President of the Mississippi Hospital Association, Tim Moore says he’s excited that over 1,000 out-of-state medical staff are coming to help hospitals. He says facilities are facing staffing shortages in part because other states are recruiting them; the competition is fierce.
“In south Texas it’s $52,000, $53,000 worth of incentives plus the rate that comes along with it. And they’re paying anywhere from $130 to $150 an hour for registered nurses,” said Moore.
According to Payscale a compensation research website, the average salary for RNs in the state is $25.00 per hour. Moore says five radiology technologists at one Mississippi hospital quit the same day to make $100.00 an hour in Texas. Also he says hospitals are overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients with few to no ICU beds available.
“So I warn everybody I talk to be careful when you’re on the highway. I hope you don’t have a heart attack. I hope you don’t have a stroke because right now it is very difficult to find an ICU bed in the State of Mississippi,” said Moore.
At Merit Health Central Hospital in Jackson, CEO David Henry says they’re constantly looking for ways to accommodate COVID-19 patients and those who need emergency care.
“We just opened up an ICU unit that has an additional nine beds. So what we can do is potentially move COVID patients to another unit, we’re moving non-COVID patients to those ICU beds so that’s once again a fluid situation,” said Henry.
Henry says they are grateful for any staffing help available. Merit Health Central is one of 50 hospitals slated for additional medical workers.
