While occupancy levels for skilled nursing facilities continue to slowly tick up and reimbursement trends are positive, the labor market is still seeing a high use of temporary staff – agency workers and travel nurses alike. Demand has increased pay for such staff year over year, but it’s still low for SNF nurses compared to other care settings.
In fact, out of all post-acute care spaces, it appears that SNF travel nurses are the lowest paid, with an average weekly wage of $1,970.65, a slight decrease compared to last month but nearly 7% more than July of last year.
That’s according to data compiled by Vivian Health, an online platform for travel nurses to find work. Home health travel nurses, on the other hand, are receiving the highest weekly pay of all post-acute care settings, on average $2,342.39 per week, a 1.17% increase from June and 4.48% increase compared to July 2022.
Skilled nursing facilities came in dead last in terms of weekly pay across all of the specialities that Vivian Health monitors in its report. Pediatric and cardiac intensive care were top-paid specialities for travel nurses.
Taylor Pickett, CEO of Omega Healthcare Investors (NYSE: OHI), said during an earnings call that the use of temporary staff really all depends on location. Florida, for one, is still experiencing severe staffing shortages, he said of Omega’s footprint.
Travel nurses in Florida were paid on average $2191.42 per week in July, a less than 1% increase compared to June. California had the highest weekly pay for travel nurses across all specialities at $3,011.49 for July.
Agency use among Omega’s assets improved during the second quarter, but rental revenue was still offset by general and administrative expenses and interest, he said.
Interestingly, long-term acute care travel nurses, or those working in an inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF), saw a 15.28% decrease in pay year over year, but still came in third in terms of weekly pay in July, according to Vivian Health data.
Hospice travel nurses were paid on average $2,249.91 per week in July, while long-term care travel nurses saw a weekly payout of $2,075.08 in July.
Companies featured in this article:
