Travel nurse pay caps

[theiacowtipper]

I did a search and couldn’t find anything on this. This bill which passed the Iowa House would cap pay for nurse travelers in the state. If you’re not familiar these are nurses which come in on a temp contract to fill in at a hospital.

First of all I’m disappointed in Iowa Democrats who voted for this. Way to sell out to suppress the wages of workers. Second, for Republicans, what happened to free market economics? Wage caps? Really? Nurses will absolutely not travel here and nursing shortages will worsen. This will absolutely backfire.

Iowa House backs travel nurse pay cap amid concerns

The Iowa House of Representatives voted to set pay limits for temporary nursing staff working in Iowa hospitals and nursing homes, Radio Iowa reported.

www2.staffingindustry.com

 

[Finance85]

I did a search and couldn’t find anything on this. This bill which passed the Iowa House would cap pay for nurse travelers in the state. If you’re not familiar these are nurses which come in on a temp contract to fill in at a hospital.

First of all I’m disappointed in Iowa Democrats who voted for this. Way to sell out to suppress the wages of workers. Second, for Republicans, what happened to free market economics? Wage caps? Really? Nurses will absolutely not travel here and nursing shortages will worsen. This will absolutely backfire.

Iowa House backs travel nurse pay cap amid concerns

The Iowa House of Representatives voted to set pay limits for temporary nursing staff working in Iowa hospitals and nursing homes, Radio Iowa reported.

www2.staffingindustry.com

Wage and price controls nearly always fail. Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it.

 

[tarheelbybirth]

...the total amount would not just include the temporary nurse’s hourly wage but also include administrative fees, contract fees, transportation or travel stipends, per diems and any other costs such as overtime and taxes that a healthcare staffing firm is authorized to charge clients.

So, if I'm reading that right, the 150% cap includes everthing needed to incentivize them traveling to another location? If that's true, I could see them having to take a cut in base pay to afford to travel to some remote backwater. That'll work.

 

[OrlandNole]

I assume this is the result of lobbying by the healthcare industry, and could potentially give them cover to understaff many of their facilities.

 

[IAFB2021Champs]

I’ve never really understood the whole travel nurse thing. Why not just pay full time nurses a decent wage and keep them here. I know a few people that were travel nurses and their bf/husbands just traveled with them and did nothing because they were paid that well.
Why waste money on a travel nurse when you could pay someone a little better to stay here.
What am I missing about needing travel nurses?

 

[onlyTheObvious]

Are hospitals waiting for the robot nurses?

Shouldn’t take a triple CPA to figure out you need to pay full time nurses more to stop the need for Monopoly money traveling nurses.

 

[tarheelbybirth]

I’ve never really understood the whole travel nurse thing. Why not just pay full time nurses a decent wage and keep them here. I know a few people that were travel nurses and their bf/husbands just traveled with them and did nothing because they were paid that well.
Why waste money on a travel nurse when you could pay someone a little better to stay here.
What am I missing about needing travel nurses?

There aren't enough nurses to go around. Agencies stepped in and hired nurses to contract them out to other hospitals...exacerbating the shortage and driving up costs.

 

[IAFB2021Champs]

There aren't enough nurses to go around. Agencies stepped in and hired nurses to contract them out to other hospitals...exacerbating the shortage and driving up costs.

So places have shortages because of said agency. They can go travel and get paid more leaving shortages in other areas.

 

[tarheelbybirth]

So places have shortages because of said agency. They can go travel and get paid more leaving shortages in other areas.

My niece (no pic) works as a nurse in a Louisiana hospital. During Covid, she worked over 70 hours one week and cleared $7K. There were travel nurses who made that much working far fewer hours. And they got other allowances for food and lodging. My niece entertained offers but eventually decided to stay put and start her family. She's due this month.

 

[theiacowtipper]

I’ve never really understood the whole travel nurse thing. Why not just pay full time nurses a decent wage and keep them here. I know a few people that were travel nurses and their bf/husbands just traveled with them and did nothing because they were paid that well.
Why waste money on a travel nurse when you could pay someone a little better to stay here.
What am I missing about needing travel nurses?

I think the original intent was for short term coverage. The ICU nurse is on maternity leave and you hire one to fill in. More and more nurses went the travel route and hospitals found themselves understaffed.

Hospitals have increased pay but it’s pretty obvious that they want to eliminate travel nurses in Iowa.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

So, hospitals don’t want to pay the going rate for nurses so they get the legislature to cap pay and hopefully drive the nurses back to hospital employee status?

Nice

 

[tarheelbybirth]

So, hospitals don’t want to pay the going rate for nurses so they get the legislature to cap pay and hopefully drive the nurses back to hospital employee status?

