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Editor's Note: Below is a brief excerpt from a complimentary Health Policy Unplugged note written by our Health Policy analyst Emily Evans. Click HERE to learn more about Emily's research process and the analysis subscribers receive. |
The California Hospital Association and a few Members of Congress have raised concerns about travel nurse companies engaged in price gouging.
The 50K/wk price tag on a Duluth, MN placement we saw a few weeks ago was certainly shocking.
On further consideration, it would take a lot to get us to temporarily relocate to Duluth in the dead of winter so maybe 50k is not as crazy as it sounds.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics released state level jobs data yesterday and finding health care workers continues to be a non-partisan, non-regional struggle. Without considering increased demand, the highest population states have 1-2% fewer health care workers than they did pre-COVID.
Soon, we hope, the CHA and certain anti-trust vigilantes will embrace the fact that health care has lost workers to other things (like higher pay) that are not travel nurse companies.