Contingent Workforce

Did you miss Ardent Partners’ recent FOWX podcast featuring a discussion with Kelly Rakowski, CEO of Trio Workforce Solutions? The conversation tackled the impact of the extended workforce in healthcare, the pathways ahead for AI in workforce management, and how VMS platforms are serving as “strategic hubs” for contingent workforce management.

In Part Three of this three-part article series, we highlight the major discussion points and a link to the full event.

Why VMS Technology and AI Are Becoming the Strategic Core of Healthcare Workforce Management

Healthcare has reached an inflection point where workforce management, technology, and artificial intelligence are converging to reshape how organizations staff, operate, and care for patients. Vendor management systems (VMS), once viewed as back-office infrastructure for processing contingent labor orders, have now evolved into strategic platforms powering the Future of Work in healthcare. As Trio Workforce Solutions CEO Kelly Rakowski explains, the modern VMS has become a mission-critical hub capable of orchestrating labor strategies across permanent, flexible, and contingent staffing pools, while also harnessing the power of data, automation, and AI to drive smarter, faster decisions.

Traditionally, VMS platforms in the staffing industry emerged to support the operational mechanics of contingent workforce programs: job postings, candidate submittals, credentialing workflows, timekeeping, and invoicing. In healthcare, these functions were vital but insufficient. The sector’s high-stakes requirements including rigorous licensing, clinical credentialing, patient safety standards, and the need for precise experience matching, demanded more specialized technology. Yet for years, VMS adoption in healthcare lagged, and systems were often disconnected from clinical workflows and broader workforce strategy.

That reality has fundamentally changed. The pandemic exposed the limitations of manual processes, fragmented systems, and visibility gaps. Health systems now see contingent labor not as a temporary supplement, but as an essential component of workforce resiliency. Meanwhile, new flexible labor models (e.g., float pools, internal agencies, gig-based marketplaces, and telehealth staffing) require integrated visibility that no spreadsheet or siloed tool can provide.

VMS as a True Command Center

Modern VMS platforms, like Trio’s, have emerged as strategic engines for workforce orchestration. They are no longer passive systems; they are active decision-support platforms that connect supply, demand, credentials, shift data, and financials into a unified ecosystem. According to Rakowski, healthcare organizations increasingly want to manage all workforce modalities (not just contingent talent) within the same platform so they can optimize deployment, minimize premium labor, and make real-time staffing decisions based on predictive needs.

Integration. Integration is at the center of this evolution. Instead of functioning as standalone systems, VMS platforms now interface with HRIS systems, scheduling software, EMRs, payroll systems, and enterprise financial tools. This two-way data flow transforms the VMS into a true command center capable of providing real-time analytics, workforce forecasting, and proactive talent matching. For healthcare leaders, this is invaluable: sudden patient surges, unit-level census shifts, and seasonal fluctuations can be anticipated and addressed before they escalate into staffing crises.

Artificial intelligence. AI amplifies this capability. AI is rapidly becoming the catalyst for the next generation of VMS, offering powerful applications across clinical and staffing workflows. Trio, for example, is deploying AI across three critical domains: candidate submissions, timecard analysis, and contract interpretation.

AI-driven submission evaluation is perhaps the most transformative. Instead of relying solely on manual review, AI agents analyze job requirements, clinician experience, licensure, certifications, and clinical competence to identify the strongest matches instantly. This not only accelerates hiring but increases precision, meaning better fit, reduced turnover, and safer care environments.

Digital workers automating timecard analysis address another chronic pain point in healthcare. Because many health systems still rely on paper timecards or fragmented systems, managers spend hours verifying accuracy and reconciling discrepancies. AI can instantly scan, validate, and flag anomalies, dramatically reducing workload and improving billing accuracy.

Contract analysis. Contract analysis is the third frontier. Physician locum contracts, in particular, are often complex documents with multiple billing rules, travel policies, and compliance clauses. AI can extract, interpret, and operationalize contract language, ensuring accurate billing and preventing costly errors, which are capabilities that were previously impossible at scale.

Despite the growing power of AI, Trio emphasizes a balanced approach: AI is an enabler, not a replacement. Healthcare staffing relies heavily on trust, relationships, and human judgment. Cultural fit, team compatibility, bedside demeanor, and patient-centered communication cannot be evaluated solely by algorithms. AI handles high-volume, repetitive tasks while humans focus on connection, nuance, and clinical alignment.

Looking ahead, the combination of VMS technology and AI will redefine how healthcare organizations build workforce strategies. We will see advances in predictive analytics that forecast staffing shortages months in advance, AI-enabled clinical skill mapping, demand-driven float pool deployment, and fully integrated visibility across permanent and contingent clinicians. For a sector facing nationwide shortages of nurses and physicians, these innovations are not optional — they are essential.

