EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY

eJane.com has enlarged its scope. We are no longer just for travel nurse engagements. Effective January 24, 2009, healthcare providers can also post temporary, temp-to-perm and even permanent positions. And because its eJane, nurses and healthcare providers can continue to negotiate directly for these positions as well as our traditional travel engagements.

eJane.com has made the following changes:

• Healthcare Providers will no longer pay a fee when an assignment is finalized.
• Healthcare providers will now be able to “publish” or “unpublish” an open position/engagement. When “published”, the healthcare provider will pay a fee of $8.00 per day per position. When “unpublished”, the healthcare provider is not charged.
• When “published”, an engagement will display during a Nurse’s search for open positions, allowing them to respond and begin negotiations. When “unpublished” the healthcare provider and the nurse(s) can continue to negotiate an engagement, but the healthcare provider will not incur a fee and the engagement will not be displayed during searches.
• All other eJane functions remain the same, allowing healthcare providers and nurses to negotiate directly, regardless of whether a position is “published” or “unpublished”.
• This change gives healthcare providers direct control of their classified advertising costs, virtually allowing them to turn the ad “on” and “off” on a daily basis, as they receive and negotiate with respondents.
• Currently, eJane.com is offering a special where the first 10 days are free.

We are excited about these changes and feel that they continue to meet our goal and missions of bringing Healthcare Providers cost effective temporary staffing solutions while enhancing the careers of the nurse community at large.

Signup Now and see eJane in action.

Obviously, eJane is very different than the traditional agency staffing relationship.  One difference is the status of eJane travel nurses.  For the most part, the travel nurse will function in an “independent contractor” role, pretty much as defined by federal employment guidelines.

What is different from hiring an independent contractor travel nurse than hiring an employee of an agency? 

• Lower hourly rate for independent contractor than for an agency travel nurse
• Significant savings (you and the travel nurse split the agency mark-up)
• No middle man/no relationship with travel nurse agencies
• Contract is between the healthcare provider and the travel nurse/independent contractor
• Healthcare provider will be responsible for following federal and local guidelines for “independent contractors” to, at least, include the following:

          >  Healthcare provider is required to file a 1099 at the end of the tax year

          >  Healthcare provider pays for workers compensation coverage

          >  Healthcare provider is responsible for drug screens, background checks,

              professional reference checks and employment history verification

As a member of eJane, the travel nurse will more than likely assume the role of an “independent contractor.”

According to federal employment guidelines, this means you are self employed.  It means you are not employed by eJane or the healthcare provider you contract with.  You will have to obtain your own professional liability insurance, which you need to have anyway if you are a travel nurse.  You will file your own quarterly income taxes, so you should put aside between 20-25% of each pay check.  You pay for your own health/life/dental insurance.  You will find and pay for your own housing while on a travel engagement.  You will arrange for furnishings and utility hook-ups/disconnects and pay for these yourself.  You will negotiate the terms of a contract (taking into consideration all of the previous expenses) and, finally, you will sign a contract for employment.

Wow, that sounds like a lot to do!  And the first time it will be, but it gets easier and easier each time once you find out what works best for you.  If you are traveling with someone, many of these tasks can be divided.  After your professional liability/health/life insurance and retirement programs are in place, the rest is easy.  After the first year of filing your Federal Income Tax return as an independent contractor, the IRS will send you the quarterly forms you need to send in with the amount owed already filled in (based on the previous year’s return). 

Finding your housing and utilities will be discussed in a future blog.  I would like to point out, however, the convenience of having access to the internet and a cell phone cannot be overemphasized–especially for the travel nurse lifestyle!

Finally, as an independent contractor, you will negotiate the terms of the engagement and sign a contract.  This is probably the biggest difference, however, if you think about it, you already have experience doing both of these–it was just with an agency nurse recruiter rather than a hospital nurse recruiter.  The only difference is that the hourly rate you are negotiating for as an independent contractor will be much, much higher than you are used to due to your expenses.  On the other hand, it will likely be much less than the hourly rate the hospital pays a travel nurse agency.

Negotiation–All terms of the contract need to be agreed upon between the healthcare provider and the travel nurse such as:  hourly rate, start and end dates, shift(s), housing and/or travel reimbursements, bonuses, overtime pay, time off, etc.  When the travel nurse applies for an engagement, negotiation begins and continues back and forth until both the travel nurse and healthcare provider agrees and finalizes the engagement, or one of them declines and ends the negotiation.

Respond–During a negotiation, to send personal/confidential information and/or any changes/comments made to the engagement posting to the other party, click on the Respond icon at the bottom of the negotiation screen.  Its function is to send information to the other party.

