U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) joined a bipartisan, bicameral effort calling for a federal investigation into the high costs being charged by nurse staffing agencies amid pandemic-induced nursing shortages.
“We are writing to inquire about the extreme prices being reported for nurse staffing agencies from hospitals in our states, and the concern that certain staffing agencies may be taking advantage of these difficult circumstances to increase their profits at the expense of patients and the hospitals that treat them,” wrote Sen. Cassidy and three colleagues in a Nov. 15 letter sent to Jeffrey Zients, the COVID-19 Response Team Coordinator for the White House.
The lawmakers, who also included U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and U.S. Reps. David McKinley (R-WV) and Doris Matsui (D-CA), pointed out that in September, healthcare employment fell by 17,500 positions, putting a “persistent strain” on healthcare providers and forcing many hospitals to rely on nurse staffing agencies to supply needed staff to care for the increasing number of patients during the ongoing pandemic.
“We have received anecdotal reports that the nurse staffing agencies are vastly inflating prices by two, three or more times pre-pandemic rates, and then taking 40 percent or more of the amount being charged to the hospitals for themselves in profits,” they wrote, noting that the amounts charged to hospitals “rose precipitously” during the most recent wave of the COVID-19 crisis.
At the same time, wrote Sen. Cassidy and his colleagues, “this is not the first time the agencies have engaged in this sort of conduct.”
“As the first wave of COVID-19 swept the nation in 2020, they similarly inflated their prices to hospitals,” according to their letter. “Hospitals have no choice but to pay these exorbitant rates because of the dire workforce needs facing hospitals around the country. This model is unsustainable for many health systems.”
The lawmakers requested that Zients enlist one or more of the federal agencies with competition and consumer protection authority to investigate the conduct.
Specifically, they want to determine if the activity at these nurse staffing agencies is the product of anti-competitive activity; if there is evidence of price collusion or other anti-competitive pricing patterns; if the activity violates consumer protection laws; and what impact the price increases have had on rural and underserved areas, among other questions.
Sen. Cassidy and his colleagues urged Zients “to protect patients in dire need of life saving healthcare treatment and prevent conduct that is exacerbating the shortage of nurses and continuing to strain” the nation’s healthcare system.