CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Tennova Healthcare-Clarksville has abruptly ended all standing PRN contracts in the Emergency Department, with new contracts having greatly reduced pay incentives.
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, ER RN/Paramedic pay rates at Tennova were contracted with incentive pay set at $75 an hour. Effective Feb. 1, that pay has been cut to $60 an hour, with far fewer hours at that rate, with less than 48 hours’ notice.
According to multiple anonymous sources and documents obtained by Clarksville Now, LPN incentive pay had been $50 and was dropped to $40 an hour. Techs were contracted at $25 incentive pay and dropped to $20.
“The already struggling Tennova Emergency Department that already faces staffing issues, policy gaps and recruitment problems has elected to end all standing PRN contracts in the Emergency Department effective 1 Feb. and cut all staff pay substantially. This was told to approximately 10-15% of the PRN staff at 2 p.m. on the 30th,” an anonymous source told Clarksville Now.
Many of the ER staff had already signed six-week contracts barely a week before being told of the impending pay cuts. Some workers are contracted through March and April. Now, these nurses, paramedics and techs are expected to work the hours they had contracted for at their normal base pay until they sign the new pay contract.
Normal base pay for RNs is $40 an hour, techs is $13, and paramedics is $22. Until they sign these new contracts for the reduced incentive, they will make only this base pay, regardless of the number of hours worked.
What is incentive pay?
Incentive pay is the base pay plus critical pay. Once an employee meets the criteria for critical pay, they are paid the incentive amount. For example, an RN would make $40 an hour, and after meeting the criteria for critical pay, their hourly rate would shoot up to $75 an hour.
The criteria for making critical pay have changed as well. Before the new change in pay came about, the criteria were simply scheduling a minimum of 36 hours. If an employee scheduled themselves for 36 hours, then those first 36 hours and all hours after would earn the incentive pay rate of $75 an hour.
Now, an employee must work the initial 36 hours at their base pay of $40 an hour, and only the hours after 36 will be paid at the incentive rate – the reduced $60 an hour.
According to anonymous sources, the self-scheduling app was closed right before the meeting about the pay cuts began. This news of decreased pay rates locked in many workers who were scheduled to work six weeks in addition to the current pay period.
According to information obtained by Clarksville Now, most PRN (meaning “as-needed”) staff are under contract so that they can secure a set number of hours per pay period and a set pay rate.
“The hospital is forcing staff to honor the hours they were scheduled for beyond the canceled contracts despite the cancelation of the contracts and the contracted rates,” one anonymous source said.
Officially there are 162 staff in the Emergency Department. The majority are travel nurses. 75% or 46% are affected by this change, along with 100% of the paramedics, who are all PRN. It will affect the main hospital, Sango ED, and women’s services.
Tennova’s response
When asked about these sudden pay cuts, Tennova responded that the hospital experienced staffing challenges during the pandemic, and to address those challenges they “implemented a number of initiatives, including a greater reliance on PRN – or as-needed – staff to meet short-term staffing needs,” according to Sandy Wooten, director of Marketing and Public Relations at Tennova.
“In the last year, we have invested in several recruitment and retention initiatives to attract new employees and retain existing employees, including support of up to $20,000 in student loan repayments for eligible employees; enhanced education assistance and licensure benefits; sign-on bonuses; referral bonuses for key positions and increased matching 401k contributions,” Wooten said. “In addition, the hospital implemented a significant wage adjustment for several job classifications where compensation in the region/market was moving faster than the merit increases the hospital provides.”
Tennova did not respond to several specific questions from Clarksville Now, including a request to explain what exactly happened with incentive pay, who made the decision, and why the changes took effect mid-contract.
“Expect a mass exodus from the hospital and a dramatic reduction in staffing beyond what is already being faced by patients,” one anonymous source said.
Tennova is currently facing another work-related class action lawsuit that began in September 2022. It was brought by former employee Lisa Wells and other individuals employed by Community Health Systems. The complainants allege they were required to perform patient care during unpaid meal breaks.
One source said that they wished Tennova had handled notice of the pay cut differently.
“If this was something they absolutely needed to do, they should have tapered it down, slowly, to make it a little bit more palatable and give us the opportunity to try and adjust our lifestyles or our finances to accommodate.”
MORE: Special reports and local investigative journalism from Clarksville Now