Vaccine Mandates Affect Hospital Staffing Wars

For some hospitals, a lack of a vaccine mandate could become a competitive hiring advantage

Vaccine mandates can attract or repel healthcare workers, but unlike urban hospitals, rural hospitals cannot afford to lose staff by mandating vaccines and pay large sums to attract new staff. eldar nurkovic/Shutterstock

In the rural northeastern corner of Missouri, Scotland County Hospital has been so low on staff that it sometimes had to turn away patients amid a surge in COVID-19 cases.

The national COVID-19 staffing crunch led to hospital CEO Dr. Randy Tobler hiring more travel nurses to fill the gaps. And the prices are steep—what he called “crazy,” with rates of $200 per hour or more, which Tobler said his small rural hospital can’t afford.