Workforce Advisory

Labor is your biggest cost.
It's also your most complex.

We help health systems build smarter, more sustainable workforce models — reducing premium labor spend, improving productivity, and protecting the people who deliver care.

Talk to our workforce team →

The reality health systems are living

What we're hearing from leaders right now

  • Premium labor costs that spiked during COVID and never fully came back down
  • Overtime and agency spend that's become normalized in the budget — and accepted as unavoidable
  • Difficulty forecasting staffing needs with any reliability
  • High turnover driving constant recruiting and onboarding costs
  • Leaders who want to right-size but can't see clearly where to start

The real impact

  • 15–25%

    Premium labor can represent 15–25% of total labor spend at some systems — a number that compounds year over year

  • $40K–$100K

    Turnover costs range from $40K to $100K per nurse depending on specialty — and most systems are losing staff faster than they can onboard replacements

  • ↓ Margin

    Without data-driven staffing models, decisions stay reactive — and margin doesn't improve until labor is addressed alongside supply chain and revenue

What we focus on

Practical, people-first strategies that reduce unnecessary spend and build workforce models that actually hold up over time.

Premium Labor Reduction

We help health systems systematically reduce reliance on travel nurses, agency staff, and overtime — without creating dangerous staffing gaps or burning out your permanent team.

Workforce Analytics & Visibility

Most systems don't have a clear picture of where labor dollars are actually going. We build the data foundation so leaders can make informed, confident decisions.

Productivity & Staffing Models

We work with operational leaders to develop evidence-based staffing models that align labor to actual patient volume — reducing waste without compromising care quality.

Turnover & Retention Strategy

High turnover is expensive and destabilizing. We help identify the root causes and work with leadership on practical strategies to improve retention where it matters most.

Workforce Governance

Clear accountability, escalation paths, and reporting structures so workforce decisions are made strategically — not in a vacuum or in a crisis.

How we engage

Client results

New England Health System
$27.5M

Projected labor productivity savings by year two

Implemented data-driven staffing models across multiple service lines — reducing premium labor dependency while maintaining care quality standards.

Could your workforce model be working harder for you? Let's find out →
Regional Health System
↓

Measurable premium labor reduction

Reduced premium labor spend within 12 months — without increasing permanent staff overtime or impacting patient satisfaction scores.

Could your workforce model be working harder for you? Let's find out →
Multi-Hospital Network
👁

Real-time labor visibility — for the first time

Built a workforce governance structure from the ground up, giving leadership real-time visibility into labor spend across the system — enabling confident, proactive decisions instead of reactive ones.

Could your workforce model be working harder for you? Let's find out →

Who you'll be working with

Sherilynn Quist, Workforce Advisory Lead, Optum Advisory

Sherilynn Quist

Workforce Advisory Lead — Optum Advisory

Sherilynn brings deep expertise in healthcare workforce strategy, helping health systems move from reactive staffing decisions to proactive, data-driven models. Her work focuses on reducing premium labor dependency, improving retention, and building the governance structures that make sustainable change possible.

With 25+ years of healthcare operations consulting, her engagements consistently deliver $20–50M in labor savings and 15–30% reductions in premium labor costs — with typical client ROI of 4:1 to 8:1. Sherilynn holds an MBA from Georgetown University.

🔗 Connect on LinkedIn

Want to connect with Sherilynn's team?

Get in touch

Common questions