Worcester Business Journal

16 Worcester Business Journal | April 17, 2023 | wbjournal.com times the pay of a staff nurse, said Katie Murphy, president of the Massachu- setts Nurses Association labor union, and sign-on bonuses contribute to the massive spend. "It's a problem on so many different levels. e money is so big. We all know nurses who stepped away from their reg- ular job to take on a contract position," she said. Travel nurses aren't new. Previously, they were most commonly employed to fill temporary vacancies for leaves of absence, maternity leaves, and during periods of expansion for hospital sys- tems, said Justin Precourt, chief nursing officer at UMass Memorial Health in Worcester. When travel nurses were being utilized as normal, Precourt said, F O C U S H E A L T H C A R E Bankrupting the system To cover for COVID-related staff shortages, hospitals are over-reliant on travel nurses, who are paid significantly more than staff Kathleen Murphy, president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association labor union, said reliance on visiting nurses could chill the labor market. BY ISABEL TEHAN WBJ Staff Writer W orkforce shortages have fueled conver- sations across sectors since the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, and in no industry is that more true than health care. Nursing, in particular, was hit hard: demand for nursing services became dire on day one of the pandemic, and that demand has yet to loosen its grip. To respond to an urgent need for more nursing staff, hos- pital systems turned to visiting or travel nurses to alleviate the temporary crisis. But the crisis, it turned out, would not be temporary. Now more than three years since the pandemic began, con- tract employment of travel and visiting nurses itself is a threat to the healthcare system. In 2022, hospitals spent $1.3 billion more for temporary staffing than they did in 2019, according to a Massachu- setts Health & Hospital Association sur- vey of hospitals representing nearly 90% of staffed inpatient beds in Massachu- setts. More than three-quarters of the temporary staffing spend was on nurses, according to the study. "is is an absolutely unsus- tainable model, and it's going to bankrupt our system," Steve Walsh, CEO of MHA, said during a Massa- chusetts Health Policy Commission panel on March 29. Travel nurses earn higher wages compared hour to hour with staff nurses, according to the MHA. e Central Massachusetts healthcare industry faced a shortage of workers even before the pandemic began, as the Massachusetts Department of Labor in 2018 projected six of the 10 fastest-growing professions over the next two years would be in health care. COVID exacerbated those problems, as healthcare workers faced burnout in the difficult conditions created by the pandemic. Unchecked, unregulated component of health care Travel nurses can earn up to three $214M 0 $500M $1B $1.5B $596M $1.52B Staffing expenses 2019 '20 '21 '22 Growing costs Mass. acute hospitals temporary clinical staffing expenses Source: Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association survey Steve Walsh, MHA CEO, said the tempo- rary staffing situation is unsustainable. staff at hospitals found them helpful to meet day-to-day operational and patient care needs. "e industry isn't new, but it was an unchecked, unregulated component of health care that got out of control," said Precourt. Utilization of travel nurses at UMass Memorial is down from the pandemic peak, during which they were contracted for work at three or four times the rates of 2019 and earlier, said Precourt. Still, the hospital system is still employing travel nurses about 60% more than it used to. e situation is causing a tremendous financial strain on a system, said Pre- court, and UMass Memorial is aiming for a return to standard levels in the first quarter of 2024. in Malatesta, a registered nurse and assistant professor of nursing at Tan Chingfen Graduate School of Nursing, part of UMass Chan Medical School in Worcester, started her career as a staff nurse before transitioning into travel nursing. In her perspective, travel nurs- ing has allowed for a broader under- standing of the workings of hospitals. rough her three travel contracts, she's been able to see how operations work at systems large and small and has had exposure to more kinds of patients from different backgrounds, she said. When she was a nurse at an intensive care unit before becoming a travel nurse, she said she had positive feelings about the temporary additions. "Nurses appreciated it. ey were there to fill in the holes," said Malatesta. e holes grew wider during the pandemic, and more travel nurses were needed to meet the increased demand on hospitals. Malatesta said reactions to travel nurses vary from place to place, depend- ing on the culture at the hospital. Some Nursing students at Assumption University in Worcester practice on a dummy patient. Despite efforts to train more nurses, the industry is still experiencing a staffing shortage. PHOTO | WBJ FILE

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