Finding the right partner for physician staffing

Learn how one of the country’s largest healthcare systems revolutionized its physician staffing process.

V2 UPDATED CASE STUDY – SYNCX Download the PDF

Big, complicated, and costly.

As the largest non-governmental employer and medical insurer in its region, our client was struggling with physician staffing shortages. They dealt with this problem the way hospitals all over the U.S. deal with it: they spent a lot of money with locum tenens agencies to fill the gaps. This approach was not sustainable in the long term though. The client needed a way to keep costs under control without letting critical services lines go understaffed.

Person wearing sunglasses inside a cutout of an X to represent syncx.

This can’t live on a whiteboard.

In 2018, the client launched an internal locum program to identify and deploy internal physicians to fill staffing gaps, rather than rely solely on locum agencies. This program was a good start toward solving their staffing issues, but the process turned out to be intensely manual, time consuming, and not scalable. One event in 2019 brought this challenge home.

In an emergency at one of the hospitals, the neurosurgeon on call was unable to come in. The President needed to track down a replacement, fast. All the information he needed to find an available locum was handwritten on a whiteboard in his office. The problem? The client wasn’t in his office.

Searching for the complete physician talent solution.

When the hospital system began searching for staffing management partners, they wanted more than a standalone MSP/VMS solution for their locum tenens.

After thoroughly vetting several potential partners, it was clear that Syncx was the only partner to meet all of the client’s criteria.

Large health system seeks a supportive staffing partner who:

Is committed to providing an integrated, comprehensive view of the entire physician workforce (i.e., external locums, internal float pools, and permanent hiring)
Finds joy in reducing manual processes and streamlining operations
Has a passion for providing a single source of truth
Knows how to scale and augment physician staffing programs
Lays awake thinking of ways to reduce our costs while maintaining quality patient care

You had me at hellosyncx.com.

In October of 2021, the client launched its internal locum float pool program with Syncx. This gave the hospital leadership the chance to train its people on the new process and systems and get more comfortable. The initial benefits of this launch were realized quickly. Not only was the internal locums process now much more streamlined and automated, it also created an organization-wide view of which physicians were available, and when and where they were available.

Then, in January of 2022, they transitioned all external/agency locums to the Syncx MSP Program.

This second phase of the process was especially important for cost control because it allowed the client to standardize:

Rates

Contract
terms

Locum
usage

Department
usage

As the rollout progressed, the client’s team made use of the data they were collecting to give leaders better insight into how they could optimize their physician staffing.

Float pool management and MSP: A modern classic.

The integration of the client’s internal float pool and its external locum data was a powerful combination in its own right because it created opportunities to make better, more strategic decisions about how to fill shifts. For example, if their team was consistently deploying locums to a single location or cluster of locations, that was a good indicator that it was time to start recruiting for a permanent physician in that area.

But what about all those permanent physician hires?

Building on the successful rollout of the Syncx Float Pool and MSP, the client launched the Syncx Perm ATS offering to manage permanent physician hiring. This final piece of the puzzle enabled their recruiters to manage the candidate lifecycle for physicians.

Amplified capabilities, simplified processes, better visibility, and lower costs.

Partnering with Syncx on locums, float pool management, and the ATS for permanent hires enabled the client to:

Expanded capabilities and efficiency

Staffed 400+ clinicians
Brought in 10 new locums provider agencies, building a stronger panel overall with expanded access to specialties
Replaced higher priced agencies who were reluctant to participate in this process improvement initiative
Improved visibility and reporting (e.g., can see shift count and spend by region, provider, facility, specialty, and vendor)
Provided visibility to future spend for planning and budgeting

Achieved more than $51M in cost savings

$18M in total savings in 2025 alone
Transitioned 100% of locums/float pool spend to Syncx
Worked with smaller, lower overhead agencies so Syncx could be flexible and consultative while reducing costs
Used market rate data and standardized rates across the hospital system, saving ~6% compared to average industry rates

A brighter future to the power of three.

What’s next for an already fruitful partnership? For now, the client and Syncx are integrating these three programs with advanced technology to improve speed, efficiency, and reduce costs. The client’s shared purpose with Syncx has been instrumental in positioning the client for success in a non-conventional way.

Not only did they gather the low(er) hanging fruit of integrating their internal float pool management process with their use of external/agency sourced locum tenens, they also reaped the benefits of deploying an ATS for permanent physician hires. The goal is for the hospital system to see the entire spectrum of physician talent in one place, with a single source of truth and use that data to ensure that shifts aren’t just getting filled, they’re being optimally filled.

Lessons learned

Standardizing your processes for locums/float pool management sets you free to focus on strategic concerns like permanent hiring and long-term planning
Simplify your locums process as much as you can for everyone involved (e.g., administrators, other physicians, etc.)
Don’t underestimate the power of having one point of contact for locums staffing
Make new platforms/processes the path of least resistance for users
When you have accurate data on your side, it’s a lot easier to get support for future initiatives
Once you start, you’ll wish you started sooner!