Healthcare staffing costs are escalating with no sign of letting up.
According to Precedence Research, the healthcare staffing market in the U.S. was valued at just under $20 billion in 2024 and is projected to double in value by 2034.
With a global nursing shortage straining workforce supply, facility administrators are understandably stressed as they walk a tight rope with their finance department on one side and their nursing staff on the other.
So, what’s that facility administrator supposed to do?
Listen to their finance team and lean hard on the nursing staff who are already frustrated, overworked, and burnt out?
Or, listen to their nursing staff and spend the money to boost numbers for better staffing ratios?
Here’s where nurse staffing apps offer healthcare staffing solutions that have the potential to appease both sides through cost-effective, on-demand nurse staffing.
At least, that’s what these apps claim. We’re here to take a look.
How do nurse staffing apps work?
Nurse staffing apps have digitized the process of sourcing clinicians for healthcare facilities’ staffing needs—no more endless paperwork, phone tag, or email chains.
When a medical facility has shift call outs, vacancies, or a staff member going on leave, it can turn to an app and find qualified nursing clinicians to cover the shifts.
The specific business model of these apps varies; they may employ their own talent pool of nursing clinicians and “loan” them out, operate as a marketplace where independent contractors can pick up PRN nursing jobs, or a hybrid of the two.
5 Best nurse staffing apps
Nurse staffing apps are pushing traditional staffing agencies out the door by transforming a cumbersome bureaucratic process into one that’s as easy as ordering take-out for supper.
Here’s an in-depth look at the top nurse staffing apps in the U.S. market today.
1. Nursa
The Nursa platform operates as an open marketplace for independent contractor nursing clinicians. It boasts a talent pool of over 300,000 clinicians nationwide and is currently active in 31 states.
Pricing model
This app’s pricing model makes it unique from its competitors.
- Transparency: There are no hidden fees or markups on the invoices. Facilities know exactly what they will pay for each shift when they schedule it.
- Control: Data-driven pricing guidance is available, but facilities are in control of shift pricing.
- Pay-as-you-go: Facilities only pay for completed shifts, no start-up fees, subscription fees, or minimum-use quotas—and no contracts or hire-away fees either.
Key features
Nursa’s features allow it to be leveraged strategically for solutions to different types of staffing problems.
- Support: The app offers a suite of support services, including human chat support, a discussion forum, help center tutorials and guides, and—best of all—on-the-ground human support from regional teams.
- Customization: Facilities are encouraged to create customized credential lists to screen applicants based on unit, license, or shift type.
- Speed: Posted shifts are updated in real time, which means the turnaround time on filling shifts is often as quick as minutes.
- Integration: Nursa can be integrated into a facility’s existing operating systems so that timekeeping and shift scheduling remain in one place.
Advantages and drawbacks
Unlike most on the list, this platform doesn’t offer recruitment services for permanent in-house positions. Its primary function is for on-demand staffing. However, it does encourage facilities to build a “Favorite” clinician list to automate scheduling, and it has an explicit “no hire-away fees” policy.
While it does have specialty nurses in the talent pool (medical-surgical, intensive care unit, telemetry, etc.), highly specialized candidates may be sparse.
The app’s responsiveness is a significant advantage, with facilities often leveraging it to fill last-minute and weekend call outs. Without contracts or minimum quotas, the flexibility this app offers allows facilities to tailor their staff rosters to align directly with changing needs. In essence, facilities use Nursa when they need it—and then don’t when they don’t.
2. Clipboard Health
This app operates as a platform bringing together facilities, clinicians, and allied healthcare workers.
Pricing model
Pricing for Clipboard Health is as follows:
- Shift charge rate: This is the amount that facilities pay for shifts booked with the app. It can be adjusted by facilities based on what they are willing to pay.
- Extra time pay: For an additional fee, facilities can boost the clinician’s pay rate on shifts as an incentive.
Key features
Clipboard Health has a few unique features distinguishing it from its competitors.
- Negotiation: The app allows clinicians and facilities to negotiate the shift pay rate.
- Geo-tracking: The app supports live tracking of contracted professionals for work time transparency.
- Automatic reposting: The app automatically reposts the shift if there is a last-minute cancellation.
Advantages and drawbacks
Perhaps the strongest feature of this staffing app is that it sources more than nursing clinicians. Facilities can also use it to staff physical therapists, janitors, cooks, and other allied healthcare workers.
