1 month ago
Billion-dollar tech platforms are aggressively pushing for deregulation of nan “Uber for nursing” manufacture successful an effort to grow gig activity successful nan healthcare sector, according to a report published Tuesday.
The study from nan AI Now Institute, Uber for Nursing Part II: How Gig Nursing Companies Are Lobbying States to Deregulate Healthcare, examines nan usage of artificial intelligence to unit hospitals and different healthcare facilities.
The study warns that increasing usage of nan exertion comes astatine nan disbursal of workers’ rights, protections and pay.
As has progressively go nan lawsuit pinch ride-share companies, nan “Uber for nurses” exemplary relies connected artificial intelligence to group salary rates for activity shifts, to surveil capacity metrics, and usage that information to find a worker’s early entree to gigs and salary rates. The manufacture besides allows nurses to bid connected activity shifts, pinch nan lowest salary complaint winning nan shift.
The exemplary has been lucrative for its promoters. Three caregiver gig platforms person reached a $1bn valuation, according to nan report, arsenic they person received an influx of investments from backstage equity firms and are securing authorities contracts to unit nationalist facilities, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers.
“AI is incorporated into each these quality guidance package systems, and for nurses, that intends dropping them into each kinds of places, without orientation, without workers comp, without immoderate measurement to protect themselves if they’re sick and they request to cancel,” said Dr Katie J Wells, co-author of nan study and a elder chap astatine AI Now. “That besides means, for a batch of these apps, utilizing AI technologies to facilitate a bidding warfare against nurses.”
A screenshot of a quick-bid auction from a caregiver gig platform, Clipboard Health, states: “You tin take nan complaint you’d for illustration arsenic a bid, and nan lowest bid wins!”
The auction allows gig nurses to make an hourly costs bid for activity shifts astatine a aesculapian facility, and nan lowest-wage bid secures nan position.
Clipboard Health besides uses disciplinary constituent systems for gig nurses, including deducting points from nurses for cancelling a shift, pinch much points deducted for little announcement being fixed for nan cancellation, and different constituent deductions for showing up precocious to shifts.
Wells noted these trends are progressively concerning, fixed healthcare has been 1 of nan fewer sectors experiencing reliable and accordant occupation growth successful nan US.
The latest study recovered that since 2022 lawmakers successful astatine slightest 17 states person introduced bills designed to make gig nursing platforms exempt from nan regulations applied to different healthcare staffing agencies.
The lobbying by gig companies has led to exemption bills being precocious successful Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, and Rhode Island.
The gig platforms person besides lobbied successful favour of policies that exempt these platforms from worker protection laws, pinch these carve-out policies advancing successful Georgia, Ohio, California, Pennsylvania, Missouri, and Wisconsin.
Gig nursing platforms are presently exempt from worker protection laws successful West Virginia and unemployment security laws successful Louisiana.
The study likens these lobbying efforts to those of thrust stock companies, which benignant to debar being regulated arsenic a proscription aliases taxi industry.
“I’m really hoping that we tin protect wellness attraction from what I fearfulness is simply a benignant of much fierce attack, astatine slightest if we look since 2022 astatine conscionable really overmuch crushed these companies person traveled,” added Wells. “They’ve made specified headway successful truthful galore places astir pushing backmost worker protections, but besides nationalist information concerns and successful diligent wellbeing.”
The manufacture has besides been lobbying astatine nan national level, pushing for authorities that turn and grow “independent work” and included nan introduction of a bill that would let gig nursing platforms to beryllium contracted by nan authorities for emergencies and includes indemnifying these platforms from liability for diligent injury.
The study contrasts these legislative pushes pinch New York state, which passed a rule successful 2025 that mandates these gig platforms must comply pinch authorities regulations for healthcare staffing agencies.
“There’s a immense interest that if this exemplary continues to summation acceptance aliases carve outs, a batch of jobs, I think, could spell this way,” concluded Dr. Wells. “We attraction truthful often connected really AI is going to switch your jobs, and, OK, maybe. But also, first AI is going to wholly degrade it and time off you without protections.”
