Home Health Care RN's in Florida- Independent Contractor or Staff RN?

[GoNightingale, BSN, RN]

I was hired by a Home Heath Care agency that is not Medicare/Medicaid certified so they don't require a Director of Nursing. It offers skilled nursing services but primarily provides Home Health aide services. In fact, they do not currently have any clients requiring skilled nursing services. As an RN I was hired to go out to the patient's home to perform the initial assessment and create the plan of care for the Home Health Aide/CNA that will provide those services.

This is my first Home Health Care position and I went into it without doing research (which I normally do) because I needed a job right away. If the Home Health Agency is licensed to give skilled nursing care, but the order only calls for Home Heath Aide, does the State of Florida require an RN to perform an initial assessment of the patient in 48 hours if client is not going to receive skilled nursing care?

I signed up as an independent contractor and received my first paycheck with tax deductions. For the Home Health Care RN's out there that aren't on staff RN administrators, but perform the duties I described above- how do you get paid?

Before approaching my employer, I'd like to get some feedback from my fellow nurses out there in allnurses.com land!

Thanking you all in advance

[morte, LPN, LVN]

i thought if you were an ind. contractor, you were resp for all the taxes?

[caliotter3]

Independent contractors pay their own taxes, etc. If they took this out of your paycheck then you are an employee in the eyes of the IRS. The IRS has a pamphlet that explains all this.

[vjohnson224]

I own a private homw care business in the state of Georgia. The RN is responsible for the initial assessment and the care plan for client and the home health aide. The RN must also make supervisory visits to the clients every 60-90 days to ensure that the care plan is being followed and the aide is performing tasks correctly. If the company is taking out taxes then you are an employee.