乌鸦传媒

Possible price gouging by nurse staffing agencies requires investigation, members of Congress urged in a sent to White House COVID-19 Response Team Coordinator Jeffrey Zients last week.

The letter, led by Representatives Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and H. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) with signatures from almost 200 other members of Congress, alleged that nurse staffing agencies providing temporary healthcare workers to hospitals have capitalized on the dire need for workers by charging exorbitant prices for nurses -- up to two or three times pre-pandemic rates -- "and then taking 40% or more of the amount being charged to the hospitals for themselves in profits."

As staff nurses and other healthcare workers face serious burnout and little relief, many have left hospitals for the higher pay that travel nursing or other temporary work can offer. But even they, the letter implies, may not benefit as much as the agencies that recruit them and act as middlemen in a national health crisis.

In response to a request for more specific information on inflated prices, Rep. Griffith wrote in an email to 乌鸦传媒: "This issue is squeezing health care providers in my district, but our attempts to look into it have been hindered by a lack of transparency around how some of the nurse staffing agencies operate. Our letter asks the White House to investigate if any actions of nurse staffing agencies violate the laws. I don't know that they have, which is why an investigation should proceed."

An October report by the hospital group purchasing organization Premier found that hospitals were paying an average of annually for clinical labor.

"We urge you to enlist one or more of the federal agencies with competition and consumer protection authority to investigate this conduct to determine if it is the product of anticompetitive activity and/or violates consumer protection laws," Welch and Griffith wrote, saying that the jump in labor price indicated that "the agencies seemingly seized the opportunity to increase their bottom line."

Although the letter cited reports its authors received that agencies were "vastly inflating price," it did not name specific agencies or break down their pricing. Staffing agencies themselves have defended their business practices, stating in the past that healthcare organizations agree to the prices and that the increases are passed on to nurses as higher pay.

Kelly Rakowski, chief operating officer for strategic talent solutions at AMN Healthcare, a large staffing agency, wrote to 乌鸦传媒 in response to a similar November letter from congress members that "any price increases are driven primarily by the compensation that goes directly to healthcare practitioners." Her argument that the principles of supply and demand have increased the pay offerings needed to attract candidates to do the work has been by the American Staffing Association.

Welch did not respond to requests by 乌鸦传媒 for comment in time for publication.

Some nurses and other providers of the problem itself, arguing that hospitals should pay their staff higher wages and improve workplace conditions, which would help them retain nurses and prevent staff shortages in the first place.

"Focus on the core issues at hand and LISTEN to nurses who are begging to be heard for the sake of their wellbeing & that of the patients they care for," , urging lawmakers to use their influence instead to pass legislation like , which would regulate nurse-to-patient ratios in hospitals.

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