Optimize Physician Staffing and Recruiting with a Centralized ATS 

Are your human resources information systems (HRIS) and candidate tracking processes slowing you down? Too often, in an attempt to save time and money, organizations attempt to overlay and apply a general staffing applicant tracking system (ATS), HRIS, or nurse staffing platform to physician recruitment. This approach does not work because the tech platform fails to account for the nuances of physician recruiting.

Healthcare systems and in-house recruiters require innovative, centralized workforce management solutions to source and hire high-quality physicians, especially in healthcare organizations with multiple facilities. A centralized staffing solution tailored for physicians leads to faster time to fill, better fill rates, and a better candidate experience. This blog explores why a centralized ATS built for physician recruitment is a game-changer in healthcare. 

The physician staffing and recruiting landscape

To understand why centralized staffing is so important, let’s first take a look at the current physician staffing and recruiting landscape. Amid an ongoing staffing shortage, placing permanent physicians in healthcare systems faces numerous challenges:

1. Lack of tech investment in physician recruiting. When it comes to technology, in-house healthcare recruiters often are under-resourced. Hospitals typically prioritize funding clinical technology, such as the latest X-ray machine, robotics, or AI for patient treatment. While bringing in permanent staff is an objective of most healthcare systems, that’s not where they’re spending their technology dollars. 
2. Disparate staffing and recruiting systems. M&A activity in healthcare remains hot. With newly acquired entities come distinct staffing and recruitment systems. Integrating these systems into a centralized ATS might seem daunting, so organizations delay consolidation efforts. 
3. One-size-fits-all mentality. Decisions for staffing technology investments typically happen outside the physician recruitment department. Usually, HR or IT departments manage those investments. If healthcare systems do have an ATS, it isn’t customized for physician recruiting. Traditional ATS platforms fall short in addressing the unique requirements of physician recruitment, such as credentialing and licensure tracking.
4. Conflicts of interest. Healthcare systems increasingly rely on locum tenens staffing to address temporary staffing shortages, cover leaves of absence, and fulfill specific needs. They turn to staffing agencies to help find locums. Such agencies are incentivized to increase spending on locums – a recurring and thereby more lucrative source of revenue –  versus helping place permanent candidates, which are one and done.
5. Change management. Healthcare adapts slowly. While too many in-house physician recruiting departments run on Excel spreadsheets, they do not want to disrupt existing workflows. Change management is required to implement and train staff on a new staffing and recruiting technology. 

The benefits of centralized healthcare staffing solutions 

By consolidating staffing solutions, healthcare organizations gain a competitive advantage while  in-house recruiters benefit. A centralized physician ATS enables healthcare organizations to:

1. Eliminate internal competition and inefficiencies. Healthcare systems often have multiple hospitals or clinics operating independently, leading to unintentional internal competition. For example, different hospitals within the same healthcare system might be outbidding each other for the same physician because they weren’t aware they were negotiating with the same candidate. A centralized ATS prevents such scenarios by delivering a unified view of all recruitment activities so everyone is on the same page and resources are utilized efficiently.
2. Improve talent pool utilization. Without a centralized ATS, a qualified candidate might apply to one hospital but remain unknown to other hospitals within the same network. A centralized ATS offers all facilities access to a shared talent pool, enabling better candidate utilization and ensuring that qualified candidates are placed where they are most needed, improving overall staffing efficiency.
3. Streamline recruitment processes. When hospitals within the same healthcare system operate independently, they might each use different tools and methods for recruitment, leading to duplicated efforts and inconsistencies. A centralized ATS consolidates these efforts into one platform, simplifying tasks such as posting jobs, tracking candidates, and communication.
4. Enhance candidate tracking and communication. Recruiters track candidate progress efficiently and maintain consistent communication, preventing candidates from getting lost in the process or reapplying to multiple facilities without proper tracking. It ensures a smooth and professional candidate experience, an imperative for attracting top talent.

Syncx Perm ATS – the centralized physician ATS from Syncx 

Syncx Perm ATS helps in-house recruiters optimize permanent physician staffing and recruiting. Integrating with other tools in the recruitment ecosystem, Syncx Perm ATS enables recruiters to accomplish all their work tasks in one place and opens up time for them to tackle more strategic initiatives. Syncx Perm ATS offers:

• Industry-Specific Integration. Integrate with various job boards and industry-specific platforms for seamless job postings and candidate sourcing, resulting in faster time-to-fill, improved fill rates, and a better candidate experience.

• Seamless Workflows. Centralized features include automated approval workflows, job order management, job board integration, and text alerts. AI helps write job descriptions, customize candidate emails, create nurture campaigns, and automate manual tasks to make the recruitment process faster and more efficient. 

• Comprehensive Candidate Tracking. Designed for physician staffing and recruitment, Syncx Perm ATS enables detailed tracking of candidate interactions and histories. Our risk management tool saves recruiters time having to scour the internet for flags against the candidate’s license and/or work history. This feature is crucial for maintaining compliance and ensuring that physicians with past issues do not slip through the cracks. It also provides a single source of truth for all recruitment activities, reducing the risk of losing valuable data when recruiters leave the healthcare system.

• KPI Tracking and Reporting. Healthcare systems can track KPIs across the entire recruiting team. This data-driven approach enables continuous improvement and accountability, leading to better recruiting and placement outcomes.

• One Goal – Meet Your Healthcare Staffing Objectives. Unlike large staffing agencies with a vested interest in increasing locum tenens spending, Syncx is focused on helping healthcare systems meet their staffing objectives. Syncx Perm ATS offers efficient and effective physician staffing without any ulterior motives.

• Integration with Syncx MSP and Syncx Float Pool. With Syncx ATS, Syncx MSP, and Syncx Float Pool, healthcare organizations can stay on top of all their healthcare staffing needs. And, they’ll gain a comprehensive, real-time view of the entire healthcare workforce, including external locums, internal float pools, and permanent hires.

Having all your healthcare staffing solutions in one place makes all the difference. Only Syncx makes it possible. Learn more about Syncx Perm ATS and book a demo today.