The first day your contract begins (“day 1”), as set forth in your HCP Agreement.

At Nurse First, we only keep a 10% gross profit margin on each of our jobs. This covers our internal operating costs (i.e. salaries, technologies, other bills) and your On-Boarding. The remaining 90% goes towards your payroll, your stipends, and the payroll expenses associated with your pay (i.e. salary tax, worker’s compensation, etc.)

Yes; you will be eligible to receive a $1,000 referral bonus 3 weeks after your referral successfully completes their first contract with us (given you complete a W9). This is only provided for your referral’s first contract with us; not for each contract they work with us.

Although, we are aware that it has become relatively normalized for companies to complete applications and apply for state licenses for their prospects, Nurse First does not follow this practice for the below reasons:
1. We pride ourselves on giving the best experience and pay to our travelers on assignment and the only way we can continue doing this is by not decreasing our efficiency and delaying our processes by completing everyone’s applications for them. We want to best take care of you and every traveler working / wanting to work with us and that would suffer if we were always tied up filling in your application information on your behalf.
2. Legally, we make all of our prospects attest to the information inputted within their application as not only being accurate but complete. We do not want to have internal employees be at fault for information missing from your application / submission profile.

As with employment at any company, including Nurse First, you can only change your insurance election in any way due to any of the below instances:
-Open enrollment
-Qualifying event (having a child, death of a dependent, employment gap >30 days, marriage/divorce, etc.)

We do! On your 90th day, you can contribute with up to 4% match and 100% vested!

Yes.

Nurse First has the policy of allowing our travelers to remain on the NFTA insurance plan as long as they are already signed up for a contract with us prior to the current assignment ending and the gap between assignments does not exceed 4 weeks. On the first paycheck of the next assignment, the premiums not paid for the gap between assignments will be “back charged” and deducted on said paycheck. If the gap between assignments exceeds 2 weeks, Nurse First is open to splitting these back charges in two equal installments between the first and second paycheck of the new assignment.

In order to successfully upload your credentials through the workforce portal, follow these steps:
Step 1: Log in to Workforce Portal
Enter your username and password
**IF YOU DO NOT REMEMBER THESE, utilize the forgot username / password function
Step 2: Go to “Profile”
Step 3: Go to “Credentials”
Step 4: Click on “> Certifications”
Step 5: Select “+ Add Certification”
Step 6: Under Certification, select the applicable credential’s name in the dropdown
Step 7: Either upload or take an image of the credential
-You can take a picture if you’re on your phone or upload if on your phone or computer
Step 8: Save Credential
**It is not necessary to input any notes, issued or expiration dates as our team will input this information upon validating your submitted credential is correct and sufficient for what is required by us or our client facilities.

Although, it is standardized practice that the facilities send FDIs 1-2 business days prior to the start of an assignment, it is possible they may not be sent on time (particularly, given the climate of the time with the COVID pandemic since many of our clients are substantially backed up).
We do, occasionally, still receive FDIs over the weekend and the on call Credentialing Specialist will be checking for these emails both Sat & Sun AM and PM.
If the FDIs are not received / passed along by Sun at 5p EST, management is made aware and the determination of next steps are then decided and passed along to the traveler. Without FDIs provided to us by the client OR the traveler receiving instructions from the facility directly, the traveler is not to show up to the facility until said instructions have been provided. Oftentimes, start dates are only pushed back 1 day at a time, in these instances.

It is not unheard of for contracts to be cancelled prior to the traveler starting but during their onboarding process. The reason for contract cancellation would then determine next steps. If the contract is cancelled due to the facility’s low-census, you would instantly be redirected back to your Traveler Advocate to submit to other facilities / openings as you wished.
If your contract was cancelled due to:
-Missed document due date
-BGC results
-Drug screen results
Then your case would be directed to our management team to dig a little deeper and determine your eligibility of future employment with our company. If it is deemed that you are eligible to continue working with us, you will be directed back to your Traveler Advocate and resubmitted as you wish. If not, you will be notified of your ineligibility of employment with our company in a timely fashion so you could seek employment elsewhere

Your Credentialing Specialist will send you both the NFTA and Client-specific items needed within 1-2 business days of signing your HCP Agreement. To get ahead of the game, though, you can begin uploading any occupational health items you have, including: titers, immunization, physicals, fit tests, etc. through our Workforce Portal.

