Solving Healthcare Staffing Shortages by Dipping into the Global Talent Pool

By Taylor Goucher, Director of Client Services,  Connext Global Solutions 

Without immunity to the Great Resignation, the healthcare labor market is also dealing with mounting burnout rates, as nearly one in five healthcare workers has quit their jobs. The effect is an increased number of medical errors and compromised patient care. 

Not only is the shortage being felt among frontline physicians and nurses, but it’s also reported that in the next five years the U.S. faces a projected shortage of ~3.2 million lower-wage healthcare workers. 

To counter this labor predicament, more and more healthcare companies are starting to take advantage of the global talent pool by turning to co-sourcing. 

What is co-sourcing and why should healthcare companies consider it? 

Since 2020, companies that have chosen co-sourcing have seen up to 50% growth while many local companies continue to struggle to hire quality workers. Co-sourcing is revolutionizing the way companies hire global teams amid staffing shortages in the healthcare industry. Let’s explore how.  

Co-sourcing—a modern spin on traditional outsourcing—can be thought of as an International Professional Employer Organization (PEO) service, but with advantageous and profitable upgrades. With co-sourcing, companies select and collaborate with a strategic partner to help them hire, train, and manage global teams enabling them to thrive in any economic environment. 

This innovative approach was created to address the pain points in both traditional outsourcing and International PEO models including a lack of recruitment support, poor visibility into productivity, utilization, and quality control, as well as low accessibility to teams and executives. 

By choosing to co-source, companies create their own offshore subsidiaries at a scale that makes sense for them. While traditional outsourcing relationships require companies to start at a certain scale for it to work, co-sourcing is 100% customizable and incorporates month-to-month flexible contracts. Scaling business with co-sourcing when the timing is right is an ideal setup for healthcare companies tackling staffing shortages.

Let’s look at the numbers

In today’s health care system, roughly 10 administrators are needed for every doctor. The 3,200% percent increase of healthcare administrators from 1975 to 2010 demonstrates how expansive the reality of patient care is becoming. To alleviate this burden, a co-sourcing approach empowers global teams to fulfill the roles and departments dedicated to medical billing, medical coding, virtual nursing, accounting, data and reporting analysts, patient support personnel, etc. The ability to significantly shift cost structures and save by hiring from a global healthcare talent pool reduces the cost to roughly half of what it would be to hire U.S. employees with a median standard income, or in some cases, even less than half. 

United Healthcare, for example, chose not to outsource. Instead, they started their own subsidiaries in the Philippines and India and manage these global teams as part of their workforce. It’s no different from having a remote team working in the U.S. Co-sourcing affords healthcare organizations of all sizes the opportunity to create the value of their own offshore subsidiary. 

A tale of 3 models

Compared to outsourcing and PEOs, healthcare companies that choose to co-source should be ready to invest time and energy into initial training and management development to ensure success. Healthcare leaders can develop their new hires using their own training models and manage them as an extension of their team. 

Unlike traditional outsourcing which focuses on a single function or task, co-sourcing is not limited to call centers or virtual assistance. The beauty lies in the fact that co-sourcing can support whatever functions businesses need. In addition to traditional healthcare-related jobs, co-sourcing can also provide advanced expertise in human resources, benefits administration, payroll, taxes, insurance, international compliance, IT, graphic design, development, help desk, inventory management, systems engineering, and facilities support. 

With over 11 million professionals in the Philippines, the exact tasks performed in a work-from-home environment within a U.S. state can now be performed in the Philippines with an equal or exceptional level of professionalism, skill, and quality with significantly reduced overhead costs. Of course, there is no perfect and flawless solution to building global teams abroad, but co-sourcing is a solution that is getting very close. 

Seamlessly integrate global talent

From the initial recruitment process to the execution of basic or high-level tasks, the co-sourcing model enables companies to seamlessly build business continuity across geographies. Working with a co-sourcing strategic partner that aligns with their organizational goals, strongly encourages more effective communication, clear processes and visibility, greater quality assurance rates, and the opportunity to build more trust-based relationships.

Even in today’s tumultuous markets, geopolitical tensions, and economic slowdown, the largest companies in the world are using the co-sourcing approach to improve, scale, and grow their businesses. 

For healthcare companies willing to take a dip into the global talent pool, co-sourcing is a proven way to overcome healthcare worker shortages.

_________________________

As the Director of Client Services at Connext, Taylor Goucher uses the leadership, operations management, project management, consulting, and data analysis skills gained while serving in the U.S. Army. He is responsible for leading Connext’s business development and sales efforts while assisting with different account management tasks. Founded in 2014, Connext helps companies hire, train, and manage talented offshore teams to help them grow and thrive in any economic environment.