Hiring a respiratory therapist takes two to eight weeks for a contract placement. Expect facility bill rates of roughly $85–$115 per hour, more for ECMO, neonatal or adult critical care credentials. The most common hiring mistake is treating an RRT and an RRT-ACCS as interchangeable — they are not, and a NICU or ICU req that does not specify the specialty credential will stall.
Far more than most hiring managers outside the department realize. Ventilator management, airway maintenance, arterial blood gas sampling and interpretation, intubation assistance, bronchial hygiene, aerosol therapy, code and rapid response participation, and transport. In many facilities the RT is the person who decides whether a patient is ready to be extubated.
The practical consequence: a vacancy does not degrade service evenly. It concentrates on the sickest patients you have.
Start with the baseline, then be specific about the population.
Writing "RRT preferred" on a NICU req and then rejecting candidates for lacking NPS wastes three weeks. Specify it at intake.
An RT already credentialed and cleared for your state can often start within two to three weeks, limited mainly by your onboarding. Where additional state requirements apply the window extends, sometimes considerably.
This is why fill timelines for respiratory vary more than for nursing, and why an agency quoting you the same window regardless of market has not actually checked.
Travel RTs currently see gross weekly packages of roughly $2,300–$3,600, landing around $60–$70 per hour in total clinician compensation. Facility bill rates typically fall in the $85–$115 per hour range. Specialty credentials, night and weekend coverage, and short-notice starts all move it upward.
Full breakdown of what sits inside that number is on our staffing cost page.
Contract if the need is seasonal, covering leave, or bridging to an approved FTE. Respiratory demand is genuinely seasonal — winter respiratory illness volume is predictable and a contract RT from November to March is often the correct answer rather than a failed permanent search.
Permanent if the role is structural. Employment for respiratory therapists is projected to grow about 12% between 2024 and 2034, roughly 8,800 openings a year, and the training pipeline has not kept pace. If you need the seat filled for the long term, the market is not going to get easier.
Tell us the credential, the unit and the start date. We will come back with a realistic fill window and the current market rate.