The healthcare workforce ecosystem is becoming more complex, more flexible, and more data-driven. VMS technology, once seen as a transactional tool, is now the strategic backbone of workforce transformation. As organizations navigate rising shortages, cost pressures, and evolving care models, platforms like Trio are shaping a future where AI, data, and human expertise work together to ensure care delivery remains safe, sustainable, and resilient.

Did you miss Ardent Partners’ recent FOWX podcast featuring a discussion with Kelly Rakowski, CEO of Trio Workforce Solutions? The conversation tackled the impact of the extended workforce in healthcare, the pathways ahead for AI in workforce management, and how VMS platforms are serving as “strategic hubs” for contingent workforce management.

In Part Two of this three-part article series, we highlight the major discussion points and a link to the full event.

The healthcare labor market is undergoing significant change, and organizations are increasingly seeking innovative partners to navigate the pressures of workforce shortages, rising patient demand, and the need for more strategic labor models. Trio Workforce Solutions represents a reinvention of how healthcare organizations can blend technology, workforce intelligence, and vendor ecosystem management into a unified platform. The story of Trio — its origins, evolution, and rebrand — illustrates how the healthcare staffing industry is modernizing to meet today’s complexity with smarter, more integrated solutions.

AHSA and the Evolution of Trio

Trio’s roots date back over 20 years to the formation of American Health Staffing Association (AHSA), a managed services provider (MSP) that initially served healthcare organizations in Michigan before expanding into a national provider. AHSA was distinctive from the start: it specialized exclusively in healthcare and operated a vendor-neutral MSP model, ensuring that clients had access to the broadest, highest-quality supplier network. Its mission centered on standardizing credentialing, elevating candidate quality, improving compliance, and serving as a trusted workforce partner for hospitals and health systems.

As AHSA scaled, the complexity of healthcare workforce needs surged. The organization sought a vendor management system (VMS) that could meet the precision required for clinical staffing — licensure validation, credentialing workflows, skills documentation, and nuanced role requirements. Yet the market lacked a VMS designed specifically for healthcare’s operational and regulatory realities. Instead of adapting generic tools, AHSA made a bold decision: it built its own.

That platform became Trio. Launched in 2018, Trio was intentionally designed around the “three” essential constituencies in the staffing ecosystem: the client, the staffing supplier, and the MSP. The goal was to create an intuitive, healthcare-specific platform that offered a seamless experience for all parties, including clinicians navigating submittals, credentials, and assignments. The company later expanded Trio with specialized locum tenens capabilities, noting that locums staffing lagged behind nursing in digital transformation and required purpose-built functionality.

AHSA and Trio Unite Under One Brand

However, rapid growth created an internal divide. Trio had evolved into a SaaS platform with its own customer base — in some cases independent of the MSP business. Each arm of the company had its own priorities, sometimes competing with one another. Meanwhile, clients were demanding more innovation, more integration, and more ability to manage their entire workforce (not just contingent labor) through a single strategic platform.

Recognizing the shift in market needs, Rakowski and her leadership team united AHSA and Trio under one brand: Trio Workforce Solutions. The rebrand, officially launched in October, reflects a modern, platform-driven organization that integrates technology, data, and services to create a seamless workforce management ecosystem. The goal is not simply to manage contingent staffing, but to power the entire workforce lifecycle — from demand forecasting to talent acquisition, from compliance to analytics, and from labor optimization to supplier performance.

Trio’s platform-centric model allows it to bring innovation to market more quickly while addressing the nuanced needs of healthcare’s workforce environment. The company envisions VMS not as an administrative tool but as a strategic workforce hub. With hospitals increasingly building internal float pools, launching internal travel programs, and assembling their own flexible resource pools, Trio’s platform enables clients to manage these emerging models alongside external contingent labor — within one integrated system. This shift also supports healthcare organizations exploring more self-managed models, giving them control, visibility, and seamless access to their workforce data, even if their partnership model evolves over time.

Preparing for the Complexities of Modern Healthcare

Another key differentiator is Trio’s commitment to the human side of healthcare staffing. Rakowski explained that while technology is essential, healthcare is ultimately a people business. Clinical cultural fit, care team cohesion, patient interaction, and trust remain core criteria for successful placements. To strengthen alignment, Trio has expanded its clinical management team, adding experienced clinicians who help screen candidates, assess fit, and ensure readiness. This enhances matching precision and reduces burden on hiring managers, who historically bore much of the clinical screening responsibility.

As workforce shortages deepen — with expected deficits of up to 15% for registered nurses and more than 100,000 physicians — Trio is positioning itself as an innovation partner prepared for the complexity of modern healthcare. Internal innovation programs, a strong data and AI team, and an integrated services-and-technology model ensure that Trio continues advancing how healthcare systems manage their labor needs at scale.

