Cell Phone Useage

[ame222]

Our agency does not provied cell phones, nor do they reimburse us for business time spent on our own cell phones. I don't think this is fair to be expected to pay for our own plan (family plan) with specific minutes which of course are used up making calls, recieving calls and messages when we are in "no service" areas...which often resultes in overage minutes which are paid at top rate. I have mentioned the possibility of either reimbursing me a specific fee monthly or providing me with a phone for business use only. They haven't moved on this yet. Any suggestions on a different approach? How do others deal with this issue? This ends up being extra money out of our family budget... and causes problems.

[1dernurse]

Hi,

Was it a condition of employment that you have and use a personal cell phone for work when you were hired? If not, tell your employer that you can no longer afford to use your personal cell phone and stop using it for work related calls. If necessary, call your cell phone carrier and have the number changed and do not use your cell for work related calls.

If you did sign an agreement to maintain a personal cell phone for work use you don't have a choice if you want to continue employment with this agency. However, remember that you can write off the expense at tax time if you keep good records of your calls.

I'm sure others will have good ideas too,

T

[jnette, ASN, EMT-I]

Our agency doesn't reimburse for our cellphone use, either.. but they DO provide us with pagers. If they need to contact us while we're out on the road, they page us, and if we choos not to call them on our phone, we wait and all the office when we're at our next patient's home. Rarely is it so urgent that we would have to return the call immediately.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Our agency going away with beepers except one branch; going to flat rate monthly cell phone reimburesment of $25.00/mo.

Thankfully rates are WAY down....when I stated had cell bill one month ~$800.00 just for work related calls in early 1990's.

[caliotter3]

No agency that I have worked for has ever provided phones or paid for cell phones. I use mine for my own convenience. If you object to this, take the advice given, get a new number and stop using your phone for work.

[dmdrn73]

We get $20/month reimbursed if we hand in a copy of the front page of our bill. They do provide a beeper but they rarely use them, most of the time the triage department calls us on our cell phones. We have been trying to get them to change the amount reimbursed or at least to not require is to remember to hand in the bill but so far no luck. They do give us a calling card for us to use but I have yet to use it.

[mickeymouse1205]

I have never been compensated either for cell phone usage. What I did was get a cell phone plan with unlimited minutes. It cost 99/month per phone. It stinks having such a high cell phone bill but I also never have to worry about overages and I take the expense on my taxes. Sprint has a Simply everything plan umlimited, talk, text, data etc 99/month per line, plan cannot be shared. HTH

[nurseby07]

My last agency gave us a reimbursement of $30 a month. My new job gave me a cell phone and a blue tooth to go with it.

[annaedRN, RN]

We get $20/month. That amount covered me switching from the 450 min/mo plan that I had been on to the 900 min/mo plan (which I now use most of the minutes) Guess it's better than nothing

[kilgorern]

Hello Everyone, this is my first post... ever! I have been a RN for about 6 years varying from nursing home administration to cardiac to med-surg and most recently oncology and hospice. I started HH in September after talking to a transition nurse from a local HH agency that was visiting one of her pts at the hosp. She told me about this HHA that gave you a laptop for e-charting, company cellphone and 53 cents per mile. I told her not to buffalo me, that I knew home health was hard work, long hours and a ton of paperwork. She convinced me to look into it and call her. Well, I did and have enjoyed it for the past almost 3 months. I am computer literate so the computer work is easier for me than some of my coworkers and the cellphone...what a bonus! We just changed from cingular to sprint and our service and phone are somewhat better. I would encourage anyone looking into HH or not getting the benefits they are wanting to re-evaluate their standing with their company. There are awesome companies out there. FYI TO EVERYONE: E-charting will be everywhere by 2011! Drs, HHA, Hosp, Pharms will all have to go to E-charting.

Open your hands to the needy.

kilgorern

[SandBetweenMyToes, BSN, RN]

Kilgoern, do you mind saying who you work for? I am wondering if they are national, because even though I am in Canada now, I am thinking of relocating to the States and would like to know who is good to work for. Thanks!!!

[veniusHH]

I charge for having to use my cell for a client under administrative cost.