Hospice nurse...needs help with admission rate/salary

Specialties Hospice

Published

Specializes in Tele/Med-Surg; Pediatrics.

Hello,

I am a new grad with about 6 months experience in a Tele/Med-Surg floor. I've recenty taken a part-time position with a hospice agency (Los Angeles, CA) where my aunt works. The administrator would just like me to do only admissions for now. My rate for every admission is $120. Is this a good rate? I shadowed a hospice nurse with her admissions and the process took about one hour (explaining the benefits and head-to-toe assessments). But I didn't see her finish the paperwork yet. When I did my home health rotation in nursing school. The general consensus was about two hours to get the paperwork done. I'm not sure if my mileage would be paid yet. How much should I negotiate for the mileage? Thank you in advance for all the inputs!

$120.00 is a good rate. Even if it takes you 4 hours, you're still making 30 an hour. In my experience, a full admission can take anywhere from 2-4 hours. Our agency pays the government reimbursement rate for mileage which is around .48/mile which means that if anyone pays you more than that, you have to claim the extra as income. Some agencies pay less than the government rate - with the gas prices, I wouldn't want less.

Specializes in Tele/Med-Surg; Pediatrics.

Thank you for the response! When you spend 2-4 hours on admission. Does that include the time for paperwork?

Thanks!

We find it difficult to get out of a house in less than an hour and a half and the process can sometimes run to 2 or 2 1/2 if the family has lots of questions, has a hard time committing, needs a lot of teaching, medications are in a mess, wound to tend to etc. Paperwork, phone calls, etc. is a minimum of 1 hour but could take 2 or 2 1/2 depending on complexity. If the nurse you shadowed was done in an hour though its possible that they are not having the admissions nurse do as much as ours are expected to. I have never managed to complete one, paperwork and visit, in less than 3 1/2 hours (including my travel time).

Thank you for the response! When you spend 2-4 hours on admission. Does that include the time for paperwork?

Thanks!

Yes. Our fulltime admissions nurses are expected to be able to do 2 admissions in an 8 hour day. Some hospices expect 3.

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