Trio’s evolution reflects a larger trend in healthcare: the need to bring together multiple workforce solutions into a unified, intelligent platform. The company’s rebrand is more than cosmetic — it symbolizes the future of healthcare workforce management, where technology, human expertise, and trusted partnership converge. As healthcare leaders look ahead, Trio Workforce Solutions stands as an example of how to blend operational precision with modern innovation to support clinical excellence and organizational resilience.

Did you miss Ardent Partners’ recent FOWX podcast featuring a discussion with Kelly Rakowski, CEO of Trio Workforce Solutions? The conversation tackled the impact of the extended workforce in healthcare, the pathways ahead for AI in workforce management, and how VMS platforms are serving as “strategic hubs” for contingent workforce management.

In Part One of this three-part article series, we highlight the major discussion points and a link to the full event.

The healthcare workforce has undergone a remarkable transformation over the past decade, shaped by shifting patient demands, structural workforce shortages, new care delivery models, and the seismic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic. Few industries were as deeply affected as healthcare, where contingent labor (particularly travel nurses and locum tenens physicians) became an essential strategic lever for maintaining operations and protecting patient care. As Kelly Rakowski, CEO of Trio Workforce Solutions, explains, the story of healthcare staffing today cannot be told without understanding the forces that converged before, during, and after the pandemic.

Fragility of the Healthcare Workforce

Even before COVID-19, the use of contingent staffing had been steadily increasing. Healthcare has always faced unpredictable demand, shaped by seasonality, regional demographics, and emergent public health needs. Volume spikes in respiratory illnesses during winter months, fluctuating elective procedure schedules, and migration patterns in states like Florida or Arizona create inherent variability in staffing needs. Rather than staff for the highest-demand peaks (an approach that would be financially unsustainable), health systems historically staffed to the median and relied on contingent clinicians to smooth the variability. Travel nursing emerged as the dominant mechanism for filling these short-term shortages, structured around the familiar 13-week assignment model that historically aligned to maternity leaves and later became the staffing industry standard.

However, a more complex challenge was simultaneously brewing: a widening gap between the supply and demand for clinical talent. Retirements among physicians and nurses were increasing, and post-graduate medical education slots (controlled by federal regulation) limited the influx of new physicians. Nursing schools faced their own bottlenecks, primarily a shortage of qualified faculty. This created structural workforce fragility well before COVID-19 accelerated the crisis.

When the pandemic hit, contingent staffing became a national lifeline. Historic surges in patient acuity required tens of thousands of travel nurses and locum clinicians to rapidly shift to hotspots across the country. At the same time, clinicians were contracting COVID-19 themselves or quarantining, further widening staffing gaps. Utilization skyrocketed, and so did compensation rates, reflecting the risk environment and dire need. Health systems confronted unprecedented expenses while also suspending elective procedures, which is their primary revenue engine.

External Workforce Prioritization

As the pandemic receded, several powerful dynamics persisted. First, burnout skyrocketed. Many clinicians retired early or left the profession entirely, cementing long-term shortages. Second, permanent staff began demanding flexibility similar to the rest of the labor market, catalyzing internal travel programs, float pools, and hybrid workforce models. Third, the visibility of contingent labor costs dramatically increased. Boards of directors and senior executives, many of whom were never historically involved in staffing decisions, now saw workforce resilience as a top organizational priority. Industry surveys of healthcare CEOs repeatedly place workforce challenges at the very top of strategic concerns.

Today, while bill rates have normalized to pre-pandemic levels (adjusted for inflation and new compensation baselines), utilization remains elevated, registering roughly 50% higher than before COVID-19. Health systems are incorporating contingent labor into long-term workforce strategies rather than treating it as a temporary emergency tool. Innovation has accelerated: internal staffing agencies are emerging within large systems, local gig-based marketplaces are gaining traction, and multi-skilled float pools are helping improve flexibility without over-extending permanent staff.

Yet complexity remains exceptionally high. Credentialing, licensure, compliance standards, and cultural fit are all vital, especially because clinical roles involve life-or-death responsibility. Technology is increasingly relied upon to support precision matching, skills verification, experience alignment, and predictive staffing needs. The rise of AI-enhanced tools is helping heal long-standing inefficiencies that were once managed manually across spreadsheets, fragmented systems, and siloed operational teams.

A New Era for Healthcare Staffing

Healthcare’s contingent workforce is no longer a secondary staffing strategy; it is a cornerstone of workforce resilience. As Rakowski emphasizes, the industry must now focus on optimizing the entire workforce, including permanent, local flexible, and contingent, through smarter models, stronger technology, and a more human-centered approach. The pandemic accelerated what was already inevitable: healthcare staffing has entered a new era defined by adaptability, strategic workforce planning, and a commitment to ensuring safe, high-quality care despite ongoing shortages.

The future will belong to organizations that understand how to integrate flexibility with operational excellence — and how to support clinicians with the tools, data, and environments they need to thrive.