Nice

The other option is for hospital rates to skyrocket even more. There’s no easy out here given our “best-in-the-world” system.

 

[OrlandNole]

So, hospitals don’t want to pay the going rate for nurses so they get the legislature to cap pay and hopefully drive the nurses back to hospital employee status?

Nice

These are traveling nurses, so likely out of state. They will just travel elsewhere and avoid Iowa.

My guess is on their endgame is to claim that no one wants to come to Iowa, and therefore they can't run at adequately staffed levels.

 

[onlyTheObvious]

The other option is for hospital rates to skyrocket even more. There’s no easy out here given our “best-in-the-world” system.

so if we had national health insurance we would have caps on nurse and doctor pay?

Or everybody would get paid more and health insurance would be free and it would be cheaper?

I do think there should be price controls. As in nobody can charge more than Medicare reimbursement for any charge but I have read that would bankrupt everybody.

 

[SF HAWKEYE]

Were trying to convince our son to become a traveling nurse. Seems like a great gig for someone right out of college. I knew a couple girls that travelled around the country together doing this. Seemed like a blast and they were making bank.

 

[theiacowtipper]

These are traveling nurses, so likely out of state. They will just travel elsewhere and avoid Iowa.

My guess is on their endgame is to claim that no one wants to come to Iowa, and therefore they can't run at adequately staffed levels.

I think, if you were to get data, that the vast majority of travel nurses in Iowa are from Iowa. In know a half dozen travel nurses that quit and entered their same position as travel nurses.

 

[mnole03]

So, hospitals don’t want to pay the going rate for nurses so they get the legislature to cap pay and hopefully drive the nurses back to hospital employee status?

Nice

There’s a nursing shortage. It’s going to get worse. Republicans are just going to make healthcare more expensive in Iowa.

If you’re coming out of school, you have options. Why would you take bad shifts and bad pay at a full-time job?

 

[On Iowa]

They seem to forget that travel nurses are...portable. It's pretty much right in the name. If they will get paid more to travel their happy asses elsewhere, they will.

 

[OrlandNole]

I think, if you were to get data, that the vast majority of travel nurses in Iowa are from Iowa. In know a half dozen travel nurses that quit and entered their same position as travel nurses.

Gotcha. You know better than I do. Maybe they are trying to force them into a permanent local gig?

 

[mnole03]

We’re trying to convince our son to become a traveling nurse. Seems like a great gig for someone right out of college. I knew a couple girls that travelled around the country together doing this. Seemed like a blast and they were making bank.

Being a traveling nurse is better than being a consultant at a place like McKinsey. Staffing agencies pay for travel, housing (In Jax they’re offering beach houses,) car rental or Uber black, and $1k+ a day depending on location, experience, and specialty.

 

[onlyTheObvious]

I think nursing is perhaps the best career at the moment.

Can work anywhere you want. You can travel nurse and make big money.

If you don’t like nights or weekends you can work in a clinic. Granted pay isn’t as high but you can always go back to hospital if that becomes a priority.

You can become a school nurse and enjoy summers off.

You can do a total reset and jump in and out of job market and your pay will still be good.

You can go back to school and become a nurse practitioner and make even more money.

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Were trying to convince our son to become a traveling nurse. Seems like a great gig for someone right out of college. I knew a couple girls that travelled around the country together doing this. Seemed like a blast and they were making bank.

Were they having a blast doing the work, or traveling the country and making bank?...........

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Staffing agencies pay for travel, housing (In Jax they’re offering beach houses,) car rental or Uber black, and $1k+ a day depending on location, experience, and specialty.

 

[tarheelbybirth]

Gotcha. You know better than I do. Maybe they are trying to force them into a permanent local gig?

More likely most will just cross state lines if they can.

 

[gohawks50]

Do travel nurses get benefits like healthcare from the agency that contracts them out?

 

[IowaMeatMan]

I know a nurse that does this. Goes all over the country,she makes bank!

 

[tarheelbybirth]

Because they can charge the hospitals desperate for nurses even more. Capitalism, baby!!

 

[EvilMonkeyInTheCloset]

Because they can charge the hospitals desperate for nurses even more. Capitalism, baby!!

That's why traveling nurses down in Florida get all these perks?

 

[theiacowtipper]

Gotcha. You know better than I do. Maybe they are trying to force them into a permanent local gig?

You mean the state? Absolutely they are. I think what’s going to happen to this bill is it will die. The public comment will make it die.

 

[seminole97]

The other option is for hospital rates to skyrocket even more. There’s no easy out here given our “government pays many of the bills and sets the prices” system.

FTFY

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

I think nursing is perhaps the best career at the moment.

Can work anywhere you want. You can travel nurse and make big money.

