Private Duty LVN/RN Salary

allnurses Guide · May 1, 2009

Since you asked about LVN pay per hour, I can say that it does vary around $17 to $19 per hour for private duty. I worked in the same home with an RN. They paid her the LVN wage for private duty. I get paid a little more for having a patient on a vent.

Most of the agencies have their RN doing the multiple home visits, case manager. I'm sorry I can't help you with the specifics of that but I also doubt very much if it would be $50 an hour. Possibly a director of nursing for an agency would make that type of salary.

I'm in Los Angeles County. Best wishes for a successful job hunt!

caliotter3 · May 1, 2009

American Private Duty has recently posted job ads that indicate they will pay LVNs $15 to $16/hr. Two years ago, their ads stated $18-$20/hr.

caliotter3 · May 1, 2009

That ad that talks about $65,000-$85,000 is not typical and is not, I believe, for American Private Duty. That same ad runs periodically and seems like the "too good to be true" category.

esthaurora · May 1, 2009

i don't know how to private message so i'll just respond here.

to nursel56--

what is the name of the agency you work for?

how do you like the agency?

and are they willing to hire and train new graduates?

to caliotter3--

i would like to ask you the same questions as above.

also, why do you think the wages have gone down from $18-$20 to $15-$16??

so in private duty nursing, rns would make the same amount as an lvn assuming they cared for the same patient or very similar patients and the pay would never change?

caliotter3 · May 1, 2009

You will be able to use the private message function after you have posted 15 times. Most agencies are taking advantage of the threat of reimbursement cuts by the insurance companies and medicaid to lower the wages they pay nurses. One agency lowered the wages based on the info that medicaid was lowering its reimbursement. The medicaid reimbursement decrease did not occur and there was a big to do in order to get the agency to reinstate their wages to nurses working medicaid cases. They also are taking advantage of the current economy to get people who are willing to work for less just to have a job. Schools pumping out fresh new grads has an impact on employment. American Private Duty states in their ads that they hire new grads. I imagine that has a lot to do with decreasing pay. I have personally had experiences with agencies that run the gamut from good to bad. Generally, a nurse has to be proactive with a career in home health. When you aren't being treated well by one agency, you can go to another agency and negotiate for better. Sending you a PM.

allnurses Guide · May 2, 2009

Hi esthaurora,

I've sent you a PM. If you don't get it post on here and I'll try again. I'm pretty new at this and not sure if I get it right either

esthaurora · May 2, 2009

Thank you guys so much for your detailed responses. And nursel56, I did receive your pm. I wanted to ask you another question. You said they pay you very fair. May I ask how much that is? And do you know how much RNs at your agency are making?

I plan on working on my RN in 6-12 months and right now, I'm only interested in private duty nursing. I was so unhappy during my training during VN school I was unsure whether I wanted to make nursing a career. Then I found private duty nursing which I find to be more rewarding because you're one-on-one with the patient and you get to spend more time with him/her. This is probably a bad move for me as a new graduate because I won't get as much experience as I need, but I don't want to do any kind of hospital nursing as much as possible.

hybridgirl · May 10, 2009

I started working private duty straight out of nursing school, was glad to have found a full time patient and did not negotiate my salary with the agency. I get paid the same hourly wage, week day and weekend. Is that typical? I know hospitals pay weekend differentials, how about agencies? The end of my first year with this patient is coming up and I am wondering about negotiating with the agency. Any success stories out there?

caliotter3 · May 10, 2009

Home health agencies typically do not pay differentials. I worked for one that paid a night shift rate as well as regular pay increases, but that was because they had a union there. Not typical at all. The only differences in pay rates in home health usually have to do with different reimbursement sources, e.g. X amt/hr for medicaid, Y amt/hr for private pay, Z amt/hr for private insurance.

ArwenEvenstar · May 10, 2009

I've been doing private duty over 4 years now. Have worked at 2 agencies. And I have been making the EXACT same pay rate the entire time! Not even a .25 cent raise...in over years! I talked to the owner at the one agency, and the director of the other agency about getting just a small raise. The owner told me I was already at the max pay rate for medicaid cases. Most cases are medicaid. She said the only way for a raise was if medicaid increased the reimbursement rates. The director at the place I work now gave me a rather annoying "circular speech" - said a lot, but basically said nothing. He also insinuated that nurses make too much money already and we expect too much. Grrrr...How he said it was indirect...but it irritated me. C'mon, I don't know any job where you don't at least get a small raise periodically!! I know this is private duty - my pay expectations are low, but after 4 years I should at least have gotten maybe three or four .25 cent raises! The cost of living has gone up after all.

caliotter3 · May 10, 2009

I've been doing private duty over 4 years now. Have worked at 2 agencies. And I have been making the EXACT same pay rate the entire time! Not even a .25 cent raise...in over years! I talked to the owner at the one agency, and the director of the other agency about getting just a small raise. The owner told me I was already at the max pay rate for medicaid cases. Most cases are medicaid. She said the only way for a raise was if medicaid increased the reimbursement rates. The director at the place I work now gave me a rather annoying "circular speech" - said a lot, but basically said nothing. He also insinuated that nurses make too much money already and we expect too much. Grrrr...How he said it was indirect...but it irritated me. C'mon, I don't know any job where you don't at least get a small raise periodically!! I know this is private duty - my pay expectations are low, but after 4 years I should at least have gotten maybe three or four .25 cent raises! The cost of living has gone up after all.

I've encountered the same thing with my multiple hh employers over the years. I get a load of bs when I ask why another nurse on the same case is being paid $4 an hour more than me. You know there is no satisfactory answer to that question. And when you consider that she was being paid that $4 an hour more so she could leave the client's house hours early and get paid for not even being there, it makes less sense! One hh agency paid well to begin with, in line with an appropriate hh wage, and gave pay raises on a regular basis. It was the agency that had a union in place. Funny that when there is a union, nobody gives you the crap about not getting reimbursed for your pay. The money comes from somewhere. I never realized how good things were when I was working for that unionized home health agency.