Rapid Screening Success: How SSM Health Moved from Exploration to Value in Record Time

High-volume hiring is a constant reality in healthcare, and the margin for error is small. Recruiters are expected to move fast, uphold compliance, and still deliver a thoughtful candidate experience.

For SSM Health, a large, multi-state Catholic health system with 23 hospitals, more than 650 medical offices, and over 40,000 employees, that pressure was becoming unsustainable in some of their highest-volume roles.

During an IAMPHENOM session, Cassie Wozniak, System Director - Talent Attraction at SSM Health, shared how the organization implemented Phenom X+ Screening in just a few weeks and saw clear results in the first 30 days.

Watch the full session, or read the highlights below!

What high-volume hiring challenges did SSM Health face?

Wozniak explained that the issue wasn’t a lack of applicants, but rather volume that was overwhelming recruiter capacity.

“Recruiters were spending tons of time reviewing applications, trying to figure out where the most qualified candidates were,” she recalled. Even after identifying strong applicants, recruiters still had to manually screen candidates and then coordinate next steps with hiring managers, which was further slowing down the process.

Aside from frustrating recruiters, the lag also created a poor experience for candidates.   SSM Health had previously tried another vendor’s virtual interview tool for high-volume roles, but adoption never stuck. The process required recruiters to build screening questionnaires requisition by requisition, making it difficult to scale. Completion rates remained low, and recruiters often reverted to phone screens.

“We’d send the screen to candidates, and then they’d fall off the face of the earth,” she recalled.

Without automation or a clear recruiter value, adoption declined. “They thought, ‘This tool’s not helping me. I’m just going to go back to my old ways,” Wozniak noted.

What made Phenom’s automated screening different?

The company began exploring Phenom X+ Screening after identifying clear gaps in recruiter capacity and candidate experience.

One major differentiator was speed. Conversations began in the second week of December, and the organization went live on January 13 — no small feat considering the holiday timing

“It was a very quick and seamless process,” Wozniak recalled.

Instead of rolling screening out everywhere, SSM Health focused on three high-demand job areas where recruiters were struggling the most. That decision allowed the team to move fast without overcomplicating change management.

How did SSM Health use screening automation to reduce recruiter workload?

The team built screening templates aligned to their highest-volume roles and introduced automation where it mattered most.

They added knockout questions to automatically screen out candidates who didn’t meet minimum requirements. “Recruiters didn’t even have to review those candidates,” Wozniak noted.

They also implemented scored questions, which allowed recruiters to quickly prioritize candidates. Wozniak described how this helped bucket applicants into “gold, silver, and bronze medalists,” making it easier to decide who should move forward first.

Instead of manually assigning screening steps, questionnaires were automatically tied to job profiles. “Instead of going one by one, adding recs, we could do it all in one swift movement,” she recalled.

How did screening automation improve the candidate experience?

Candidate transparency was a major focus for SSM Health.

From the moment a candidate applied, screening invitations were automatically sent. Candidates could see exactly where they were in the process at every step.

“They know exactly where they’re at in the journey,” Wozniak said.

Flexibility also played a role, particularly in healthcare. Candidates could respond using video or audio, depending on their situation.

“In healthcare, especially with nurses working night shifts, they’re not always camera-ready,” Wozniak noted. “That flexibility helped with completion success.”

What role did AI play in recruiter decision-making?

For recruiters reviewing responses, AI-generated transcripts and summaries became a critical time-saver.

“That summary of their responses was super helpful,” Wozniak recalled. “It helped recruiters quickly see highlights without having to watch or listen to everything.”

She also noted that summaries helped reduce bias. “Sometimes someone might stumble over their words. The summary really highlighted what the person was saying about their experience.”

What results did SSM Health see in the first 30 days with screening automation?

Within the first month of implementation, SSM Health saw clear adoption and efficiency gains:

• 29% increase in recruiter usage compared to their previous screening tool

• 318 recruiter hours saved

• 2,700+ screenings completed

• 20% increase in invite-to-completion conversion

• < 1 day average screening completion time (down from 2–3 days previously)

“That adoption right off the bat was huge,” Wozniak noted.

How does screening fit into SSM Health’s broader hiring workflow?

SSM Health uses Workday as their Applicant Tracking System (ATS), and while screening responses live in Phenom, status updates flow between both systems with a bi-directional hiring status integration.

Gold medalist candidates are automatically moved into interview scheduling stages, which are updated in both platforms. Silver candidates remain under consideration with different statuses.

“That helped signal which candidates should go to hiring managers first,” Wozniak explained.

Related: How Sleep Number Unifies Workday and Phenom

What’s next for SSM Health?

The organization is still in the adoption phase, with plans to expand Phenom X+ Screening to more job profiles.

“We probably have over a dozen job profiles we want to add next,” Wozniak shared, including additional high-volume roles such as patient access, scheduling, and patient care support positions.

They’re also exploring more personalized experiences, including hiring manager videos and Phenom Voice Screening Agent. “I learned about voice agent screening this morning, and now it’s on our list,” she said.

Clinical roles are also under consideration, particularly where certifications and compliance rules can be supported through logic-based screening.

Ready to identify best-fit candidates at scale? Explore Phenom X+ Screening