What to know about UPMC's innovative new travel nurse, surgical tech program

UPMC has launched a new initiative to help its hospitals address the shortage of nurses and surgical technicians.

The program, titled UPMC Travel Staffing, is a new in-house travel staffing agency. It was created as a solution to attract and retain highly skilled nurses and surgical technologists to its workforce.

Posting for the positions started in December. The program went live Jan. 2.

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"We're the first health system in the nation to launch our own in house travel staffing agency," said Holly Lorenz, UPMC's chief nurse executive, during a press conference. "It's a win-win. We're recruiting new nurses, keeping our own and bringing back nurses who have left the system."

This staffing agency is designed for registered nurses and surgical technologists, but has the potential to include additional job roles, she said. The goal is to rely less on outside agency staff and give employees the opportunity to travel to hospitals within the UPMC network across Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York.

UPMC is planning to ramp up recruitment over time, but the original goal is for 800 nurses.

How much do travel nurses make?

Lorenz and John Galley, UPMC's chief human resources officer, said the hospital will be paying $85 per hour for nurses and $63 an hour for surgical technicians. A travel allowance of $2,880 is to be paid every six weeks.

"Pre-pandemic, we would hire an agency nurse for $85 an hour, with the nurse getting $50," Galley said during the same press conference.

Amid COVID-19, he added, the hospital is paying $200 to $280 an hour to an agency. The nurse receives approximately $85.

"Agencies are collecting the difference, taking advantage of the situation," he said. "The cost (for hospitals) is tremendous. It's unsustainable for anyone."

UPMC can hire two travel nurses or techs for the price of one outside agency nurse. Hospital admins believe this cost savings can be turned into staffing at optimal levels.

“The immense value of this initiative is those hired into UPMC Travel Staffing are our UPMC employees — they are mentored by us and consistently trained to create high-quality clinical and service excellence,” Tami Minnier, UPMC's senior vice president in the Health Services Division and a chief quality and operational excellence officer for UPMC, said in a press release.

“The premise behind and priority to launch this program is firmly rooted in living each of our values of Quality & Safety, Excellence & Innovation, Caring & Listening, Dignity & Respect and Responsibility & Integrity.”

Why UPMC Travel Staffing is needed

The program is to provide needed support for the core nurses and career growth opportunities. It's also to open a new pipeline to recruit nurses to UPMC and to bring people back who left UPMC, Galley said.

"We're seeing turnover we've never seen before. It's doubled from the same time last year," Galley said. "We're not trying to be the person setting the rate. We're trying to compete.

"We're losing nurses to agencies who want to travel. We will deploy across the entire footprint," Galley said. "Our footprint is narrower than other agencies that go all over the country. We'll keep them in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New York."

Potential participants may be paying off student loans, Galley said, which is a big influence for them to leave hospital employment.

According to Lorenz, nurses at the bedside keep asking for additional help.

"We're not looking at brand-new graduates," Lorenz said. "They need to have worked at a hospital for a year for experience."

UPMC Travel Staffing is to rotate nurses and surgical technologists to 40 different UPMC facilities for six-week assignments, Lorenz said.

Benefits of being a travel nurse

The advantages of this program include competitive wages and benefits that are unmatched by outside travel agencies, such as tuition assistance, and the participants will be able to move around hospitals in three states, according to UPMC.

This program is open to nurses and surgical technologists who have left UPMC and have an interest in coming back, are working for outside travel agencies, are already employed by UPMC, or who have not yet worked at UPMC and would like to join the hospital system.

The traveling nurses will have higher wages than the core nurses, but Galley said UPMC plans to compete by continuing a good benefits package.

"We wouldn't be doing this," Galley said, "if it didn't help our core nurses."

Nor is the program for everyone.

"They will work in a different environment every six weeks," Lorenz said. "They'll be on the road, but that's what travel nursing is."

Galley said when the travel nurse wants to settle down and stay in one place, they can come back to UPMC as a core nurse with a pay change.

"It's a whole different lifestyle. It is meant to be a very fluid option so they can have career choices," Galley said.

"The pandemic is affecting the whole world. This is a way for us to try to restore the balance."