Bill strips worker protections from temp doctors to cut employer taxes

What it does

This bill amends the tax code to classify locum tenens physicians and advanced care practitioners (nurse practitioners, physician assistants, certified registered nurse anesthetists) as independent contractors rather than employees, provided they work temporarily at a single site for no more than one continuous year under a written contract. The bill exempts these workers and their employers from payroll taxes, employment classification rules, and employer obligations.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is a tax and employment-classification carve-out for a specific class of healthcare workers. It does not mandate hiring, fund shortages, or create new positions — it exempts a category of workers from employment law in exchange for tax relief to employers and staffing agencies.

What the text implies

• Locum tenens workers lose access to employer-sponsored health insurance, retirement plans, and paid leave, shifting those costs entirely to the individual worker.
• The one-year continuous-service limit may incentivize employers to rotate workers annually to maintain independent-contractor status and avoid triggering employee classification.
• Workers lose unemployment insurance eligibility and workers' compensation coverage, increasing personal financial risk during injury or job loss.
• The exemption applies to all payors and agencies, not just rural or underserved-area employers, potentially expanding the carve-out beyond the stated shortage-mitigation purpose.
• Self-employed locum tenens workers must pay both employer and employee portions of payroll taxes (15.3% combined), a cost not borne by traditional employees.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Locum tenens workers lose employee protections (minimum wage, overtime, workers' compensation, unemployment insurance, FMLA, anti-discrimination laws) and employer-side payroll tax contributions that fund Social Security and Medicare. While the bill may increase locum tenens availability in underserved areas, the mechanism achieves this by stripping worker protections and shifting costs to workers themselves, who must now self-fund retirement and disability insurance.

Who stands to gain

• healthcare staffing agencies
• hospitals and medical practices using locum tenens
• employers avoiding payroll tax obligations

Named in the bill

Internal Revenue Code of 1986, Chapter 25 (IRC), Section 3513 (new), Social Security Act Section 1861(r), Title 5 United States Code Section 8101(2), locum tenens physicians, advanced care practitioners, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, certified registered nurse anesthetists

Where it stands

9 cosponsors: 9 Republicans.

• Feb 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Feb 10, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Ways and Means · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $20,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 21 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.

Buddy Carter, the sponsor, reported $988,325 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Chartercare Health of Ri (forrmerly Known As Chartercare Health Partners) — $20,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 23, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.