Temp Nurses Cost Hospitals Big During Pandemic. Lawmakers Are Now Mulling Limits.

Temp Nurses Cost Hospitals Big During Pandemic. Lawmakers Are Now Mulling Limits. Missouri is considering making it a felony to jack up temporary health care staffing prices during a statewide or national emergency. It’s one of at least 14 states looking to reel in travel nurse … khnkytjaw Kaiser Health News

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Hospitals have long used temporary workers, who are often employed by third-party agencies, to help fill their staffing needs. But by December 2021, the average weekly travel nurse pay in the country had soared to $3,782, up from $1,896 in January 2020, according to a Becker’s Hospital Review analysis of data from hiring platform Vivian Health. That platform alone listed over 645,000 active travel nurse jobs in the final three months of 2022.

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