Travis Schugg – VieMed Healthcare Staffing

Travis Schugg, Vice President of Staffing Services at VieMed Healthcare Staffing ("VHS"), joins Discover Lafayette to share how VHS utilizes technology to meet the burgeoning staffing needs across all healthcare specialties in the U. S. He is responsibile for steering the company's long-term strategic direction and day-to-day operations.  Travis moved to Lafayette in 2021 to join VHS after a meeting in Phoenix with VieMed founder, Casey Hoyt. The challenges of recruiting and retaining staff during COVID were issues everyone was trying to figure out, when all of a sudden you couldn't go into people's homes to care for their medical needs. Travis says that respiratory therapists and ICU nurses were the hottest commodities out there at that time. The two men picked each other's brains on this topic: Travis had fifteen years experience in recruiting, and Casey, along with Michael Moore and the VieMed team, were building the best in class respiratory therapy in the U. S. "Over the course of our thirty minute meeting, it became a chess match as to who could pick each other's brain best!" A few weeks after that initial encounter, Travis reached out to Casey Hoyt and jokingly said, "I think I can do some damage with you!" Casey asked him to create a business plan for VieMed to get into the medical healthcare staffing arena. Travis came up with a 50-page business plan and they were off to creating VHS. VHS is a complementary service for VieMed. Historically, healthcare systems, government agencies, and organizations like VieMed would recruit through their Human Resource departments, posting a job and hoping people would apply. "We flipped the script. Recruitment should be more on the offensive, it should be outbound. We promote our brand....we don't just sit and wait for people to apply." VHS started out by visiting every hospital in Louisiana and telling their story. Then they spread across the Gulf Region. Today, just a bit over two short years after inception, VHS recruits for positions open in Massachusetts, Ohio, Vermont, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, North Carolina, and other places across the U. S. VHS has staff in 15 states, and is building organically. Travis believes that VHS offers the best recruitment and workforce team anywhere between Dallas and Atlanta, South of Nashville, being based right here in Lafayette LA. The main specialties in which VHS currently recruits are in nursing, social workers (public and private sector), respiratory therapy, and physicians. VHS also recruits in the allied care fields for workers in pharmacy, imaging and lab techs. They serve employers needing assistance with locum tenens and correctional health positions.There are currently 2400 jobs and when you visit https://jobs.viemedstaffing.com/, you will see an incredible listing of jobs available. Staffing is a $170 billion industry and healthcare staffing accounts for $44-45 billion of that number. It is a unique niche that has been waiting to be met. VHS is growing as it helps their clients, both practitioners and health facilities, by getting to understand their clients' needs. The "why" behind a hiring allows VHS to recruit more successfully and meet the individual needs of each client. Travis explained that the health industry has changed dramatically regarding outside contract help. Fifteen years ago, people wanted a hospital with very few contract workers. The barrier has broken down and this mindset has flipped. Studies show that institutions with a more diverse workforce have better health outcomes for their patients. The contract workers have experienced more, worked in different settings across the country, and bring a plethora of skills to the job setting. Today, facilities are keeping 20- 30% of their workforce as contract labor, and thes health contractors fill in as needed, on weekends, nights, or other, which benefits everyone involved. A new dynamic is that many professionals want to tr...