Highlands Regional Medical Center of Eastern Kentucky Eliminates Administrative Burden with Aya Clinical Services

Highlands Regional Medical Center of Eastern Kentucky worked with several healthcare staffing firms through their managed services provider. They received a steady stream of qualified candidates but couldn’t review and respond to clinician profiles quickly enough to secure top clinicians before they took jobs elsewhere.

Highlands Regional Medical Center’s nurse managers are busy. They’re not only in charge of patient care but also responsible for hiring clinicians. They struggled to review candidate profiles in a timely manner while tending to their patient care-related responsibilities. Their Aya Healthcare account manager noticed they were responding to candidate profiles after hours and on the weekends – often days after the clinicians were submitted for consideration.

Since they are located in an area with many competing hospitals, a slow response meant they often lost high quality clinical candidates to other facilities. Or, the candidates that were still available often required the facility to pay rates above fair market value due to the heightened demand.

Aware of the lag time, Highlands Regional Medical Center’s account manager at Aya recommended Aya’s clinical services to help close the gap from candidate submittal to interview and eventual hire. Happy with the quality of the candidates Aya provided, they tried Aya’s complimentary clinical services.

“Thanks to Aya Healthcare’s clinical support, our nurse managers no longer spend hours reviewing profiles, conducting phone interviews and remediating issues,” said Highlands Regional Medical Center of Eastern Kentucky Vice President of Patient Care Susan Ellis, RN, MSN, SPHR. “They are able to spend more time actively engaged with their core staff, which boosts morale and improves patient experiences.”

Highlands Regional Medical Center provided Aya with detailed unit descriptions, including behavioral and cultural information. Once Aya had a clear understanding of the kind of clinicians they required, Aya’s clinical services team took over the entire interview process.

Highlands Regional Medical Center now saves time and money by reviewing the candidates’ information quickly and simply saying “yes” or “no” to the hire. They are no longer bogged down by lengthy interview processes. Aya also reviews their staffing metrics regularly to provide strategic recommendations for remediation when needed to ensure high quality continuity of care.

“By trusting Aya to meet the needs of our managers, we are filling openings faster with higher caliber candidates,” added Ellis. “Aya Healthcare’s clinical services team has streamlined our entire traveler onboarding and management process and we could not be happier.”

Aya is now their top traveling clinician staffing agency, providing nearly 25% of Highlands Regional Medical Center’s entire nurse staff. They can focus on patient care while Aya identifies the perfect candidates for their facility and saves them money by securing clinicians at fair market value.

Above photo courtesy of Highlands Regional Medical Center on Facebook.