“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower” – Steve Jobs

According to a report by “Markets and Markets”, 2016 was the biggest year for healthcare technology in this modern era. We saw themajority of growth in the health-tech industry from the adoption of various healthcare IT solutions.

Digging a little deeper, the report recognises that one of the major growth segments was healthcare recruitment, where we saw an increased demand from healthcare facilitieslooking to cut the ever-climbingstaffing costs. This was consistent across both the public and private healthcare systems.

With rising staffing costs beingthe basis of many ‘efficiency’ based conversations acrossleading health organisations, we thought it was fitting to take a look at five of Healthcare Australia’s technology contributions to the healthcare recruitmentindustry.

For those of you following our ‘45 Things to say for our 45th Year Anniversary’ journey, this article will take you through numbers#16 through to #20. For #1 to #6, checkout our article ‘Celebrating 45 Years of service to the Healthcare Industry’ and for #7 through to #16, take a look at our article ‘9 Fun Facts about Healthcare Professionals’.

#1: The growth of eHCA, our agency management and booking system

Healthcare Australia’s eHCA system was made to specifically meet the workforce management demands of both our employees and clients.

From a client perspective, eHCA helps all facilities roster their HCA temporary staff. Clients have the ability to view shifts that have been assigned, enter shift details, receive temporary staff information, bulk book shifts and select specific requirements for roles which need to be filled.

From an employee perspective, eHCA allows all HCA candidates to manage their choice of work, preferences, information and whole agency lifestyle 24 hours a day. All employees can update their availability at any time, view upcoming shifts, view last-minute shifts that are tailored to their location and skills, view payments, tell our team where they want to work and keep their education and training up-to-date.

#2: The development of the eHCA App & Electronic Timesheet Submissions

In July 2014, Healthcare Australia was the first Nursing Agencyin Australia to launch a feature rich, fully integrated on demand secure App for iOS and Android devices.

“I think our eHCA app is something that makesHCA better than any other agency, giving us an edge over competitors. I have seen the successful roll out firsthand, as the Nurses I have recruited have expressed their delight in the technologyand are always excited to see the video explaining what the app can do.”

– Ashlee Ramsay, HCA Recruitment Consultant

One of the key features of the eHCA App is the ability to get approval and submit employee timesheetselectronically. This created efficiency for both healthcare workers and clients as approval processes can now take only a matter of secondsand are much more secure.

Don’t listen to us about the positive benefits of this technology, hear what our employees had to say.

It’s really helpful and I never used an App like this at other agencies. It is very easy and quick to use. Thank you

The app is a much faster way to organise shifts and availability. Less time consuming which prompts me to check the ‘allocate me now’ tab more often. Great work!

Have to say that I am very impressed by the new app! Easy to use, even for a dinosaur like me. Great to be able to check copies of timesheets sent, it takes away the anxiety of whether or not they have been received.

#3:eLearning Portal

In line with the eHCA platform was the addition of the eLearning Portal, which has allowed our staff to keep their education and competencies up-to-date. Our eLearning Portal allows all employees to keep track of their CPD activities and monitor their progress against the CPD standards to maintain registration.

Our portal also includes additional modules that you can choose to add to your learning plan.

Check out the eLearning Portal on eHCA

#4: ClarityWorkforce Planning

Our Clarity Workforce Planning model has been developed in response to our client demand for the best way to manage, measure, control and reduce the costs that are associated with a contingent pool of staff.

By harnessing its user-friendly technology and being better informed about the dynamics of the workforce, our clients have used this innovative technology to reduce their agency and casual spend, achieve back office efficiency savings and make sound decisions around workforce planning. Simply put, Clarity Workforce Planning has helped our clients deliver better patient care at a lower cost. Read more about Clarity here.

#5: A 24/7 Call Centre

It wasn’t too long ago that our allocations staff would find themselves sitting at home after hours and on weekends, with all calls transferred to their mobile phones, writing booking details down on a pad of paper. Take a step back further and you’ll find a time where there were no computers or mobile phones and bookings were entered in a large double sided ledger.

Today we are lucky to have a 24/7 Call Centre, allowing our team to take bookings at any time of the day, react quickly to urgent requests from facilities, whilst having a point of contact for all healthcare professionals at any time of day, whether they be working in a metro hospital or perhaps a Rural and Remote community.

To find out more about working with HCA, benefit from our award winning eHCA app and other great technology, call us on 1300 422 247 or register online.