raise our base wage to remain competitive . We have over 30 nurses , so a $ 2 raise is $ 120,000 per year for our business . If you ’ re one doctor , you may be able to afford that , but for us , every little bit is multiplied by a lot . So , some of my nurses went to the hospital . Some went to other physician offices because they were offering more an hour .” During the pandemic , SAMA managed to implement two base wage increases and began offering retention / sign-on bonuses ( which remain ).
Another pandemic-induced change that clinics had to deal with was increased hospital utilization of travel nurses . “ Throughout COVID , the hospital signed agreements with travel nurses ; in those contracts , it ’ s my understanding that they ’ re guaranteed so many hours when they ’ re traveling ,” he said . “ It ’ s been interesting ; the nurses in El Dorado are going to Little Rock and the nurses in Little Rock are coming to El Dorado , because they can make more money as travel nurses . Now that the hospital census is dropping again , the hospital is flexing local nurses . I recently interviewed three nurses that were working at the hospital that weren ’ t getting many hours . I hired two and another is waiting for a spot .”
Day-to-day staffing is also affected by staff members ’ needs for childcare , according to Atkinson . “ Two or three nurses have opted to stay
home with their kids ,” he explained . “ Without trying to get political , I think a lot is driven by the minimum wage increase , which raised the cost of daycare . Daycare went from $ 115 to $ 150 per week in less than two years . On top of that , [ the government is ] paying a child tax credit of $ 300 per child per month . So , for someone with two kids not yet in school , it may be better financially to stay home .”
At FPA , shortages have led to frustrations across the board . From patients who experience increased wait times to nurses who continue to work more content into every patient visit ( COVID tests , vaccinations , staff train-
Family Practice Associates in Benton .
ing , etc .), it has been difficult . To manage the changes , the clinic has had to make some adjustments in care .
“ Historically , we don ’ t like to turn patients away ,” said Salmon , “ but we can no longer do walk-in flu shots – as those patients could be waiting hours – and we ’ ve had to pause our Saturday clinics for now .”
The Saturday clinics have been a big part of FPA ’ s service to local patients ; pausing them was a big decision , according to Salmon . “ My clinical staff were working overtime to meet demand , and here we were having Saturday clin-
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