2000 Salary Survey Results - Well-educated, experienced RNs, earning healthy salaries
2000 Salary Survey Results - Well-educated, experienced RNs, earning healthy salaries
In the July issue, Hospital Home Health sent out a survey, polling our readers on a variety of topics relating to their job duties, agency setup, salary, and position. The results of HHH's confidential salary survey are in, and although response rates were low, the numbers show some evidence of the current aging trend among RNs in the home health work force.
If you've ever wondered who your fellow readers are, they are overwhelmingly well-educated women in their 40s and older, according to responses we've received. Nearly 91% of our survey respondents are women (90.9%) and of those, the majority have advanced degrees such as BSN (24.2%), RN (21.2%), MBA (18.2%), MS (15.2%), MSN (12.1%), and MA (6.1%). As for job certifications, 67.9% of participants have certifications other than CNOR: FAAN, CPHQ, CHE (14.3%), ONC, RN-C (17.9%), CIC, and CRRN.
Most of respondents are 41 years old and older — in fact, only 9.1% are younger (3% are between 31 and 35 and 6.1% are between 36 and 40). Slightly more than 36% are 41-45 years old, 24.2% are between 46 and 50 and 18.2% are between 51 and 55. Meanwhile, those between the ages of 56 and 60 comprise 9.1% of respondents, and those between 61 and 65 years old make up 3% of our participants.
While it's no surprise, the bulk of respondents (68.8%) are employed by hospital-affiliated home care agencies. A quarter work for independent home care agencies while 6.2% categorize their work environment as private practice. Whether participants work for a hospital-based agency, 65.6% of those responding to the salary survey work for nonprofit entities while another 18.8% work in the for-profit arena. Colleges or universities and county government account for 6.2% and 9.4% of all who participated in the HHH survey, respectively. What's more, nearly 75% report that their agencies do not charge patients by the hour. That said, 6.5% charge hourly fees in each of the following categories: less than $30, between $31 and $50, and between $91 and $110. Roughly 3% charge an hourly rate of between $71 and $90 dollars per hour.
While most of our respondents (43.3%) don't work directly in a hospital, those who do (43.3%) work in smaller hospitals of 400 beds or less. Close to 7% are employed in hospitals with between 601 and 800 beds, while 3.3% work in hospitals with between 801 and 1,000 or more than 1,000, respectively.
Survey participants are evenly split according to their agency location. Roughly 21% report their agency is located in an urban area, while 30.3% and 33.3% say their agency is located in a suburban or rural area, respectively.
No matter where respondents work, the vast majority (45.5%) have worked in the health care field for more than 25 years, while a little more than 45% have worked in their current position or in jobs with similar responsibilities for between four and nine years.
The income chart shows that those responding to the salary survey may be atypical of home health professionals because the average salaries are relatively high, depending, of course, on where the respondent lives. Some 20% of survey respondents are earning salaries between $50,000 and $59,999 (20.52%) or between $70,000 and $74,999 (10.26%). As for the rest of those participating in the survey, the pay scales range from $20,000 (5.13%) on the low end to $155,999 (2.56%) on the uppermost reaches of the scale. Salary ranges in between are spread fairly evenly with between 2% and 5.13% in each category in between.
HHH compared those responses to a survey from the Department of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2000-01, which showed that the median hourly earnings of home health and personal care aides were $7.58 in 1998. The middle 50% earned between $6.41 and $8.81 an hour while the lowest 10% earned less than $5.73, and the highest 10% earned more than $10.51 an hour. Median hourly earnings in the industries employing the largest number of home health aides in 1997 were as follows: home health care services earned $8, hospitals paid $7.90, personnel supply services paid $7.70, and residential care programs and individual and family services paid $7.20.
Of course, high salaries come with a cost. A third of participants (33.3%) work between 41 and 45 hours each week, but even more are working longer hours. Those working between 46 and 50 hours each week make up 27.3%, while 18.2% are working between 51 and 55 hours each week. A little more than 9% put in between 56 and 60 hours a week, with 3% working an impressive 65 hours a week or more.
Roughly 9% work somewhere between 31 and 40 hours each week. Many survey respondents might expect to be working longer hours, seeing as how 57.6% report that over the past year the number of employees in their agency or department has decreased. Slightly more than 27% say that their number of co-workers has increased, while 15.2 say their department or agency has experienced no changes in the number of staff.
Subscribe Now for Access
You have reached your article limit for the month. We hope you found our articles both enjoyable and insightful. For information on new subscriptions, product trials, alternative billing arrangements or group and site discounts please call 800-688-2421. We look forward to having you as a long-term member of the Relias Media community.