The healthcare staffing market, particularly in travel nursing and allied health, is heavily saturated by these large MSPs. Estimates suggest that 70-80% of all travel nursing orders are managed through these MSP’s. In most cases, these large MSPs are owned by the largest healthcare staffing agencies, creating a system where they control the staffing supply and significantly influence rates.
This is healthcare’s status quo and is the greatest barrier to innovation. It’s time for healthcare leaders to evaluate whether these partnerships truly deliver efficiency, flexibility, transparency, and long-term value.
The Hidden Costs of Agency-Led MSPs
Agency-led MSPs often prioritize financial interests over client outcomes, leading to:
- Extended Time-to-Fill: Large MSPs hold onto staffing orders longer to protect margins, delaying placements and increasing vacancy costs.
- The Status Quo is Expensive: Traditional reliance on 13-week travel contracts and premium agency fees drive up labor expenses.
- Limited Transparency: Lack of real-time data and visibility into contingent workforce spending hampers informed decision-making.
- “Rate Skimming”: Large, agency-led MSP’s often publish openings to their own agency with higher internal rates, and lower rate visibility to other agencies. This leads to lower vendor competition, potentially impacting clinical quality and driving up labor costs.
5 Key Considerations for Evaluating Your MSP Partner
Are agency-owned MSPs truly delivering the greatest value and putting your interest first? When evaluating MSP partners, consider these five factors:
- Advanced Technology Solutions
Does your partner provide technology aligning with your organizational goals? Innovative workforce technology should:- Simplify compliance and credentialing processes
- Streamline scheduling and shift fulfillment
- Optimize resource allocation through predictive analytics
- Transparent Reporting and Actionable Insights
Access to real-time, transparent reporting is essential for informed decision-making. Your MSP should offer:- Clear, data-driven insights into workforce utilization and spend
- Customizable dashboards for visibility across departments
- Actionable recommendations for continuous improvement
- Consultative Partnership
A valuable partner acts as a strategic advisor. They should:- Proactively identify workforce challenges and recommend solutions
- Collaborate with internal stakeholders to align staffing strategies with organizational goals
- Provide lower cost solutions and alternatives to the highest-premium travel nursing contracts
- Continuously assess performance and adapt strategies accordingly
- Proactive Innovation and Solutions
Your MSP partner should drive innovation by:- Anticipating market shifts and labor trends
- Introducing forward-thinking workforce strategies
- Offering scalable solutions tailored to evolving workforce needs
- Clinical Excellence
Does your MSP demonstrate a rigor around providing a service that improves clinical quality? They should:- Lead clinical and compliance process in partnership with clinical leadership
- Promote competition between staffing agencies that prioritize clinical quality
- Have a lens on candidates submitted for roles that ensures clinical fit for all positions
Trio Workforce Solutions implements these principles with all our partners, enabling them to combat rising labor costs, extended time-to-fill, and limited workforce visibility. The following case studies highlight how these strategies have been applied to achieve meaningful results.
Case Study: Clinical Flexibility, Decreased Costs
Norman Regional Health System addressed escalating contract labor costs by partnering with Trio Workforce Solutions to implement an external per diem staffing solution using Trio Shifts. This integrated shift-based mobile application enabled the system to build a pool of local contractors, directly impacting cost savings and operational efficiency.
- Achieved over $10 million in annual savings
- Decreased travel agency costs by 73%
- Reduced reliance on costly 13-week travel contracts
Case Study: Improved Integration, Enhanced Efficiency
A leading practice management group with over 5,000 clinicians across 700 facilities, lacked visibility and insight into their physician workforce spend—particularly with 1099 contractors. Trio Workforce Solutions consolidated the entire physician enterprise—Locums, 1099, and internal contracts—into a single, integrated platform. The practice gained:
- Full transparency into workforce spend
- $1.5 million reduction in costs (15% decrease)
- Automated invoicing and payment processes, reducing errors
- Integration with their HRIS system, Workday, for comprehensive workforce data
- Enhanced data clarity and visibility across practice groups
A Call to Action
Now is the time to question your MSP’s value and implement innovative solutions. Consider:
- Are you truly saving money?
- Does your MSP reduce dependence on high premium contingent resources?
- Is your MSP driving innovation or actively maintaining the status quo?
- Does your MSP technology enable flexibility and provide a seamless, end-to-end process?
It’s time to break free from outdated, high-cost workforce solutions. Find a partner that prioritizes your success and puts control back in your hands through advanced technology, transparent insights, and proactive strategies.
Challenge the status quo. Reimagine your workforce strategy. Choose innovation and a partner that empowers it.
Bambi Gore, MSN, FNP, RN is the Chief Clinical Officer at Trio Workforce Solutions, where she leads initiatives focused on improving workforce strategies and delivering quality patient care through innovative staffing solutions.
