Larkspur Health Workforce
Nurse Hiring Terms UpdateNo. 6 · August 2026
Nurse Hiring Terms Update · Hospice and home healthPostings to July 31, 2026
Signing bonuses do more of the work as base pay flattens
Advertised pay for hospice case manager nurses rose less than one percent in the quarter, while the share of their postings carrying a signing bonus reached 41 percent
1Advertised pay by role
We matched 3,200 postings from 486 hospice and home health agencies to the four report titles below. Advertised pay for every title sits above the medians agencies reported last July, but the quarterly gains have narrowed to under one percent for nurses.1
| Title | Postings | Advertised | Report median | On quarter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RN case manager | 1,284 | $44.80 | $43.10 | +0.8% |
| LPN | 612 | $30.20 | $29.40 | +0.6% |
| Hospice aide | 948 | $19.10 | $18.20 | +1.1% |
| Social worker | 356 | $35.60 | $34.80 | +0.3% |
Source: hospice and home health agency career pages, May to July 2026, Larkspur Health Workforce title matching
Source: hospice and home health agency career pages, May to July 2026, Larkspur Health Workforce title matching
2Signing bonuses
Bonuses have risen every quarter for two years across all three clinical titles we track. Agencies in the South account for most of the increase this quarter, which suggests they are recruiting on bonuses rather than closing the regional gap in base pay.
Source: hospice and home health agency career pages, May to July 2026, Larkspur Health Workforce title matching
3On call and per visit terms
On call stipends and per visit rates move slowly and appear in fewer postings than base pay. Where agencies publish them, nurse stipends have not changed since the fourth quarter of 2025, and per visit rates for RNs rose two dollars over the same period.2
| Title | With bonus | Median bonus | On call stipend | Per visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RN case manager | 41% | $7,500 | $4.50 an hour | $68 |
| LPN | 27% | $3,000 | $3.50 an hour | $48 |
| Hospice aide | 24% | $1,500 | None posted | $31 |
| Social worker | 12% | $2,500 | None posted | $65 |
Source: hospice and home health agency career pages, May to July 2026, Larkspur Health Workforce title matching
4Against our Compensation Report
5What to watch before November
The CMS hospice payment rate for fiscal year 2027, which takes effect on October 1, the collection window for this year's Compensation Report, which closes on September 30, and whether southern agencies begin to raise base pay rather than bonuses.
How this update is built
- Postings are matched to report titles by duties and licensure, not by job title alone
- Each posting is counted once, on the first day it appears, and reposts within 60 days are removed
- Ranges are converted to their midpoint, and salaried postings to an hourly rate at 2,080 hours a year
Approved for subscribersDana WhitcombeDirector of Compensation Surveys · August 14, 2026
1 Postings that gave no pay figure, about 31 percent of the total, are excluded from medians but counted for bonus shares.
2 On call stipends and per visit rates appear in 38 percent and 22 percent of clinical postings respectively.