It’s now doctors, nurses, para-medics and other healthcare practitioners who need to sit up and take up notice.
Opportunities for locum tenen or freelance work are now available with the ease and comfort of push-button technology. The facility makes job-hunting easier, more advanced and accurate and of course, much easier to go through in terms of selection procedures.
Recent market developments have indicated that corporate initiatives such as from Nomad Health by Zeander Pearse, offer instant connection between freelance doctors and nurses and the medical institutions that are seeking them.
Traditionally, much of the system that brought together this connection between supply and demand was through a battery of recruitment brokers, and the process involved several stages of paper work, certifications, screening and approvals and finally getting a clearance.
The protocols were often friction-filled, expensive and did not offer any special appeal for the professionals to avail the services.
In an estimated $15 billion market, this evolution of technology has arrived as a major step towards modernization and data-based development.The new-tech platform which addresses the finer details of the issue not only eases operation within the space dominated by traditional brokerage firms.
Suddenly, the decades-old practice of a hospital approaching multiple brokers to look for a candidate for the post of a doctor or specialist is no more a viable option.
Analysing the price-war between the two approaches to recruitment, Zeander mentions :” The brokers that we are competing against charge between 30 and 70 percent markup, which we feel is particularly egregious. They also do that in a way where it’s not apparent to either side of the market,”
Another drawback with the traditional broker-based system was the cumbersome, slow and antiquated processes of physical handling of files, papers and faxes of the applicant.
In addition, there was the burden of expensive notarizations and other statutory procedures which the applicant-doctor found it a waste of his precious time.
Under the new development, Nomad Health lets the clinicians and facilities talk to each other directly and not through a middleman – thus not only saving each, money and time but also raising their confidence in each other with ease.
What are the normal circumstances under which this demand-supply equation will flourish?
Some examples :
- When a doctor currently working in a hospital suddenly has to proceed on maternity leave or a holiday or a re-location, this system can find a quick replacement on locum tenens or freelance basis for fixed periods.
- A medical institution, trying out a new project, speciality department or intervention eg.: a geriatric centre, may want to hire personnel for a year.
- Although there is a large supply of medics in the urban areas, the upcountry hospitals may not get sufficient manpower in the areas needed. The locum tenens facility fills this gap, on rotation basis.
In addition, a ‘medi-tech matchmaker’ can address the geography-specific constraints in selection process. Doctors, who are covered by a specific state license may need transfer documentation, which could take weeks. The new technology helps faster identification of such applicants.
What’s more, with the new technology-backed supply chain, the system actually provides for hospitals and clinics a more economical model to address their staffing needs.
Clinicians being a scare commodity and demand is on the increase, the attraction for locum tenens or freelance work, particularly in hospital medicine which is difficult to fill with suitable staff than others, is high.
The entire concept of new technology-based staff supply platform cuts down the bother of identifying clinicians by license, types, speciality, etc., and offers a larger pool for any job or doctor.
For those looking for freelance assignments, or a temporary placement, usually calling a broker, sending the CV and go through a number of screenings is the usual route. It’s only after a series of such loops that one even gets to know if there is a real opportunity.
With the new system, all that rigmarole is cut off and only such vacancies and perfectly fitting opportunities reach the candidate.
