Understanding a Travel Therapy Contract Bill Rate

Written by: Jared Casazza, PT, DPT

All travel therapists want to get the most money possible out of their contracts. In fact, the increased pay associated with travel therapy is the #1 reason that most people that we talk to choose to travel in the first place, so not getting as much money as possible would be no good. While there can often be room to negotiate when presented with an initial offer from a recruiter, there is, of course, a limit to how much they can actually pay a traveler for each contract. The big limiting factor in the equation of pay for any travel contract is the “bill rate.”

What is a Bill Rate?

A “bill rate” is the amount of money that the facility (hospital, clinic, nursing home, etc.) pays the travel company for each hour that a traveling therapist works. As travelers, this is a number that we rarely ever find out about, since it is negotiated between the travel company and the facility usually before they ever even list the job or present it to travelers. Most recruiters do not wish to share this number with travelers either, but you really can’t blame them for that. The bill rate is much higher than the hourly rate that the traveler receives, but that is because it has to account for all overhead costs and company profits as well, so sharing the bill rate could make the traveler feel like they’re being taken advantage of, even when that’s not the case. BluePipes wrote a great article on other reasons why travel companies don’t divulge bill rates as well, which you can find here.

How Much is an Average Bill Rate?

Bill rates vary drastically depending on setting and area of the country (just like traveler pay), but I’ve heard of ones as low as $60/hour and as high as $80/hour, which shows why there can be such variation in traveler pay across the board, since it’s all based on the bill rate. In some situations, the bill rate can even be higher if the facility is in urgent need of a traveler and is willing to pay more to get someone there quickly. In general, the facility is going to pay the travel company as little as possible, while ensuring that their opening will be filled, so how desperate they are can have a big impact on the bill rate.

So if a company is receiving around $70/hour ($70 x 40 = $2,800/week) from the facility, while the traveler is only getting a take home pay of about $1,600/week, where is that extra money going?!

Costs that have to be Subtracted from the Bill Rate

Overhead costs of running a travel company can be pretty high. The company has to pay staff (recruiters, managers, payroll department, benefits department, etc.), for rent and utilities on their offices, for marketing, for taxes, and they also have to make a profit in order to stay in business. This all usually adds up to about 20-25% of the total bill rate, depending on how big the company is and how much their overhead costs in total. That means that after overhead costs are subtracted out, that $2,800/week turns into about $2,100/week.

From there, we have to consider that the company pays for part of the traveler’s health insurance (assuming the traveler chooses one of the company sponsored plans); maintenance fees on 401k plan; CEUs (if offered by the company); FICA taxes on the traveler’s hourly pay (7.65%); and credentialing costs for the traveler for each assignment such as: license reimbursement, travel reimbursement, drug tests, TB tests, and backgrounds checks.

They also usually have to keep a small percentage to account for contract cancellations, since when a traveler’s contract is cancelled early, not only does the traveler lose out on money, but so does the travel company. I think of this as like an “emergency fund” for the travel company for when unexpected events occur.

It’s also important to keep in mind that the “take home pay” amounts that we usually use to discuss travel contracts is after the traveler’s taxes are subtracted out, which means that the travel company actually pays you more than that amount, but that’s the amount you see on your paycheck after federal, state and FICA taxes are subtracted. So “take home pay” refers to after-tax, or net pay, not gross pay.

For example, a $1,600/week “take home pay” usually means that the travel company actually pays out $1,800/week in gross pay to the traveler. It’s easy to see how the $2,100/week devoted to the traveler’s pay can quickly be reduced to much closer to that $1,800/week figure paid out to the traveler each week, once all of the above costs are factored in.

Getting the Highest Pay Possible

In most cases, honest recruiters are doing their best to offer the highest pay possible to the traveler, within the bounds of the bill rate that they have to work with. Many travelers hear about how high some bill rates can be and quickly assume that recruiters are trying to take advantage of them, without first considering all of the costs incurred by the company, taxes they have to pay, and also also the benefits offered to the traveler that aren’t seen in the weekly take home pay number. Don’t forget to consider these factors before jumping to conclusions! But, it doesn’t hurt to push for more money when you feel it’s warranted, have considered all the “extras” already included in your pay package, and have considered the type of job, location, and cost of living!

The bill rate is also the reason that it is important for travelers to push for higher pay for overtime hours worked. Overhead costs don’t need to be factored into overtime hours worked, due to them already being accounts for in the initial 40 hours. With overtime, the company will get the same bill rate (sometimes 1.5x the bill rate even), while the traveler only receives 1.5x their taxable pay rate in most cases. This is a great situation for the travel company, but a terrible situation for the traveler. So understanding how the bill rate works and how your pay is broken down is a key factor here in advocating for yourself with a higher overtime rate!

Conclusion

It’s very important to have an understanding of the bill rate and all the costs that must come out of that hourly pay amount the travel company receives from the facility, in order to understand how your weekly take home pay is determined as a travel therapist. The more you understand, the better you can advocate for yourself and get the highest pay possible.

I hope you have a little better insight into how the weekly take home pay amount is calculated now with a basic understanding of bill rates!

Thanks for reading and feel free to ask any questions you may have on bill rates or anything else travel therapy related in the comments below or contact us directly. If you need some recruiter/travel company recommendations that we trust to not take advantage of you as a traveler, then send us a message here and we’ll help you out!