Rochester Regional Health is looking to cut costs by reducing its travel nurse staff.

The move could have an impact on bed availability at Rochester General Hospital.

In 2019, RGH said it spent $5 million on temporary, or as they're called, "travel nurses," but that cost increased in 2024 to $75 million to handle a nursing shortage.  

About 40% of the nursing staff are travel nurses.

“These costs are really just not sustainable, and so we have worked to reduce the number of agency nurses that we have here at RGH," Tammy Snyder, president & chief operating officer at Rochester General Hospital. "And that has led to a temporary closure of some of our input beds. Now, even with those temporary reductions, we still have more beds here open at RGH to serve our community compared to two years ago.”

RGH says it also partnered with nursing homes and other skilled nursing facilities to maintain bed availability as they undergo this transition.