Is your hospital or healthcare facility overwhelmed by contract staffing needs? Finding qualified contingent workforce candidates can be a huge job, and you may not have the time or talent to get the job done correctly.

There are options available to help you with recruitment, onboarding, cost controls, and more.

But should you go with an MSP or a VMS? How are they different? And is one better than the other?

We’ll help you understand the difference between an MSP and a VMS, which one is better for your facility, and why you’re probably better off combining the two. 

We’ll answer your questions about healthcare VMS vs. MSP, including key differences and which is right for your facility.

Table of Contents

• VMS vs. MSP: Explaining the Difference 
• What Is an MSP?
• What Is a VMS?
• VMS and MSP: Key Differences
• MSP vs. VMS: Which Service Is Right for Your Facility?
• The Benefits of Combining an MSP and a VMS
• Trusted Managed Services — Offering a Comprehensive and Customizable Solution to Your Facility’s Staffing Challenges

VMS vs. MSP: Explaining the Difference

What is the difference between an MSP and a VMS?

A Vendor Management System (VMS) and Managed Service Provider (MSP) are both beneficial for managing contingent workforces. But people often get confused about who does what and how they work together within the workplace.

If you think of an MSP as an overarching business management solution, picture a VMS as one of the core elements that support it.

A VMS is one solution of many holistic contingent workforce strategies offered by an MSP.

What Is an MSP?

A Managed Service Provider, or MSP, is a cost-cutting solution to your facility’s staffing challenges. 

Healthcare MSPs are third-party businesses that streamline operations by managing specific departments on behalf of a facility. MSPs often provide staffing solutions by connecting vendors and contingent labor with hiring departments.

They offer many benefits to the facilities that use them. 

For one, with their recruitment outsourcing, they’ll decrease the amount your healthcare facility spends filling staff vacancies. Once they help you fill those positions, the streamlined onboarding process means that new hires can get to work sooner and your operation will soon be chugging along like a well-oiled machine.

This leads to increased staff retention — because who doesn’t want to work at a well-run organization? — and reduced labor costs wasted on constant rehiring and training.

Speaking of saving money, an MSP can also assist you with improved vendor cost controls to cut waste and increase profits.

What Is a VMS?

A Vendor Management System, or VMS, provides healthcare facilities with access to clinical and non-clinical contingent staff sourced from various vendors.

A VMS is an easy-to-use solution that lets businesses:

• Automate transactions
• Collect requisitions
• Facilitate contingent worker onboarding
• Store and collect data from every step of the hiring process; and
• Collate metrics like candidate information, payroll, and invoice data, and spend tracking

A VMS can make life easier by automating and streamlining every step of the sourcing, acquiring, managing, and payment process of temporary workers.

VMS and MSP: Key Differences

We’ve explained what each of these systems does and how they work together, but here’s some more information to help you understand how they are different.

Access to Expert Human Support

One of the key differences between an MSP and a VMS is that a Managed Service Provider is run by people, but supported by technology. 

In comparison, a VMS is the software system that your business can use, but it doesn’t necessarily come with real people to help you manage and thoroughly understand it.

Access to Detailed Workforce Analytics

A VMS can provide you with superior in-depth competitor analytics like:

• Reports on spend utilization to help you track budgeting
• Average bill rates in your area to help you stay competitive
• Staff headcounts and sourcing efficiency data
• And more

If you only have VMS software and not the MSP component, someone at your company would need to run and interpret these reports. Working with an MSP like Trusted Managed Services means you have someone to handle that part of the equation for you.

A Holistic Workforce Solution

A VMS is a useful software tool that helps with storage and streamlining. But without it, other people and departments still have to do all the work.

With an MSP, you have access to a holistic workforce solution in the form of:

• Recruitment
• Contract setup
• Management
• Consolidated billing and payroll
• And more

Having a VMS that you don’t know how to use is kind of like a homeowner facing a DIY project with a full toolbox and no knowledge of what to do with any of them.

Ability To Decrease Internal Burdens

While a VMS is a great tool, someone still has to manage and utilize the software. An MSP takes care of this for you so your internal staff can focus their efforts elsewhere and not feel overloaded by responsibilities. 

An MSP can take over the work of entire departments — such as Human Resources, IT, and billing — to save your organization time and money.

MSP vs. VMS: Which Service Is Right for Your Facility?

Meeting contingent worker staffing goals can be an overwhelming task — one that requires a lot of legwork and focus. If your company doesn’t have sufficient HR staff or resources for candidate recruitment, getting outside help can be a lifesaver.

But should you go with just a VMS, an MSP, or a combination of the two? Your choice depends on the specific needs of your business.

Advantages of Using an MSP

If your HR department is understaffed or having trouble filling open positions, an MSP is probably the right fit for you.

Larger healthcare facilities often benefit from partnering with an MSP because they work with outside vendors to find top talent to fill positions within the company. Any organization that needs a lot of contract workers can save time and money by passing this responsibility on to someone else. 

But the best MSPs, like Trusted Managed Services, provide these services while also giving you the benefit of a quality VMS. We use Magnit, a best-in-class Vendor Management System.

We’d love to show you how using an MSP that gives you access to a VMS can help your organization with efficiency, optimization, and cost savings. Contact us today to request a demo.

Advantages of Using a VMS

If you need help with recruitment or finding contingent candidates, a VMS may be the right solution for you. It lets you stay in control of the process and work with vendors while streamlining the onboarding process and easily storing all relevant information.

When you use a VMS, your candidates will be able to speed through onboarding and get to work sooner, which not only saves your facility money but also tends to improve patient care and services.

The Benefits of Combining an MSP and a VMS

VMS vs. MSP — why just pick one when you can have both? Top-notch MSPs utilize vendor management systems to help take the responsibility of hiring, storage, and the onboarding process off your plate so you can spend more time doing the other parts of your job and save money in the process.

Whether you outsource your hiring process to an MSP, streamline it with a VMS, or optimize by using both, your HR department will thank you and your healthcare facility will thrive.

Combines Technology With Expertise

The ability to use cutting-edge software in combination with expert knowledge allows you to:

• Use available data to make decisions
• Identify areas where vendor management can be improved
• Streamline costs
• Have access to a steady stream of contract workers

Combining this technology with a top-notch MSP to run it for you will allow your company to operate smoothly without as much effort on the part of your staff.

Your HR Department Will Be Thankful

Engaging with an MSP in combination with a VMS is one of the most cost-efficient and effective ways for any healthcare facility to source and manage its workforce. 

Overworked HR departments can only benefit from a streamlined hiring and onboarding process. And having access to top talent through your MSP will make your organization better.

Trusted Managed Services — Offering a Comprehensive and Customizable Solution to Your Facility’s Staffing Challenges

Trusted Managed Services gives you all the benefits of working with a healthcare Managed Service Provider while also granting you access to Magnit, one of the best Vendor Management Systems in the world.

A quality MSP can help save healthcare facilities time and money. They can also reduce stress caused by hospital administrators, nursing managers, and HR directors trying to handle everything related to staffing and vendors themselves.

If managing contingent staff isn’t a strength for members of your organization, you should look into using an MSP. Making an initial investment will not only save you time and money but can also lead to increased revenue in the long run.

Let Trusted Managed Services help your facility get on track with compliance, paperwork, hiring, and more. Contact us today and request a demo.