Rural hospitals and smaller facilities around the country are finding it nearly impossible to maintain safe staffing levels, with signing bonuses and other financial incentives luring medical staff to more lucrative opportunities.

Joshua Gilmore, CEO of Iron County Medical Center in Pilot Knob, Missouri, told Kaiser Health News that his staffing costs have increased 15%-20% during the pandemic after handing out hospital-wide raises. The 15-bed facility has lost nurses to travel nursing positions paying $10,000 per week compared to a yearly $70,000 salary at Iron County. Gilmore is offering $10,000 signing bonuses to try and fill positions but rising supply costs and other expenses have made balancing the books difficult.

Many see travel nursing as an opportunity for more flexibility and better pay. Yet a number of states are considering legislation to limit travel nurses’ salaries, and more than 200 members of Congress recently called on the White House to look into the issue.

Brock Slabach, chief operations officer of the National Rural Health Association, says hospital leaders are becoming desperate and the system needs to be changed.

“We need to mobilize all of the resources that we have to figure out how we’re going to solve this problem, and it starts with a systemic approach,” Slabach said in KHN's Feb. 7 report. “We can’t just pay our way out of this through bonuses and bounties.”

Read the full Kaiser Health News story below.