NURSING: Temp Agency Fills Niche for Hospitals, Workers

      Care Temps, a Modesto-based company that grossed $2.6 million last year, has capitalized on the nursing shortage in California while providing many nurses with greater flexibility in setting their schedules. The Modesto Bee reports that the company supplies "nurses and other types of medical workers on a temporary basis to hospitals, skilled nursing homes, doctors' offices and even large manufacturing plants" throughout the Sacramento area. Care Temps founder Ronald Scothorn said the "big plus of his registry," which lists about 325 nurses, is that he can offer nurses flexibility and control over their schedules while paying them more than the prevailing wage. Hospitals are willing to pay Care Temps more than the going rate because contracting with the temp agency "actually saves them money and the headache of having to track down people to fill positions," according to Scothorn. "It gets expensive if a hospital has to pay overtime to fill a shift, plus, when a nurse who already has worked 12 hours has to keep working, you don't have a nurse who is able to work at 100%," Scothorn said (While, 2/17).