We hear this question all the time—why would a hospital use travelers? To the untrained eye, it can seem like facilities spend more money and time dealing with travelers. After all, there’s constant compliance, onboarding modules, facility onboarding sessions and facility tours, not to mention what appears to be a higher cost for healthcare professionals.
Under the surface though, there is a lot going on that means a traveler is a better fit in certain instances. Learn about all the reasons a hospital might use a travel nurse agency.
Hiring Travel Nurses Can Be Less Work For HR
Let’s face it—hiring takes time. Between posting jobs, sorting through resumes, scheduling interviews, checking references, and onboarding, hospital HR teams have their hands full.
Travel nurse agencies take a lot of that off a facility’s plate. Agencies typically have a pool of trusted, talented healthcare travelers that are ready to step into a job with minimal notice. For overworked HR teams, this means that jobs can be filled with qualified candidates with minimal input. Add in that travel nurses and allied professionals are employees of the agency, which means there’s no drug testing, tax paperwork, benefits enrollments or any of the other paperwork that’s typically associated with full-time employment.
IRS Rules Against 1099 Contractors
If you frequent any social media site with healthcare travelers, you’ll eventually see travelers recommending that you just call the hospital HR department and ask to become a travel nurse contractor. Sounds great, right? However…
Hospitals can’t just hire any nurse as a 1099 contractor and call it a day. The IRS has pretty strict rules around what counts as an independent contractor versus an employee, and misclassifying workers can land an organization in hot water. These rules can be complicated so we’re just going to let the IRS do the talking—click here for the IRS rules.
Travel nurse agencies navigate this by acting as the employer of record, making sure all the tax and legal boxes are checked. That’s a major relief for hospital administrators who want to stay compliant without hiring full-time staff for short-term needs.
Short-Term Travel Nurse Staffing Shortages
Some staffing shortages don’t always call for a permanent solution. Maybe flu season hits hard, a location is known for an influx of tourists (and their injuries) or there’s a sudden spike in admissions. Sometimes a healthcare professional goes on maternity leave, or there’s a gap between new hires starting. Allied travelers or travel nurses are the perfect answer to these temporary needs. They’re experienced, adaptable, and ready to jump into new environments with minimal ramp-up time.
Less Expensive in the Long Run
Sure, travel nurses may come with higher hourly rates, but a full-time staff nurse’s hourly rate is just one piece of the compensation package. When a hospital hires someone as a full-time staff member, it has to factor in benefits like healthcare coverage, 401k match and compensated time off, Social Security and tax payments, recruiting costs, paid training and the price of employee turnover if the staff member leaves and the facility has to start all over. This adds up over time.
The flexibility and speed of agency staffing cut back on some of these expenses, saving the facility money in the long run.
In short, travel nurse agencies offer hospitals a smart, streamlined way to stay staffed and focused on patient care. It’s a win-win for everyone involved—from the HR team to the patients themselves.
Thinking about working with an allied or travel nurse agency like Triage? Click here for allied and travel nurse jobs. Looking to fill your facility with great people? Click here for staffing services.