Managing Increases in Patient Volumes: Strategies for Stability and Quality Care
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Healthcare facilities often experience fluctuations in patient volumes, driven by both predictable and unexpected factors. Surges in patient volumes can result from unexpected physician turnover, heightened demand for surgical services, peak flu season, and other circumstances. If unprepared, shifts in patient volumes can quickly strain healthcare staff and contribute to provider burnout, ultimately negatively impacting the communities in need of care and potentially leading to revenue loss.
Effective management and preplanning for healthcare staffing shortages are essential for maintaining quality care, ensuring patient safety, and preserving staff well-being. Strategically leveraging physician staffing companies stands as an essential component in overcoming physician and advanced practitioner staffing challenges. To successfully navigate sudden or expected increases in patient volumes, Medicus offers an innovative interim healthcare staffing solution known as the Medicus Transition Program - which promises shared accountability.
The Medicus Transition Program: A Strategic Healthcare Staffing Solution
The Medicus Transition Program ensures clinical workforce stabilization during periods of increased patient volumes by providing a dependable supplemental team of locum tenens physicians and advanced practitioners. Through close collaboration tailored to each facility's needs, we deliver the stability, flexibility, capability, and reliability necessary to navigate healthcare staffing challenges seamlessly. Our dedicated approach ensures patients have continuous access to care, empowering healthcare leaders to maintain high standards of care even amidst patient influxes.
Proactive Staffing Plans & Partnerships
As a healthcare leader, it's crucial to have a staffing contingency plan in place, even when your facility's workforce is stable. A backup provider staffing plan ensures continuous access to care and prioritizes staff well-being even when facing increases in patient volumes.
Having a trusted and dependable locum tenens agency ready to support you when unforeseen peaks in patient volumes arise is a crucial piece to ongoing workforce stabilization. Medicus is experienced in quickly delivering high-quality locum tenens physicians and advanced practitioners who are both a clinical and cultural fit. In addition, we can credential and onboard in as little as 30 days. We ensure the healthcare facilities we partner with can always deliver continuous, premium patient care even when navigating unexpected increases in patient volumes.
To learn more about how a strategic staffing plan can improve quality outcomes, hear from four accomplished healthcare leaders here.
Ensuring Stability and Reliability with the Medicus Transition Program
Revitalizing a Texas Health System:
A health system in Texas, serving as a hub for smaller community hospitals, faced an increased demand for inpatient beds. Health system leadership needed to reopen a long-term acute care hospital within 30 days to ensure access to care but lacked the necessary staff. The Medicus Transition Program stepped in, working closely with the health system to identify core goals and objectives.
Within 24 hours, Medicus provided a comprehensive plan detailing specific safety workflows and infrastructure rebuilding strategies. A locum tenens project team of 6 MDs and 11 APPs was assembled to ensure consistent coverage; in addition, Medicus developed a backfill strategy. The hospital was successfully reopened, preserving quality and patient satisfaction while enhancing the health system's reputation as a regional healthcare leader.
Key Results:
- Continuity of Care: A dedicated project team of locum tenens physicians and APPs ensured consistent coverage and worked to develop a backfill strategy.
- Maintained Quality and Satisfaction: Quality of care and patient satisfaction were preserved.
- Enhanced Reputation: The health system's reputation as a regional healthcare leader was improved.
Launching a Major COVID-19 Testing Program in Florida:
In response to an overwhelming surge in patients needing COVID-19 testing, a Florida-based urgent care organization faced immense staffing challenges. The facility was stretched to its limits, managing both admitted patients and external testing sites. With the goal of launching the region's largest COVID-19 testing program, leadership sought a partner to design and implement a staffing solution capable of supporting over 20 locations within 30 days.
The Medicus Transition Program ensured support, providing a team of over 100 emergency medicine advanced practitioners. The Medicus locums managed and cared for hundreds of patients daily, effectively stabilizing patient throughput and handling volume fluctuations. The Medicus locums ensured continuity of care and bolstered the organization's reputation as a trusted healthcare leader in the region. Additionally, the support provided by Medicus locums allowed permanent staff to focus on the standard patient flow, preventing burnout.
Key Results:
- Comprehensive Staffing Support & Stabilization: Medicus delivered a team of 100+ providers who stabilized patient demand and effectively managed care for hundreds of patients per day.
- Effective Coordination and Reporting: Medicus utilized advanced technology for coordination and reporting, validating the solution's effectiveness in real time.
- Strengthened Organizational Integrity: Maintained and enhanced the organization's reputation as a trusted healthcare leader in the region.
Client Perspectives
"Medius was on top of everything – including credentialing, the schedule, and assignment of the hospitalists. They always promptly got back to us about finding someone to cover a shift and always found a way to solve any problem we confronted. Each locum Medicus onboarded brought quality work. Medicus held weekly meetings with us, going through everything, which made me feel comfortable that nothing was amiss. Medicus was available 24/7. I really appreciate them always picking up the phone." -Medical Director
"During the COVID-19 pandemic, our urgent care team faced overwhelming demand for testing across Florida. With a bold vision to launch our region’s largest testing program in just 30 days, we turned to Medicus for support. By partnering with Medicus, we not only met but exceeded our staffing goals, deploying over 100 advanced practitioners across 20 locations in 30 days. We helped mitigate the spread of COVID-19 while reinforcing the strong commitment we have to our community.” - Health System Leadership
When navigating increases in patient volumes, the Medicus Transition Program can help empower healthcare leaders to effectively manage influxes in patient volumes while maintaining continuity of care and permanent staff well-being.
Complete the short form below to learn more about how Medicus can help support your healthcare staffing needs.