I recently had the opportunity to attend a healthcare conference. The prominent topic throughout the conference was healthcare staffing issues, particularly with nursing but also in healthcare operations.
The healthcare staffing shortage is more than an inconvenience, it is a crisis. Healthcare staffing shortages lead to poor patient outcomes that can include hospital-acquired infections, patient falls, and increased chances of death according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing. Shortages in certain areas mean that large patient populations don’t have enough doctors or nurses to provide them with care, treat their chronic illnesses, or deliver their babies.
The issue of staffing shortages is one of the biggest challenges facing the industry. The problem is complex and has been around longer than recent headlines would indicate. Yet it must be solved because the alternative — poor health outcomes for patients across the country — is untenable.
These are some of the factors contributing to the challenge:
Aging Population:
The U.S. Census Bureau reports that 16.8% of the population was aged 65 or older in 2021, and it predicts that number will grow to 21% in 2030. Older people often require more care, whether in hospitals or nursing homes. They are more likely to have chronic illnesses such as diabetes, arthritis, and heart disease or to need care for conditions such as dementia.
Staff Burnout:
Healthcare providers are vulnerable to burnout, defined as physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion. Burnout can cause poor performance, which can lead to errors.
The pandemic exacerbated burnout among clinical staff. In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, just under 32% of doctors reported feeling burned out in 2019. In 2022, that figure rose to 40%. Nurses fared similarly. Nearly 41% reported burnout in 2019; by 2022, the number was a shade over 49%. Burnout can lead directly to staffing shortages in health care, as people leave the profession. According to a survey by staffing agency Incredible Health, 34% of nurses said they would leave their jobs by the end of 2022, with 44% saying that stress and burnout contributed to their decision.
We cannot control the aging population. However, there are solutions to improve and prevent burnout.
Software Automation Solutions:
Healthcare systems are trapped, profit margins are shrinking, pay is increasing, the staff is burned-out and the only way to solve it is to use software to solve this problem. The good news is that there are solutions out there to empower your staff to be more productive with fewer resources than you use today. Extract is that very solution and it is installed widely across healthcare systems.
Innovative healthcare systems across the country are implementing Extract Systems’ automation software. These systems are seeing over a 50% reduction in staff time needed to perform tasks. Tasks like indexing outside medical records, discreetly populating noninterface lab results, managing new patient referral packets, and accounts payable data entry.
Extract integrates with all the major EMRs (Epic, Cerner, etc.), DMSs, and account payable systems. Our software leverages machine learning and natural language processing to reduce the effort by staff.
Healthcare staffing issues are not going away. Innovative healthcare systems are looking for software to solve their problems and Extract Systems is doing that every day. If you are a CFO looking to improve the bottom line – call Extract, if you are an HIM Director with staffing issues – call Extract, if you are in Nursing leadership and your staff has burnout doing data entry – call Extract, if you are a CMIO and worried about patient care – call Extract.
About the Author: Josh Nail
Josh is the Regional Business Development Manager at Extract with more than 18 years of experience in the healthcare marketplace. His healthcare background includes Revenue Cycle software solutions, HIM software solutions, and EHR solutions. When not helping Health Systems improve patient care, increase provider satisfaction while delivering a return on investment you can find him Fly-fishing, Skiing, or playing Golf.