Lawmakers Urge Administration to Probe Price-Gouging by Nurse Staffing Agencies
- January 28, 2022
More than 200 lawmakers are urging the administration to investigate reports that nurse staffing agencies are “vastly inflating price, by two-three or more times pre-pandemic rates” amid ongoing workforce shortages facing the nation’s health care providers.
In a January 24 letter to White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Jeffrey Zients COVID-19, the lawmakers relayed concerns that nurse staffing agencies are taking advantage of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic to increase their profits at the expense of patients and hospitals.
“We urge you to enlist one or more of the federal agencies with competition and consumer protection authority to investigate this conduct to determine if it is the product of anticompetitive activity and/or violates consumer protection laws,” the letter said.
Meanwhile, on January 27, organizations representing hospitals and nursing homes also sent a letter to Zients "with serious concerns that various nurse and other direct care staffing agencies have been exploiting the severe shortage of health care personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic by charging uniformly high prices in a manner that suggests widespread coordination and abuse of market position."
The groups--the American Hospital Association and the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living--said they have asked the Federal Trade Commission to investigate but have not received a response.
"We ask that you help ensure this matter gets the attention it merits from the federal government," the letter said.