Over the past 3 to 6 months, demand has dropped precipitously due to the economy. Job orders are down significantly for a host of reasons. One is elective surgeries have all but disappeared. In addition, a lot of people don’t have health insurance now because they’ve lost their jobs or their co-pays are extremely high. They’re not going to hospitals.

Also, permanent staff nurses are working many more shifts, which means there are fewer opportunities for temporary staff.

Overall, the volume of job orders within each facility has decreased and that means hospitals are also having the luxury of being more selective and holding out for more quality candidates. There’s a great pool of very experienced, very capable healthcare travelers out in the industry, and the hospitals are getting the really good players.

The recently announced economic stimulus package and proposed federal budget includes significant healthcare-related spending that will likely drive increased need for physicians and nurses, although the timing and the magnitude of that impact are certainly very difficult to predict. A large portion of the spending is focused on increasing access to healthcare services. Also, there is long-term funding toward health information technology. These drivers may increase demand for temporary physicians and nurses as hospitals implement new systems.

There’s going to be a huge shakeout in the industry. Weaker, less financially sound companies are going to go out of business, and the stronger, better run, better capitalized companies are going to survive. Some companies just don’t have the financial wherewithal to make it through a prolonged downturn. If a company doesn’t have strong cash flow or cash reserves, it’s very difficult to sustain the payroll and the operating costs associated with having a healthcare travel agency.

Predictions have the overall healthcare staffing market contracting by 5% or 10%, but this will probably be a short-term blip. Healthcare staffing is a great segment to be in because of the long-term demographics. Additionally, facilities are not only looking for quality healthcare provider candidates, they’re also looking for quality agencies. They may choose to work only with Joint Commission-certified agencies.

This article was pulled from The Healthcare Traveler.

http://healthcaretraveler.modernmedicine.com