When agency fails: an analysis of the association between hospital agency staffing and quality outcomes. June 12, 2024

https://psnet.ahrq.gov/issue/when-agency-fails-analysis-association-between-hospital-agency-staffing-and-quality-outcomes When agency fails: an analysis of the association between hospital agency staffing and quality outcomes. Beauvais B, Pradhan R, Ramamonjiarivelo Z, et al. Risk Manag Healthc Policy. 2024;17:1361-1372. While staffing shortages in hospitals have existed for years, they were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many hospitals use agency, or temporary, staff to fill these gaps. This study used national data to explore the association of use of agency staff and hospital quality measures. The results demonstrate that increased use of agency staff is associated with decreased performance in most quality measures, including Hospital Compare star rating and Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Total Performance Score (TPS). There was no association with hospital-wide all-cause readmission rate.