TRAVEL NURSING

How To Prepare For A Canceled Travel Nurse Contract

Written By: Chaunie Brusie

BSN, RN

4 Min Read Published April 4, 2025

A Clear Cancellation Policy
Travel Expenses
Sick Pay
Health Insurance
Housing
Other Considerations

You always want to look over any proposed travel nursing contract carefully. Thanks to the pandemic, there may be new situations you’ll want to be sure are included and covered in the contract, like cancellation policies. Here’s what you should look for in your next travel nursing contract to protect yourself.

Attention RNs: Travel Nurses Needed for US Contracts!

A Clear Cancellation Policy

As many hospitals scrambled to fill their floors with travel nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic, travel nurses also saw a huge rise in the number of contracts being canceled at the last minute. Now that the pandemic is over, we aren't seeing this as much, but it can still happen in some cases.

Some hospitals will cancel contracts with travel nursing agencies if the patient census does not meet expectations or if patients recover sooner than anticipated. As a travel nurse, this can not only affect your salary but also your plans when it comes to travel and housing.

Make sure that your contract includes a clear cancellation policy that outlines what happens if your contract gets canceled. Be sure it covers these essential questions:

What percentage — if any — of your pay will you still receive?
Will you still be reimbursed for any travel expenses you incurred to get to the location if you have already traveled and/or made arrangements for travel?
Will your stipends be in effect until you can make arrangements to go back home?
Will the agency work with you, if needed, to find a new placement?

Attention RNs: Travel Nurses Needed for US Contracts!

Travel Expenses and Reimbursements

A huge part of taking on a travel nursing position is the expense to get there, so make sure your contract clearly outlines how that happens.

For example, if you are expected to cover your own travel expenses and then get reimbursed later, what happens if the contract gets canceled after you have already paid everything? Some nurses have reported running into just that situation and being out thousands of dollars when agencies have not been able to come up with the funds to reimburse them. If you can, find out if your agency might be willing to cover these expenses upfront so you don’t run the risk of losing money yourself.

Sick Pay

It’s imperative that your travel nursing contract outlines what would happen if you get sick and can't work during your shift. If another pandemic happens or you're exposed to something and have to quarantine, will you get sick or quarantine pay, and how long will it last?

Health Insurance

On a related note, be sure you know if you are covered from a health insurance perspective. The reality is that exposure on the job, especially in healthcare facilities that may have limited PPE, is a risk for all nurses. So you need to be prepared. If you don’t carry your own health insurance, check with your agency about what type of insurance they offer you. The last thing you want to do is get sick or hurt during an assignment and not have the means to pay for your own healthcare.

Housing Policy

Having your contract canceled directly affects your housing situation since cancelations usually happen last minute. You likely will already have housing lined up, so now you may be out your deposit or partial rent when you may never even have left your home state.

When you're negotiating your contract, be sure to ask these questions:

How long will you be able to stay if you've already arrived?
Who pays for the housing if your contract is canceled?
If you're taking agency housing, what about extras such as Internet or laundry services?

If you take the stipend and find your own housing, it's recommended to talk to your landlord in advance and have them add in a cancelation clause in your lease. One landlord, Brandon, who rents to travel nurses in multiple states, says that he works with travel nurses on this:

"All the nurses who have had to cancel were given at least 14-days notice. So, we add a clause in our lease that if nurses can show proof of their contract being canceled, we'll give them a 14-day out of their lease and return their deposit (assuming no damages). If they move out earlier than that and we're able to rent those days to someone else, then we refund them any days that were rented out."

Attention RNs: Travel Nurses Needed for US Contracts!

Other Contract Considerations

If you will be leaving your current job to take on a travel nursing position, you’ll also want to consider the ramifications that resigning might have if you get canceled. Of course you can always apply for a new contract elsewhere, but consider these two things:

Do you have a good relationship with your previous employer to return?
Do you have savings to get through while you find other work?

Be sure to consider all the possibilities before signing on that dotted line for your next travel nursing contract.