Congress quietly exempts temp healthcare workers from payroll taxes
H.R. 1160 — Health Care Provider Shortage Minimization Act of 2025 · Filed by Buddy Carter (R-GA) · 9 cosponsors · Introduced Feb 10, 2025 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill reclassifies temporary physicians and advanced care practitioners (nurse practitioners, physician's assistants, nurse anesthetists) as independent contractors rather than employees for federal tax purposes. It exempts their employers and staffing agencies from payroll taxes, Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance obligations on these workers' compensation.
Why we flagged it
The bill's functional mechanism is a targeted payroll-tax carve-out for temporary healthcare workers, framed as a shortage-mitigation measure but operationally a tax relief for staffing agencies and healthcare employers. The stated purpose (minimizing provider shortages) is not mechanically enforced by the tax treatment.
What the text implies
- Temporary healthcare workers lose access to unemployment insurance, workers' compensation, and other employment-based protections, shifting risk entirely to the individual worker.
- Staffing agencies and healthcare employers avoid ~15.3% in combined payroll taxes (Social Security + Medicare + unemployment insurance), creating financial incentive to convert permanent positions to temporary locum tenens arrangements.
The full analysis lists 5 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
healthcare staffing agencies; hospital systems and health networks; physician-owned practices