UPMC Launches In-House Travel Staffing Agency Amid Nursing Shortage

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) launched its own travel staffing agency to attract highly skilled nurses and surgical technologists as a short-term solution to offset the nationwide nursing shortage. 

The health system announced that it is likely to be the first health system in the country to have its own travel staffing agency.

The new in-house staffing agency will provide support to frontline healthcare workers exhausted by the pandemic. 

“Not only will the program be a retention tool for our current staff, it also will fuel a new pipeline to recruit nurses to UPMC and to bring people back who left UPMC,” UPMC said in a public statement.

UPMC Travel Staffing will rotate registered nurses and surgical technologists for six-week assignments across different facilities in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and New York, depending on where the need is the greatest.

According to the announcement, the program will increase career growth opportunities for healthcare workers seeking travel experience.

“The immense value of this initiative is those hired into UPMC Travel Staffing are our UPMC employees—they are mentored by us and consistently trained to create high-quality clinical and service excellence,” Tami Minnier, senior vice president of Health Services Division and chief quality and operational excellence officer of UPMC, said in the announcement. 

“The premise behind and priority to launch this program is firmly rooted in living each of our values of Quality & Safety, Excellence & Innovation, Caring & Listening, Dignity & Respect and Responsibility & Integrity,” continued Minnier.

Previously, UPMC has brought in travel nurses and surgical technologists from external travel agencies to address staffing challenges in their facilities as many other health systems in the nation have done. 

UPMC travel staffing agency will allow the health system to rely less on outside staffing agencies, resulting in decreased expenses on nursing salaries. In addition, the program will enable UPMC to contract two travel nurses or technicians through its internal agency for the same price as one through an external agency.

According to a Fitch Ratings report, labor inflation results in higher costs and potential revenue loss, posing a risk to healthcare profit margins.

As healthcare providers face a nationwide healthcare labor shortage, labor wages for staffing agencies have increased. 

The Fitch Ratings report suggested that healthcare facilities should use their staff more efficiently and improve recruitment efforts to mitigate high costs and save on labor expenses.