Nurse First’s policy on releasing your credentialing / compliance items needed for our onboarding is as follows:
For any item(s) that we did not pay for, you are free to have these at any time, per your request.
For any item(s) that we did pay for, you are free to have copies of these upon the successful completion of the assignment you obtained these items for. If you do not complete an assignment in which we paid to have these compliance items for, you are unfortunately not able to receive copies of these items.

Almost all of our clients provide us with 1st Day instructions 1 business day prior to the start of your contract; as soon as our Credentialing Team receives them, they pass them along to you

After signing your HCP Agreement, your Credentialing Specialist will reach out to you within 24 business hours (usually it will be the following morning). It is IMPERATIVE that you promptly respond to their texts and/or emails at all times! Failure to do so may result in your contract being pushed back or even cancelled. Follow the direction of your Credentialing Specialist as they will have the most up to date and correct information as it pertains to what the facility in which you’ll be working requires for you to start your contract.

We do not provide housing options for our candidates but we can provide you with resources to find your own housing as well as Housing and Meals and Incidental stipends within the GSA guidelines
Below are some great housing resources
FB Groups:
-https://www.facebook.com/groups/travelnursefirst
-https://www.facebook.com/groups/travelnursehousing
-https://www.facebook.com/groups/153464981771962
Websites:
-https://www.airbnb.com/
-https://www.furnishedfinder.com/housing/
-https://mobilerving.com/
-https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_rent/
-https://www.walkscore.com/apartments/
-https://www.choicehotels.com/
-https://www.realtor.com/rentals
-https://hotpads.com/
-https://www.trulia.com/rent/
-https://www.forrent.com/
-https://www.rentjungle.com/
Additional Resources:
-https://www.bringfido.com/

The only way you receive more money for an extension with Nurse First is in the instances where the facility is willing to pay a higher bill rate. Most companies pay higher wages for extensions and they often come from the “saved money” from not having to On-Board you a second time (if not just being more money that you should have been paid on your first contract). However, at Nurse First, our withheld 10% of every contract is what covers those On-Boarding costs. Thus, when you extend, that portion of our 10% margin is just not spent on On-Boarding but there is not additional money going towards your remaining 90% pot.

Per the IRS’s guidelines, there is not a set mileage threshold which deems you qualify or do not qualify for GSA stipends. These tax-free stipends are strictly meant to be provided in the instances you must duplicate expenses due to your work location.
For example, if you are going to be paying for housing (i.e. apartment, RV Park, hotel, etc.) in order to reasonably work your shifts as required for your assignment, you qualify for said GSA lodging money.

This is an all-taxable bonus you may qualify for, depending on the makeup of your pay package. This bonus is only paid when GSA Stipends are no longer allocated.
If/when this bonus begins, it is paid for each applicable hour worked throughout the rest of that week and is paid in conjunction with all of the wages paid for said hours. This only excludes hours worked while “on call.”

In instances we have extra money left over after creating pay packages, we do not want to just “pocket” the extra money. We want to pay it to you, the travelers, as a bonus. This is only paid for up to your first 36 or 40 hours/wk worked (excluding only On Call)

No.

PLEASE REMEMBER that ALL timesheets are due no later than NOON every Monday for the week prior and they are to be submitted utilizing the below instructions. Timesheets received after this deadline and/or not uploaded in the correct spot following the below steps run the risk of not being processed until the next pay cycle.
Step 1: Log in to Workforce Portal
-Enter your username and password
**IF YOU DO NOT REMEMBER THESE, utilize the forgot username / password function
Step 2: Go to “Profile”
Step 3: Go to “Credentials”
Step 4: Click on “> Certifications”
Step 5: Select “+ Add Certification”
Step 6: Under Certification, select “ALL TIMESHEETS Page 1” in the dropdown (in the Payroll Section)
-Only use Page 2, 3, 4 or 5 if you have that many timesheet pages to submit
Step 7: Either upload or take an image of all of your time worked for the appropriate week
-You can take a picture if you’re on your phone or upload if on your phone or computer
-You can use a paper timecard, Kronos report, or whatever you have access to that will show us your hours worked.
Step 8: Save Credential
**If your facility utilizes electronic timekeeping, please remember that TRAVELERS are responsible to submit a copy of your electronic time report weekly to payroll for processing. If you cannot obtain a copy of your electronic report, you will need to maintain a paper timecard to submit to payroll. Please report the time EXACTLY as it is listed on your electronic report. Do not round time up or down, please report to the minute

Whether or not you are eligible for additional tax free money, in the form of a travel reimbursement, depends on how much taxable wage you have remaining after your pay package has been completed. In short, the facility does not pay us more or less because you live 1,500 miles away from the facility vs. if you lived only 150 miles away from the facility. Your Travel Reimbursement money would come from redistributing money from your pay package so if you have a taxable wage of far more than our minimum of $20/hr, you may be eligible for Travel Reimbursements.

