LCMC Health faced staffing challenges across its eight hospitals in Louisiana. At West Jefferson Medical Center, leadership needed more flexibility while controlling labor costs. The team also sought to improve nurse engagement and reduce reliance on travel nurses.

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SSM Health, a leading healthcare system based in St. Louis, Missouri, needed a more efficient, cost-effective way to maintain optimal staffing levels during peak demand periods. Staffing gaps created shift vacancies that were difficult to fill quickly with existing resources. Leadership sought a solution that could improve coverage while supporting safe, high-quality care. SSM Health implemented an on-demand W-2 workforce marketplace that gave schedulers direct access to local, credentialed nurses prepared to fill open shifts. The approach expanded available staffing resources beyond the organization’s internal workforce. It also enabled schedulers to source qualified talent to address vacancies more efficiently. SSM Health filled shift vacancies at scale in under a year and improved key safety outcomes. Patient falls decreased substantially from 2022 to 2023. Nursing leadership reported the model operated the hospital in a much more efficient way by tapping local talent outside the organization’s four walls.

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LCMC Health faced staffing challenges across its eight hospitals in Louisiana. West Jefferson Medical Center needed a way to build a flexible workforce while controlling labor costs. The team also wanted to reduce reliance on travel nurses. They needed to strengthen nurse engagement without compromising patient care. LCMC Health implemented an on-demand staffing approach beginning in January 2024, starting with West Jefferson Medical Center. The program connected the hospital with local, credentialed W-2 nurses. Leadership used on-demand labor to create a flexible local workforce. The approach also enabled transitions from on-demand roles into full-time positions without paying buyout fees. In the first 9 months, the hospital saved $500K in labor. It converted 18% of on-demand nurses to permanent staff. Each nurse worked an average of 5 shifts per month. The hospital transitioned nurses into full-time roles with zero buyout fees while reducing reliance on travel nurses.

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SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital faced excessive travel costs tied to 13-week contracts, which created financial strain when patient census dropped in medical-surgical units. The inflexibility of those contracts led to an oversupply of nurses during low census periods. That mismatch increased labor costs and made staffing harder to align with real-time demand. The hospital implemented direct access to an external pool of local, credentialed nurses available on demand. This approach allowed staffing levels to scale up or down based on real-time needs. It also supported continuity of care without overburdening full-time staff. The model helped avoid absorbing high overtime costs. The hospital saved $9M annualized in medical-surgical labor costs. It also saved $85M in FY2022 using on-demand workers. In addition, the hospital hired 30-40 full-time employees per quarter through the on-demand worker pipeline. These results reduced the financial strain associated with rigid, long-term travel staffing commitments.

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SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital faced excessive travel costs from 13-week contracts that created financial strain during low patient census in medical-surgical units. The inflexibility of these travel contracts led to an oversupply of nurses when demand dropped. That oversupply increased overall labor costs and made it harder to align staffing to real-time patient needs. The hospital deployed direct access to an external pool of local, credentialed nurses who were available on demand. This approach allowed staffing levels to scale up or down based on real-time needs rather than fixed contract terms. It also supported continuity of care without overburdening full-time staff or absorbing high overtime costs. The hospital saved $9M in annualized medical-surgical labor costs. It also saved $85M in FY2022 using on-demand workers. In addition, the hospital hired 30–40 full-time employees per quarter through the program, supporting longer-term staffing stability.

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SSM Health, a leading healthcare system based in St. Louis, Missouri, needed a more efficient, cost-effective mechanism for maintaining optimal staffing levels during peak demand periods. The organization faced challenges keeping staffing levels optimized when demand spiked. It required a better way to address shift vacancies while maintaining care standards. SSM Health implemented an on-demand W-2 workforce marketplace to support staffing during high-need periods. The approach gave schedulers direct access to local, credentialed nurses who were ready to fill open shifts. Leadership emphasized that building a workforce beyond the hospital’s four walls using local talent expanded available resources and improved how efficiently the hospital operated. As a result, SSM Health saw a 73% decrease in patient falls from 2022 to 2023. The organization also filled 16,000+ shifts in less than 12 months. These outcomes supported more efficient hospital operations during periods of peak demand.

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