, therefore possibly skewing the accuracy of the results. The study reflected poor ratings in patient satisfaction, physician workplace satisfaction, and patient care access.

In addition, it was suggested that new, innovative, and emerging technologies had not previously been accounted for. In essence, it was proposed that any decrease in the number of physicians and doctors in the United States could be due to new medical technologies negating the necessity for a human physician, in some cases.

Regardless, more research should be conducted to determine if there really is a shortage, how small or large it is, and the impact this suggested physician shortage is having and could continue to have on patient care access. For individual healthcare facilities to have an influence on physician burnout, being aware of what’s important to your contingent healthcare providers to ensure greater workforce satisfaction would be wise.

NurseGrid App Plays a Critical Role in Nursing Workforce Satisfaction

The healthcare industry is one of the most robust and volatile industries in the world. While it maintains an absolutely massive market share throughout the world, it constantly finds itself struggling to manage finances and employee relations. Nursing workforce satisfaction is consistently an issue throughout the healthcare industry. In response to the demand for an effective solution to this challenge, a new workforce management app, called NurseGrid has been introduced to the nursing workforce.

Various healthcare workforce management solutions and nursing management strategies have been proposed and implemented throughout the last several years in an attempt to improve the overall experience of a full-time nurse. Although there may have been some benefits experienced by these implemented solutions, it seems as though emerging and cutting-edge technological advancements are proving themselves to have an even greater impact on nursing management.

High-Technology Breeds Efficiency

Hospitals and healthcare providers are endlessly working to maintain the highest possible technologically sophisticated facilities in the modern world. However, in order to ensure that these technologies are utilized appropriately, the healthcare workforce must be up-to-date and in touch with these new innovations. Nurses are often the first line of defense that a hospital provides patients. Due to the demand this creates, nurses often struggle with efficient scheduling and effective workplace practice. Nursing practice must transform itself to keep up with the current times.

NurseGrid Streamlines Communication

New and emerging cutting-edge technologies continue to embed themselves into the healthcare industry. An app created by a nurse looks to maximize workplace efficiency throughout the entire nursing workforce. NurseGrid works by effectively streamlining communication between nurses, managers, and doctors, and addressing the demand for greater efficiency inside staffing and scheduling.

Since 2013, NurseGrid has been implemented throughout hospitals all across the United States. It serves as an integral communication tool for nurses to quickly contact other nurses and managers through the use of their smartphones. In addition, NurseGrid supports a calendar function to improve the overall shifting and scheduling process for an individual hospital’s entire nursing workforce. Since NurseGrid hit the market, notable improvements in nursing workforce satisfaction have been experienced throughout hospitals that have implemented the app into their daily workplace functions.

NurseGrid Improves Patient Satisfaction

Benefits from a simple app implementation like NurseGrid help to construct a strong line of communication between nurses and nursing managers in a hospital setting. This effective line of communication can greatly increase productivity among workers and consequently improve nurse to patient relations. In addition, the shifting and scheduling functions that NurseGrid provides will only result in a positive impact on the patient experience ensuring patients receive adequate care throughout their stay in the hospital.

Because the nursing industry has such a high turnover rate, any strategy that could possibly reverse feelings of dissatisfaction across a nursing workforce should be put into action. Other various healthcare workforce management solutions could be used in conjunction with emerging technology like NurseGrid to maximize workplace satisfaction and production in the healthcare industry.

NurseGrid Saves Hospitals Money

Not only will NurseGrid help to improve employee satisfaction inside an individual hospital’s workforce, it will also save the hospital tens of thousands of dollars in turnover expenses per nurse. Raising the bar on workforce efficiency and nursing workforce satisfaction should remain a top priority to ensure nurses are taken care of adequately. Any type of solution that offers relief and improves employee satisfaction for workers in a high-stress environment will have a tremendous impact on a workforce like nursing.

Click here for 5 other things your contingent healthcare providers care about in 2018.

