It is easy to grasp that Guam Memorial Hospital’s spending on journey nurses would spike on this COVID-19 disaster.
However the degree of GMH spending on journey nurses – which has topped $20 million in lower than two years – is astounding.
Even when the Federal Emergency Administration Company has dedicated to reimbursing GMH for the price of journey nurses, at the very least for now, GMH wants a greater method that may construct its nursing pool to attenuate using pricey journey nurses.
The antagonistic impacts of the excessive price of journey nurses are multifaceted.
A delay in FEMA’s reimbursement for GMH’s price of journey nurses immediately impacts the hospital’s skill to pay different payments akin to for medical doctors, specialists, drugs and provides. GMH has had a recurring downside of not paying its payments on time and there was a degree when its popularity price it a premium in the price of provides.
If GMH’s journey nursing price finally ends up not being totally reimbursed, it’ll trigger a series response on the remainder of the meager funds of the federal government hospital and the federal government of Guam as a complete.
For instance, someday in February, GMH had a money stability of $2.1 million, which is not loads contemplating the entire bills GMH incurs each day. In that month, the money movement went low and was impacted by the delay in FEMA funding, particularly for the journey nurses, which was estimated on the time to be $10 million, or half of what it’s now.
It is not straightforward to recruit and retain nurses on this pandemic, with U.S. hospitals providing beneficiant signing bonuses for brand new hires, and competing with corporations that present journey nurses.
However GMH’s cash-strapped place doesn’t give it a variety of monetary skill to proceed to depend on journey nurses as a result of it isn’t sure that the federal authorities will proceed to select up the tab.
$225 per hour per nurse, paid to a staffing company
GMH is now paying an eye-popping $225 per hour for every journey nurse – to 2 staffing companies that present these nurses.
At a Guam Memorial Hospital Authority board assembly in late September, hospital Administrator Lillian Perez-Posadas stated GMHA agreed to bump up the speed for journey nurses to $225 per hour, from a beforehand agreed-upon $175 hourly price reported the month prior.
GMH most likely ought to store round for journey nurses. In elements of Texas, a journey nurse could make upward of $120 an hour, based on Becker’s Hospital Assessment. Even in the event you take note of the staffing company’s prices, if GovGuam is paying a journey nurse company almost double the precise price of a journey nurse, GMH ought to search for various sources and choices more durable.
On common, the weekly gross pay for a registered nurse engaged on a journey contract in america rose to $2,597 in early August, the best price since February, Vivian Well being stated. And that, boiled right down to about $65 per hour, continues to be not even a 3rd of what GMH is paying.
Within the close to time period, GMH wants to buy round. It could possibly probably designate one individual in its administrative workers to construct a listing of journey nurses prepared to work in a tropical space throughout the winter, possibly throw in housing lodging and eradicate the intermediary nursing company.
Over the long run, GMH wants to higher incentivize native nurses. We’ve got good, sturdy nursing packages regionally. There’s a variety of curiosity in changing into nurses amongst our workforce and amongst new highschool graduates, however staying on Guam and dealing at GMH is a complete totally different story.
$20 to $30 per hour for native nurses
GMH employs about 300 native nurses. The beginning price for an area registered nurse on the hospital is between $20 and $30 per hour, plus any extra time and differential pay. That is not a variety of incentive for an area nurses to hold onto their jobs at GMH.
The journey nurse pay can also trigger morale points for the native nurses. They work as arduous and but they receives a commission a fraction of what the helicopter nurses are getting paid.
One other avenue for GMH to look into is international hires who can acquire the registered nurse licensing and certification to work on Guam.
The Fiscal 2021 Nationwide Protection Authorization Act opens a window for well being care staff to be employed underneath momentary international employee visas.
There may very well be extra options to discover. GMH simply wants the need to do it.
What GMH cannot afford to do is proceed its reliance on journey nurses whose prices might someday be immediately out of GMH’s pocket.
