The short answer
What does your coverage cost?
Enter your own figures. Every field is required; enter 0 when none applies. Calculations stay in this page.
Complete the assumptions to calculate. Editing a value clears the previous estimate.
What does the worksheet count?
What this worksheet assumes
Every number comes from your organization; the worksheet begins empty. It uses a steady weekly coverage schedule, prorated across calendar days. It covers agency coverage only, and it reports staff hours released in hours, never as cash. Your inputs stay in the page: it does not submit or store them.
| Measure | Formula | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Agency bill during the delay | Agency hours per week × delay days ÷ 7 × agency hourly rate | Coverage spending for this vacancy |
| Agency premium | Covered hours × max(agency rate − loaded employee rate, 0) | Incremental premium over employed coverage |
| Potential avoided premium | Replaced hours per week × days earlier ÷ 7 × hourly premium | Scenario estimate only for replaced agency hours |
| Staff capacity released | Hours entered by your team | Reported in hours, separate from cash |
These formulas are the method behind the worksheet2. If you prefer to work them by hand, the table is all you need.
How do we calculate what a delayed clinician start is actually costing our practice?
Start with a defined delay period and the coverage attached to that vacancy. Enter your agency hours and rate, then the fully loaded rate for the employed coverage that would replace them. The difference is the agency premium for this part of the vacancy cost.
Use the same role, period and unit for both rates. Keep invoices, payroll assumptions and the date range behind the estimate1. The worksheet begins empty so every number comes from your organization.
When does an earlier start become an avoided cash cost?
An earlier start only avoids agency spending when it replaces paid agency hours. Enter both the number of days brought forward and the agency hours per week the clinician would actually replace. The model caps replacement at the agency hours already in the scenario.
The worksheet uses a steady weekly coverage assumption, prorated across calendar days. Match the scenario to the actual schedule before treating it as a budget change. A contract minimum or cancellation charge can prevent an invoice from falling even when coverage changes.
How do we compare recruitment fees, temporary coverage and leaving a physician position open?
Keep a separate line for each cost with its own source. This calculator covers agency coverage only. Add recruitment fees, overtime and other costs in your wider business case only when they are incremental and do not duplicate coverage already counted here.
Model lost contribution separately using your own capacity and margin assumptions. Do not add gross revenue to an agency bill and label the total a cash saving. Use the same period when comparing hiring options.
How do we measure staff time spent chasing onboarding tasks without counting it all as cash savings?
Record coordination hours before and after the change. Enter the hours you expect to release over this scenario as a separate capacity measure. They become a cash saving only when a specific paid cost is removed; otherwise, they are time the team can use for other work.
Bring your assumptions to a Rōvn walkthrough. We will start with the delayed hire, the handoff holding it up and the evidence you would need to measure a change.
Questions
Does this estimate every cost of an open role?
No. It estimates the agency-coverage component. Recruitment fees, overtime, lost contribution and other effects belong on separate, non-overlapping lines in your business case.
Can the tool show savings when the start date does not move?
No. With zero days earlier, potential avoided premium is zero. It is also zero when no agency hours are replaced.
Why use a fully loaded employee rate?
The replacement coverage has a cost too. Include the pay and employment costs relevant to your comparison so the premium does not treat employed coverage as free.
Are the numbers a Rōvn outcome forecast?
The inputs define your scenario. Compare actual start dates and invoices with the baseline before recording a measured result.
Are my inputs sent anywhere?
This worksheet calculates locally in the page and does not submit or store its input values. Use de-identified operating assumptions.
Talk through your delayed start.
Find the cost you can actually change. Then bring us the hiring handoff that is keeping it in place. Book a call and we will start with the delayed hire.
Sources
- 1
Inputs: your agency contract, invoices and payroll assumptions
The worksheet holds no figures of its own. Keep the source and the date range for each number you enter.
Checked Oct 15, 2026
- 2
Method: the formulas in the table on this page
The worksheet applies exactly these formulas to your inputs.
Checked Oct 15, 2026
