UW Health recently scheduled 3,600 nursing shifts over a six-week period.

Like many countries across the country, integrated health systems have turned to staffing agencies to fill labor gaps.But this has created friction between its internal staff and travel nurses, who are often referred to Pay at least twice as much.

On Jan. 16, UW Health implemented a new program for its roughly 3,400 nurses to ease some of the tension, offering nurses a $100-hour bonus for adding a 12-hour shift to their normal weekly work schedule. Within a week of the program’s announcement, the Madison-based system filled 92 percent of the vacant shifts.

“Right now our nurses are getting closer to what travelers bring home,” said UW Health CEO Dr. Alan Kaplan. “But it’s not enough to address this from a day-to-day perspective – we also have to do strategic planning for the medium to long term.”

Health systems and other providers are grappling with one of the biggest workforce upheavals in decades.Overstretched healthcare workers are changing jobs or leave the industry Entirely for positions with better pay and benefits, prompting healthcare companies Facilitate their recruitment and retention programs.

Staffing shortages are the top concern of hospital CEOs, according to an annual survey of 310 executives by the American Academy of Healthcare Administration. ACHE chief executive Deborah Bowen said staffing shortages outweighed financial challenges for the first time since 2004.

“Long-term and short-term solutions are needed to address the critical frontline staffing shortages shown in our study to ensure hospitals have a workforce capable of meeting today’s and future demands for safe, high-quality care,” she said.

In addition to the pay raise, UW Health has recruited more staff from other countries, expanded the size of its nurse trainee program, and used new tools and strategies to reduce workloads. For example, health systems are using artificial intelligence to improve scheduling and streamline pre-authorization processes.

“My entire career has been focused on caring for patients, making sure they have a good experience, stay safe, and receive quality care. As an emergency physician, I’m secondary,” Kaplan said. “This is the first time in my entire career that the workforce is put before the patient because it’s in such a dire strait – if we don’t focus on the workforce, we won’t be able to care for the patient.”

In the case of shortages, suppliers have to spend more on labor costs. According to the data, the total cost per adjusted discharge will increase by 20.1% in 2021 compared to 2019 data From Kaufman Hall. Part of this growth stems from the high rate of staffing agencies.

almost 200 members of Congress Nursing staffing agencies have been implicated in illegally profiting from the pandemic.Lawmakers relayed anecdotal evidence that nurse staffing agencies are raising prices to double, triple, or more than pre-pandemic levels, and then pocketing 40% or more of the amount charged, they wrote to the White House in a letter calling for a formal investigation.

“I think about the financial viability of these health care providers. These nurses work with travelers who earn three times as much as they do,” said Susan Maupin, vice president of health care consulting firm Advis. “I don’t know how many of these health care systems can continue to pay for these costs. They’re getting support through the Provider Relief Fund, but what’s the tipping point?”

With COVID-19 funding, hospitals will have a median operating profit margin of 4% in 2021, up from 2.8% in 2020, according to Kaufman Hall. Without aid, the median dropped to 2.5% and minus 0.9%, respectively.

There is also significant turnover of non-patient staff at UW Health. About 40% of its full-time equivalent entry-level positions for culinary, environmental and other workers were vacant as of a week ago, Kaplan said. The group plans to significantly increase its minimum wage, he said.

“We had to close the cafeteria late in the afternoon so our existing staff could feed patients,” Kaplan said. “We couldn’t operate without these people.”