How Employee Engagement Impacts Your Healthcare Workforce Efficiency

In the year 2018, employee engagement is absolutely essential to the fundamental operations and efficiency of any size or specialty healthcare organization. Employee retention is imperative to maintaining a knowledgeable, trained, and experienced workforce throughout all business relations and patient interactions. To achieve this, it is absolutely critical that employers continue to find new and innovative ways to engage their full-time and contingent workforce employees from the bottom all the way to the very top.

Not only is creating an employee engagement strategy necessary for every business and corporation across a wide range of industries, it is even more impactful for industries with high turnover rates, such as the healthcare industry. Implementing an effective strategy coupled with designing a clear contingent workforce program is the secret sauce to successful healthcare management. Healthcare administrative teams work tirelessly to ensure their healthcare providers remain engaged in their jobs in order to develop and retain an efficient and skilled workforce.

Benefits of Effective Employee Engagement

Employee engagement occurs when employees feel dedicated, committed, interested in, and fascinated by their work. When employees are engaged and inspired by the work they do, they have a more enjoyable work experience and tend to perform at a higher level.

The benefits a healthcare management team could expect to experience from a higher rate of employee engagement are less provider turnover and attracting higher-quality talent to the company. With an established workforce who feels appreciated and therefore stays actively engaged, your organization is more likely to yield positive workplace environment reviews and a reputation for excellence.

How Do Companies Foster Employee Engagement?

Healthcare organizations are coming to realize that the key to employee engagement is to improve the overall daily experience of the average employee. This can consist of anything from maintaining a positive workplace culture, offering professional development workshops, to enhancing your employee incentive and reward program, even the integration of up to date and cutting-edge technologies. Simple and easy actions like the aforementioned can be taken by companies to improve and build a more effective employee engagement strategy.

A recent article by Forbes looked at six different employee engagement strategies that employers use to help keep their employees engaged and active in workplace functions. Among these methods were:

Eliminate Workplace Tension
Find Your Worker’s Most Positive Attributes And Capabilities
Empower Your Employees To Innovate And Discover
Give Your Employees A Chance To Show Leadership Abilities
Share Your Successes With Your Employees
Provide Consistent Leadership And Support For Your Employees

While these six methods are excellent ways to approach employee engagement, your overall employee engagement rate will improve more meaningfully if used in conjunction with basic improvements to fundamental aspects of their daily workplace interactions and functions. Your employees will arrive at work feeling energized and not only ready to perform their duties but more anxious to engage and grow within their workforce capacity. Try implementing a few of these ideas and observe the results.

Employee Engagement and Your Bottom Line

Several studies have shown that an engaged workforce contributes greatly to the bottom line of a business or corporation. Some of these studies go as far to say that an engaged workforce literally drives the bottom line of a business or corporation. While the results of these studies are merely just food for thought because all businesses are different, they should provide enough motivation for employers across all industries to begin to implement methods to build upon in order to maintain engaged full-time and contingent workforces. If not for the purpose of driving the bottom line, at least for the purpose of improving the daily lives of the employees who show up to work every day and perform their duties.

To find out if your organization has the most effective and engaging contingent workforce strategy in place, request a consultation today.

Improve Employee Performance Through Greater Contingent Workforce Visibility

As the contingent healthcare workforce continues to grow in the US and worldwide, employers are constantly tasked with finding innovative ways to find out just who makes up their contingent workforce. Knowing who your employees are, understanding their concerns, their needs, their wants, and their experiences are absolutely key to your healthcare organization achieving effective employee performance management. Therefore, choosing a vendor management system provider that offers you in-depth contingent workforce visibility is critical.

Employee performance could be extremely beneficial to organizations, but it can also be detrimental. Healthcare facilities must learn to effectively manage and influence employee performance to ensure they are getting the absolute most out of their healthcare providers and staff members while maintaining the overall happiness and engagement of their employees.

Using Contingent Workforce Visibility to Your Advantage

Contingent workforce visibility is an integral cog in the wheels of any healthcare organization who employs contingent workforce providers and staff. Having an up-to-date vendor management system in place that helps you effectively gather data on your contingent labor will allow you to establish a valuable database of information about your temporary and contracted workforce. From this database, you are able to conduct analyses and make important decisions regarding the status of each individual employee.

