Managing Healthcare Staffing Needs

Jan. 20, 2010 - Every January signals a new beginning. This particular January, as we begin a new decade, healthcare providers are about to experience some major changes, and the coming year will be shaped by a number of outside forces.  But will these forces overwhelm you, or will you be ready with new staffing plans that can weather the storm? 

Dec. 2, 2009 - Everyone seems to be talking about changes in health care these days, from casual observers to the highest government officials. Some of the most compelling evidence about current trends, however, may come from the chief executive officers of our nation's hospitals. CEOs have a unique, first-hand perspective on the challenges of providing quality patient care in an era of staffing shortages, economic recession and impending health care reform.

Because quality is increasingly linked to a hospital’s financial health, adverse outcomes related to inadequate staffing will have a growing impact on a hospital’s bottom line. The most direct example of the quality–finance link can be seen in the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS) 2008 Inpatient Prospective Payment System rules, which state that hospitals will no longer be reimbursed for any patient care needed as a result of a hospital-acquired condition, such as certain mistakes called “never events.”

Patients in the United States visit a physician approximately one billion times a year, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC).  Of these visits, some 120 million, or 12 percent, take place at hospital emergency rooms.  Yet only 4 percent of the nation’s physicians are emergency medicine specialists. 

In their quest to recruit nurses, healthcare facilities highlight features such as shared governance, reduced overtime and increased efficiencies. Yet there is one area that perhaps should be more heavily promoted in the recruitment efforts: safe staffing levels.