To cope, practices frequently resort to hiring locums, at great expense to their operating budget. Worse, when practices have to scramble to find an available provider with the needed credentials, patients experience delays. This is a risk to patient care, as well as to patient satisfaction scores. Moreover, it leads to rooms and equipment standing idle while patients wait for an appropriate provider.
A data flow concern specific to academic medical centers
Academic medical centers experience a distinct type of data gap when it comes to staff. As they need to work resident rotations into their daily and call schedules, the common approach of keeping separate resident and faculty/staff schedules works against them. When these two systems work together, not only does it take less time to assign staff, but it can clearly be seen when, for example, a credentialed resident can be assigned to a case in lieu of unavailable faculty. By linking these systems, AMCs are able to view the entirety of their available staff, and make staffing decisions accordingly.
By closing the gaps around staffing data, healthcare organizations are able to make significant improvements in workforce efficiency, as well as reducing excessive labor costs. Data integration in this area impacts overtime costs, locums, and patient delays. Academic medical centers see an additional benefit, by integrating schedule data for residents and permanent staff.
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