You would receive your reimbursement, upon providing us with appropriate documentation and the item(s) being within the guidelines above, as early as your 1st paycheck. If it is an item obtained during your contract as part of your ongoing compliance, we reimburse this on the next paycheck upon you providing us the renewed item / document or just simply cover the costs up front. Any tests or physician appointments needed to become compliant for a job you take with us are always paid by us, up front, as long as we set it up.

The only reasons we are willing to allow our travelers to decline jobs are:
-They have multiple offers within a 24 hr period (then obviously you can only accept 1)
-The job isn’t as advertised (advertised as nights but is days, etc)
-During the interview you learn the job requirements are outside of normal expectations (i.e. expect an ICU RN to have a ratio of 1:5)
The reason being, our team is pushing very hard to get you interviewed over the other candidates & if we promise them you’d take this job if offered (hence why we only submit you to those you would take) & you happen to turn it down for reasons outside of what is listed above, it hurts our relationship with the facility & would likely make it tougher for other candidates to get offers there through us.

Our policy gives you 24 hours to notify us that you have found viable housing options to ensure you will not decline an offer at this facility due to housing issues.
**IF YOU DO NOT PROVIDE US WITH NOTIFICATION THAT YOU FOUND VIABLE HOUSING OPTIONS WITHIN 24 HOURS, WE HAVE TO PULL YOUR SUBMISSION**

In the instance the facility calls you off or sends you home early, without you voluntarily doing so, then you will be paid at least your applicable tax-free stipends for said hours. The amount of time the facility is able to call you off without penalty (i.e. meaning we cannot bill them for these hours) is outlined in the top section of your HCP Agreement. If the facility calls you off and they are within their “penalty-free” parameters, you would only be eligible to be compensated for your tax-free stipends. If they called you off in excess of their “penalty-free” parameters, we would bill as if you worked and you would be paid as if you worked (i.e. you’d receive your stipends AND wages).
If you voluntarily miss hours for any reason, though, you forfeit both your taxable wages and any other tax-free money for said time missed unless you make up said missed hours within the same work week.
In any instance where time is missed for any reason, the NFTA Missed Hours Form must be completed and submitted in our Workforce Portal along with your Timesheet for that week.

In the instance the facility calls you off or sends you home early, without you voluntarily doing so, then you will be paid at least your applicable tax-free stipends for said hours. The amount of time the facility is able to call you off without penalty (i.e. meaning we cannot bill them for these hours) is outlined in the top section of your HCP Agreement. If the facility calls you off and they are within their “penalty-free” parameters, you would only be eligible to be compensated for your tax-free stipends. If they called you off in excess of their “penalty-free” parameters, we would bill as if you worked and you would be paid as if you worked (i.e. you’d receive your stipends AND wages).
If you voluntarily miss hours for any reason, though, you forfeit both your taxable wages and any other tax-free money for said time missed unless you make up said missed hours within the same work week
In any instance where time is missed for any reason, the NFTA Missed Hours Form must be completed and submitted in our Workforce Portal along with your Timesheet for that week.

Each facility’s timekeeping process varies and we often do not receive that particular facility’s / unit’s timekeeping instructions until the business day prior to your start. As soon as we receive them, you will be sent the instructions via email from your Payroll Specialist. These instructions will not only include any applicable timekeeping instructions for the facility but also those that are standard for Nurse First.

First and foremost, the specific timekeeping instructions required to accurately report your time worked varies from facility to facility and the specific and applicable timekeeping instructions for each assignment will be sent out from our Payroll team prior to the start of your assignment (usually the Friday before you start).
However, if the instructions state that you must clock in at the facility plus submit time to Nurse First (either copies of your electronic timekeeping record at the facility or a completed paper timecard) this is simply to ensure we can bill the hospital for your hours worked as well as pay you accurately and timely for your hours worked. Oftentimes, if the facility is using your electronic timekeeping to send along to us to validate your hours worked, it can take up to two weeks to receive said time. In order to ensure you are paid weekly, we need a copy of your hours worked based on how the individual contract mandates your hours be reported to us in order to pay you. Sending us a copy of your hours worked also helps us quickly dispute any discrepancies as reported on the facility’s timekeeping report sent to us, if there happens to be any.