By Joseph Ebberwein, CFO, Corstrata
What do innovation and the short supply of nurses have in common? Everything! It is the way in which healthcare will remain strong in the future.
Navigating the recruiting environment is becoming ever more difficult for employers. A recent article in The Scrubb highlighted sign-on bonuses being paid in the most recent months, (https://thescrubb.com/sign-on-bonuses-trending-for-nurse-positions/) with nearly a 25% increased demand in open nursing positions in the near term.
Innovation and technology offer new opportunities for remaining economically viable in the marketplace, especially when a primary barrier is accessing critical talent. At the core, it is the promise of Telehealth to rationalize access. How clinicians ‘enter the room’ is vastly different today through new ways to connect, work and offer knowledge.
Corstrata embarked on offering just this kind of specialized, tech-enabled service. Through the combination of knowledge, skills, and technology, certified wound and ostomy nurse services can be accessed from the bedside whenever needed. In the beginning, this kind of service wasn’t well understood, and often the barriers to entry in the market are stubborn. But, as with all change, necessity offers new perspectives.
The year of 2020 began as a driver for critically needed services, but the knowledge gained serves as awareness for the quality, ease of use, and cost-effectiveness of tech-enabled services. Corstrata’s tech-enabled services offer reduced lag times in getting critical WOCN assessment, improved care planning, improved healing times, and reduced costs in caring for wound and ostomy patients.
These have been hard won battles! Innovation is slow in healthcare, but even slower in post-acute care. Corstrata works with like-minded technology companies to reduce friction in the care process. In the year of 2021, opportunities to find mutual interests emerged. Methods for integrating proved easier than in the past. In the best of situations, Corstrata clinicians enter the care process and create significant value.
With the kind of signing bonuses being paid for certified wound and ostomy skills to be placed in cars and as ‘feet-on-the-street’ exceeding $10,000, technology vendors must consider the doors being opened for new entrants in the technology space. It’s not if, but when it will come. And, it’s no longer how, but how quickly.
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