Creating my own agency

[AM9160]

Hey all you out there, I know that there have been topics about this and there was a member that I wanted to PM, but I was not eligible, so I will just throw this out there to the world.

I am once again seriously thinking about starting my own travel nurse agency (pop. 1 - ME), I have a bunch of nurses that have been interested in the aspect of travel RN and I figure that instead of sending their business to my current agency, I can set contracts for them.

So my overall question would be, what do I need to do? What legal aspects am I making sure that I don't get in any trouble am I being cognizant of? What do these agencies REALLY make off of a contract for an RN? And is it worth doing locum for APN/PA, MD/DO, OR tech/US tech contracts?

Thanks for any help, I would not mind a PM if you would like to do that, I wish I could give any other contact info, but I know I am not allowed to...

[adeogun1]

NedRN,

I am trying establish a Traveling Nurse Agency. I would like to set up contracts for both hospitals and nurses in the State of Florida, Do you know how to get the source for establishing this contact?

Thanks

[NedRN]

Contracts or contacts? You write the first. Getting it signed is harder. Google the second? Not sure what you mean by the source. No offense intended, but is English a second language?

[adeogun1]

I was asking if you know where I could buy a contract to establish the agency which will address both the health care facilities as well as the clients need on one end and the second part of my question is directly related to the contract meeting the State of Florida requirement, if there is such requirement.

I hope I am plain enough.

[NedRN]

Go back about five posts from me for directions on how to find my blog on starting a company. No, still not understanding your query but the blog should answer most questions, even ones you didn't know you had.

I also run you through the steps of writing a contract, however that is just about the least important part of starting an agency and can be left for last. Thousands of free contract samples available online. Google Images is the place for best results.

[Chris Caulfield RN NP-C]

Hey fellow Entrepreneurs. I've taken my little agency to a rather large agency in the past year (with the help of a great team). We now staff 35 facilities in the Metro Boston Region and are moving down the Coast shortly. We've found our niche in Per Diem... but travel nursing, I can assume is similar (we do occasionally block book our local providers---- which is similar to travel contracts).

As far as finding new contracts... in our business (LTC facilities).. we show up at the door, or get a meeting ahead of time. The sales process can be anywhere from 2 weeks to 12 weeks. We have to convince our facilities that we provide a benefit over their other 5-10 agencies that they already have an existing relationship.

At this point, we've been rather successful... most of our facilities have gone from using 5-6 agencies (prior to our arrival) to 1-2 agencies after we have been with them for 2-3 months.

Our business is slightly different from a Travel Agency, but I might be able to answer some questions in the overall Nurse Staffing business if someone is curious.

[NedRN]

Congratulations about your success! I'm curious about the per diem staffing business. It seems intrinsically more expensive to operate than travel staffing agency. Could you share your gross profit margin? I'm guessing 40% (travel nurse industry average is around 25%). Idle curiosity really so you don't need to answer.

[doune]

How about an elder group home, do any body has an idea how to start one ?

[Swright74]

Hey I am LPN with traveling experiences an I would like to become an independent contractor. Can you give me some help on how to write up a contract?

[NedRN]

Read the thread again for directions to my blog. Info on how to write a contract there. Contracts are simple agreements. If you plan on being litigious, you can write a forty page contract to cover every possibility. That is not what you want to do though, so three or four paragraphs are enough.