Wanting to cut our On-Call Pay

[becca-roo]

Agency is looking to cut expenses and scrutinizing our On-Call pay. Meanwhile, our main Physical Therapist (and PTA's under her employ) is contracted (paid per visit) and recommends a frequency of 3xweek x9weeks on every referral/diagnosis PT evaluates. I'm new with a non-profit agency and not up with the office politics...but it seems to me that PT is getting a heaping helping of our PPS pie. I'm wondering what PT frequencies other agencies have. Shouldn't they be instructing the patient and caregiver on their HomeExercisePrograms and getting out ASAP? I've worked for other agencies where it was more the norm for PT to be in and out in under 10 visits to where we couldn't get the extra $$$....and now to see PT go 27visits for each Recert period?!? I'm curious too about wether or not therapists do OASIS at other facilities...ours doesn't.

[cherricka]

they are looking at reducing our on-call pay to save money since we are a non-profit organization that is operating in the red. i'm curious as to how other agencies pay employees for being on-call. i have almost 13 years home health experience and my starting hourly wage (as a senior nurse) is 15.50. needless to say, i signed on for the benefits. now they want to take some benefits away. we take call for 24/7, a week at a time. we get paid for 8.5 hours and get a 7.5 hour day off with pay. that figures up to me making $248 for being on-call. care to share with me what your agency does?

becca- you get paid what??! for 13 years experience? boy they are getting a good deal. i am in upstate ny-we get over $20 ish/hr for fairly new rn's. on-call is $2.50/hr, time and a half on weekends. also time and a half on weekends/holidays if we choose to work some extra.(there is always extra time available). i work part time during the week (20 hours) and then i try to work most weekends by choice, because of the pay.

[CseMgr1, ASN, RN]

Doing on call duty was the biggest reason I quit home health. I did home health for about 9 years and all our benefits kept getting taken from us. Home health was a great job before the 1997 Balanced Budget Act. We only got .50 cents an hour for being on call plus regular hourly wage if we had to see anyone after hours. Also, time and a half over 40 hours per week.

Tell me about it! I worked for one home health agency back in the late 80's and early 90's whose owners took themselves and their managers on lavish excursions to NYC...all expenses paid, while we were left toiling in the fields and eating their dust. Those days came to a screeching halt in 1993, when these same owners were indicted on 101 counts of Medicare fraud. They were later led away to Federal Prison kicking and screaming that they didn't do anything wrong (yeah, right!). Now we and our patients are reaping the rewards of all those years of excesses and fraud by those crooked owners...with little or nothing left to nurse with. What a tragedy! :angryfire

[renerian, BSN, RN]

Our nurses get no on call pay or mileage. I am sure they won't be around long.

renerian

[renerian, BSN, RN]

Jack and Margie died in a plane crash. I have to say they did push the envelope but they were good to the people in our office in the 90s..

We were treated great.

renerian