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

[taylorj1]

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......

[Brownms46]

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.....

There is NO way a facility is going to let that happen! His clients would dry up in a heart beat! NO facility would allow you, him or anyone else to terminate the contract without cause. And I do not mean, just because the nurse doesn't like it. He would be out of business before he got into business!

His idea of an agency with specialized travelers can and has worked. The pay for Oklahoma is a little low, but housing is cheap, so could be done. But medical insurance without deductibles, I think not. At least not without something else lacking, such as pay or housing.

Travel nurse pay is based on the hourly amount the facility pays the agency, and they can include in the contract for bills to be paid up to 30 days in advance. Many agencies have gone to this practice d/t facilities being delinquent in paying their bills.

Out of the money the agency charges the facility, comes everything the agency needs to pay the nurse, insurance, housing, travel money, etc..etc. PLUS the agency's profit. Most times the nurse must work at least 5 weeks, before the agency sees any profit on the assignment, so there is not way an agency could survive letting nursing terminate contracts as they see fit.