How to hire a home health nurse

How to hire a home health nurse, step by step

Here's a step-by-step home health nurse hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a home health nurse job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new home health nurse
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a home health nurse do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the home health nurse you need to hire. Certain home health nurse roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect home health nurse also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   This list presents home health nurse salaries for various positions.

   Type of Home Health Nurse	Description	Hourly rate
   Home Health Nurse	Registered nurses (RNs) provide and coordinate patient care, educate patients and the public about various health conditions, and provide advice and emotional support to patients and their family members.	$23-47
   Nurse Educator	A nurse educator is responsible for teaching aspiring professional nurses, designing courses according to the curriculum, and organizing activities to practice and enhance the students' knowledge. Nurse educators manage clinical activities and observe the students' performance in actual training... Show more	$22-46
   Nurse Extern	The job of a nurse extern is to assist the mentor nurse in their nursing duties. They help the mentor nurse in various medical procedures such as administering medications or starting intravenous therapies... Show more	$13-22

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Home Health
   • Patients
   • Quality Care
   • Rehabilitation
   • Physician Orders
   • Infection Control
   • Health Aides
   • Discharge Planning
   • Patient Assessment
   • Palliative Care
   • Emotional Support
   • IV
   • Direct Patient Care
   • Wound Care

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage an Alzheimer patient daily care including bathing, feeding and administer any medication.
   • Instruct patients and relatives regarding techniques used in managing vascular access devices aim at facilitating client independence.
   • Field NurseProvide care for patients discharge from hospital, skil care facility rehabilitation facility and referral from physician's office.
   • Administer IM meds such as monthly B12
   • Maintain and assess patient for daily MDS.
   • Care of ventilator and TPN in home private duty

   More home health nurse duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the home health nurse job description is a good way to get more applicants. A home health nurse salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a home health nurse in North Carolina may be lower than in California, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level home health nurse. Additionally, a home health nurse with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average home health nurse salary

   $69,393yearly

   $33.36 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level home health nurse salary

   $48,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 30, 2025

   Average home health nurse salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$106,007	$51
   2	Oregon	$92,283	$44
   3	Washington	$90,099	$43
   4	Massachusetts	$87,835	$42
   5	New York	$87,571	$42
   6	Wisconsin	$77,971	$37
   7	Michigan	$72,973	$35
   8	Pennsylvania	$72,739	$35
   9	Maine	$71,782	$35
   10	Minnesota	$70,806	$34
   11	Illinois	$70,441	$34
   12	Colorado	$69,954	$34
   13	Arizona	$67,201	$32
   14	Virginia	$66,098	$32
   15	Texas	$65,543	$32
   16	Oklahoma	$64,622	$31
   17	Ohio	$64,166	$31
   18	Georgia	$62,492	$30
   19	Arkansas	$59,660	$29
   20	New Mexico	$59,296	$29

   Average home health nurse salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Senior Living Properties	$107,461	$51.66
   2	Therapy Resources Management	$105,590	$50.76	1
   3	Oculus	$101,831	$48.96
   4	RNnetwork	$99,210	$47.70
   5	Aya Healthcare	$98,670	$47.44	174
   6	Stability Healthcare	$98,551	$47.38
   7	Express Healthcare Professionals	$97,082	$46.67
   8	Favorite Healthcare Staffing	$95,016	$45.68	1
   9	Appalachian Regional Healthcare	$92,327	$44.39	49
   10	Sierra Nevada Home Care	$91,822	$44.15
   11	Mission Health Services	$90,426	$43.47	112
   12	onehome	$89,474	$43.02	6
   13	Encompass Health	$89,425	$42.99	1,267
   14	McAlester Regional Health Center	$86,031	$41.36	11
   15	UofL Hospital	$84,854	$40.80	98
   16	Mcgriff, Seibels & Williams	$84,298	$40.53
   17	St Luke's Hospital & Health Network Inc	$83,983	$40.38
   18	Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings	$83,739	$40.26
   19	Newman Regional Health	$83,525	$40.16	6
   20	CarolinaEast	$83,466	$40.13	24

4. Writing a home health nurse job description

   A home health nurse job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. To help get you started, here's an example of a home health nurse job description:

   Home health nurse job description example

   Adobe Care & Wellness is an organization whose culture is based on inclusivity, and ensuring that our team members can thrive and work in an environment that brings them joy and allows them to do the best work of their careers. We provide top-tier and meaningful medical services while taking into consideration the nuisances of cultural and regional dynamics. Our woman-owned business is recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in Arizona and is proof that necessity is the mother of innovation. We believe that our values are crucial not only to our growth, but the future we want to build for the medical industry as a whole .
   
   Summary: During an in-home visit that can last up to one hour, Adobe Care and Wellness providers review member s current health status, medical history, medications, social determinates, and other risks. By completing the comprehensive visit in their own home, we are able to get more insight into a member s overall health that can be difficult to capture during routine office visits.
   Ability to Make Your Own Schedule!!! $125 per visit
   
   DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:
   
   Travel up to 90%; regions are identified and updated based on business needs.
   Conduct in-home assessments on identified patients, following established guidelines.
   Formulate a list of current and past medical conditions using clinical knowledge, judgment, and current findings.
   Identify urgent and emergent situations for proper intervention.
   Educate members on topics related to health conditions and the continuation of care.
   Identify diagnoses to be used in care management and active medical management.
   Develop positive relationships with members, caregivers, providers, and other care team members as needed.
   Communicate gaps in care to the member s primary care physician if needed.
   Identify internal and external referral needs when available.
   Interact with peers in a collegial manner, supporting efforts to improve outcomes.
   Compliant with all HIPPA regulations and maintain the security of protected health information (PHI).

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   To find the right home health nurse for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with home health nurses they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit home health nurses who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your home health nurse job on Zippia to find and attract quality home health nurse candidates.
   • Use niche websites such as healthcarejobsite, health jobs nationwide, hospitalcareers, medreps.com.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting home health nurses requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new home health nurse

   Once you've selected the best home health nurse candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   You should also follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that you've filled the position.

   After that, you can create an onboarding schedule for a new home health nurse. Human Resources and the hiring manager should complete Employee Action Forms. Human Resources should also ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc., and that new employee files are created.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a home health nurse?