Accept–When the Accept icon is selected, a popup box appears requiring the ’Confirm Accept’ button to be selected.  The following important information appears in the popup box: 

“Both parties must click the CONFIRM ACCEPT icon below to finalize an engagement. The Final Engagement Package (containing the details, comments, travel nurse quality portfolio, and any downloads) will not be available until both parties CONFIRM ACCEPT.  Once both parties have ACCEPTED, this engagement/negotiations will be closed. The healthcare provider will be billed. The Final Engagement Package will be available for review and/or printing for fifteen (15) days, after which it will be removed. The healthcare provider will receive three (3) reminders in their eJane message box prior to removal.  If, after either party clicks the ACCEPT icon, the other party sends a response (i.e clicks the RESPOND icon) prior to clicking their ACCEPT icon, the finalization process is reset and each party must click the ACCEPT icons again to finalize the engagement. “

Decline–After the negotiation has started, either party can Decline at any time.  When the Decline icon is selected, it closes the engagement for future comments between these two parties and the travel nurse is not able to reapply for this position at a later time (unless it is posted under a new engagement listing).

Quality Portfolio–A “Quality Portfolio” is maintained by every travel nurse that is a member of eJane.  It includes all pertinent information that a healthcare provider would need to know in order to evaluate a travel nurse.  The information is classified into three levels:  General, Personal and Confidential.  General information is automatically released to the Healthcare Provider when the travel nurse responds to an engagement.  This includes only information that allows the healthcare provider to determine if this travel nurse has the skills and credentials to perform the job posted (certifications, clinical experience, skills checklist, periodic compliance list, immunizations, education, and professional organizations).  Personal information must be manually released by the travel nurse and includes information that identifies the travel nurse and their location (name, address, phone numbers, RN licenses, professional references, and work history).  Confidential information also must be manually released by the travel nurse and includes higher level of protected information (email address, medical history, surgical history, and prescriptions and medications).

INTRODUCTION:  eJane utilizes standard industry terms.  Sometimes, however, these terms take on a special significance relative to eJane.  This blog highlights these exceptions.

Engagement–The healthcare provider posts an “engagement” for temporary nurse staffing which includes the position name, location, start date, end date, whether or not it is a temp-to-perm position, hourly rate, reimbursements, requirements (drug test, ppd test, background check), shifts, full listing (narrative job specification) and public comments (general comments pertaining to the healthcare facility or its location).

Temp-to-perm position–The original job is for a temporary travel nurse position, but may become a permanent staff position if mutually agreed.  eJane does not charge an additional fee for this transition.

Healthcare Provider–A hospital or healthcare facility that posts engagements for temporary nurse staffing needs. 

Primary Contact–The healthcare provider contact that will receive the billing for themselves and Users without billing.

Locations–The physical site of the engagement posting.

Users–Divided into two groups:  (1) with billing or (2) without billing.   A ‘Location’ must be established before a User can be designated.

Independent contractor travel nurse–A travel nurse with eJane is an independent contractor.  They are not employees of the healthcare provider or employees of eJane (please refer to Terms of Use).  Therefore, they pay and file their own federal and state income taxes, obtain their own health/dental/life insurance, maintain professional liability insurance, and obtain and furnish their own housing.  As an independent contractor, the travel nurse is able to deduct many expenses in the same way as other self employed people (housing expenses, office expenses, vehicle expenses/depreciation, travel expenses, meals/lodging expenses, etc.).

For too long, the temporary healthcare staffing industry has been using costly methods to meet the staffing needs of healthcare providers. As internet technology integrates into more business applications, the founders of eJane have envisioned and created an innovative, new approach.

The result is a direct business-to-business link between the provider and the professional, utilizing internet technology to post openings and create negotiation venues where qualifications are accessed and updated instantly.

Utilizing internet technology, the critical components of filling a staffing vacancy–access and qualification screening–are accomplished quickly and efficiently. This extension of current internet business practices to the temporary healthcare staffing industry, offers opportunities for significant reductions in hospital costs and significant pay increases to travel nurses.

Our technology enables hospitals to lower costs and reduce staffing budgets by hundreds of thousands of dollars, that would have otherwise been spent on traditional approaches. Healthcare providers post details of their open positions, and then can negotiate with the best qualified candidates from those who apply.

Through eJane, travel nurses are empowered to work as independent contractors with hospitals and other facilities while retaining total control over negotiating salaries, perks and more. Nurses browse the open positions in the eJane system that are posted by healthcare providers and then apply to the ones they like.

eJane’s founders have over 20 years of experience in the professional services industry and understand the trials and tribulations from both sides of the travel nurse/healthcare equation. Their mission is to bring travel nurses and healthcare facilities together via the Internet to freely negotiate.

eJane is easy to use, you’ll keep more money in your pocket or budget, puts you in control of negotiations and eliminates the third-party/middle man.

