Bill rates between hospitals and agencies

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1) Are bill rates between hospitals and agencies negotiable? For example, if a typical bill rate for Hospital A is $55 per hour for an RN, and $75 per hour OT for an RN, could an agency come in and ask for $60 an hour and $$85 OT or is this rate basically the same for all agencies?

2) If negotiating is possible, who is it you're directly negotiating with at the hospital? An HR manager, regular HR employee, CNO, administrator, or who?

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Everything is negotiable, and for hospitals who contract directly with agencies, differing bill rates is normal. Negotiating is based on supply and demand. If an agency has a traveler with needed skills, and the hospital need is great, a higher bill rate can be negotiated. If the need is not great, and the hospital just wants a warm body, the agency with the lowest bill rate is likely to prevail.

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And how would you answer question #2? I was curious about a specific person an agency asks to speak with in order to have the best possible chance to land a deal with a hospital. Would you have the same luck with all HR employees, or do most hospitals have an HR manager or some kind of administrator that begins contract negotiations between agency and hospital?

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Cold calling a hospital will almost always fail. You need to know they have a need you can fill. Then you can ask who is the right person to talk to about a contract for that traveler. I have no idea who that person would be or what their title is at any given hospital.

But that will usually fail as well if the traveler is not someone the manager of their specialty already wants. What do you have to offer not already offered by upteem other agency vendors they already have ready to staff their needs? There are only two possible answers to that: one is they have a need not being filled by their current vendors, or a manager wants your specific traveler.

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I am not cold calling. I am already in good with the manager. I have started my business. Everything is ready to go.. I just want to know who to call now. For example, my recruiter will be calling the hospital I'm at and saying "my traveler is interested in staying at your facility and he stated his manager is interested in keeping him too. So where can I send the contract for our agency to get an agreement with your facility."

What specific person would I have my recruiter say the above quotations to? Just a random HR person? What person do you usually initially ask to speak with when trying to earn a contract?

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I call the hospital and ask. Often I already know after talking to the manager.

You are trying to switch yourself from one agency to another? Does your current contract allow that? Most have waiting periods of 6 or 12 months after completion before going staff or switching agencies. Even if not in your contract, it will almost certainly be in the current hospital to agency contract.

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Basically, yes. And it isn't stated in my contract. Isn't that something I should have the right to know about before starting anywhere? That's pretty shady if so. I travel somewhere and decide I love it there, so I want to stay full time. They don't even let me know and make a deal behind my back saying I'm not allowed? Yea, that's kind of messed up. And if no one tells the agency that it happened, how would they ever even find out?

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Standard employment agency stuff. Nothing shady. You were "introduced" to this facility by your agency and they have a right to profit from it. It is very well known among travelers that it is almost impossible to switch agencies for an extension. That is why you have to shop around before even being submitted by an agency (first agency to submit you "owns" you at that facility).

It does happen, but rarely. The hospital has a potential liability of over 30K if they take you on as staff or allow you to switch agencies. They are not likely to take that risk to get an extension. But sure, if you don't get caught, contracts and laws do not apply to you.

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They do profit A LOT from all their travelers lol.. The shady part is not telling employees who are new to the industry, but agree to disagree. Have they ever been known to lift that "no compete" clause if the traveler just wants to go full time at that facility and not switch agencies, if the traveler asks nicely or talks to them?

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Would you give 30K to someone who asks nicely?

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If I had it to spare =)

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