VISTA Staffing Solutions has been the exclusive endorsed provider of physician locum tenens services for members of the Maine Hospital Association since 2004. The agreement was established by Associated Health Resources, an MHA subsidiary established to evaluate and select top quality, high-value products and services for all members.
Under the agreement, VISTA proactively recruits and licenses physicians and places a priority on filling Maine openings. Once they hit a threshold on locum tenens fees, they pay rebates to the MHA and member hospitals. It has been a positive, lasting relationship, so last year the AHR added divisions from VISTA’s parent company, On Assignment, to the contract to expand the service offering to include travel nurses and allied health professionals.
It is important to the AHR, and to me personally as chairman, to monitor the value members are getting from the vendors we endorse. This spring we commissioned a survey of members to determine if they were using the VISTA/On Assignment services, and why or why not.
Here is a recap of the results:
Twenty seven hospitals completed the survey, 21 of which have used VISTA locum tenens at some time. More than half were using VISTA services when the survey was conducted. In response to an open-ended question about their experience with VISTA, the comments were overwhelmingly positive, and included:
- “Easy to work with. Physicians were highly trained.”
- “Great experience, professional staff who are very helpful in getting all information needed for credentialing.”
- “I have found them to be professional, the quality of the candidates they present to be top notch, and coordination of assignments to be easier with them than other companies. I also appreciate that they have one point of contact (Mary Bowers) checking in with me periodically. My experience with other companies is that you can field calls from 10-20 representatives of the various service lines each and every month. VISTA’s approach shows that they value my time.”
- “Very positive—Mary Bowers is very responsive. Rates are competitive. Rebate is a good incentive.”
- “VISTA is our ‘go to’ agency. Their staff are all exceptional to work with and we know the candidates have been screened well before being presented to us.”
We appreciate the value VISTA places on the relationships the company has built throughout Maine and the effort they have put into bringing value to our endorsement.
