If you’re part of the leadership or management team at a healthcare facility, you know the allied health landscape is shifting fast. Whether you need physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, medical imaging staff, or radiation oncology professionals, there are distinct moments when turning to a staffing company makes strategic sense.
Consider using an allied health staffing agency when you are facing:
- A sudden vacancy (leave of absence, resignation, spike in volume) and you need to fill a role quickly so patient care or service levels don’t drop.
- A need for flexible coverage (scale up or down) due to seasonal trends, census variation, or contract coverage demands, without adding permanent headcount.
- A specialized skill or credentialed clinician requirement that your internal recruiting team can’t fill in time.
- A desire to shift the onboarding/workflow burden away from your internal team (screening, credentialing, payroll, workers’ comp, etc.) so your leadership can focus on patient care and strategic growth.
- A scenario where you want to “try before you buy” (e.g., a temp-to-perm approach) to test fit before committing to a full-time hire.
In summary: when time is short, stakes are high, and you prefer a full-service partner to handle the heavy lifting so your core team stays focused.
Top Benefits for Healthcare Facilities
Here’s what you gain when you partner with a boutique, specialist agency like Preferred (versus going it alone or trying to stretch your internal team):
1. Speed & flexibility.
Preferred maintains a large pool of licensed, screened allied-health professionals ready to deploy. That means shorter vacancy periods, fewer service disruptions, and less overtime burden on your permanent staff.
2. Administrative relief + risk mitigation.
Recruiting, screening, credentialing, onboarding, background checks, licensure verification, immunizations—Preferred manages all of it. Because we’re Joint Commission certified, you know compliance is baked in. You transfer the liability and admin overhead to us.
3. Cost savings in hidden areas.
While the hourly bill rate may appear higher than a staff-hire wage, you’re not paying for internal recruiting, job-board advertising, time to hire, onboarding workflows, payroll administration, workers’ comp burden, benefits administration, and lost productivity during long vacancy cycles. You also save on overtime risk, burnout, turnover and patient-safety disruptions when your permanent team is stretched thin.
4. Access to specialty and niche talent.
Because Preferred’s recruiters specialize in allied health disciplines (PT, OT, SLP, Schools, Imaging, and Rad Onc), they understand your facility’s needs and have ready-networks to draw from. That means you don’t just find someone fast, you find someone appropriate.
5. Scalability without long-term commitment.
Need a clinician for an undefined length of time? Need to test a role before hiring permanently? Preferred offers both contract and temp-to-perm options, so you can scale up/down according to census or strategic plan and convert to direct hire later if you choose.
What Is Covered in a Staffing Agency’s Bill Rate?
Here’s a breakdown of what you should expect to be included in the bill rate and what questions to ask to ensure no surprise gaps:
- Sourcing & candidate screening (resume, references)
- License/certification verification, primary‐source checks
- Background checks, drug screens, immunization tracking, OIG/GSA exclusion checks
- Credentialing and privileging packet preparation
- Orientation logistics and facility-specific checklist hand-offs
- Payroll, tax withholding, workers’ compensation insurance
- Professional liability/malpractice coverage via the agency
- 24/7 support for clinician issues and client facility escalations
- Temp-to-perm conversion options (yes, PHS offers permanent placement + temp-to-perm)
- Ability to scale clinicians short-term or long-term, depending on your facility’s need
When the bill rate covers all of the above, you’re getting a full-service partner like Preferred. You can keep your internal team focused on operations and care, rather than recruiting logistics.
Typical Pricing Models & How to Read the Bill
Bill rate (hourly for contract/temporary):
Facilities pay a bill rate that includes the clinician’s pay + the agency’s markup. That markup covers benefits, payroll taxes, workers’ comp, recruiting, onboarding, admin, etc.
Permanent placement/direct hire:
Preferred offers direct hire services and also temp-to-perm options (“try now, hire later”). Placement fees are typically a one-time fee (often a percentage of first-year salary). You’ll want to negotiate terms upfront.
Key to reading the bill rate:
Bill rate = clinician wage + agency markup for all services listed above. When comparing to hiring staff in-house, don’t just compare the wage—you must also account for recruiting, time to hire, benefits, onboarding, turnover risk, and administrative burden.
How to Choose Your Allied Health Partner
When you’re evaluating staffing companies, ask:
- Which allied disciplines do you specialize in (PT/OT/SLP/Imaging/Rad Onc)?
- Do you perform primary-source license verification and ongoing monitoring?
- What specific services are included in your bill rate (payroll, workers’ comp, malpractice coverage, housing/travel if required)?
- What are your current bill rates (for the discipline I need in my location)?
- Do you offer direct-hire and temp-to-perm options, and what are the conversion terms?
- How quickly will you replace a clinician if performance or fit is sub-par?
When you choose a partner like Preferred, one that offers full onboarding logistics, deep allied health recruiter expertise, flexible contract or perm staffing, and a large pre-vet pool of clinicians, you’re not just buying “bodies,” you’re buying responsiveness, stability, and peace of mind.
Quick Checklist for Facility Leadership
- Do I have a current vacancy or anticipated surge in allied health (PT/OT/SLP/Imaging/Rad Onc)?
- Is my internal recruiting team fully equipped to fill this quickly, or do I risk service disruption?
- Do I know the true “all-in cost” of hiring in-house (wage + benefits + onboarding + recruiting + lost productivity)?
- Are all compliance/credentialing/insurance/admin services included in the bill rate?
- Do I have a temp-to-perm strategy if I want to test a clinician before full hire?
If you’re looking for a true partner in allied health staffing, let’s talk. Submit our brief staffing request form or give us a call at (800) 787-6787.