Over-Staffing is Cheaper Than Under-Staffing

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Here’s What You’ll Learn:

  • Evan’s Hot Take: The "Lean Six Sigma" approach to healthcare staffing was/is a failed experiment.

  • The Gist: In Healthcare… Lean is Lethal.  Running a "lean" ship sounds great to CFOs and Administration until one flu strain or one retirement sends the whole system into a tailspin. Having a Locum "on deck" isn't an extra expense—it’s an insurance policy against total systemic, financial failure.

  • At A Glance: Efficiency is great for factories; it’s fatal for Hospitals. You aren't "saving money" on payroll; you're gambling with your reputation and patients.

 

The "Lean Healthcare" Experiment Failed. It’s Time to Play Offense.

For years, the industry fell in love with "Lean" operations. CFOs looked at staffing like a factory floor—if a chair wasn't filled 100% of the time, it was considered "waste." Many of you have seen this personally or with colleagues that you know in the industry.   Recruitment leaders are more so now, than ever, looking for new roles due to “downsizing.”

Key Takeaway… they were wrong.

Running a "lean" ship sounds great in a boardroom until a single retirement, a flu spike, or a sudden surge in census sends the entire system into a tailspin. In healthcare, "lean" is just a polite word for "fragile." When you staff for the bare minimum, you aren't being efficient; you’re gambling with your core team’s sanity and your facility’s reputation.

Stop Calling it a "Gap"

We need to change the language. Most administrators look at Locum Tenens as a "stop-gap"—a band-aid for when something goes wrong. That is defensive thinking.

The most successful facilities that we work with have shifted to an offensive strategy. They don't see a Locum provider as a sign of failure; they see them as a strategic advantage.

They use Locums to:

  • Capture Revenue: Ensuring specialty suites never sit dark while waiting for a "permanent" hire that might be six months away.  (IF YOU DIDN’T REALIZE YOU SHOULD BE MAKING AN ROI ON YOUR LOCUMS, THEN CALL ME TODAY!)

  • Prevent the Burnout Domino Effect: Bringing in help before your staff hits a breaking point.

  • Scale on Demand: Treating their workforce like a cloud-based server—expanding and contracting based on real-time patient needs, not arbitrary 1990s headcounts.

Here’s another Move that we have seen to be successful:

Stop Calling them “The Locum Doc”

Radical integration is the key to success.  If your staff treats locums like “the temp” then the LOCUM WILL ACT LIKE THE TEMP!  If they are treated like staff, they will perform like one. 

The secret to 90% retention on renewals? Culture. If your core staff views Locums as 'outsiders' taking the easy shifts, you’ve already failed. The best health systems frame Locums as the 'Cavalry'—the people here to make sure the permanent team actually gets to go home for dinner. When you integrate Locums into your morning huddles and group chats, they don't just fill a shift; they protect your culture.

The Bottom Line

Over-staffing with high-end, Locum talent is significantly cheaper than the alternative: losing a permanent provider to burnout, diverting patients to a competitor, or paying the astronomical costs of a systemic collapse.

Efficiency is great for manufacturing widgets. It’s fatal for medicine. It’s time to stop playing defense with your roster and start building a workforce that’s actually designed to win.

About Alumni Staffing – Locum Tenens: "Alumni Staffing is not just another locum tenens agency.  They empower health systems through proactive locum tenens forecasting, placements and strategic workforce advisory. By ensuring their partners are expertly staffed and data-informed, they safeguard patient safety and fortify the financial health of the institutions we serve."

Evan Corbisiero, Chief Sales Officer, Alumni Staffing