SAN DIEGO – A recent merger of two workforce management vendors is designed to help hospitals and other healthcare providers improve staffing efficiency and the bottom line.

Concerro, Inc., a San Diego-based provider of emergency workforce management solutions, announced Monday that it has acquired RES-Q Healthcare Systems, a Calabasas, Calif.-based provider of staffing and nurse scheduling solutions.

The deal allows the two companies to offer a platform of services that include personnel management, enterprise-wide employee scheduling and staffing, surgery department management and case scheduling, patient acuity classification and productivity management and reporting.

“Merging the two companies enables us to accelerate growth, offer our customers greater expertise and resources and drive better value through an expanded range of products and services,” said Concerro CEO Graham Barnes. “RES-Q’s Best of KLAS scheduling software coupled with Concerro’s dominant open shift management platform and successful software-as-a-service (SaaS) business model is truly a blend of the best our industry has to offer.”

According to Barnes, more than 500 hospitals nationwide use Concerro’s software to improve labor costs as well as workforce morale. More than 50 hospitals last year installed the company’s ShiftSelect product, a Web-based management system that can be up and running in nine to 12 weeks.

This is Concerro’s second major acquisition in the past year. Last June, the company acquired the CommandAware hospital incident management system from the Los Angeles-based PortBlue Corp., adding a disaster planning module to its platform.

“Merging with Concerro allows RES-Q to enhance an organization that shares our passion for optimizing staff performance and cost efficiency through scheduling solutions, and allows us to contribute significantly to Concerro’s overall growth,” said Michael Meisel, RES-Q’s president, who has joined Concero’s executive management team as vice president of product management and marketing. “Our companies share a common culture and mission as well as deep domain and healthcare expertise. We look forward to joining forces with Concerro to help hospitals enhance the quality of care for their patients, improve the quality of life for nurses and other employees and boost their operating margins.”

Barnes said the two companies’ products would be blended over time to deliver a comprehensive platform to healthcare clients. “By cross-training Concerro support and development staff on the RES-Q products, we will deepen the capabilities of our organization, expanding the levels of service and enhancing our ability to continue to deliver cutting edge technology via our agile SaaS platform and flexible subscription business model,” he said.