By Paige Duin, Account Manager, Aureus Medical
Congratulations — you just accepted your first travel contract with Aureus Medical! Now what? Well, now the work is just beginning.
The next step is getting you compliant for your assignment, a process also known as onboarding. Your agency and the hospital need to make sure you meet all basic requirements for health and safety purposes so you can start working with patients. This can take anywhere from 10-21 days to complete, depending on the hospital and agency requirements. We need to ensure you have up-to-date records, such as vaccines, verified education and certifications, a clean drug screen, and so much more!
Why is Compliance Important to You?
Facilities work with agencies because they need help as soon as possible. When you sign a healthcare travel contract, the facility eagerly awaits your arrival. They most likely already have your orientation and unit schedule prepared and they’re ready for you to get to work! If all compliance items are not completed in a timely manner for the hospital to review, it could result in a delay in your start date or even a cancellation.
What Does Compliance Consist of for Healthcare Travelers?
We need to ensure you meet Aureus and hospital requirements for health and safety purposes. When you verbally accept your offer, we immediately start working on your file — and there’s a lot for us to do! Aureus will complete a background check, verify all education and work history, plus your certifications and licenses, as well as check your references. We want to ensure we are sending the best of the best to our clinical partners.
Don’t worry, there are items on your to-do list as well! First things first, head to the clinic. We’ll set up and pay for all services for you. We need to ensure you have all up-to-date vaccinations, a clear physical, and a clean drug screen. We also have a handful of documents for you to complete. In addition, many hospitals and health systems may have additional paperwork or modules for you to complete. Don’t worry — it may seem like a lot at first, but we are here to answer any questions and work through it all with you!
Why Does the Compliance Process Take So Long?
There are many moving pieces, which is why communication with your onboarder is so important. Clinic items can take anywhere from 3-7 days to return to us. Items such as verifications and background checks can sometimes take weeks to finish as we are awaiting the response of hospitals, school, and even state counties. We do our best to set you up for success and don’t want to overpromise to you or the facility, so we do need to leave room for any unexpected issues and ensure you plenty of time to complete your items. Your assigned start date should give you plenty of time to complete your compliance.
Who Should I Contact if I Have Compliance Questions?
We believe in teamwork here at Aureus Medical, so there’s a team of experts in our support departments to assist you with your checklist. You’ll be assigned an onboarder and they will guide you through the entire process from start to completion of your compliance! Our teams will even assist you throughout the assignment to ensure all your credentials stay up to date. Your onboarder is the best contact for you throughout your compliance process — however, you can always reach out to your account manager too with any concerns or questions.
Important Tips for a Smooth Healthcare Traveler Compliance Process
- Communication is most important. If you have issues completing items or going to the clinic in a timely manner, please reach out to your onboarder or account manager! We are here to help, but we need you to keep us in the loop!
- Be sure to check your email! Many times the onboarders will email you documents to complete or updated checklists, so that can be a great way to get updates.
- Be sure to carefully pay attention to detailed instructions when filling out forms.
- Some of our forms and documents can be filled out on a phone or tablet, but be sure to have access to a computer or laptop! Libraries can be a great resource for this, if needed.
- Keep all your documents, like medical records, vaccinations, certifications, and transcripts, in a folder for easy access! Your records may not always be accepted depending on specific facility requirements, but in those cases you can speed up your compliance process dramatically for your next opportunity and then you have nothing to worry about except getting ready for your new travel nurse adventure!
When you start a contract with Aureus Medical, you join team that’s big on teamwork. We are so excited you are on board with us, whether it’s your first assignment or your 20th, Aureus Medical is still here to support you and wants to ensure you are set up for success. Reviewing the importance, process, timeline, and best practices of compliance should set you up for great success in your healthcare travel job and your future with Aureus Medical.