The Biggest Challenges Facing Healthcare Today

Healthcare Solution: Reshaping the World of Healthcare Staffing

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Today’s hospitals and clinics are facing several challenges. Experts expect those problems to get worse before they start to improve. They’re already having a major negative impact on medical facilities, their staff, and their patients, and as the challenges grow, they’re going to take even more of a toll on the healthcare industry and all the people it serves.

Understanding the Main Challenges Medical Facilities Are Up Against

Though a long and continually growing list of hurdles comes into play here, some problems are certainly having a more profound effect on the healthcare industry than others. Those challenges are also largely interconnected. Consider some of the primary problems today’s healthcare facilities are up against.

Staffing Shortages

By many accounts, staffing shortages are, by far, the biggest challenge for hospitals and clinics, making healthcare staffing software an increasingly important tool. This deficit spans the entire range of medical professionals, and it’s rapidly growing. Millions of existing medical professionals are leaving the field. Some have reached retirement age while others have decided that healthcare just isn’t the right career for them. Though new professionals are coming into the field, the numbers are extremely disproportionate. In fact, within the next couple of years, there could be an industrywide shortage of more than four million healthcare professionals.

Because of all that, medical facilities are struggling to find and retain qualified staff members. This shortage is also placing added strain on existing staff members. As such, they’re stretched far too thin, which is causing high burnout and turnover rates. It’s creating a vicious cycle that could cause the healthcare worker shortage to ramp up rather than wind down. Staffing software can help medical facilities to better manage staffing shortages, mitigate their effects on their current workforces, and more efficiently fill open positions among other benefits.

Regulatory Compliance

Regulatory compliance is also a significant hurdle for medical facilities. They’re held to a range of regulatory standards at this point. Those laws are constantly being updated, and new ones are continually added to the mix. HIPAA, CMS Conditions of Participation, Joint Commission Standards, and EMTALA are only a few of them. There are also numerous licensing and credentialing regulations in place, and medical facilities must ensure the healthcare professionals they hire are in compliance with those. Staffing software and other tools can help with that factor as well.

Adopting Technology

Another challenge medical facilities facing is adopting new technology as it emerges. Keeping up with it as it evolves is also a struggle. Technology has made a major difference in the healthcare industry, streamlining workflows and automating processes to name a couple of its advantages. It also takes a great deal of the administrative workload off of staff members, simplifies scheduling and resource allocation, and reduces human error.

On top of that, telehealth is becoming an increasingly integral component of the medical field. Though many medical facilities are willing to use telehealth to their benefit and that of their patients, integrating it can be a bit difficult. Several regulations apply to that aspect of the industry as well, and remaining in compliance with those makes matters even more complicated.

Considering all its advantages, embracing technology is certainly a worthwhile effort. It’s also a cost-effective solution. Still, integration and adaptation can be a challenge without the right tools and support.

Overcoming Challenges in the Healthcare Industry

Those are only a few of the challenges facing healthcare facilities at this point. Financial factors, concerns about cybersecurity, changing healthcare delivery models, and many other hurdles also come into play. Efforts are being made to help mitigate all those issues, and various strategies have been developed to address them. Staffing software and other industry-specific solutions can play an important role in overcoming many of those challenges.