Pay Question...

[Emm_RN, ASN, BSN, MSN]

Hi all, I recently interviewed for a rapidly-growing home health agency within my immediate area. I currently do work for a home health agency and I am paid salary. I am interested in the HHA I interviewed for, as they need a hospice nurse for my area and I have been itching to get working with another company for a change of pace (getting burnt out for multiple reasons which I won't go in to).

My question is this, which pay is better in home health nursing? Hourly or salary? This job would be hourly around the same "hourly rate" I'm getting at my current job, and I do not want to be short on money. It is not pay per visit, which is good, but I'm not sure I completely understand how hourly pay works in home health. Does that account for charting, driving, etc..? I am shadowing this weekend so I will ask all of these questions then as well, just anxious/excited and looking for some answers.

Thank you in advance!

[caliotter3]

It depends on the agency for most aspects concerning pay. In general, hourly is always going to be better because when one clocks out, they clock out. I have a relative who is "salary" because they are somewhere on the management food chain and boy, do they get their home life messed with because of the job. Akin to slavery and I am not trying to be humorous. Some agencies pay mileage, some do not. Some pay for charting, some do not. Some only pay for charting if you come into the office and do your charting there. Most hourly positions in home health are the extended care shifts where one does a standard six, eight, ten, or 12 hour shift. So one "clocks in" electronically on a tablet or per the entry on a paper nurses note or time slip. Otherwise, you would be expected to only claim your standard eight hours, considering the examples given above for mileage, etc. See what they have to say. You will find out the truth about how your bosses will be expecting you to work in the coming weeks. Look around in the home health forum and you can find examples of "slave driver" types of managers. Should you find yourself in that type of situation, expect to start the job search again sooner rather than later because that type of expectation set will wear thin fast.

[amoLucia]

caliotter - you covered sooo rightly for most nsg positions with the 2 pay options.

With salary, there was 'no limit' to all the extra time one'd spend just trying to stay afloat of all the minutiae that was expected over & above the regular expected tasks. I used to think that was the way that TPTB thought they were deigning us with the privilege of 'being off the clock'.

OP - be mindful of how much time will be required of you for office 'inservice/training', management meetings, care conferences, etc.

And how will on-call contacts be considered?

[Emm_RN, ASN, BSN, MSN]

Thank you both for your input, it is very helpful in making this decision! I can definitely see the benefits of hourly pay. Right now I do so much work that I’m not seeing compensation for. On call is 2-3 times per month at $20 during the week and $50 for weekends. My home-base office is on the same road I live on, and they have company cars.

I am just nervous to leave a company I have been with for years, though I’ve heard so much good about the company I applied for versus my current company from previous employees.

[vampiregirl, BSN, RN]

There are a lot of similarities or crossover between home health and hospice, but there are significant differences as well.

Hospice is my area of practice so I'm a little biased:) If you are interested in hospice, you may want to check out the hospice forum for some pay insight as well as lots of other great info for consideration.

[LuisHH]

That does seem kind of low. 1099 or w-2? What state?

[ILRNfor10]

I think pay per visit is always better than salary!