With an aging healthcare workforce nearing retirement, burnout among frontline workers and shortages of qualified faculty in US nursing programs, the US appears to be in the throes of a full-fledged staffing crisis. This crisis has helped to drive a surge in the use of travel nurses to fill in workforce gaps. According to SIA’s most recent forecast, the healthcare temporary staffing market rose 85% to $39.8 billion in 2021. Of that, travel nursing accounted for $22.6 billion.
As a result of this surge in expense, some healthcare systems are setting up internal departments — or “internal agencies” — to allow their full-time staff to take on travel assignments or be reassigned to work in a different department or facility on a temporary basis.
US Travel Nurse Market Y/Y Growth
There are obvious benefits to in-house travel nursing models. From the perspective of the worker, nurses seeking higher wages, shorter commitments and the ability to change scenery continue to leave staff positions in favor of travel jobs. Meanwhile, health systems are tapping into forward-thinking strategies to rely less on outside agency help, while also creating opportunities for employees who welcome the perks of a traveler lifestyle and career. In-house travel nurse programs not only help manage costs, but they also serve as an off-label recruitment and retention tool, while simultaneously serving as a vessel to bring back nurses who have left. Retaining staff within the system reduces the cost of turnover and training of travelers as they navigate through a familiar system with familiar processes in place. Clinical staff who can seamlessly float between locations also creates ease of scale for seasonal fluctuations.
Nevertheless, in-house programs are not without challenges. This new program will almost undoubtedly give rise to the same pay disparity issues that are currently rocking the industry and driving staff nurses away from traditional nursing roles. Increased reliance on travel staff can cause a strain on working relationships between staff clinicians and travel clinicians, due to variation in pay rates. Additionally, in-house travel nursing programs could pull staff from less-desirable hospital and clinics. And finally, with so many nurses desiring the perks of being a traveler but not being able to take the leap due to familial obligations, it is a reasonable concern that more staff nurses would seek to become in-house travelers, thus, leaving gaps in coverage among staff nurses. This, of course, assumes the absence of parameters that would limit the number of spots available.
With today’s complicated balancing act of maintaining adequate staffing levels while also managing the bottom line, healthcare leaders are looking for ways to cut costs while recruiting, retaining and recapturing hospital staff. Healthcare staffing firms may have an opportunity to provide guidance and even ongoing services to help healthcare clients with in-house programs or in-house services. For more information on SIA’s take on travel nursing and what we expect for this year and beyond, SIA corporate members can check out our most recent US Staffing Industry Forecast report.