The heart of eJane is the relationship it creates between the travel nurse and the healthcare provider.  The best way to describe it is   ….    “direct.” 

eJane is not an agency.  We are a web=based application that allows the travel nurse and healthcare provider to negotiate directly.  Our specific responsibilities (and liabilities) can be found in our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

So with eJane, the relationship between the travel nurse and healthcare provider is direct and, therefore, contractual.

This means the travel nurse in most cases will be an independent contractor.

As an independent contractor,  they are responsible for obtaining their own liability insurance, file their own quarterly taxes, obtain their own housing, pay their own health/life insurance/retirement, etc.  These expenses need to be considered when negotiating the terms of the contract. 

The healthcare provider will normally file a 1099 at the end of the year and provide workers compensation coverage for the independent contractor travel nurse.  They can expect to negotiate much lower hourly rates as compared to the hourly rate for an agency travel nurse for the same position.  This savings can be significant over the course of the contract.  The healthcare provider will be responsible for the travel nurse’s background check, drug screening, licensure verification and employment reference checks.  These can become part of the negotiation terms and/or requirements. 

Finally, a contract will need to be signed.  eJane provides a template contract for either the nurse professional or the healthcare provider to use, if either party does not already have one.

This will begin a series of blogs which are specific to eJane. We will describe what eJane is, how it can be used, how it will benefit both the travel nurse and healthcare provider and how to negotiate terms of the contract.

This series will include the following topics:

• The Company
• The Travel Nurse and Healthcare Provider Relationship
• Definitions
• Being an independent contractor travel nurse
• Hiring an independent contractor travel nurse
• Liability
• Negotiating
• Contract terms

We hope this series will be informative and useful in your evaluation of eJane and its approach. As always, if you have questions, please comment here or sign on to eJane.com and Contact us.

eJane members are responsible for all components of an engagement.  These responsibilities are clearly covered in eJane’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.  It is important that all eJane members read and familiarize themselves with these conditions.

One important responsibility is professional liability insurance.  This type of insurance is available to any nurse who is in good standing.  It is affordable and it can be purchased in amounts equal to the normal requirements of the healthcare provider.

eJane allows each travel nurse member to display their professional liability insurance information in their Quality Portfolio where the healthcare provider can review it and confirm it.

Professional liability insurance:  If you are an eJane travel nurse, make sure you get it; if you are an eJane healthcare provider, make sure your travel nurse has it.

Apartments.com is a good place to start when looking for your own housing as an independent contractor travel nurse. For instance, eJane.com has travel nurse openings in Virginia Beach, Virginia so I thought I’d find out what kind of housing is available in that area. I went to the Apartments.com website and clicked on the links for the state, city, area of city, etc. then chose the amenities. When searching for your apartment, be sure they offer corporate/short-term leases, because not all apartment complexes do. I found an apartment complex located 2.6 miles away from the healthcare facility where travel nurse positions are being offered. The apartment complex’s website has pictures of the grounds and 360 videos of the inside of the apartments.  

Short term leases are generally higher than yearly leases and, in this case, a 3-month lease for a 1 bedroom/1.5 bath apartment is $1000/month. For a 36-hour work week and a 13-week employment contract, this lease breaks down to be $6.41/hour ($3000 divided by 36 x 13 = $6.41). This information is useful when you enter negotiations with a healthcare facility through eJane. You can also find other helpful information and links by signing into your eJane account and reading through the Support Services link.

There are many other sources for finding housing opportunities, as well. If your travel nurse engagement is longer than 13 weeks, you may want to consider renting a house or duplex out in the country or on the beach! Local newspaper Classified ads are helpful in these cases. If the landlord does not usually offer a lease for less than a year, tell them you are a travel nurse–they may make an exception.

Good luck! I look forward to your comments and any other ideas you can share with our fellow travel nurses for finding their own housing!

This was our first time as an exhibitor at the ASHHRA’s (American Society for Healthcare Human Resource Administration) 44th Annual Conference & Exposition in Austin, Texas.  Most attendees were corporate level Human Resource VPs and Directors.  We were pleasantly surprised that nearly all the healthcare providers we spoke with were almost as excited as we are about eJane!  Many comments went something like this:  ”What a great new concept for travel nursing,” “This is a great way to cut costs on travel nursing expenses,” “A great way to use the internet and save hospital costs while allowing travel nurses to make more money.”  We, here at eJane, are hopeful that many of these healthcare providers will post engagements for our travel nurses so both will reap the benefits from eJane.com! 

