Smart WFM launches healthcare division

Workforce management (WFM) consultancy Smart WFM has launched a new healthcare division to help the industry modernise in the era of COVID-19.

The division — led by CEO Jarrod McGrath and specialists James Sutton and Geoff Davey — has hired new healthcare-specific consultants, with plans to build out the team further over the next 12 months.

“Despite Australia’s healthcare system being the envy of most other countries during this crisis, we have a long way to go in terms of operations and healthcare workforce management,” McGrath said.

“Paper is still the default ‘technology’ for payment calculations, rostering, new employee forms and more. The digital systems that are in place are complex and don’t speak to each other, usually supported by doubled- or tripled-up manually compiled reports that take important time away from clinical staff.”

The dedicated healthcare division will leverage Smart WFM’s experience with healthcare organisations large and small, including Montefiore and Austin Health Hospital.

Services will include workforce practice governance, process standardisation, enabling existing and new technologies, and meaningful reporting — all acting to increase the number of nursing hours dedicated to each patient or resident per day.

The services will help healthcare organisations digitise their operating model in a human-centred way; improve efficiency and time management in areas such as rostering; find available staff; and measure the benefits from people and HR initiatives.

Healthcare organisations will also be able to leverage Smart WFM’s Apitome software suite to baseline their people and HR initiatives using their data and compare it with industry peers.

“The last few months have shown us just how important and robust our healthcare industry is,” McGrath added. “But as the industry becomes more dependent on technology to optimise patient care, we risk falling behind by not optimising and integrating our healthcare processes, people and technology.

“Moreover, the pandemic-driven move to telehealth and digital health technology will require healthcare organisations to have better visibility over where their staff are and how they’re working. That is a workforce management issue — one that is becoming increasingly critical to address as the industry evolves.”

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