FAQs

Travel healthcare professionals help facilities across the country that are experiencing staffing shortages. Travel nurses and therapists travel away from their permanent tax home (far enough to duplicate living expenses) in order to work short-term contracts. Hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, outpatient clinics, home health agencies, in-patient rehab units, assisted living facilities and school systems use travel healthcare professionals when in need of staff.

Most healthcare travel contracts last for 13 weeks. Cariant can often be flexible, working with travel nurses and therapists to create shorter or longer assignments that meet specific needs. Also, many of our healthcare travelers accept extension offers on assignments they particularly enjoy, turning that 13 weeks into six or nine months enjoying the same place.

New nurses need a few years of relevant work experience (one or two years is best) before traveling. New therapy graduates can start traveling right away after obtaining their license. Other healthcare travel requirements include:

• • Graduation from an accredited healthcare professional program
  • Authorization to work in the United States
  • Eligible or already professionally licensed in the state(s) where you’ll be working

If you’re not already licensed, Cariant will pay any associated fees necessary for you to start an assignment. Your healthcare travel recruiter will provide guidance through the licensure process.

A devoted travel healthcare recruiter will help submit your information to attractive open travel positions. Cariant sends your resume and credentials to the hiring facility, and the next step is a phone interview. If the facility wants to then extend a travel healthcare contract, and you accept, we start the paperwork process and coordinate all the logistics of getting you to that assignment on time.

Absolutely! In addition to Cariant helping with the credentialing costs required to start a healthcare travel assignment (reimbursement for new licenses, lab work, travel, etc.), eligible traveling healthcare professionals receive tax-free monies for housing and daily per diems. Housing stipends are to cover housing costs while on assignment and per diems cover incidentals such as food, gas and other living expenses. Travel nurses and therapists typically make a higher weekly take home pay compared to permanent employees because of this.

Yes, our goal is to make sure you are well taken care of while you take care of your patients. Cariant travelers receive the same benefits packages as our Home Office employees and some additional ones, too! We offer continuing education assistance, professional liability insurance coverage, referral bonuses and retention rewards and health insurance.

The good news is it takes less time the longer you travel with Cariant. For the first contract we have to collect more information and you may need to get more tests and provide more information than subsequent assignments. We encourage all travel nurses and therapists to keep a Credentialing Portfolio and can work with you on what should be included. Each facility is different, but our Credentialing Team can help!