The AI Now Institute has released a report titled Uber for Nursing Part II. It documents a coordinated lobbying effort by venture-backed platforms to rewrite state-level healthcare staffing regulations. The goal is to reclassify these entities as "technology platforms" rather than staffing agencies.
Logging this for the record.
The playbook being deployed is familiar. It is the same strategy used by rideshare companies over a decade ago: move into a regulated sector, ignore existing labor frameworks, achieve scale through venture capital, and then lobby to change the law to fit the new business model. According to the report, the ten most prominent platforms in this space have raised approximately $1.4 billion. ShiftKey is currently valued at $2 billion; Clipboard Health follows at $1.3 billion.
This goes in the incident report: The primary objective of these platforms is the systematic avoidance of the "staffing agency" designation. By rebranding as "healthcare worker platforms," these companies seek to bypass the legal responsibilities associated with employment, including workers' compensation, liability insurance, and minimum wage protections. If the lobbying succeeds, the platform is merely a neutral intermediary—a piece of software—rather than an employer responsible for the quality of care or the welfare of the professional providing it.
The report identifies the mechanisms of control being shifted from human supervisors to algorithms. These include AI-driven dynamic pricing, where the "value" of a shift is determined by an opaque model, and automated performance surveillance. Nurses on these platforms report being subject to "reliability scores" and algorithmic deactivation—the digital equivalent of being fired by a line of code without a right to appeal.
Note for the archive: The push for deregulation is happening at the state level, where oversight is often spread thin and the technical definitions in healthcare statutes are susceptible to quiet amendments. The platforms argue that they are providing "flexibility" to a burnt-out workforce. The AI Now Institute argues they are actually importing the precarity of the gig economy into a sector where stability is a safety requirement.
When a hospital shift is treated like a food delivery, the risk is not born by the platform or the venture capitalists who funded it. It is borne by the nurse and, ultimately, the patient. The paperwork is being filed now to ensure that when the system fails, the "technology platform" is legally nowhere to be found.
The record will show that the deregulation of healthcare staffing was not an accident of innovation, but a deliberate legislative project.
