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These trends are driving healthcare staffing demand over the long term

Healthcare Staffing Report

These trends are driving healthcare staffing demand over the long term

Crystal Fullilove
| July 16, 2024
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Healthcare staffing has been in the news with its unprecedented growth during the pandemic and subsequent pullback. Hospitals’ reliance on contingent workers and use of crisis staffing has also made headlines. However, there are other trends in the longer term affecting the industry, according to SIA’s US Healthcare Staffing Market Assessment: 2024 Update report.

Here are some:

Increasing numbers of registered nurses entering the field. The current projected shortage of registered nurses stands at 193,100 openings each year, according to data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. On the other hand, the number nurse graduates entering the field rose by 36% in 2023 when compared with 2019. The number totaled 250,078 in 2023. Though there was one caveat: The number of nurses who passed the NCLEX dropped to 69.7% in 2023 from 72.8% in 2019. Still, the continued interest in nursing professions is a positive for the industry in minimizing the effects of the nursing shortage as well as in reducing burnout among overworked nurses and providing higher quality patient care as a result of better nurse to patient ratios. Successful healthcare staffing firms will need to develop a tailored strategy for effectively engaging this surge of new clinical talent.

Increasing use of nurse practitioners and physician assistants to meet medical demand. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment of nurse practitioners and physician assistants between 2022 and 2032 is projected to grow by 45% and 27%, respectively. Drivers of growth include the aging population, geographical access to care and greater adoption of a team model of care that pairs physicians with NPs and PAs. There is a growing acceptance around NPs and PAs taking on tasks and patients that have traditionally been managed by physicians. Due to their broad training, high patient satisfaction rates and cost effectiveness, these advanced practice providers are integral to healthcare delivery and can assist in bridging the gap during the physician shortage, as explained in SIA’s Locum Tenens Market Growth Assessment: 2023 Update report.

Rise of healthcare staffing platforms. The scalability of the platform model became a clear competitive advantage during the pandemic with an unprecedented spike in demand. The US staffing platform market for travel nurses soared by 340% from 2020 to 2022. Platforms gained share from traditional staffing models across all four segments in 2023, including a significant jump in allied staffing, from 14% share in 2022 to 20% in 2023, according to SIA’s Temporary Staffing Platform Update: 2024. Platforms today represent more than 20% of US temporary staffing revenue for travel nurses, per diem and allied. The platform market for locum tenens staffing, though still quite small, may be the next healthcare segment to be impacted as it led all segments in growth in 2023. SIA corporate members interested in learning more about healthcare staffing market sizes by segment can read the US Staffing Industry Forecast: March 2024 Update.

As the healthcare industry evolves, staffing firms are increasing their value proposition by offering a wide array of workforce solutions that cater to their clients’ changing needs. Staffing firms are well positioned to meet increased patient demand via a broad spectrum of services such as MSP, RPO, executive search, crisis staffing and international staffing.

For more discussion of long-term trends in healthcare staffing, including a more detailed understanding of the market, SIA corporate members can view the US Healthcare Staffing Market Assessment: 2024 Update report.