Starting An Agency

Have you ever worked agency?
White Glove is an international agency that recruits from all over the world.
Every facility will pay different rates, there is not one figure. You need to do your own negotiating for your contracts.

Hi,
I've started my own agency and have learned quite a bit in the last 5 years....e-mail me if u want more info.

Hi there
Can you tell me the title of the administator you would contact if you want to advertise you temp agency for the first time. in other words when you contact a hospital or nursing home and you want to land a contract. Who do you ask to speak toif you only have the hospitals general phone number

I still find it amazing, that people who truly "do not know the business" are those who seek out contracts.

Nurses, can, and do, get their own contracts and benefit from cutting out the middle man in Agency Nursing.

I'm exploring the possibility of starting an agency. I've worked agency for several years in an urban area with many hospitals (and agencies). I have a pretty good feel for what hospitals are paying agencies for nurses. I am thinking about a small recruitment of 12-20 experienced RNs, most of whom I have worked with and know to be excellent caregivers. And they are motivated to work. I know that I can charge less than any agency in the area, and at the same time pay my nurses more than anyone else, and still make money. My overhead will be very low, as I will run this from an office at home. I'm prepared for long hours and legwork. Certainly there are obstacles, not the least of which relates to payroll. I do not have the cash reserves to buffer against hospital billing cycles which can be anywhere from 2-4 weeks or more. Obviously, I want my nurses getting paid on time.
Any folks out there running an agency, or experienced in these matters? I'd appreciate any feedback.

Both me and my husband are independent contractors. Technically speaking, all agencies are independent contractors. My husband is a construction contractor. I took his 14 years of experience and applied it to nursing and am now a nursing contractor. Like my husband, sometimes I am the only employee of the business. Like my husband, sometimes I hire a few employees when the need arises.

As a nursing contractor, I work out of my home; as do many independent contractors including my husband. I started off as the only employee and had very little expense. One month, I paid for my yellow page advertising; the next month I paid for insurance for the LLC so that I could hire employees when the need arose. Cost can be spread out as you earn money. My entire start-up expense is paid in full and within my first two months, I recouped the entire cost working no more than 12 days. We printed up our own advertising flyers right here on the computer as we needed them. We designed and printed my business cards right here on the computer. They both look very professional and cost us a fraction of having others do it (and if want to change something, I'm not stuck with hundreds of cards). I now have a contract with two facilities and am negotiating with another.

Of course you do have the option of borrowing tons of money, renting a fancy office, buying a new computer instead of making due, ordering 500 business cards all at one time, and hiring a professional marketing agent, etc. You can run your start-up costs up as high as you like.

As to the question of what to charge, we know that there is no one answer. In preparing to go independent, I simply started asking the DON's and staffing personal at various facilities "how bad is agency zyz ripping you off?" I was surprised at the information they were willing to divulge. The love to moan and complain about how bad the facility was being ripped off. The cheapest rate we have found is $65 for an RN for our area. Every facility we have talked to in the last year has made it a point to tell us about all the extras that agencies add above the basic rate for things like a nurse working as "charge", shift differential, housing costs and travel expenses. In our area, the agencies pass everything on to the facility. So there is room to negotiate and maneuver.

Check out the information on these threads also:
Independent Nurses providing medical care?
PRN vs Independent Contract
Independent Contracting and Protecting Your License
RN Independent Contractor

This information helps you out.

good info