White House urged to investigate price gouging by nurse staffing agencies
Nearly 200 House members are urging White House COVID-19 Response Team Coordinator Jeffrey Zients to investigate reports that nurse staffing agencies are taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic to increase their profits at the expense of patients and the hospitals that treat them.
“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 representatives said in a letter initiated by Reps. Peter Welch, D-Vt., Morgan Griffith, R-Va. “The situation is urgent and the reliance on temporary workers has caused normal staffing costs to balloon in all areas of the country. We have received reports that the nurse staffing agencies are vastly inflating price, by two, three or more times pre-pandemic rates, and then taking 40% or more of the amount being charged to the hospitals for themselves in profits.”
The AHA last year urged the Federal Trade Commission to investigate reports of anticompetitive pricing by nurse staffing agencies.