Inflation

[HALL85]

Unfortunately more bad news yesterday.

https://www.axios.com/2022/10/13/inflation-september-cpi

80% of CEOs believe we are headed into an extended recession as well.

On healthcare….
Here’s a survey of HAP (Hospital Association of Pennsylvania) members on labor costs that since 2019:

• Hourly rates paid to staffing agencies for registered nurses providing direct patient care in medical/surgical and other units have increased by 108% from $59 per hour to $123 per hour while the average number of shifts per day worked by temporary staff increased from five to eleven
• Hourly rates paid to staffing agencies for registered nurses providing direct patient care in specialty units have increased by 82% from $66 per hour to $120 per hour while the average number of shifts per day worked by temporary staff increased from four to nine
• Hourly rates paid to staffing agencies for nursing support staff (such as certified nurse assistants, patient care assistants, and nurse assistants) have increased by 444% from $9 per hour to $49 per hour while the average number of shifts per day worked by temporary nursing support staff increased from three to five

I post this because these are costs that cannot be clawed back and you cannot reduce the amount of nursing care as it is regulated. So these costs have been incurred and will flow through new insurance rates and ultimately to the consumer. hospitals would’ve done this sooner but the stimulus money they received enabled them to run their operations without raising prices. Look for your healthcare costs skyrocket over the next 2 to 5 years. Healthcare is 20% of our GDP so these increases will have a significant impact on continued inflation.

 

[Section112]

Good post about the realities of HC labor costs. My sister manages a hospital based home health care agency and their hourly rates have more than doubled in the last year and they are still having difficulty finding home health care aids and can’t staff new clients whose loved ones need care.

 

[shu09]

Why have the costs you mentioned increased so much? Doesn't seem like ordinary inflation, seems they are adding on more just to make more profit.

 

[Merge]

Why have the costs you mentioned increased so much? Doesn't seem like ordinary inflation, seems they are adding on more just to make more profit.

Nursing shortage. Not caused by inflation but will definitely impact price of care going forward.

 

[cernjSHU]

CoVid took a lot out of nurses. My wife was done with bedside after the pandemic. She had her degree as a nurse practitioner. So she decided to leave Hackensack University and to go into primary care. She told me some NYC hospitals are paying 6 figure salaries for nurses fresh out of nursing school.

 

[SHUSA]

fantastic news! just in time for open enrollment. cant wait to see the changes.

im really hoping the recession doesnt move to depression

 

[Section112]

Nurses, aides and HC admins as well are spent. Also the ones working are jumping around to make more $ because they are in such high demand. My sister has hired aides and trained them only to lose them to another company a week later for higher pay. Happening everyday.

 

[HALL85]

CoVid took a lot out of nurses. My wife was done with bedside after the pandemic. She had her degree as a nurse practitioner. So she decided to leave Hackensack University and to go into primary care. She told me some NYC hospitals are paying 6 figure salaries for nurses fresh out of nursing school.

There has been a major exodus of nurses especially those over the age of 60. Many have retired early and many have converted to traveling nurses where they can make two and three times what they made….$250-300k per year. Combined with fewer people going into nursing school it’s created what we are seeing and will continue to face. You are correct in that six figure starting salary‘s are becoming more common at large teaching hospitals.

AsI said earlier, this is going to drive up the overall cost of healthcare significantly. Suppliers are also passing on double digit increases based on their costs going up as well….supply chain, raw materials, transportation, etc. All this has to work its way through the system which is going to end up with the consumer paying much more.

Unfortunately, the quality of care is also going to decline IMO. The only way to get more clinical people to work short term will be by reducing credentialing requirements or immigration laws. We are going to have to import labor and lower the standards.

 

[SHUSA]

There is been a major exodus of nurses especially those over the age of 60. Many have retired early and many have converted to traveling nurses where they can make two and three times what they made. Combined with fewer people going into nursing school it’s created what we are seeing and will continue to face. You are correct in that six figure starting salary‘s are becoming more common at large teaching hospitals.

AsI said earlier, this is going to drive up the overall cost of healthcare significantly. Suppliers are also passing on double digit increases based on their costs going up as well. All this has to work its way through the system which is going to end up with the consumer paying much more.

Unfortunately, the quality of care is also going to decline IMO. The only way to get more clinical people to work short term will be by reducing credentialing requirements or immigration laws. We are going to have to import labor and lower the standards.

the quality of care decline has already begun. with nurses its transactional. theyre instructed not to spend more time with a patient if it puts their hours over. the young ones are putting in bare minimum. the morals in nursing have disappeared. care for the patient is tertiary.

 

[HALL85]

the quality of care decline has already begun. with nurses its transactional. theyre instructed not to spend more time with a patient if it puts their hours over. the young ones are putting in bare minimum. the morals in nursing have disappeared. care for the patient is tertiary.

I have the greatest respect for the nursing community and you are way off base criticizing the morals of the profession. You have no idea what the challenges that an acute care nurse deals with that have been heightened with COVID. They have been on the front line with a disease we knew very little about at the beginning. There are reasons for what you might perceive as less time (for instance, documentation and EHR's).

 

[SHUSA]

I have the greatest respect for the nursing community and you are way off base criticizing the morals of the profession. You have no idea what the challenges that an acute care nurse deals with that have been heightened with COVID. They have been on the front line with a disease we knew very little about at the beginning. There are reasons for what you might perceive as less time (for instance, documentation and EHR's).

im talking about the new nurses not the old ones. im taking my comments from my MIL who was head of the nurse covid unit in CT. strictly talking about new vs old. evrrything i said is correct. the way a new nurse cares for the patient is oranges to the way old nurses care for the patients.

 

[HALL85]

im talking about the new nurses not the old ones. im taking my comments from my MIL who was head of the nurse covid unit in CT. strictly talking about new vs old. evrrything i said is correct. the way a new nurse cares for the patient is oranges to the way old nurses care for the patients.

Respectfully disagree.

 

[SHUHoopsFan]

im talking about the new nurses not the old ones. im taking my comments from my MIL who was head of the nurse covid unit in CT. strictly talking about new vs old. evrrything i said is correct. the way a new nurse cares for the patient is oranges to the way old nurses care for the patients.

Every generation says the next generation is not as good as their generation, so what someone says should always be taken with a grain of salt. The bigger issue is are we lowering our standards in a lot of professions, including the medical professions.