Reports allow hospitals to make 'the most informed staffing decision possible,' COO says.
As nurses are quitting across the country—for reasons including staffing, vaccine mandates, retirement, and taking higher-paying jobs as travel or contract nurses—hospitals and health systems are relying more on contract labor and are faced with constantly changing rates for RNs and other healthcare positions.
They're finding ongoing volatility in contract wages for nurses. Current online job postings in ICUs across the country have weekly salaries listed of up to $6,000 a week, which makes it imperative that hospitals understand how their rates compare to others within their market.
To help organizations address challenges created by the nurse shortage, Hallmark Health Care Solutions (HHCS), a healthcare consulting and technology firm headquartered in New York City, is providing the industry with real-time hourly nurse rates as well as benchmark rates for more than 300 clinical and non-clinical roles.
"We've seen firsthand the struggles that hospitals are having right now when it comes to filling open nurse and RT slots," says William Reau, chief operating officer of HHCS.
"Most hospitals are getting hit with exorbitant premium and agency rates, and really should have a resource that provides them with benchmark data," Reau says. "To answer this need, we've decided to publish competitive rate data and make it available to any, and all healthcare organizations so that they can make the most informed staffing decision possible."
In today’s healthcare labor market, contract labor rates change almost daily, so it’s important to have a baseline as well as a current snapshot of your competitive landscape. The Einstein II Labor Rate Reports were developed to do just that.
With the data in these reports, hospitals and other healthcare organizations can better manage their contingent labor spend by comparing their rates to agency rates within their state.
Hospitals in New York looking to hire travel nurses would find that during the period of September 21 through October 21, 2021, agencies were getting paid $125-$165 per hour for med/surg nurses, according to the HHCS report. Florida hospitals looking to hire temporary med/surg nurses during that time frame could expect to pay agencies $100-$115 per hour.
Agencies supplying intensive care unit (ICU) nurses in New York were paid $175-$209 per hour during that period, while Florida hospitals were paying agencies $146-$175 for ICU nurses, HHCS reports.
Upon request, organizations automatically receive two separate reports. The first report contains real-time nurse rate data which is immediately actionable; the second is the Einstein II Semi-Annual Rate Report which contains three benchmarking data sets—clinical rates, allied-health rates, and non-clinical rates.
The Semi-Annual report is an ideal reference for rate analysis and forecasting. Both reports show high and low bill rates for specific positions within a selected state or for multiple states.
Editor's note: The pay rates listed in the story apply to the staffing agencies, not the nurses' hourly pay rates as previously indicated. This story was updated on October 28, 2021.
“Most hospitals are getting hit with exorbitant premium and agency rates, and really should have a resource that provides them with benchmark data.”
William Reau, chief operating officer, Hallmark Health Care Solutions
Carol Davis is the Nursing Editor at HealthLeaders, an HCPro brand.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
Hospitals are relying more on contract labor and are faced with constantly changing rates.
Hallmark Health Care Solutions is providing the industry with reports containing real-time hourly nurse and other healthcare rates.
The reports will help hospitals better manage their contingent labor spending by comparing their rates to agency rates within their state.