{"id":9550,"date":"2023-01-11T22:10:10","date_gmt":"2023-01-11T22:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/risefoc.com\/?p=9550"},"modified":"2023-06-30T18:31:01","modified_gmt":"2023-06-30T18:31:01","slug":"the-money-pit-third-party-nursing-agencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/risefoc.com\/the-money-pit-third-party-nursing-agencies\/","title":{"rendered":"The Money Pit: Third Party Nursing Agencies"},"content":{"rendered":"

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We all know that nursing staff is valuable and necessary, but the expenses associated with hiring travel staff can create a downward financial spiral.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Travel nurses can be a lifeline for hospitals during times of large patient volumes\u00a0 – say during a pandemic. The problem is\u00a0 – those solutions were never intended to be permanent. Some hospitals are now in the position of using travel nurses to staff complete departments or risk shutting those services down.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Travel Staffing Costs Crippling U.S. Hospitals<\/span><\/h1>\n

The American Hospital Association <\/span>policy briefing<\/span><\/a> stated that the cost of travel nurses is \u201ccrippling\u201d US hospitals \u2013 to the tune of an 84% increase since 2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a <\/span>2022 article<\/span><\/a> on the topic, Piedmont Healthcare talked about how the current staffing model is unsustainable:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are currently paying rates to contract agencies that represent an increase of more than 200% over what we were paying agencies prior to the pandemic. Much of this increase is not going into the pockets of front-line nurses, without whom we would not have been able to weather this crisis.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The nursing shortage has been exacerbated by the pandemic, as many burned-out nurses left the profession. Others left to \u2013 you guessed it \u2013 travel for higher pay and more opportunities. From 2019 to 2022, staff nurse salaries rose from an average of $35\/hr. to $39\/hr. while travel nurse wages topped out at about $154 per hour. It is no wonder that hospitals are ramping up recruitment efforts and looking for ways to retain permanent staff while they work through shortages.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>2022 NSI National Health Care Retention and RN Staffing Report<\/span><\/a> stated that hospitals are prioritizing decreasing their dependency on supplemental staffing in 2023.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The NSI report reads:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor every 20 travel RNs eliminated, a hospital can save, on average, $4,203,000.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The Hidden Costs<\/span><\/h2>\n

Travel nurses typically work 13-week contracts in one location. The inclusion of travel nurses into the staffing mix has noticeably affected the full-time staff in many situations.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many different issues tend to arise:<\/span><\/p>\n