Our travel healthcare recruiters help healthcare professionals work in temporary travel contracts all across the country. One of the most common questions our recruiters receive from applicants is why the hiring facility is looking to fill the position with someone from out of state, as opposed to a local clinician.
Many facilities prefer to temporarily bring on a traveling healthcare professional to fill their staffing shortages rather than hire one or more local clinicians. The facility can rely on one healthcare professional who is committed to full-time hours for a certain number of weeks, instead of one or multiple per diem workers who may or may not be available when the need arises and avoid costly permanent hiring expenses. The facility typically saves money because they don’t need to pay for benefits like health insurance, 401k matches and other overhead expenses for staffing and recruiting.
CAN LOCAL CLINICIANS APPLY FOR HEALTHCARE TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES THAT ARE NEARBY?
Unfortunately not. The travel healthcare job openings listed on our website are travel opportunities for therapy and nursing professionals who want to work far enough away from their permanent residence, that they would need to duplicate their living expenses. For example, they own and pay a monthly mortgage payment on a home in Texas and are a licensed registered nurse in Texas, but they don’t enjoy the hot summers. So they have a second license to practice nursing in, for example, Wisconsin. They take a 13-week travel nursing job in Wisconsin to enjoy the cooler summer. They duplicate their housing expenses by paying monthly rent on a short-term apartment lease. The nurse works full-time hours, and at the end of the contract typically moves on to another 13-week contract at a new facility.
Continuing with our above example, a nurse who lives only a few miles from that same facility in Wisconsin and would also like to work hours at that facility would not be eligible for that 13-week contract through Cariant at the same healthcare traveler pay rates. They are not commuting far enough to justify duplicating their living expenses.