Nurses with HCA, the nation’s largest for-profit hospital chain, were required to sign contracts that could put them thousands of dollars into debt if they left the job before two years. Cynthia McFadden spoke to one nurse who says she tried to quit due to the working conditions but would have owed $4,000. Since NBC News started our reporting on this, HCA says they have decided not to use them anymore. This type of contract is not unique to HCA.
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Bree Fellows here. Yes, I did sign the contract. I was not, however, given the contract in advance to read thoroughly. We were given the contract at the beginning of a meeting and five minutes to read over and sign. It was about a ten page contract. I signed and never saw it again. I would NOT have signed if given the opportunity to read at home prior to the signing.
I’m not a nurse but this is disgusting. The nurses should sue the heck out of those hospitals so that they will have to spend money on legal fees. I bet that will be wayyyyyy more than the “training fees”
I have been a nurse for 10 years and have worked in about 10 different hospitals, they are all about the profit now. I have seen nursing evolve into the unsafe, life sucking profession that it is. My mental state is the same as the first nurse interviewed. I hope I die before I end up in one of these hospitals.
Do you still owe if they fire you? Id show up late daily if thats the case
They have a shortage of nurses because nurses like me quit, I’m not taking nobody’s cracked up vaccines 💉
HCA made $60 billion last year and is a Tax Exempt Organization. Also HCA received the largest fine for Medicare Fraud , $1.5 billion, while Rick Scott was their CEO.
Money and power runs America, that's why it's failing. 😂😂 You get what you ask for.
Being a retired nurse of over 40 years of practice, I must say I’m sooo happy not to be practicing anymore these days. Covid changed healthcare and one of the biggest reasons I retired early- it was the most miserable nursing time I’ve ever been part of. It was difficult all around from your bosses expectations, the rude thankless people you had to serve (especially those who refused to be vaccinated) to knowing there was no way to do more than what you could do but told it wasn’t enough! I feel whole heartedly thankful and applaud the current nurses out there still wanting to do the work to the best of their ability! We just had national nurses day! I hope you told a nurse how thankful you are they’re a nurse!
This is standard for a lot of companies, not just hospitals. Don't like the agreement, don't sign it. You either commit or quit.
Both these women have just taken the fear of aging out of me. Put me in the middle of that interview 😍😍
I am an experience nurse that have work in several hospitals and this company is the worst hospital I have work.
HCA is trash!!!!
This is what happens in this country. Amazing. We’re the only “modern” nation who puts a price on pain, and education well…. no one cares about that anymore. Be ready for dystopian days.
I almost signed one of these as a social work major in college. They would pay for my last two years of college as well as an hourly rate (about $9 an hour in 2009) if I agreed to work minimum two years for department of children’s services. So glad I didn’t do it!!
She signed the contract. It isn’t indentured servitude. What a ridiculous thing to say. She signed the contract and did the training. These people knew the consequences. I work in schools and we are paying school psychologist interns (usually unpaid). The interns have to sign a contract that they will work for our district for 2 years. You get perks for a reason – because there are shortages. Industries can’t have people waltz into a job with a signing bonus, stay for 6 months and then waltz out with the money.
You read and signed the contract. You need to honor it or pay it off.
There’s no exception, breaking the contract if your ill? I hope so.
I went ahead and paid my contract out. Did not want anything to do with HCA. Still don’t 🤷♂️
Hca is mortgaging the hospital and taking the profits for new boats while u die..lol. u deserve this u voted for this..die in peace..nurse for 20yrs..break up hca.. nurse unions are weak..
This is standard at most hospitals. Not just HCA.
Wow. Debt contacts for leaving early!? I'm so glad my new grad program didn't make me sign anything ridiculous like that.
$20,000 payback there is definitely something wrong
Capitalism is doing to medical staff the exact same thing it's done to education staff. You don't help the people. You prey on them.
That why I don’t sign contracts anymore
Facts it’s terrible out her
It’s not just HCA, Advent Health does these same contracts. It’s unethical how can you charge someone a fee for training them for getting trained by a more experienced nurse when they aren’t paying that Experienced nurse a penny for preceptoring and training that brand new nurse. If they’re saying the training cost 4K that experienced nurse should be getting at least 2k in bonuses for training a new employee
There is not a nursing shortage. There isn’t. That’s why there are waitlists to get into nursing schools. It’s just nobody wants to work beside anymore. Don’t blame ‘em
FYI – this is what happens when private equity meets healthcare. You have been warned.
The contract is shady, yet seems to be pretty upfront about the consequences. I would never sign anything like that..am I missing something? Why sign in the first place?
Good! Any hospitals/facility that forces nurses hands like this should be fined and reprimanded and taken legal action against. HCA is known to be the worst of the worst with understaffing, micromanaging and hostile work environments.
Thank you for reporting on this
Why can’t people who can’t afford to go to college be trained in?
HCA is an evil corporation. They destroyed my father’s per diem nurse staffing agency, by opening their own agency, and only using those nurses. Then there are the issues you are reporting on. When my mother broke her leg a couple of years ago, the EMTs took her to a nearby HCA hospital. It was terrifying. We were treated terribly, and it was clear that the problem was understaffing, and few truly qualified medical professionals available. HCA is the worst.
I'm all for the FU for the training cost. But the lady who get pregnant and wanted to work the day shift is at fault. You signed a contract to work night shifts and you should pay back the sign up bonus of $10,000 if you quit early.
HCA was Florida Senator Rick Scott’s claim to fame. He bilked millions and got a pay out in the end. It came as part of a fraud investigation into Columbia/HCA, a hospital company Scott was running until he resigned under pressure in 1997.Investigators pieced together a billing scheme that involved overcharging the federal government for Medicare and Medicaid.
Oh heck no.. no way!! Slavery. Traps. No wonder nurses are quitting in droves. It’s never the work, the work is fine…it’s the people at the job that make you miserable and forces you to quit🙄