Dallas-based Tenet Health reported contract labor expenses peaked last September, and then the company lowered expenses by almost 23 percent by December, CEO Saum Sutaria, MD, said during the earnings call Feb. 9, as reported by Yahoo Finance.
Tenet ended 2022 with contract labor below 6.5 percent of its consolidated salary, wages and benefits expenses, and aims to continue the downward trend.
"We are confident in our labor management system and we'll continue to adjust as needed for critical patient needs," said Dr. Sutaria. "Over the past year, we have also invested in our workforce with increased pay bonus programs and incremental benefits."
He said registered nurse hires were up in 2022 compared to the year prior and nurse turnover improved in the fourth quarter of last year by 22 percent, compared to the average for the previous four quarters.
"As we move into this year, we have assumed some further moderation in our contract labor spend, net of full-time employment costs because, I mean, what we're really focused on is replacing contract labor to the greatest extent possible with employed colleagues," said Dan Cancelmi, CFO of Tenet.