If you don’t like nights or weekends you can work in a clinic. Granted pay isn’t as high but you can always go back to hospital if that becomes a priority.

You can become a school nurse and enjoy summers off.

You can do a total reset and jump in and out of job market and your pay will still be good.

You can go back to school and become a nurse practitioner and make even more money.

I agree, but have heard this for years. I can’t figure out why there is always a shortage?

 

[theiacowtipper]

I agree, but have heard this for years. I can’t figure out why there is always a shortage?

Because the working conditions are soul sapping and awful. The pay is fine. But not that good. Many leave hospitals to do things like insurance work. Since it’s a profession dominated by women many leave to start families.

 

[EasyHawk]

I sat next to a young traveling anesthesiologist on a flight to AZ not too long ago. He had worked in a hospital in northern Iowa for a few weeks and was heading home for a few weeks of hiking and relaxing. He said he typically goes to places (that was his first trip to Iowa) for 4-8 weeks and then takes a month off. A woman in our town is around 60 and she has been a traveling nurse since their kids left the house, but almost always out of state. She has been all over, Montana, etc.

 

[Rifler]

Had a friend years ago who was a traveling nurse,.. She would go to Florida to work from mid November until mid March,.. Would return to Iowa and take the rest of the year off.

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

I know a nurse that does this. Goes all over the country,she makes bank!

I met an Uber driver in CA who was also a nurse, and he said had a number of friends who are nurses in the Bay Area who commute from Phoenix and Las Vegas. Thought that was interesting.

 

[HawkeyeShawn]

This is my industry. I’ve been in travel healthcare for over 20 years. I’ve worked for a staffing agency and also on the Vendor Management side, which most hospitals use some sort of VMS Tech.

I scrolled through pretty quickly to post this. I’ll go back and try to answer some of the questions above.

Feel free to ask me anything about the biz.

We just spoke about the Iowa law this morning in our AM meeting. While I don’t know a ton about the actual law being passed, Iowa is not the first state to implement this for healthcare travelers. CA, MA, CO and NY already have similar laws. Not all have caps, but do require transparency between pay rate and bill rate.

This is all coming from the pandemic. Bill rate for a Med Surg RN went from $65-$70 and hour for a traveler pre-pandemic to $120-$150. Rates for ER, ICU, L&D, Cath all went from $80-$90 to $150-$200+. It became a shit show and agencies took advantage of the situation. Many and most agencies made hundreds of millions in profit off hospitals, insurance companies and tax payers. Basically the greedy agencies pocketed more than they should have and didn’t relay as much as they should have to the travelers. It needed being a competition between the highest bidders for the nurse. If a hospital was willing to pay $200, the agency would direct that nurse there, rather than the hospital paying $175.

Agencies are in trouble coming out of the pandemic. Mass layoffs happening with internal staff. More travelers right now than open positions. Hospitals are choosing to close units rather than break their budgets with travelers.

 

[HawkeyeShawn]

I’ve never really understood the whole travel nurse thing. Why not just pay full time nurses a decent wage and keep them here. I know a few people that were travel nurses and their bf/husbands just traveled with them and did nothing because they were paid that well.
Why waste money on a travel nurse when you could pay someone a little better to stay here.
What am I missing about needing travel nurses?

There is a huge shortage of nurses. It’s estimated at 1.1M short and climbing. Each year, more get out of nursing than enter the field.

 

[HawkeyeShawn]

Are hospitals waiting for the robot nurses?

Shouldn’t take a triple CPA to figure out you need to pay full time nurses more to stop the need for Monopoly money traveling nurses.

Some/most have already implemented virtual nursing.

It has more to do with the national shortage than it does with the pay for the perm staff.

 

[HawkeyeShawn]

There aren't enough nurses to go around. Agencies stepped in and hired nurses to contract them out to other hospitals...exacerbating the shortage and driving up costs.

I don’t know if they exacerbated the shortage. They didn’t create a larger shortage nationwide. The travel industry just shifts them around. But yes, this most definitely drives up the costs.

I left a publicly traded company in Nov because I couldn’t stand the greed coming from our leadership. I now work for a company that is trying to drive costs down and eliminate the hospital’s reliance on staffing agencies.

 

[HawkeyeShawn]

So places have shortages because of said agency. They can go travel and get paid more leaving shortages in other areas.

No. The shortage already existed. Travelers did not cause the shortage. However it does have a negative effect on smaller rural hospitals who can’t pay as high as urban hospitals. Those nurses are more likely to chase a traveler gig for the pay. Leaving the small hospital in a lurch to backfill. It can take 6-12 months to recruit and fill an RN position. That’s when they fill that with a temp until they get the perm hire.