Conexus Medical Staffing Firm Named #4 of 2020 Fastest Growing Staffing Agencies by Staffing Industry Analysts
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Rank: 4
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Top staffing segment(s) served – Travel Nursing
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2019 US staffing revenue – $20.1 million
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Compound annual growth rate – 62.1%
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Website: www.conexusmedstaff.com
The shareholders in Conexus MedStaff weren’t always in healthcare staffing; initially, they had an oil and gas staffing firm with $70 million annual in revenue. However, in 2010 they started a new company aimed at healthcare staffing.
“We felt there were a lot of skills [from staffing] the oil and gas sector that would be transferable to healthcare,” CEO Andrew Moreton says. For example, the company had experience moving workers around different countries to work in oil and gas. That skill could also be used to bring nurses from one country to work in another.
Today, the company’s business in the US recruits nurses from outside the country and put them to work here. Its process is “end-to-end” — it recruits the nurses, assists them through immigration and places them in organizations in the US and then supports them throughout their contracts.
Conexus also provides a mix of nurses who have been educated outside the US and those who have been educated inside the US. Overall, Conexus brings in nurses from 50 different countries.
Moreton notes it’s a big commitment that nurses make to move from their countries, and the length of assignment for this staffing model is longer than that of a traditional travel nurse. Assignments run between two and 2.5 years.
Moreton notes market demand is helping drive growth. “The nursing shortage in the United States means looking at alternative staffing solutions is becoming more important,” he says.
Moreton also cites relationships with clients and high retention rates for both nurses and members of the company’s internal team. The high retention rate can be attributed to a strong culture, a clear vision and ongoing professional development of both nurses and the internal team.
As with other healthcare staffing firms, Conexus is also operating in the environment of Covid-19. The company has not experienced extreme increases and decreases in demand that some might have experienced during the pandemic, Cathy Vollmer, VP of operations, says. The company was not distracted by rapid response or moving to other services such as providing personnel to check temperatures of people entering buildings.
On the other hand, the impact of Covid-19 could increase demand for nurses as some nurses could suffer from burnout and healthcare organizations begin to take a look at their staffing needs on a longer-term basis. Some hospitals may be behind in their hiring as they deal with Covid-19.
“I think long term, it’s going to create a larger demand for healthcare professionals,” Vollmer says.
For its own long-term plans, Conexus has a strategic plan to achieve $100 million in revenue through continued organic growth of workforce solutions and strategic acquisitions.
“The team we have is really strong,” Moreton says, adding the company’s vision of providing quality nurses in local communities is also rewarding work while being a part of the company’s mission.
