It’s an unusually active time in the world of healthcare staffing.

The June Pulse continued to show eye-opening results in healthcare, particularly in the travel nurse staffing segment (revenue up a median 85% year over year). The segment had year-over-year revenue increases greater than 100% in both February and March. Per diem and allied revenues continued their steady upward increase since the year began, up 35% and 42%, respectively in May. On the other hand, after modest growth from February to April, locum tenens revenue was flat year over year in May.

Despite strong revenue growth in most healthcare segments, bill rates are trending downward, which is at least partially due to the fact that pandemic crisis rates are going away. Thirty percent of travel nurse staffing firms observed a decreasing trend in bill rates over the previous three months, and a net 52% expect a negative trend in the next six months. Similarly, 44% of per diem staffing firms, and 15% of allied staffing firms, expect a decreasing trend in bill rates in the next six months.

Given this particularly active landscape with revenue up and bill rates going down, staffing firms are needing to speak more with their clients. We asked participants of the June Pulse, “Do you find that you’re having to meet/communicate with clients more frequently due to the dynamic current environment?” Twenty-four healthcare staffing companies responded to this question, and 14 responses (53%) mentioned having to meet/communicate with clients more frequently. Three of the open-ended responses are shared below.

“Yes; transparency regarding increasing provider pay rates and managing provider expectations has had to increase due to the current market.”

“We have been providing our clients with industry and regional overviews of order volumes and current bill rates. This assists facilities in benchmarking the rates they are considering for new orders to ensure they capture submissions of the highest quality candidates.”

“No - we are beginning to travel and visit clients in person which has been a welcome new event.”

With demand up and communication needs increasing, healthcare staffing firms have a heavy workload. Adding to this, they’re dealing with candidates not showing up for interviews/assignments or ending assignments early. In a May Pulse question about whether such “ghosting” has been happening more often recently, 10 of 19 open-ended responses in healthcare staffing shared that they were indeed experiencing this behavior from their candidates.

Growth in total employment is following a similar pattern as growth in temporary employment. As reflected in the US Employment Situation Interactive Tool (based on the July Jobs Report), healthcare employment growth outside of nursing and residential care facilities was positive in June. Ambulatory healthcare services employment was up 7% year over year, although this is a deceleration from a 19.2% increase in April. Employment is expected to stabilize as year-over-year comparisons to the initial months of Covid, when ambulatory services were hit hardest, pass. Hospital employment was up 1.2% year over year in June, but nursing and residential care facilities employment was down 4.9%.

The elevated business activity in healthcare staffing has captured the interest of investors outside the space as well as other healthcare staffing companies themselves. Per SIA’s M&A Tool, there were 13 acquisitions of healthcare staffing firms in the first quarter of 2021 after 20 in all of 2020. This trend is expected to continue as the new post-Covid landscape emerges.

All this buzz in healthcare staffing makes it imperative for executives in the space to make sure they’re not missing out on opportunities. It’s worth considering whether they need to adjust the size and scale of their healthcare staffing operations, make strategic changes in their workforce, and/or adapt new technology to integrate into their business.