For instance, the performance of temporary labor employees can be evaluated by analyzing prior short-term or long-term contracts completed or by reviewing employee performance for their current contracted position, etc. This can provide crucial insight and help you make decisions on whether or not to renew a contingent healthcare provider’s contract, to assign them to another department or position or to terminate their contract altogether.

While hiring and workforce growth is expected to increase worldwide in the coming years, it is imperative for all healthcare facility decision-makers to be aware of the latest technology and vendor management solutions available that will allow them to maintain a valuable database of employee information, specifically data surrounding their contingent workforce. This will pave the way for more effective employee performance management. Greater contingent workforce visibility provides employers valuable insight that enables them to better predict the success of their temporary employees.

Additional Benefits of Contingent Workforce Visibility

Maintaining a performance database for each contingent healthcare provider or staff member can provide other benefits as well. For instance, detailed analytics can help employers measure the value of each independent worker based off of their skill set and provided services. These analytics can further allow employers to determine if their contingent workforce is being allocated most effectively and efficiently.

Greater contingent workforce visibility also provides employers with crucial and detailed records of their contingent workers for future consideration for open full-time positions that would provide healthcare benefits and retirement options.

Mobile Employee Engagement Access

Temporary workers prefer to engage with their employers throughout their daily workplace functions and interactions with the use of mobile devices and innovative tech interfaces. If they are able to easily view their assignments and tasks through a mobile employee database, employers may very well see additional improvement in employee engagement and employee performance.

In addition, the right vendor management system with an efficient mobile interface can serve as an effective tool for both employer and employee to access, manage, delegate and accept assignments and tasks. A positive mobile engagement experience for your contingent workforce providers will likely result in a positive impact on employee engagement and employee performance.

Implementing a Vendor Management Software Solution

There is a variety of vendor management systems currently available in the mainstream market that healthcare organizations can take advantage of. Be aware of common mistakes to avoid when choosing and setting up your vendor management system. Simple solutions that provide in-depth contingent workforce visibility can be easily designed and implemented into the daily workplace functions of any healthcare organization.

Consider vendor management consulting services to help you identify the VMS software that would work best for your organization’s needs. A VMS consultant can assist you with properly implementing a solution with care to ensure it does not conflict with any other workforce management software you currently have in place.

Request a consultation with a vendor management consultant to help you improve your contingent workforce visibility.

5 Things Your Contingent Healthcare Providers Care About In 2018

In the year 2018, contingent healthcare providers make up a large percentage of the healthcare workforce. Contingent healthcare providers are any workers that are hired by a healthcare organization on a short-term, per diem or on-demand basis. Although they may work full-time hours for a period of time, they are excluded from the full-time payroll of any given organization. As healthcare organizations look to avoid contributing to employee benefits like healthcare and retirement plans, the pool of contingent healthcare providers continues to grow larger.

Because contingent healthcare providers make up such a large part of the modern-day healthcare economy, it is especially important to pay close attention to their needs and concerns to ensure exceptional employee engagement and long-term satisfaction among this contingent workforce.

Here are five concerns that contingent workers have in 2018 that employers should take note of for effective healthcare workforce management:

Performance Feedback

It is no secret that Millennial workers feel differently about employment and work in general as opposed to their previous generations. However, among performance feedback, there is a stark difference in expectation. Millennials want more feedback regarding their performance more often than previous generations, who prefer less, more informal performance feedback even less frequently. Millennials want to hear how they are performing so that they can continue to build off their prior experiences.
Onboard Training and Employee Orientation

Although contingent healthcare providers are not part of the permanent, full-time workforce, they still want to feel like they are a part of the team. They want to be trained as soon as they are hired and they want to quickly become acclimated to the workplace environment and culture that they will be working in. Employee orientation programs are absolutely essential to the overall engagement of your contingent employees. If they feel disconnected, your organization’s employee performance metrics will likely reflect this lack of feeling valuable or a part of the team.
Professional Development

