your not going to believe this..........

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Specializes in ICU/ER.

I just had dinner with someone who wants to start a new travel company and he is telling me that he wants to start in Tulsa Oklahoma with specialty nursing, which for him includes ICU, L&D, PICU, and/or ER nurses starting out at 37.00/hr which is seperate from medical insurance,life insurance, travel expenses and housing. That would be on top of the pay that the nurse would receive. He convinced me that the quality of customer service is lacking in most of the agencies that are out there and he can do better......What do you guys think of that, is this believable????

I will mention he has been doing business for 15 years now, that he also has considered billing rates for the local hospitals and is aware of the billing rates. He wasn't trying to recruit me, he has many nurses at his disposal but wanted to know if that would be a tempting offer to other travel nurses, I simply believe it would be but my opinion is limited to one and my experience is limited as well so let me know what you guys think I would work for the guy but I need devil's advocate opinions......

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Specializes in Public Health, DEI.

I'm not sure I understand... is he talking about charging $37 as his fee? I thought travel agencies just negotiated a rate that they then used to cover everything- the insurance, housing, nurses' rate, etc.

What is this $37 an hour for, exactly? You mention it being on top of the pay that the nurses would receive. So, is it additional pay going to the nurses -I can't ever argue with more pay for nurses! :)- or is would it go directly to him? If it goes to him, I'm not sure why he's soliciting nurses' opinions, though. It seems like a high fee per nurse, but I have no idea what is standard. If he can negotiate this, more power to him, I guess.

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Specializes in ICU/ER.
I'm not sure I understand... is he talking about charging $37 as his fee? I thought travel agencies just negotiated a rate that they then used to cover everything- the insurance, housing, nurses' rate, etc.

What is this $37 an hour for, exactly? You mention it being on top of the pay that the nurses would receive. So, is it additional pay going to the nurses -I can't ever argue with more pay for nurses! :)- or is would it go directly to him? If it goes to him, I'm not sure why he's soliciting nurses' opinions, though. It seems like a high fee per nurse, but I have no idea what is standard. If he can negotiate this, more power to him, I guess.

No this is the hourly rate that the nurse would receive in addition to the medical insurance,life insurance, , and sick pay, which I forgot to mention before. The nurse would make 37.00 + travel benefits+ housing allowance, etc..... Sounds too good to be true......

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Specializes in Public Health, DEI.

Oh well, then, I'd say that no, it doesn't sound too good to be true. I'm not a traveler, but I believe that it is in the ballpark of what several that I know earn.

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Specializes in OB.

The hourly rate sounds reasonable for that area (though it wouldn't be for some areas of the country. The rest of the package would depend upon the quality of what was offered - how comprehensive the insurance coverage, how much the travel allotment, and most especially, the quality of the housing. (On my current contract I'm in a house while seeing other travelers from other companies here housed in motel rooms!)

Customer service is defintely of vital importance to a successful agency. Recruiters who are responsive to the travelers are invaluable in holding on to the travelers. Having someone on call available even after hours to respond to emergency concerns from travelers goes a long way. Feeling supported by the company even when they can't give you everything you want can make you willing to compromise.

All these things are just as important, in my opinion, to a succesful agency, as the hourly rate offered.

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That rate is very average for the Tulsa area and Oklahoma in general, nothing special. I have been quoted lower, but I have been quoted higher.

It's standard to receive travel, housing, and insurance on any assigment from any agency.

I'm not sure what you mean by he wants to improve customer service. Is that to the hospital and in turn patients or is he talking about service to the nurse?

Another thing, Tulsa hospitals are real funny about their travelers and most of the hospitals require that nurses live 100-200 miles(depending on the hospital) outside the Tulsa area.

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Specializes in ICU/ER.

Ok. So what he is offering is normal for the area. As far as the insurance goes, BlueCross/Blueshield no deductable/copay applies. The rate he is offering by itself, insurance,travel, and housing are completely seperate for payment.

He is stressing the availability of someone to contact 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to deal with emergency problems, although we didn't talk about the details with that.

But he mentioned the problem with distance from the hospital and suggested Per Diem nursing with contractual agreement to maintain hours with the possibility of being able to back out of the contract by the nurse if they felt it wasn't within their best interest, I liked that option. If I don't like the contract then I can terminate the contract with that particular floor or unit and re-negotiate for another contract either with that hospital or another....hmmmmmm.....

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I'm actually starting a travel contract in Tulsa (my first) next month. Without announcing my pay rate I will say that yes that salary is in the standard range, plus the usual benefits of housing, insurance, and mileage.

My recruiter says Oklahoma not surprisingly has a low travel placement rate.

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Specializes in ICU/ER.

Well I am now kinda disappointed b/c I thought that this guy had the edge on the pay rate but I guess not......No matter he doesn't have things set up yet but I thought this was going to be good deal and since it's standard I will pass that along to him......Let him know that to be attractive the rate will not be the deciding factor........

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Sorry, but if your friend does not have significant money backers he is never going to be able to do this. When you send a nurse to a facility, you become the vendor and the facility can pay up to 90 days out from the billing, not the time that the nurse worked. So you add in pay as well as all of the other things that go along with it and housing and the other items that go with that, and not getting reimbursed for it for a period of 90 days is going to be quite difficult to say the least.

Does not matter that he has been in business for 15 years, but I suspect not with a travel company and things are quite different with these from generic agency contracts.

And if this person is so interested, you would expect that they would have everything completely set up with their attorney and accountants, etc; and not coming to Allnurses.com to get advice.

Sorry, but things are not adding up here.

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Specializes in ICU/ER.
Sorry, but if your friend does not have significant money backers he is never going to be able to do this. When you send a nurse to a facility, you become the vendor and the facility can pay up to 90 days out from the billing, not the time that the nurse worked. So you add in pay as well as all of the other things that go along with it and housing and the other items that go with that, and not getting reimbursed for it for a period of 90 days is going to be quite difficult to say the least.

Does not matter that he has been in business for 15 years, but I suspect not with a travel company and things are quite different with these from generic agency contracts.

And if this person is so interested, you would expect that they would have everything completely set up with their attorney and accountants, etc; and not coming to Allnurses.com to get advice.

Sorry, but things are not adding up here.

He has not been in the medical field for 15 years. The IT field is his specialty. Asking for advice from nurses before setting up a company to cater to nurses actually makes sense to me and right now he is doing research, since I was available I answered some of his questions but I wanted to get some advice from more experienced people to see if what he was offering was something others would be interested in.....

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There is much more that needs to be done before even talking to nurses, especially to see if one has the funding for a program like this. Have seen so many start in the field but not have the proper backing before they got started and they failed miserably.

With not getting paid for 90 days for each and every nurse and to cover all of the costs associated, one is looking at quite a sum of money, and it will be hard to find a bank to finance that nowadays.

And much more that he needs to be aware of as far as licensing, liability, as well as specific state requirements. He needs to do his work with all of that first before talking to nurses. There is just so much more than most are even aware of that goes into it.

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