Planning That Supports Sustainable Care Delivery

Build a workforce plan that aligns talent supply with care demand—so you can improve access, strengthen performance, and manage labor costs over time.

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Workforce Planning Breakdowns:

Reactive staffing decisions driven by vacancies instead of forecasted demand

Limited visibility into specialty-specific workforce gaps and future capacity needs

Misalignment between workforce investments, care delivery strategy, and financial goals

Inefficient reliance on premium labor and escalating labor costs

Inconsistent physician and APP coverage across markets and sites of care

The Growing Gap Between Care Demand & Workforce Supply

Effective workforce planning is essential for health systems seeking to balance access, quality, and financial sustainability while competing for scarce clinical and non-clinical talent across markets and specialties.

When workforce supply and demand are not clearly forecasted, organizations are forced into reactive decisions—overhiring in some areas, understaffing in others, and relying on premium labor to fill gaps. The impact is felt in patient access, care team burnout, productivity, and financial performance.

Partnering with SullivanCotter

Turning Strategy Into a Workforce Plan You Can Execute

Workforce planning requires more than faster recruiting. It demands a disciplined, data-driven approach that connects care demand, provider capacity, service line needs, and affiliation strategy to the realities of the labor market.

SullivanCotter helps organizations translate evolving care models and strategic priorities into clear workforce capacity and capability requirements over time. Our approach treats workforce planning as an ongoing discipline—not a one-time exercise. By embedding practical planning processes into strategic and operational workflows, we help leaders identify workforce gaps and assess trade-offs. The result is actionable solutions that align talent decisions with demand, affordability, and organizational priorities.

We also support organizations as they evaluate provider affiliation and alignment models, helping leaders understand how different approaches to physician and APP integration can impact access, productivity, cost, and long-term sustainability.

Pillars of Our Planning:

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Proprietary Health Care Workforce Benchmarks

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Provider Supply-and-Demand Insight

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Scenario Modeling

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Strategies Informed By Behavioral Science

How We Help

SullivanCotter provides the data, tools, and advisory support needed to build workforce plans that reflect real-world care delivery demands and labor market constraints to help organizations architect a sustainable workforce.

Provider Needs Assessment

Assess physician and APP supply and demand by specialty and geography to identify workforce gaps and forecast future provider needs—down to a ZIP-code level.

Workforce Planning & Scenario Modeling

Develop workforce forecasts and scenario-based plans that align enterprise, clinical, and administrative workforce needs with organizational strategy, growth, and future demand.

Provider Affiliation & Optimization

Evaluate physician and APP affiliation strategies and operating models to strengthen alignment, improve performance, and support sustainable growth across employed and affiliated provider structures.

Talent Strategy & Capability Planning

Clarify the capabilities needed for future success and align workforce strategy, talent systems, and leadership practices to improve execution, retention, and long-term performance.

People Analytics & Workforce Intelligence

Use workforce analytics and benchmarking to understand workforce structure, cost drivers, productivity trends, and performance indicators—supporting more confident workforce decisions.

“Workforce planning requires a longer-term, holistic approach—one that integrates providers, clinical and non-clinical staff, and leverages data, technology, and AI to align capacity with future care demand.”

— Rob Moss, Principal, SullivanCotter

Insight Spotlight

Provider Needs Assessment

Workforce planning is only as strong as the assumptions behind it. SullivanCotter’s Provider Needs Assessment helps organizations move beyond vacancy-based staffing decisions by evaluating current provider capacity, market dynamics, and future demand drivers.

By integrating specialty-level insight with care delivery trends and community need, we help leaders anticipate where coverage challenges may emerge and build targeted strategies to support access, growth, and long-term sustainability.

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Surveys: Make Insight Part of the Plan

Explore SullivanCotter’s comprehensive survey data—including compensation, workforce, and performance benchmarks—to inform workforce planning decisions and support operating model and care delivery evolution.

Workforce Metrics Benchmark Survey

As health care organizations seek to optimize care delivery and improve performance, effectively managing workforce size, shape, and complexity remains key. This survey helps organizations understand how their workforce size, distribution, and cost compare to market practices.

Health Care Workforce Premium Bundle

Includes six survey reports: Advanced Practice Provider Compensation and Productivity, Health Care Management and Executive Compensation, Health Care Staff Compensation, Medical Group Executive Compensation, Physician Compensation and Productivity, and Physician Executive Compensation.

Advanced Practice Provider Leadership and Organizational Survey

As health care organizations seek to transform care delivery by improving access, quality, services, and affordability, supporting the advanced practice provider (APP) workforce and optimizing leadership practices are essential. This survey highlights leadership roles, integration strategies, and workplace infrastructure for better APP workforce management.

Pulse on the Industry

Stay up to date with the latest research and thought leadership from SullivanCotter on workforce planning, workforce analytics, operating models, retention drivers, and organizational performance.

Let’s Architect Your Solution

Ready to align workforce supply with care demand—and create a plan that supports access, affordability, and long-term sustainability? Contact SullivanCotter to get started.

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