Professional development is another concern for contingent healthcare providers. Since they are not on the official full-time payroll of your organization, they look for other perks and benefits since they are missing out on healthcare and retirement plans. Professional development and skill development programs not only foster communication, collaboration, and interaction between full-time healthcare providers and your contingent employees, they also improve the overall engagement of your healthcare workforce.
Competitive Compensation

Competitive compensation is a concern for every current workforce employee whether they are a part of your full-time workforce or the contingent workforce. However, contingent healthcare providers are even more concerned about their compensation because they are not receiving any company benefits. This also ties into professional development programs because contingent healthcare providers will always search for additional perks and benefits to compensate for the lack of healthcare benefits and retirement options.
Room for Advancement

Contingent healthcare providers often place their bets on eventually receiving full-time employment after investing time as a successful and effective temporary business hire. A contingent worker will almost always look at the current business structure of a healthcare organization and look for possible opportunities for advancement to receive a full-time employment offer. While this may not be a deal breaker for organizations that do not present a path towards full-time employment, it is certainly an added benefit for those that do.

In order to retain a stable, high-performing contingent healthcare workforce moving forward, consider their desire for continual feedback, opportunities for growth, professional development resources, competitive compensation, and the overall education, training, and onboarding that they desire to continue performing at top levels.

3 Mistakes To Avoid When Setting Up Your Vendor Management System

A Vendor Management System or VMS, is an integral part of modern business. An effective VMS provides the ability to automate critical business practices via the Internet, essentially eliminating the need to dedicate tasks like billing, invoicing, vendor management, and vendor metrics analysis to working employees. An effective Vendor Management System is fundamental to the everyday functions of most modern-day businesses, if mistakes are made when selecting an appropriate VMS, there can be damaging and detrimental effects seen throughout nearly every aspect of a business.

Here are three tips on what to do and what to avoid when preparing to implement your Vendor Management System:

Be Prepared & Know Your Business Goals

Prepare yourself ahead of time by understanding your business’ short-term and long-term goals before choosing a VMS provider. Simply having a clear vision of where your business should be in five to ten years will allow you to select an effective VMS. Businesses that select their system provider prematurely can often find themselves in a bit of a rut when the VMS does not fit or work within their established workflow, thus hindering workplace production. It is best to know exactly your business goals and the important questions to ask before selecting your VMS provider.

Know The Traits Of An Effective VMS

An effective VMS can help a business better manage their time, payroll, vendor billing and invoicing, provide detailed analytics, and work across both desktop and mobile platforms. In the modern-day business world, an effective VMS must have the ability to perform each of these tasks and more. It is crucial that your VMS can function appropriately across platforms to allow a seamless workflow. In addition, detailed vendor analytics allow businesses to evaluate their spending and profits on a per transaction basis leaving room for further analysis of business and vendor relations.

Implement Your VMS Appropriately

When you are ready to implement your new VMS, ensure that it fits correctly within your already established workflow. Be sure to take special care and pay extra attention to its implementation to ensure all functions and services are working properly and effectively. Make sure you have a clear implementation roadmap, buy-in from your buyers, strong technical support, clear communication to both managers and suppliers, multiple ways to train internally and strong leadership support. Every function and service should be actively monitored to ensure your VMS remains effective for the long haul.

Vendor Management Consulting

There are established consulting services who work with clients to help them find an appropriate Vendor Management System for their specific business needs. Adaptive Workforce Solutions provides Vendor Management Consulting Services for businesses looking to implement an effective VMS or for businesses with an already existing vendor management system in place that may not be adequate for their needs.

We will assist you in analyzing your current vendor management capabilities and help to define your goals in order to determine which VMS provider will best fit your needs and objectives. Adaptive Workforce Solutions provides clients with a unique and personalized solution for Vendor Management Systems selection and implementation along with strategies and best practices for an effective workplace within an existing VMS.

For questions or for more information on vendor management solutions, feel free to request a consultation.