Kamana Health released this week a call for nurses and allied health professionals around the country to help fill critical shortages in healthcare staffing amidst the COVID-19 health crisis.
The Richmond-based company runs a software platform that connects traveling nurses and other work-seeking health professionals with healthcare providers while managing screening, staffing and on-boarding processes.
According to their COVID-19 Action Response Plan, healthcare providers and staffing agencies will be able to recruit from Kamana's network of nurses and allied health professionals without the fees usually associated with using the platform. By using the platform for free, nurses and allied health professionals with an active license and recent experience will be able to connect with hospitals around the country that are experiencing these staffing shortages as hospital beds continue to fill up.
"Our actions will undoubtedly evolve as the situation changes, but in short we are dedicated to doing everything we can to support healthcare workers, staffing agencies, and hospitals alike as they respond to a significant uptick in patients," co-founder and CEO Dave Dworschak told Inno. "Seeing how quickly everybody in the healthcare staffing industry is pulling together is inspiring. The industry can be quite competitive at times and we’re thrilled to see everybody working alongside each other to prepare for a worsening situation."
Dworschak also mentioned that Kamana is in the process of fast-tracking several partnerships that could speed up the implementation of their technology throughout the industry during the coronavirus pandemic.
Kamana will connect professionals with agencies seeking extra hands based on qualifications and location preferences. Healthcare staffing agencies will be able to use the platform completely free of charge and all nurses and allied health professionals that are new to the program will be quickly screened and on-boarded to start filling vacancies as soon as possible.
"One major challenge will be the massive need for the migration of healthcare workers to fill critical shortages in the nation’s hardest hit areas," co-founder John Modica, RN, told Inno. "Our healthcare infrastructure is not setup to quickly onboard healthcare workers and get them through the doors of hospitals. The Kamana team, along with many other organizations across the healthcare space, are working around the clock to provide technology and network support that will help speed things up."
The program is being rolled out nationwide, and at this time Kamana is already working with healthcare professionals and staffing agencies across the country, including in Virginia, California and Alaska, to fill staffing needs.
Dworschak also says more updates and announcements will be made on their website and social media channels over the next week. Additionally, he issued a call for residents to reach out to health professionals in their networks, especially respiratory therapists,
"This is an all hands on deck situation and Kamana is here to lend its support in every way it can," he said.
