How Gracedale Nursing Home (Nazareth, PA) modernized its workforce, converted 126 clinicians in 30 days, and unlocked $3.5M in annualized savings with WAE’s Priority Resource Pool™.
The Future of Long-Term Care Staffing Is Already Here
Across the long-term care industry, administrators are facing the same dilemma: rising agency markups, shrinking budgets, and burnout from constant staffing chaos. Managing dozens of agency relationships has become its own full-time job, leaving little room for what matters most: resident care.
But one facility decided to change the playbook.
In just 30 days, Gracedale Nursing Home, a county-owned long-term care facility, converted 126 clinicians into its own Priority Resource Pool™, consolidated 25+ agencies, and unlocked $3.5 million in projected annualized savings. The result wasn’t just lower costs, it was proof that workforce modernization is possible in long-term care.
Read the Gracedale case study ->
What Gracedale Proved: Control Is Possible
Long-term care facilities often feel trapped by the staffing ecosystem. Traditional MSPs and agencies hold the data, the contracts, and the leverage. When 70% or more of your workforce comes from external vendors, you lose control of costs, scheduling, and even compliance.
Gracedale faced exactly that problem. The facility relied on over two dozen agencies, each operating with separate systems and processes. Administrative staff were managing schedules manually, compliance was fragmented, and agency markups were eroding budgets.
By partnering with WAE, Gracedale brought everything under one platform, built by operators who’ve managed more than 1 million placements over 18 years. Within a month, they consolidated all staffing activity, standardized rates, and built their own internal resource pool. This wasn’t theoretical change. It was operational transformation.
Inside WAE’s Workforce Modernization Model
Gracedale’s turnaround wasn’t about adding another system. It was about rethinking how workforce control should work.
WAE’s operator-built platform replaces traditional agency dependency with a vendor-neutral MSP model designed specifically for healthcare and long-term care facilities. The approach centers on three pillars:
1. Priority Resource Pool™
Facilities can convert agency staff into their own branded internal pool. Clinicians keep their pay rates, but the facility eliminates a lot of unnecessary agency markup, often reducing costs by 30% or more.
For clinicians, it means stability and priority scheduling. For administrators, it means consistent coverage and fewer compliance headaches.
2. Vendor-Neutral MSP
Traditional MSPs are often owned by staffing agencies, creating conflicts of interest. WAE’s vendor-neutral model eliminates that problem. All agencies can participate on equal terms, and the facility finally controls rates, credentials, and scheduling through one system.
3. Data-Driven Insights
WAE’s transparent reliability scoring system tracks attendance, punctuality, and completion rates for every worker. Employers don’t just see a resume, they see performance proof (that’s been tracked across multiple employers and jobs). This data-driven approach reduces no-shows, improves retention, and gives managers confidence that shifts will be filled by dependable talent.
4. Real-Time Technology
Built for lightly staffed admin teams, WAE’s platform centralizes scheduling, credentialing, and PBJ reporting, all in one dashboard. With AI-enhanced rostering and forecasting, facilities can anticipate shortages before they happen, not after.
Why This Matters for Long-Term Care
Gracedale’s success demonstrates a clear path forward: modernization doesn’t mean replacing people, it means empowering them.
Administrators gain visibility across their workforce. Clinicians get stability and predictability. Residents benefit from continuity of care. And leadership can finally align staffing performance with financial goals.
In an industry where mandated ratios and cost pressures collide daily, the ability to take back control isn’t just a competitive advantage, it’s survival.
A Model for the Future
What makes Gracedale’s story so powerful is how replicable it is. The challenges they faced: agency overreliance, rising labor costs, compliance strain, are shared by nearly every long-term care facility in the U.S.
By modernizing their staffing model, they didn’t just save millions; they built resilience.
This is what workforce modernization looks like:
- One platform managing every agency
- Immediate 30% cost reduction potential
- Clinicians retained and redeployed in days
- Real-time compliance built in
- A facility finally back in control
Gracedale’s success signals a turning point for the industry: technology built by operators, for operators, can solve staffing challenges that once felt unfixable.
The Takeaway
Gracedale’s experience shows that workforce modernization isn’t a future concept — it’s here now.
With the right technology and an operator-built approach, long-term care facilities can stabilize staffing, improve continuity of care, and reclaim millions in lost budget.
If you’re ready to see what that could look like for your organization, explore how WAE’s Priority Resource Pool™ and vendor-neutral MSP model are reshaping staffing for long-term care.
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Read the full Gracedale case study to see how workforce modernization really works.
Case Study: WAE + Gracedale Nursing Home Case Study
