ONA has received a number of questions from members related to a Jan. 24, 2022 letter, co-signed by Representatives Peter Welch and Morgan Griffith, related to nurse staffing agencies. The letter is a request for the Federal Government to investigate actions by nurse staffing agencies to determine if they constitute anticompetitive activities or violate consumer protection laws.
First, ONA wants to be clear that this communication from Representatives Welch and Griffith was a request letter only; it is not a piece of legislation, a call for implementation of any specific federal policy, or a request to cap nurse pay.
Second, ONA does share some of the concerns reflected in this letter, specifically that nurse staffing agencies have caused staffing costs for hospitals to balloon across the country, including charging hospitals as much as three times more than pre-pandemic rates. This is clearly the case in some instances, but it is also crucial to remember that hospitals and health care systems bear the lion’s share of the responsibility for the need for travelers in the first place. We also note that no one is calling for a capping of CEO or hospital administrator salaries while the possibility of capping fees for traveling nurses has been floated.
It is because of decades-long poor planning and a lack of recruitment and retention efforts that hospitals find themselves in this crisis. Hospital corporations have spent decades creating this emergency and are now facing the real consequences of their greed. In addition, reports that these staffing agencies are taking as much as 40% of those fees as profit are deeply concerning as we know those excessive fees are lining the pockets of the staffing agencies rather than going to support staff nurse salaries, retention bonuses, or the hiring of support staff, all of which would help nurses during this crisis.
Third, ONA believes that the Federal government, state officials and agencies, and hospital administrators must put their focus on real answers to addressing the staffing crisis we are facing: the pay and retention of staff nurses. There is no question that retaining experienced nurses must be our priority at this time, and we know that pay is a key factor in those retention efforts. In addition, we know that nurses across Oregon, and the nation, are faced with unsafe staffing situations daily, are not getting legally required rest and meal breaks, and experiencing a surge in workplace violence.
ONA urges hospitals, and elected officials, to focus their attention on retaining nurses rather than on asking the Federal government to weigh in on a fight between hospitals and nurse staffing agencies. While they debate with each other over a problem the hospitals created, staff nurses continue to suffer.