Simply put–eJane is a website where travel nurses input their credentials and work experience and healthcare providers post engagements for temporary nurse staffing needs and when the nurse searches and finds an engagement he/she is interested in, they start negotiating until one declines or both accept!

As always, if you have any questions regarding eJane, you can contact us through the “Contact” link at eJane.com.

Chris, Cheryl and Kim

The sales staff of eJane.com will be participating in the ASHHRA (American Society of Healthcare Human Resources Administration) 44th Annual Convention and Exposition (ASHHRA.org). This national convention for leaders in the field of Healthcare Human Resources will take place October 11-14, 2008 in Austin TX.

eJane will be be located in booth 842 where we will be available for demonstrations and to answer questions about eJane. So, if you are planning to attend or happen to be in the Austin area this weekend, please come by and see us.

Kim

You got to take the bad with the good, even in travel nursing!  Now I’m not saying that orientation is not good, but if you move every 13 weeks (and those 13 weeks get shorter and shorter with each move!), well, orientation can tend to be repetitive (yawn!).  However, if you approach it with the right attitude, you can make the best of it and even have a good time.  Your listening skills will come in very handy!  Also, many hospitals give you valuable written material during orientation–like a map of the hospital and employee parking areas.  (I learned  the hard way after getting two parking tickets from the hospital ‘police’ for parking in the wrong section/lot–they were both dismissed however.)  Orientation also gives you a chance to meet people from other departments like maintenance, housekeeping, food services, etc. and because you WILL float, it’ll feel good to see a familiar face and ask how they’re doing.  Many times hospitals will offer CEUs for some of the nursing classes they have during Orientation, which are always good to accumulate. 

Orientation to the floor can be trying at times.  What I’ve learned to do when I first meet my preceptor is to tell her my nursing experience (so she doesn’t ‘precept’ me like a new grad) and suggest that the areas I need help with will pertain to the daily operations of the unit (phone system, charge nurse responsibilities, call light system, meds/MARs, patient charts, resource manuals, P&P, supplies, linens, etc.), operations of the hospital (computer system, documentation,  MD/employee phone lists, etc.) and hospital equipment (patient beds, CODE carts, IV pumps, Pyxis, med carts, etc.).  And each orientation shift, try to take over more and more responsibilities–your preceptor will appreciate it and you will be on your own sooner!

I saw this advertisement for a new TV show about nurses that looks like it might be good so I thought I’d share it with you.

The show is called NurseTV — a new television show about the real lives of nurses which airs beginning this week.  Check out the promotion video and this week’s fall showtimes. 

NurseTV, a new nationally-syndicated television show, captures the real lives of nurses, the intense drama and their uniquely compelling stories. The TV show takes viewers onboard medical helicopters, inside emergency and operating rooms and into the lives of tirelessly devoted nurses. Each episode recounts the powerful experiences of nurses in action on the frontlines of modern healthcare. Follow the real-life medical drama of a profession where every second counts! 

On their website is a contact link (info@nursetv.com) where you can submit your nursing story ideas too!  Program your Tivo so you don’t miss it!

If you’ve read through some of our previous blogs, you’re familiar with eJane. Specifically that eJane.com is a website where independent contractor travel nurses can find open engagements posted by healthcare providers and negotiate directly. In my previous blog I recommend that nurses have at least one year experience in one location before taking their first travel assignment. Well, with eJane.com, the travel nurse is an independent contractor–this means the nurse is self-employed and obtains their own housing, furniture, health insurance, professional liability insurance, pays their own taxes, etc. So, with this, I would also recommend that a nurse not only have at least one year nursing experience before traveling, but also have one year of travel nursing experience prior to using eJane.com. If the first few travel engagements are with an agency, the travel nurse will have the chance to learn what to expect and what to do upon arriving at their new location housing and starting orientation with a new hospital. When you feel comfortable with these two items, it will be much easier and less stressful to take over making the arrangements yourself. I would even recommend that for one or two of your travel assignments with an agency, that you take the housing stipend the agency offers and find your own housing and furniture to familiarize yourself with what works best for you. And on those nights away from home on your travel engagement when you’re wondering what to do–get online and visit eJane.com’s Help link and Support Services, join forums, read blogs and/or browse the internet for information on being an independent contractor.

Actually, you can do all this and travel with eJane.com without having experience as a travel nurse–I was just thinking of Maslow’s Heirarchy of Needs where one’s security and protection needs must be met before one’s need for fun!

Here at eJane.com, we want you to be a successful AND happy independent contractor travel nurse!!!