No Backing Out Now – How Ghost RX Nearly Doubled Its Healthcare Professional Starts with RefAssured
In 90 days of using RefAssured:
Increase in Starts
88%
Sales Opt-In Rate
10%
Talent Opt-In Rate
17%
Introduction
Ghost RX, a service-disabled veteran-owned staffing company based in Orlando, Florida has the most powerful of missions – serving those who have served. The small business, which provides contracted healthcare professionals (HCPs) to government healthcare systems including Indian Health Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and Department of Defense health programs, is critically aware of the importance of placing only the highest quality professionals to take care of our nation’s veterans. They understand that the stakes are high, and the impact profound.
Because they work on exclusive government contracts, traditional forms of marketing and demand generation don’t apply to Ghost RX. In fact, unabashedly promoting their services can run afoul of legal and ethical guardrails within government health systems. Furthermore, the agency has a unique challenge in both advocating for their candidates in trying to maximize bill rates, while not pricing their services or their candidates’ pay rates unrealistically, lest they lose the bid.
And since a client can cancel an exclusive contract for cause or opt not to renew it, the threat of competition is ever-present. Agencies that underbid to win contracts and provide less capable talent can then see their pipeline deteriorate if the HCPs don’t meet expectations. Maintaining the right equilibrium is a moving target.
The Challenge
Ghost RX, like many healthcare staffing providers, has been dealt a confusing several years in the wake of the COVID pandemic. Not only have demand and billing rates fluctuated as staffing levels normalized, but the needs and wants of healthcare professionals themselves have evolved amidst ubiquitous digitization and changing work models.
For Tom Enterline, recruiting manager at Ghost RX, candidate engagement with this sought-after demographic has been tricky to navigate of late. “All the stuff that I had been trained to value from the perspective of a candidate – loyalty, follow-through, responsiveness – that sort of went out the door,” he said. “Because demand was so high during COVID, HCPs got used to inflated pay rates. Now, when they see another agency offering a contract for $10,000 a week, they say ‘sorry, I love you but I’m out.’”
As a result, Ghost RX came to the realization that they had a challenge on their hands with HCPs backing out of assignments before starting, or no-showing after accepting a more lucrative competing offer, with no advance notice given to Ghost RX or the client. “How do we as an agency,” said Enterline, “working on exclusive government contracts where we don’t control the bill rate, handle that? Our clients are trusting us to deliver quality talent reliably, but the game has changed.”
On average, only 40% of Ghost RX’s placed candidates would show up to work, due to an expedited recruiting process with limited quality safeguards. And because government agencies had relatively relaxed standards compared to commercial hospital systems, Ghost RX struggled to identify ways to control backouts.
Tom Enterline
Recruiting Manager
Ghost RX
“I was completely wrong to doubt RefAssured, I admit it. As soon as I used the platform, I could see what the hype was about. It was so much quicker than our old process, and the references turned around so efficiently. And most importantly, suddenly we had this unique view into candidate quality with the reference reports and ratings.”
The Solution
Interestingly, while increasing speed is the name of the game for most staffing agencies, especially in healthcare, the nature of Ghost RX’s exclusive government contracts and a different set of vetting standards for talent meant that moving too quickly introduced considerable risk.
And while the agency conducted reference checks, they did so manually of their own volition, since structural requirements such as those from the Joint Commission did not apply to their client base.
“Most of our government clients need three references but those references aren’t often checked,” said Enterline. “And when the client provides the reference form, it’s very much a check-box exercise. As a result, while the process moves quickly, it’s ineffective. We can go far down the path with candidates who aren’t actually engaged, and then they back out.”
In late 2023, Ghost RX’s team attended a healthcare staffing conference and struck up a conversation with the RefAssured team.
Enterline explained: “Our owners, Jake, Mike, and Lori, met the RefAssured team and honestly, it was just good vibes. They saw the RefAssured reference checking platform in action and thought it could make a big difference for our business, and they loved the team. They respected the fact that RefAssured has an experienced team, and they understand staffing because they all lived it. Even after a single conversation, they were like ‘these guys get it.’”
But Enterline and the recruiting team he managed weren’t quite so easily convinced.
“To be honest, I was skeptical when they told me we should start using RefAssured,” he said. “It’s always nerve-wracking when you have to pass your work to someone else. We had a manual process and we knew it wasn’t working the way we wanted it to, but any sort of change can be scary at first. Because it’s change. That’s a normal reaction.”
