Healthcare staffing has never been more demanding from an administrative standpoint. From the smallest of group practices to the largest hospitals, changing staffing models require new administrative tools to help executives, managers, and recruiters keep track of it all. Enter the vendor management system.
In a general sense, a vendor management system is a software tool that makes it easier for organizations to manage and track all of their interactions with outside vendors. In a healthcare setting, vendor management can be applied to managing staffing needs. A software solution designed purposely around staff management can prove invaluable.
Below are five benefits of a vendor management system for healthcare staffing. If you are a healthcare executive or administrator, know that there are a growing number of platforms out there. Your job is to find the one that works best for your organization.
1. Information at a Glance
A telltale sign of a good vendor management system is its easy access to important information. A good platform has a dashboard that, by default, shows key performance indicators automatically. Just by opening the dashboard, decision-makers can get a snapshot of how the organization is doing. However, it doesn’t stop there.
A good vendor management system allows each user to customize the dashboard as needed. Why? Because not every user needs the same information. There is no point in creating a standard dashboard and forcing users to click through multiple pages to find information not included on the main page.
2. Advanced Reporting
Healthcare facilities are no different from any other organization inasmuch as they need access to reports that help them keep track of things. Implementing a vendor management system to handle staffing gives decision-makers access to advanced reporting capabilities. Well-designed reports can tell them what they have done in the past, what they are doing now, and what they can anticipate in the future. They can rely on reports to tell them everything from current staffing levels to how much is being spent on locum tenens staffing.
3. Advanced Analytics
Reporting alone does not get it done for executives and administrators tasked with keeping things on track. They also need advanced analytics that look deeper into the details of report data. The key here is to use analytics to figure out where the organization is going on its current path. When you have that figured out, you can make wiser decisions moving forward.
4. Better Relationships with Vendors
Next, a good vendor management system provides a single point of contact between the healthcare facility and all its staffing vendors. This becomes critically important when you are talking a large hospital or healthcare system that relies on multiple vendors for different kinds of staffing. Having a single point of contact keeps all vendor information centrally located in one place.
5. Improved Payables and Receivables
Last but not least are payables and receivables. Deploying a vendor management system for healthcare staffing brings the accounting department into the picture by allowing them to work in the exact same space as HR and recruiting personnel.
A good system compares hours worked with locum tenens charges. It offers a single place to view invoices, make payments, and prepare financial statements. A good system makes managing payables and receivables easier by not requiring accounting and billing staff to use separate, non-integrated software platforms.
Vendor management systems have finally found a home in healthcare. To the extent they are being deployed to manage staffing needs, they are proving themselves very worthy. Not using such a system in this day and age does not make much sense.
