7 ways managed service programmes benefit healthcare providers 

Managed service providers (MSPs) have been successfully embraced by all industries and sectors over the last two decades. Outsourcing tasks to free up precious time and resources whilst managing costs is widely regarded as an effective way for organisations to maximise their impact by focusing their expertise where it matters most – and in healthcare, that’s caring for patients and service users.   

Healthcare staffing challenges rage on, damaging morale, grabbing headlines, leaving critical services understaffed and patients underserved. MSPs have emerged as a response to the evolving needs of healthcare providers, supporting them in managing their workforce, talent acquisition and supply chain processes more efficiently.  

Clinical specialities, internal systems, geography and a whole host of other mitigating factors have a bearing on the challenges faced by individual providers. The strength of MSPs lies in tailoring the solution to the problem and integrating this within the complicated healthcare landscape.  

Access to a qualified talent pool 

MSPs enable you to benefit from extensive networks and databases of qualified professionals and access to approved, compliant suppliers. With over 40 years of experience and a global footprint, Acacium Group deploys more than 30,000 healthcare professionals every week. This allows us to maintain relationships with a wide range of candidates across all specialities, including medical, nursing, allied healthcare professionals and beyond. Our clients can access a pool of pre-screened, qualified candidates who meet their specific requirements within pressing deadlines. 

Efficient recruitment process 

MSPs remove silos in sourcing and securing qualified candidates, particularly for hard-to-fill roles. We handle the entire recruitment process for healthcare providers. This includes job posting, candidate sourcing, CV screening, interviewing, background checks and onboarding. MSPs have streamlined recruitment procedures and established workflows, ensuring a faster and more efficient hiring process, reducing time to hire and improving the quality of candidates. This saves healthcare providers valuable time and resources, ensuring they have the professionals they need when they need them. 

Flexibility and scalability 

Winter pressures, staff sickness, and the launch of new initiatives mean that healthcare providers often experience fluctuations in their staffing needs. MSPs offer greater flexibility by providing access to temporary or contract healthcare professionals who can fill these short-term gaps. This allows healthcare providers to maintain optimal staffing levels and ensure uninterrupted patient care without the burden of long-term commitments.  With a holistic view, we can help mitigate these gaps with better workforce management. 

Expertise in compliance and governance 

As an experienced MSP provider, we are well-versed in compliance requirements and governance processes specific to the healthcare industry. We have teams of professionals who understand the intricacies of licenses, certifications, background checks, and other necessary credentials. This ensures that all candidates meet these requirements, helping to maintain regulatory compliance and patient safety. 

With more than 160 clinicians, our dedicated clinical governance function safeguards services through robust clinical pathways and rigorous risk management. This ensures healthcare providers can outsource with confidence, trusting experienced professionals with clinical expertise and running services with the highest regulatory accreditations. 

Cost savings 

In the current economic climate, having a measurable return on investment is essential to freeing up much-needed funds to apply elsewhere. Managed service programmes can help achieve cost savings by managing supply to framework pay rates and supplier rate cards, aligning contracts and commercials, consolidating points of contact for hiring managers, invoices for finance, handling administrative tasks associated with hiring, onboarding and reducing internal overhead costs. As an MSP provider, we can offer flexible, scalable staffing solutions to help healthcare providers avoid unnecessary expenses associated with maintaining a full-time workforce during periods of lower demand. 

Enhanced workforce analytics and reporting  

Data affords greater visibility, allowing providers to tackle the root cause of staffing challenges. Our scale powers market insight, providing a wealth of understanding around workforce staffing trends. This allows us to turn service data into an asset for our clients, benchmarking progress and providing actionable insights to improve service quality, compliance and customer experience  

As a result, we can offer our MSP clients comprehensive reporting and analytics on their staffing activities, tracking metrics such as time-to-fill positions, candidate quality, turnover rates, and compliance status. These insights enable healthcare providers to make data-driven decisions, optimise staffing strategies, and improve workforce planning for operational efficiency. 

Continuous support and relationship management 

MSPs offer ongoing support to healthcare providers and their staff; we strive for continuous improvement to gain from the effectiveness of the workforce. For example, we operate as a single point of contact for staffing needs, addressing concerns, resolving issues, and ensuring a positive experience for the healthcare provider and candidates placed in their organisation. This proactive support fosters long-term partnerships, has been shown to improve retention, and allows healthcare providers to focus on their core mission of patient care. 

Looking to implement a managed service programme? 

Overall, MSPs provide healthcare providers with a range of benefits, including access to qualified talent, streamlined recruitment processes, flexibility, compliance expertise, cost savings, and ongoing support. These advantages contribute to efficient operations, improved staffing outcomes, and enhanced patient care. 

Acacium Group is a leading provider of MSPs in public and private healthcare, multiple complex Bank solutions and, through our recruiting brands, access to the largest pool of health and social care professionals. We proactively integrate best-in-class technologies with best-practice processes to help improve people’s lives. 

For more information, contact us.