In recent years, clinical workforce challenges and staffing shortages have become a central concern for healthcare leaders nationwide. From rural clinics to urban hospitals, the impact is being felt on every level. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, there are strategies healthcare leaders are leveraging that are making a difference.
In a recent virtual event titled "Closing Provider Shortages: Strategies That Work," hosted by Becker's Healthcare in partnership with Medicus Healthcare Solution, two healthcare executives explored the factors contributing to today's staffing constraints and the strategic approaches they have adopted to achieve clinical workforce stabilization.
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This recap provides a high-level overview of the insights shared during the webinar. In the coming weeks, Medicus will release a series of blogs that take a deeper look at the topics discussed during the webinar.
Identifying the Drivers of Clinical Workforce Shortages
The discussion began with an overview of current clinical staffing challenges, during which panelists offered insights into the complexity behind today's provider shortages.
Chad Tuttle offered the first perspective, emphasizing the multifactorial drivers behind staffing shortfalls. These factors included supply and demand mismatches, particularly in specialties such as radiology, surgery, and anesthesia; a limited physician pipeline due to insufficient training output; and an increasing number of providers choosing to scale back in pursuit of a greater work-life balance.
Dr. Roose built on Chad Tuttle's perspective, highlighting demographic trends and geographic imbalances as additional sources of provider shortages. "The other factors that Chad mentioned are spot on," Dr. Roose noted, "and so it's creating quite an overall landscape where there are several different headwinds that are impacting the availability of certain types of providers, particularly in certain areas."
Strategic Responses to Clinical Staffing Shortfalls
With a variety of factors defined, the conversation shifted to action. How did these executives overcome clinical staffing challenges, and how can other healthcare leaders do the same?
Both Chad Tuttle and Dr. Roose outlined several practical, high-impact strategies that have helped their organizations sustain access to care, improve provider engagement, and support clinical workforce stabilization.
- Reevaluating Staffing Models: To improve coverage and ensure workforce stability, both leaders emphasized the importance of assessing the ideal balance of employed and contracted providers by specialty.
- Expanding Patient Access through Rotational Models: Rather than hiring separately for rural and urban facilities, Corewell Health has focused on building rotational models in which clinicians split their time across facilities in different geographies. In some cases, the split is 60/40 or 80/20 between urban and rural facilities.
- Integrating APPs to Strengthen Team-Based Care: Dr. Roose highlighted the importance of redesigning care teams with cross-trained advanced practice providers to help maintain access to care amid growing physician shortages.
- Leveraging Interim Healthcare Staffing: Rather than just a reactive stopgap, both leaders emphasized the strategic value of locum tenens in stabilizing care delivery, supporting service expansion, and allotting time and resources for long-term workforce planning.
- Driving Retention Through Culture & Engagement: Culture is emerging as a key retention lever. Dr. Roose and his team at Trinity Health have redesigned their onboarding process to strengthen purpose and connection. Chad Tuttle's team at Corewell Health has established a provider wellness office focused on listening to pain points and improving engagement from leadership.
- Utilizing AI & Technology: Both executives have integrated technologies and AI into their workforces. Corewell Health has rolled out an ambient AI that listens during patient consultations, capturing real-time notes during appointments, which has reduced after-hours documentation time by 60%. Meanwhile, Dr. Roose at Trinity Health has expanded telehealth and teleradiology services, enabling cross-state collaboration in specialties such as radiology, psychiatry, and neurology.
Building Proactive, Future-Ready Coverage Plans
As healthcare organizations continue to navigate workforce challenges, the discussion highlighted actionable paths toward building stronger, more resilient coverage models. Both executives emphasized the value of early recognition and proactive planning.
Chad Tuttle reflected on lessons learned at Corewell Health, noting that signs of instability in provider groups were sometimes missed until coverage issues surfaced. "We didn't always see the signs when groups were struggling," he said. "So now we ask more questions, monitor pipelines, and prepare to pivot when needed." Corewell Health now tracks weak signals within staffing partnerships and maintains contingency plans for high-need specialties.
Dr. Roose added that frontline providers often recognize emerging problems before leadership does. "Always listen to your providers," he advised. "They're the ones sending the signal." At Trinity Health, that feedback has shaped efforts to reduce administrative burdens, improve daily workflows, and strengthen communication between clinicians and leadership. These changes support a more resilient workforce and create a culture that prioritizes long-term sustainability over reactive decision-making.
Looking Ahead
This webinar laid the foundation for deeper discussions on how health systems can respond to clinical workforce challenges with resilience and innovation. In the coming weeks, Medicus will release a series of follow-up blogs exploring each topic in more depth.
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