Contracting ones own travel assignment without an agency?

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

I'm currently on a 13 week travel assignment an hour away from my home. I was told by one nurse that another person there on a contract often negotiates his own contract directly with the hospital, bypassing an agency. He can thus get more money.

Has anyone done that or known someone who has?

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Specializes in OB.

It can be done if you are ready to handle your own taxes, insurance (medical, malpractice and workman's comp), housing, utilities, etc. as well as negotiations with the hospital. Those I know who have done it make a good rate, but I'm not sure it is worth the hassles. Make sure to negotiate for a rate high enough to cover all the time you put into these things.

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.
It can be done if you are ready to handle your own taxes, insurance (medical, malpractice and workman's comp), housing, utilities, etc. as well as negotiations with the hospital. Those I know who have done it make a good rate, but I'm not sure it is worth the hassles. Make sure to negotiate for a rate high enough to cover all the time you put into these things.

What would be fair compensation? I'm currently making $25 hourly + $760 a week tax-free per diem travel allowence. It adds up to $45 an hour, with almost half of that tax-free.

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Specializes in Peds, ER/Trauma.
What would be fair compensation? I'm currently making $25 hourly + $760 a week tax-free per diem travel allowence. It adds up to $45 an hour, with almost half of that tax-free.

In addition to housing, you also have to consider what a travel company would spend on your other benefits- insurance, malpractice, travel reimbursement.... I think it really depends on the hospital, specialty, and area of the country, but I have heard of bill rates around $60/hr.

For me, the hassle of having to find my own housing, arrange for my own utilities and rental furniture, health/dental insurance, plus no travel/licensure reimbursement is just not worth the extra money- I'd rather have a travel company to take care of those things for me.

Plus, if you contract yourself, you will have to deduct your own taxes from your pay, or risk owing the IRS BIG time at the end of the year...

Also, you may not get paid on a regular basis... Most hospitals do not pay travel companies for their nurse's services on a weekly basis- it's more like monthly, and a lot of times, they are late on payments. When you work for a travel company, this doesn't affect you, as the travel company pays you weekly regardless of when they receive payment from the hospital. As a self-contractor, you risk going long periods of time without pay, and if the hospital is late, you'd have to go after them for the money- something I'd much rather let a travel company deal with for me...

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And remember that you have to set up as a corporation or LLC to be able to do this as well, and there are expenses incurred with that too. You would be responsible for all of your medicare premiums, instead of just the 50% that you pay now, as well as worker's comp and various other fees that one may not be thinking about.

It can be done but there is much more to it than just applying to a hospital. And as one of the other posters mentioned above, you become a vendor and are subject to being paid as that, and it can be 30 to 90 days out as well. Very few of them are going to pay you weekly.

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

It sounds like a PITA. I think I'll stick with agencies. Thanks for the replies.

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