Managing the background check and credentialing process for contingent healthcare workers has always been challenging, but it is even more difficult now. Changes in state laws, privacy regulations and screening requirements in the post-Covid era have all added to the strain.

“The scope of background screening for healthcare workers has expanded, forcing staffing firms to spend too many hours searching too many databases to collect accurate results,” says Jennifer Palmer, implementation manager for KarmaCheck, a leading healthcare staffing compliance platform.

Without a streamlined or fully automated screening process, staffing firms struggle with drawn-out hiring processes, missed start dates and even penalties for non-compliance.

Those aren’t the only drawbacks. Relying on fragmented or manual checks can leave applicants in limbo. This can damage their experience, your firm’s reputation and your ability to attract, retain and redeploy skilled professionals, notes Brittany Lidgett, KarmaCheck’s senior manager of implementation.

“Today’s healthcare workers are turning towards a fully mobile, efficient background screening process with real-time updates,” Lidgett says.

Forward-thinking healthcare staffing leaders are noting these changes and are considering how their firms’ background screening processes must improve and evolve. In fact, nine of the top 10 Fastest-Growing Staffing Firms in 2023 were in the healthcare segment, suggesting that the right compliance efforts could actually propel growth instead of hindering it.

Here are five strategies executives are using to transform their compliance process from a costly, complex burden into a competitive advantage.

Partner With a One-Stop Shop

Are your partnership standards high enough? Perhaps it’s time to raise the bar.

“The ideal compliance partner should be an extension of your team,” says Lidgett. “They should be committed to improving the overall efficiency of your compliance process through technology, subject matter expertise and rapid responsiveness.”

From a workflow automation standpoint, being able to see the status of various types of credentialing pieces on a single dashboard makes the screening process easier to complete, cutting the chances of miscommunication and non-compliance.

Partners that offer the convenience of a one-stop shop also enable problem-solving by combining technology with human intelligence.

Your best bet is to select a solution that either meshes with your current workflow or gives you the flexibility to reassess and streamline your current processes, Palmer advises. Automating as many tasks as possible lets your staff focus on your candidate’s experience.

For instance, many platforms provide reminder prompts for candidates, but a good feature to look for is live chat support. With live chat, dedicated credentialing specialists can provide immediate answers to complex questions about background checks across multiple states, state licensing boards, schools and medical clinics.

Look at the Team Behind the Screen

Healthcare staffing firms also need a great team behind the screen — one that can provide professional expertise and quick response to problems that arise during the compliance process. Empathy is a huge part of that.

People who have worked in staffing industry compliance know how to speed up the screening process by calling clinics, reissuing service authorizations and connecting with the various sources used in background checks.

“When you’ve been on the front line, you understand that urgency is the difference between success and failure,” Lidgett says. “When your team, the client or the healthcare professional needs an update on the status of a background check, they need it now … not one to three days later.”

According to Lidgett, candidate-focused technology and a live research team improves communication and shortens the overall turnaround time for background screening by about 46%.

Give Candidates and Clients the Experience They Deserve

When candidates have the autonomy to view their background check status in real time as well as select their own clinics for pre-employment testing, you empower them to stay involved and get to work sooner. It also improves their overall experience.

Automating communication and reminders not only keeps candidates in the loop, but it also relieves the burden on the compliance specialists and delivers an improved experience for clients and MSPs as well.

“Nothing is hidden and it aligns everyone,” Palmer says.

When all communication is accessible, travel nurses, allied health professionals and compliance specialists feel more confident in the entire process, she adds.

Given the current and projected talent shortages in healthcare, staffing agencies that continuously assess and upgrade their candidate experience will have a significant advantage over those that do not.

Establish a Process Performance Baseline

Documenting the performance of each step in your background and occupational health screening processes, turnaround times, costs, completion rates and other key performance indicators is a critical step toward setting benchmarks and fostering continuous improvement.

How long does it take candidates to complete the process? How many are backing out of their contract and why? Where are the bottlenecks? Is my new vendor actually better?

Why guesstimate the answers to those critical questions? When staffing executives automate their firms’ background and occupational health screening processes, they can collect and analyze actual data to identify where there may be inefficiencies and where to focus improvement initiatives.

Collaborate to Conquer

Staffing execs don’t need to solve this problem alone.

There are numerous resources for support or to learn more about the options for turning onboarding from a burden into a competitive advantage.

“Engage with your peers, other directors and VPs of compliance that have faced these issues and conquered them,” Lidgett suggests.

Maintaining compliance in healthcare staffing is not easy. But savvy leaders are proving that with automation, the right partner and the right team behind the screen, it is possible to transform compliance from a burden into a competitive advantage that actually enables growth.

To learn how KarmaCheck can help your staffing firm optimize your background check and credentialing process, contact Brittany Lidgett, senior manager of implementation or Jennifer Palmer, implementation manager for KarmaCheck.