UPMC starts an internal one “journeys” Registered Nurses and Surgical Technicians program to address staff shortages in hospitals such as UPMC Altoona.
The program is designed to help discourage caregivers from taking on high-paying travel jobs with outside agencies.
The hourly wage for the internal travelers will be competitive, but the cost of UPMC will be half that of the external travelers.
Travel agents charge UPMC $ 200-280 an hour, with the nurses themselves making $ 85-90 an hour, according to UPMC officials.
“UPMC can hire two UPMC travel nurses or technicians for the price of one outside nurse.” announced a press release. “These cost savings can be converted into optimal staffing.”
Prior to the pandemic, travel agents were charging about $ 85, said John Galley, UPMC’s chief human resources officer.
The new program will be the first of its kind in the country.
It is a medium-term partial solution to the shortage of staff, but it will be needed at least for the next few years, predict officials.
And while it may cause permanent employees to leave their current units, it is intended to help permanent employees by relieving current stress and congestion, according to Holly Lorenz, chief nurse executive.
When they become travelers, the core employees don’t leave the company, they just go where they’re needed, she said.
The program offers six-week assignments that are shorter than most travel agencies.
Under the new program, UPMC pays US $ 85 an hour for nurses and US $ 63 for surgical technicians. The benefits are the same as for regular employees.
In-house travelers will also receive an allowance of $ 2,880 every six weeks for deployment at least 60 miles away.
The travelers would have to agree to live on the street and regularly work in unfamiliar situations.
“It is not intended for everyone” said Lorenz. “That can be very isolating.”
A nurse looking to relieve herself of overtime or travel, experience a variety of clinical settings, or perhaps pay off student loans, could join the new group for a while and then seamlessly move back to her old department or move to a responsive hospital location, in Galley and Lorenz.
There would be a drop in hourly wages to return to regular staffing status, but benefits would be uninterrupted, Galley said.
The organization wants to slowly ramp up to 800 travelers, according to Galley, which corresponds to the number of external travelers currently working.
The new program is part of a package of tactics that also includes a pay rise for a weekend employment program, a night shift program that provides a pay rise and does not require shift changes, and a program that allows workers on the edge of retirement to switch with decreasing hourly and benefit options said Lorenz.
The organization is also working on a longer term solution with the recent opening of a UPMC nursing school in Erie County and the planned opening of a school in Harrisburg next year, bringing the total number of UPMC nursing schools to six.
The personnel challenges “Are worse than ever and have only gotten further (worse) since the takeover by UPMC” In 2013, Altoona ICU nurse, Sandy Wagner, a member of SEIU Healthcare PA, responded to a request for comment.
She seemed skeptical that the new initiative would make a big difference.
“I don’t know all the details” she explained in an email. “I know UPMC needs to work with us and invest in long-term solutions rather than temporary solutions to keep experienced nurses at the bedside.”
In designing the travel program, UPMC relied on information from current staff and external travel agency travelers who have worked with UPMC, Galley said.
“We are seeing sales that we have never seen before” – twice as much as last year at the same time, said Lorenz. Sales were largely driven by the high travel agency rates.
“This way we can say, ‘Look, we have a solution for you'” said Lorenz. “You do not have to go.”
While the program initially only includes nurses and surgical technicians, it could be expanded to other jobs.
Nurses and OR technicians can apply at
Careers.UPMC.com then search for UPMC Travel Staffing.
“We look forward to starting the interview” said Lorenz.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.
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