‘Uber for Nursing’ Just Cleared the Ohio Senate: What Every Nurse Should Know

Ohio lawmakers just signed off on a new way to fill empty nursing shifts, and it could reshape how some nurses in the state work. On June 11, 2026, the Ohio Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 423, a measure that sets ground rules for the technology platforms that match independent healthcare professionals with nursing homes and other facilities scrambling to cover their floors.

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The bill, sponsored by State Senator Susan Manchester (R-Waynesfield), creates a framework for these app-based staffing platforms and spells out when a healthcare worker can be treated as a 1099 independent contractor rather than an employee. Supporters frame it as a flexible fix for a staffing crisis. Critics worry it cements the “Uber for nursing” model into Ohio law.

Either way, the legislation is now one step closer to reality. After clearing the Senate Health Committee and then the full Senate floor, SB 423 was referred to the Ohio House, where its future will be decided.

SB 423 establishes standards that allow independent healthcare professionals to use technology-based platforms to connect with nursing homes and other facilities experiencing staffing shortages, according to the Senate press release. The legislation builds a legal framework for those platforms and sets the criteria a professional must meet to qualify as a 1099 independent contractor instead of a facility employee.

In practical terms, the bill updates state labor laws for contracted healthcare workers and applies specifically to workers affiliated with electronic platforms that link them to care facilities. Manchester has said she hopes it will make it easier to address workforce shortages by expanding the options facilities have to bring in additional workers on short notice.

“I’m grateful my colleagues recognized the importance of making sure Ohioans have access to proper care all across the state,” Manchester said in the press release, adding that the bill “empowers both independent healthcare professionals and healthcare facilities like nursing homes with increased access to quality care when they’re facing staffing shortages.”

“Access to quality healthcare is necessary for Ohioans to flourish,” she continued. “In a time where both facilities and healthcare professionals face mounting pressure, this bill provides flexibility and clarity, and I’d urge the House to join the Senate in passing this important legislation as well.”

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The vote landed against a stark backdrop. Roughly a month earlier, the Ohio Nurses Association (ONA) released its 2026 Workforce Safety Report, which found that more than 91% of direct-care professionals report working in conditions where staffing is not consistently safe, and that fewer than 10% say their unit is always appropriately staffed. The same report found more than half of direct-care RNs and LPNs are considering leaving direct-care roles over concerns about patient safety, staffing, and workplace violence.

For some nurses, app-based platforms already feel like part of the answer. A Crawford County nurse named Jeannette Burton testified in favor of the bill, saying she works through the platform ShiftKey because it gives her control over her own schedule. The bill would only apply to workers who use a digital platform to pick up shifts.

The ONA’s response was more measured. The union recognized that SB 423 represents an improvement and includes worker protections that do not currently exist in law, but it still raised concerns about liability coverage minimums and the bill’s look-back period. ONA members also advocated for separate legislation aimed at nurses who are not hired through third-party healthcare platforms.

That tension reflects a broader, national debate. Gig nursing apps like ShiftKey and CareRev have been criticized by nurses and researchers who warn that classifying clinicians as independent contractors can strip away employment protections, shift liability onto individual workers, and let pay be set through bidding rather than stable wages. SB 423’s supporters counter that clear rules are better than the largely unregulated landscape these platforms operate in today.

Even if you do not work in Ohio, SB 423 is worth watching, because it is one of the first state efforts to write the gig-nursing model directly into law. How a state defines a nurse as a 1099 contractor versus an employee affects far more than scheduling flexibility. It shapes who carries malpractice liability, whether you get benefits or overtime, how your pay is calculated, and what legal protections apply when something goes wrong on a shift.

The bill also lands at a moment when nurses are already telling researchers that units are dangerously thin. Platform-based staffing may help fill gaps in the short term, but classification questions, liability minimums, and look-back periods are exactly the fine print that can determine whether a flexible gig is a good deal or a risky one. As the bill moves to the Ohio House, nurses there will have another chance to weigh in, and the outcome could become a model, or a cautionary tale, for other states.

🤔 Would you pick up shifts through an app like ShiftKey if it meant being classified as an independent contractor instead of an employee? Tell us why or why not in the comments.

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