Many hospices have relied closely on journey nurse companies to bolster their scientific groups in the course of the pandemic. Now, a pair of payments at present earlier than Congress would require a federal examine of these companies’ impression on well being care.
The Journey Nursing Company Transparency Research Act would instruct the U.S. Authorities Accountability Workplace (GAO) to check the methods contract nursing firms have accomplished enterprise in the course of the previous two years, together with accusations of value gouging.
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) launched the invoice within the Senate (S.4352), with Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.) sponsoring the Home model (H.R. 8576).
“Sadly, there have been experiences of journey nursing companies profiting from the pandemic with questionable enterprise practices which are growing prices and severely hurting our well being care suppliers and sufferers alike,” Murphy, a doctor, mentioned in an announcement. “Our invoice will study the impression of those practices on the well being care trade and guarantee transparency shifting ahead.”
If enacted, GAO would study journey nursing company pricing and search to find out if these firms contributed to the workforce scarcity. The federal would additionally look intently at their income relative to the quantities they pay nurses in wages. GAO is a nonpartisan company that conducts analysis and investigations on behalf of Congress.
Well being care suppliers and trade teams have questioned the legitimacy of the hovering prices , with some calling them exorbitant. The American Hospital Affiliation has been vocal on the difficulty.
Hospice organizations have endorsed the proposed laws to check journey nurse firm practices, together with the Nationwide Hospice and Palliative Care Group (NHPCO) and its advocacy arm the Hospice Motion Community (HAN).
“Hospices can’t compete with the excessive contract, extreme charges required by journey nursing companies. These companies seem to have capitalized on the general public well being emergency by charging exorbitant charges,” Ben Marcantonio, interim president and CEO of NHPCO and president of HAN, mentioned in an announcement. “We sit up for persevering with to work with Senator Cramer and Congressman Murphy to garner further assist and prioritize discovering instant workforce options to make sure entry to high quality end-of-life care.”
The price of supplementing their workforce has been a ache level for hospices and different well being care suppliers in the course of the previous two years.
Typically, journey nurses obtain increased wages than full-time workers inside well being care firms, and a few have seen their paychecks double or triple as extra suppliers sought their providers. This has additional sophisticated recruitment and retention for hospice operators who’re competing with these corporations for job seekers.
In earnings convention calls final 12 months, hospice and residential well being supplier LHC Group (NASDAQ: LHCG) indicated that they might save $1.4 million per quarter for each 100 foundation factors they might cut back contract nurse utilization.
Fellow residence well being and hospice big Amedisys (NASDAQ: AMED) noticed their Q3 2021 hospice revenues fall by $2 million, which the corporate largely partially attributed to increased than regular utilization of contract nurses, the corporate indicated in an earnings name. Hospice phase income in Q3 totaled $198 million.
These have been final 12 months’s numbers, and each firms (amongst others) have since reported reductions in journey nurse engagement, notably because the Omnicron surge subsided and fewer staff have been coming into quarantine.
The workforce scarcity predates the pandemic and can all however definitely prolong past it, main some trade observers to conclude that utilization will possible decline in the long run — however not to pre-COVID levels.
At the moment, demand for journey nurses is see-sawing as well being care firms implement methods to cut back utilization and COVID infections rise and fall.
In latest months, staffing corporations have seen adjustments in demand fluctuate between a 5.8% improve and a 3.3% lower, accompanied by a slight dip in pricing, in keeping with analysis by Brian Tanquilut, fairness analyst for Jeffries Monetary Group.
Whereas accusations of value gouging have been flying, they’ve but to be confirmed. Some stakeholders and analysts have posited that the speed will increase replicate adjustments in provide and demand slightly than misdeeds.
“I name warning for our expertise to characterize it as ‘value gouging,’” Bruce Greenstein, chief technique and improvements officer for LHC Group, previously told Hospice Information. “To some extent, perhaps it’s only a market working effectively in that we have now large extra demand for a restricted provide. It’s not a daily commodity; it’s a bit of labor. We as a market are so determined for that.”
