High pay at staffing firms luring away local nurses? Texas politician investigates (The Monitor)

Texas State Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa is investigating whether nurses in the Rio Grande Valley are parting ways with hospitals to work for the state-contracted staffing agencies that are responding to a Covid-19 surge in the area, paying its nurses almost four times higher wages, The Monitor reported. The Texas Department of State Health Services partnered with staffing agencies earlier this year to deploy more than 620 additional medical personnel to the Rio Grande Valley to assist hospitals struggling with staffing shortages. Average starting pay for a valley nurse is about $25 per hour, while one staffing staffing firm in particular is reportedly paying nurses $95 per hour.