Even worse, when you have $95/hour workers working next to nurses earning $45/hour, it creates cultural challenges. When patient volume goes down, staff nurses get sent home while travel nurses finish out their 13-week contract. This is tough for nurse leaders who are trying to keep their teams motivated and manage high turnover.

The good news for hospitals is that technology solutions have automated the provisioning of local nurses. Scheduling solutions, time management systems and labor platforms can all talk to each to get nurses out of spreadsheets and back to the bedside. On-demand scheduling technology and local per diem nursing platforms enable hospitals to fill shifts at the local level, retain staff, and respond to fluctuating patient needs without straining budgets or compromising care.


How technology can strengthen local nursing workforces
Hospitals can optimize their existing workforce with technology to engage full-time staff first, then scale up strategically as needed. Digital staffing platforms provide “Intelligent Routing” allowing hospitals to:

Maximize their current staff by offering extra shifts first, increasing retention and job satisfaction.

Expand to local per diem float pools when internal coverage isn’t enough, filling gaps without the high costs of long-term contracts.

Use travel nurses as a last resort, ensuring that the most cost-effective, sustainable staffing options are prioritized.

By restructuring how hospitals identify and deploy available staff, this approach reduces financial waste, prevents burnout, and strengthens workforce stability to ultimately improve patient care.

Workforce stability is the missing piece of healthcare reform
No matter what policies come out of Washington – whether it’s Medicaid cuts, Medicare payment reforms, or new public health mandates, none of it will matter if hospitals don’t have the staff to carry out care.

As lawmakers finalize their healthcare agenda, they must recognize that nursing workforce stability isn’t just a local or regional hospital problem, it’s a national crisis. The path forward requires:

• Investment in local staffing solutions that reduce financial waste

• A shift away from over-reliance on travel nurses

• Policies that support workforce retention, reducing burnout and turnover

We cannot afford to let staffing shortages undermine every other aspect of healthcare reform. A system in constant policy upheaval needs one thing above all else: a strong, stable workforce that can weather the changes ahead. If we don’t prioritize workforce stability now, no amount of budget adjustments will save the system from collapse.

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