The Result
Once Enterline started using the RefAssured platform and experienced the difference it made to have an automated reference checking platform seamlessly integrated with Ghost RX’s applicant tracking system, Zenople, he quickly changed his view.
“I was completely wrong to doubt RefAssured, I admit it,” says Enterline. “As soon as I used the platform, I could see what the hype was about. It was so much quicker than our old process, and the references turned around so efficiently. And most importantly, suddenly we had this unique view into candidate quality with the reference reports and ratings.”
His recruiters felt the same way. Organization-wide adoption is currently at 90+%.
“Before, even candidates who met the minimum requirements could make it to placement, and those weren’t the right candidates for the job,” he continued. “With RefAssured, we had a trustworthy way to determine not only who was truly qualified, but also who was engaged and committed to the process. RefAssured’s built-in quality assurance features and fraud detection triggers also helped us make sure that the people we were putting on assignment weren’t just the best at what they do but were in it to win it.”
As a result of using RefAssured, Ghost RX dramatically reduced their backouts, going from a 40% start rate to a 75% start rate in just three months.
Enterline was especially excited by the mobile-first nature of launching and completing references. “Let’s be honest, people don’t like to talk on the spot. Conducting reference checks through text or email is way easier for the candidate and way more comfortable for the people sharing their experience working with that person. It’s so quick to complete but it tells us so much.”
He also expressed appreciation for the candidate self-reference component of the process, which is unique to RefAssured. Enterline explained: “You can tell a lot about a candidate and how interested they are in your agency or in the job you’re placing them for by how responsive they are, and how responsive their reference givers are. And with RefAssured, maybe it's just how it’s designed, but everyone’s pretty honest, you know? If someone is just rating themselves an expert on everything, then they’re clearly not taking it seriously. Seeing the difference between self-ratings and external ratings is super helpful.”
RefAssured’s built-in warm lead generation features have also generated major value for Ghost RX. Because the RefAssured process allows for references to opt-in for further conversations, Ghost RX has grown their qualified pipeline as a result of using the platform – requiring no effort on the part of their recruiters and salespeople. Ghost RX currently has an impressive 10% opt-in rate for sales prospects and 17% opt-in rate for talent.
Finally, by widening the aperture of qualified talent through RefAssured, Ghost RX is able to reduce bias in hiring and find A+ candidates who would otherwise be ignored through traditional resumes and interviews.
“I’ve personally seen references come back that prove a candidate is amazing,” said Enterline, “but when I spoke to them on the phone initially, they were shy or nervous. If not for the RefAssured reference, I might have dismissed them unfairly, when in reality they’re amazing at what they do, and our clients love them once they get on assignment. That’s why it’s so important to do the reference check and do it early.”
Final Thoughts
For Ghost RX, there is no room for fluff. Their competitive differentiator is in their batting average and commitment to doing right by their clients and candidates.
For clients, while the bidding process depends on a federal supply schedule, once an exclusive contract is awarded, Ghost RX rolls out the proverbial red carpet. “We set up calls every week and track the performance of our placed candidates. There’s a report card with government agency suppliers called a CPAR, and we have the highest rating you can get.”
By using RefAssured, Ghost RX has been able to increase client satisfaction, as their customers love the ease, insight, and value of the reference reports. “We submitted a RefAssured reference report to one of our VA client contacts and asked her what she thought of it,” said Enterline. “She said not only did she love it, but she told us to absolutely make sure we’re including those reports in all of our proposals moving forward.”
“The word has gotten out that we’re not messing around,” said Enterline. “We will bat 1000. If you need a contract, Ghost RX will get it for you. And we don’t put end dates in our contracts for candidates. We want them to stay for as long or as little time as works for them, as long as they’re professional about it. We are with them every step of the way.”
And the agency expects that their candidates will be equally committed to success and to the broader purpose of the partnership. Enterline continued: “We run a tight ship. If a candidate isn’t responsive or engaged, then we say ‘either get on the train or don’t,’ but nothing is going to get in the way of our mission to provide the best candidates in a timely manner to take care of veterans. That’s much bigger than us.”
About Ghost RX
Ghost RX is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business headquartered in Orlando, Florida specializing in the provision of contract healthcare providers for temporary assignments with Indian Health Service, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and DoD health programs across the United States. Ghost RX has earned an excellent reputation for providing experienced, competent health care professionals to fill commercial and government staffing needs.
Ready to discover supercharged, data-backed reference results?
RefAssured can take your references to the
next level.