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Ohio’s hospitals are using ‘visiting nurses’ to alleviate the shortage during the pandemic
By: Jo Ingles | Statehouse News Bureau
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COLUMBUS, Ohio (Statehouse News Bureau) — Despite the fact that 2,300 Ohio National Guard has been sent into some Ohio hospitals, many of them are so shorthanded that they are turning to the costly practice of hiring traveling nurses and medical professionals to help meet the needs. But that’s not solving the problem.
Ohio Hospital Association spokesman John Palmer said many hospitals are hiring what are known as “traveling nurses” from companies that provide contract nurses during this pandemic.
“It can be pretty expensive for hospitals to bring in caregivers through these agencies,” Palmer said.
Palmer said these services can cost hospitals a few thousand dollars a week for one employee. And that’s not all.
He said nurses at hospitals have been leaving those jobs to take positions at these contract agencies, making two or three times more money in the process.
Palmer said he doesn’t know how many health care workers have defected to agencies within the past year.
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