Members of the GOP Doctors Caucus introduced the Travel Nursing Agency Transparency Study Act (H.R. 8576), on July 28. The bill is a House companion to a S. 4352, introduced by Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND). If enacted, it would require the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct a study and report to Congress, within one year, on the business practices and the impact of hiring “travel” nurse agencies across the healthcare field during the COVID-19 pandemic. LeadingAge supports the Travel Nursing Agency Transparency Study Act.
Earlier this year, LeadingAge and several long-term care and health care organizations sent a joint letter to the White House COVID-19 Response Team coordinator requesting the federal government to look into exorbitant nurse staffing agency rates that came into practice during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, to address this problem, LeadingAge wrote a letter to the Chairwoman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in October 2021, to urge them to investigate nurse staffing agencies’ conduct as a violation of our antitrust or consumer protection laws. Additionally, LeadingAge has been tracking state-level legislation that addresses nurse staffing agencies price gouging. Connecticut, Iowa, Louisiana, Oregon and Tennessee have formally passed legislation regulating the staffing agencies. You can access the tracker here. You can access an article regarding the Travel Nursing Agency Transparency Study Act here.
