Help...job offers

[rcar397]

Hello. I am trying to figure out the best option for my career choice. I have been offered a home health position that is $37/RV and $80/SOC. The minimum is 25 visit points per week. RV being 1 point and 2 for SOC, $0.45/mile reimburesement. I also have been offered another job that is $4000/month at 40 hours per week (not salaried). Benefits are comparable in price and deductibles. I have never done home health but have about 1.5 years experience with the other offer. What is your take on the offers? How well do most fare with home health? Do you usually make more than the minimum? Office staff there seems very supportive and it seems like you could easily make more, but the unknown is a little frightening. With the home health I will be covering a 2 county area with everything within an hours drive. The other place is about a 45 min drive one way. Please help guide me?!

[caliotter3]

I would look for more information. You can get plenty of opinion and experience-based information from reading in the home health forum here. Seek out people who have worked recently in both situations and weigh what they have to say.

[Libby1987]

2 counties is a lot, at least by our geographics, and a SOC though given 2 points by most in the industry will take on average longer than 2 revisits by the time everything is completed. There will be days when you do 2 SOCs in 1 day versus a more lucrative 5 revisits, though theoretically your driving could be less with only 2 stops and you can slip in a revisit or 2 once you're efficient.

Home health at per visit pay is based on 2 premises..

1) it takes a good while to become both efficient while still providing quality care* (no one hits both to start so plan on giving up one or the other).

2) income is based on averages.. how you average out at the end of the month as well as end of the year. There are going to be times of low census and there are going to be times of chaotic days strung together. By the end of the year it averages out but if you're not used to and planning for that it can be very stressful in both financial terms as well as the feeling that everyday will be a rough one.

* a good agency will pay you hourly for 90 days then rip off that bandaid so that you also learn efficiency before developing too many inefficient routines on hourly pay. An efficient home health nurse, that doesn't take unethical advantage of course, is a happier home health nurse.

As a field nurse I would have refused to work hourly, it was more lucrative to be paid for visit. I also had more autonomy with my scheduling and I never experienced productivity monitoring as i was incentivized to manage that myself. I have always worked for good agencies however that treated me well and I stuck with home health until I became proficient.