Travel nurses took high-paying jobs during Covid. But then their pay was slashed, sometimes in half.

[Jilly_in_VA]

In early 2022, Jordyn Bashford thought things were as good as they could be for a nurse amid the Covid pandemic.

A few months earlier, she had signed an agreement with a travel nurse agency called Aya Healthcare and left Canada to work at a hospital in Vancouver, Washington.

Before the end of her first shift at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, she said she realized other travel nurses there were earning even more than she was and asked for more money. Aya quickly amended her agreement and raised her hourly pay from $57 to $96.

In January, her rate increased again to $105 as part of a new agreement. She thought that the high pay — and a generous living stipend of nearly $1,300 per month — meant she and her fiancé could finally make plans to buy a house.

But two months later, when her assignment was renewed, Aya slashed her hourly pay back down to $56, and then cut it still more to $43.80 — less than her initial rate.

“I do know that travel nursing is fluid, and you can lose your job at any time, but I wasn’t expecting [my hourly pay] to fall 50%,” Bashford said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/travel-nurses-took-high-paying-jobs-covid-pay-slashed-rcna59604

I know at least three of the four agencies mentioned in the article: Aya, Maxim, and Cross Country. They were known in my time as a traveler as crap agencies. I worked for On Assignment and they were never anything but great. I did do two assignments for TNS and they were kind of shady, but I learned.

[Shrike47]

1. She should have refused to sign the most recent agreement and gone looking.

I’m sure another agency would snap her up.

[Jilly_in_VA]

3. She is from Canada

Maybe not familiar with all the ins and outs of the agencies? I kind of lucked into On Assignment. I almost went on one for Cross Country and then found out I was going to have to supply half my household stuff so I backed out.

[Red Mountain]

2. Wonder how much Aya Healthcare makes off her?

And if their rate varied with hers or were they just mining her for cash?

[Jilly_in_VA]

4. There's a network

Aya is part of it, that is just really crappy. I encountered some travelers that worked for them and they weren't real happy. I loved mine. They paid pretty well, not super, but they also supplied a fully furnished apartment (right down to the forks and bedsheets!) so I really didn't have any complaints. Except for the one place I lived where the apartment management was really awful, that is....I think I've talked about them once or twice. They were like an HOA on steroids. But after my experience the agency never put any more travelers there.

[madville]

5. No one should have assumed the high pay was permanent

A few years at best. A RN friend of mine stayed out on the West Coast for a year or so at the height of the pandemic, averaged $6000-$8000 a week, she paid off her house here in FL in a little over a year. She’s back now working locally making 25% of that but with zero debt.

I had temporary assignments in my last previous career that might pay $4000 a week for say 8 weeks, then the next one might be $3000 a week or $2500 or whatever. But if I wanted to just be home everyday and work 40 hours a week it was $1600. No matter what I just kept living like I was gonna get $1600 and stayed conscious about not getting used used to the temporary higher pay.

[Jilly_in_VA]

8. They shouldn't cut pay

in the middle of an assignment, though. The network mentioned is also bad to cancel contracts mid-assignment for no particular reason.

[Justice]

11. They didn't cut in middle of assignment, they cut on renewal

Not realistic to expect higher rate would continue. The fact they went below the original rate is not good, but that the deal. She is free to reject it and move on.

[Jilly_in_VA]

12. They could warn you. n/t

[mitch96]

6. I always thought being a traveling nurse would be a neat job. 13 week assignments then

do or go where you want. Most of the travelers I met in So Fla hospitals
were cool, smart people with a touch of wander lust...

m

[Jilly_in_VA]

9. It is pretty cool

The best part of it is that you can co your job, take care of your patients, and then go home. No having to deal with hospital politics. The bad parts are that you often get the worst patients (although that depends on your charge nurse), you are the first to get "polled"--sent to another unit that needs help, and sometimes the feeling of rootlessness, which was the main thing that caused me to get out of it finally. Well, that and the fact that my now-husband was courting me pretty heavy by then and I wanted to be where we could see each other often.

[mitch96]

14. "No having to deal with hospital politics.".. that is the WORST. Actually that is why I bailed out

Of working in hospitals 10 yrs ago.. Could not stand the bullshit.. The Admins did not like hearing the truth and ways to fix it... Most of them were trending to be "upwardly mobile" and did not mind stepping on anyone to get there... Fuck patient care.. it's all about the $$$

My last boss managed by spread sheet..... It's like driving and just looking over the hood at the white line... At one point or another your gonna hit something..
BTW I loved my job and helping people.. The bosses? not so much...
Ok rant off...
m

[bottomofthehill]

7. Good for her for making money when she could.

Nurses are the backbone of the Healthcare system, but let’s face it, the system can not afford $200,000 dollar a year nurses. At some point reality will kick in.

[Jilly_in_VA]

10. If they can pay their damn CEOS millions

they can damn well afford to pay travel nurses what they do!

[mitch96]

15. +1.. Look at tricky ricky scott.. He got HCA slapped with $1.7 billion Medicare fraud fine.

He got a golden parachute to the tune of $9.88 million in a settlement, and left owning 10 million shares of HCA stock then worth more than $350 million
So $350 mil in 1997 is worth around $616 mil today?

By those standards Nurses who DO ALL THE DIRTY WORK should get AT LEAST $100K/year.
There is plenty to go around if you cut the big boys salaries and bonuses.
Oh yeah there is cutting back on Big Pharma payments as a start....
m

[Sympthsical]

13. Covid paid a premium, and it was never going to last

I'm going into nursing and my partner is a manager at a big healthcare company, so I keep my eye on these things. They were paying absolutely crazy amounts during Covid, hauling in every nurse they could find, putting them up at nice hotels, and granting generous stipends because they were so desperate.

It just wasn't ever going to be permanent. Once the crisis ebbed, the demand for traveling nurses came down, and the companies weren't going to pay those rates.

Covid has given nurses a lot of leverage. Kaiser NorCal and the nursing union just inked a contract for a 22.5% increase over four years and adding 2,000 nursing jobs just to avoid a strike. So, it is getting better than it was. However, traveling nurses are constrained by supply and demand. Sometimes the demand is crazy high, and the rates begin to reflect that.

No one's getting Covid rates anymore. Traveling nurses can have volatile income because they are so supply/demand based. Sometimes it's great. Sometimes it's just ok. I'm kind of stymied the woman in the article was making long-term plans based on a boom cycle. It feels like someone - anyone at all - should've pulled her aside and explained she should pocket what she can and prepare for rates to come down in the future.

I also would've agency shopped and looked at regional options.

I will say, however, $43.80 seems low. But I'm going on California rates where things are closer to $75 or more an hour. It seems Washington state does not pay nearly that much. Just a quick glance shows California can pay nearly double what Washington does. That's what I mean by regional options.