Travel and contract clinicians fill critical short-term needs. But when temporary staffing becomes a long-term strategy, hospitals often pay a premium to perpetuate the vacancies they are trying to solve.

Consider the true cost:

1. Agency markups, stipends, and related expenses inflate labor costs.
2. The hospital pays a premium for clinicians who may leave in 13 weeks.
3. Some agencies pay contractors to recruit permanent employees into travel work.
4. Every permanent employee who leaves creates another costly vacancy.
5. Contractor pay disparities damage morale and retention.
6. Temporary labor consumes funds that could support compensation, relocation, retention, and permanent recruitment.
7. Contractors cannot replace the institutional knowledge and leadership built by permanent employees.
8. Temporary compensation makes permanent recruitment more difficult.
9. Positions filled by contractors for years are no longer temporary needs.
10. Every contractor should have a permanent replacement strategy.

This challenge extends across the clinical spectrum:

• Mid-Level Providers — NPs and PAs
• Nursing Professionals
• Physicians
• Allied Health Specialists

Temporary clinicians are not the problem. Dependency on temporary staffing is.

The question is no longer, “Can we afford another contractor?”

It is, “How much of our temporary labor budget could be invested in permanently solving our recruitment and retention problem?”

C.M. Cromley recruits permanent healthcare professionals nationwide, helping organizations reduce contract-labor dependency and build a more stable workforce.

If reducing temporary staffing costs is a priority, we would welcome a brief conversation about your most difficult permanent vacancies.