What are alternatives to staffing agencies for nursing homes?
The main alternative to traditional staffing agencies for nursing homes is a direct marketplace platform - where your facility posts open shifts and credentialed per diem professionals accept directly, cutting the agency middleman and the 40-60% markup that comes with it.
Why facilities are moving away from staffing agencies
- Cost - traditional agencies charge 40-60% markups over base caregiver pay
- Speed - agency response is sequential and slow, especially for same-day coverage
- No visibility - you get whoever the agency sends, not a verified profile you reviewed
- No accountability - agencies have no structured mechanism to restrict repeat no-shows
- Relationship ownership - the agency owns the caregiver relationship, not you
Direct marketplace platforms
Platforms like Quinable allow skilled nursing facilities to post shifts directly and access a pre-verified pool of credentialed CNAs, LPNs, and RNs who accept on their own mobile app. The facility reviews full profiles including reliability score, shift history, and competency tags before confirming. The transaction fee is 20% - compared to 40-60% at a traditional agency.
On a $20/hour CNA shift for 40 hours per week, a 40% agency markup costs $320 extra. Quinable's 20% facility rate costs $160. That is $160 per week in savings on a single CNA position - before any other efficiency gains.
Hybrid approach
Most facilities find the optimal model is a direct marketplace for flexible per diem coverage combined with a reliable W2 core for consistent unit assignments. This eliminates agency dependency while maintaining continuity of care.
Direct marketplace platforms eliminate the agency middleman, cut cost by 20-40 percentage points, and give facilities full visibility into the professionals they are confirming. For most SNFs this is the highest-impact operational change available.
Quinable has 100,000+ credentialed providers ready
Quinable connects home health agencies and skilled nursing facilities directly with 100,000+ credentialed caregivers. No agency markups. No phone trees. Real-time coverage.
See How It Works