The ability to negotiate pay rates between facilities and clinicians is touted as a key feature—and it likely is for clinicians—but it may drag out scheduling efforts if facilities get caught in a back-and-forth. Additionally, it’s unclear if a facility has to pay additional fees if it agrees to increase the shift pay rate after a negotiation.
3. IntelyCare
IntelyCare is currently active in 14 states. It offers long-term and permanent placements for nursing clinicians, as well as travel nursing and short-term, per diem contracts.
Pricing model
This platform operates on a subscription-based model whereby facilities can select one of four packages.
- $299 monthly: Includes a four-day free trial, one job posting slot, and unlimited job swaps
- $558 monthly: Includes a four-day free trial, two job posting slots, unlimited swaps, and a featured employer title
- $750 monthly: Includes a four-day free trial, three job posting slots, unlimited swaps, a featured employer title, and distribution to third parties
- Custom pricing: Offers a “larger job volume,” preferred subscription pricing, a dedicated account manager, custom branding, and priority support
It’s unclear whether the monthly subscription fee covers the actual clinician pay rate for their work, or if that constitutes an additional cost.
Key features
IntelyCare’s features include the following:
- Short-term staffing options: Per diem contracts, block booking, and set schedules for local clinicians are offered.
- Hiring: The platform boasts the largest nursing job board and offers AI matching and a talent pool that includes specialized nurses.
- Education: It offers post-acute training education accredited by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).
Advantages and drawbacks
This platform offers a broad selection of tools and services for healthcare staffing, making it attractive to facilities that have a variety of staffing needs.
Although it offers short-term staffing services, the platform seems more focused on long-term and permanent placements, as indicated by its pricing packages. This focus makes it less adaptable for urgent or emergency staffing needs.
The accredited education courses offer a valuable resource for clinicians, but whether or not facilities can directly benefit from this service is dependent on unique, situational factors.
4. SnapCare
This staffing platform offers tools to optimize the scheduling of internal staff and source per diem clinicians to fill remaining gaps.
Pricing model
According to SnapCare’s Transparent Pricing Promise in a PR Newswire press release from January 2024, invoices disclose the following:
- Clinician pay rates
- Travel costs
- A standard burden pay rate (covering clinician benefits and payroll taxes)
Facilities may see additional fees for recruiting, credentialing, and employing clinicians.
Pricing for the Incite Workforce Solutions and Managed Services features was not mentioned in the press release and is not detailed on the site.
Key features
SnapCare’s key features include the following:
- Booker: This feature optimizes scheduling by analyzing census trends and internal staff preferences and making projections for contingent staffing needs.
- Managed Services: This feature handles vetting, invoicing, and shift coordination to reduce administrative burden.
- Incite Workforce Solutions: This service is offered through a partnership with Incite Strategic Partners. It prioritizes internal staff strengthening and recruitment and provides tailored workforce analytics.
Advantages and drawbacks
SnapCare focuses on strengthening internal staff rosters, with contingent staffing utilized as a stop-gap. With a strong focus on recruitment and reducing administrative burden, this platform may be an attractive option for facilities struggling with turnover.
However, pricing for the additional tools and services may make it financially challenging for facilities to leverage SnapCare to its fullest potential.
5. Nurse IO
Nurse IO X is the staffing tool set created by the healthcare staffing company Nurse IO. Nurse IO operates in seven states, with its headquarters in Arizona.
Pricing model
The pricing model for Nurse IO X involves the following:
- Invoices show facilities the clinician rate plus a flat rate agency fee.
- The platform guarantees to reduce facility healthcare staffing spending by 25 percent.
Key features
Nurse IO X boasts four key features:
- Crunch: This feature projects facility spending for accurate budgeting when using the app.
- Ella: Facilities can send an SMS to the AI scheduling assistant when a shift needs to be filled.
- Pick: This AI-powered shift management system helps facilities manage their talent pool.
- Tag: This tool tracks clinician time on the floor for precise billing.
Advantages and drawbacks
This app stands as the only one on the list that guarantees quantifiable savings for facilities, although how it calculates and then delivers on that promise is not specified.
The “Tag” feature for on-demand worker time tracking may be attractive to facilities concerned about worker productivity, and the “Crunch” feature may be a useful tool for budgeting.
Nurse IO X leans fully into AI-powered tools for streamlined processing, but it’s uncertain how much human input and support this platform provides.
Make smart investments in technological staffing solutions
Healthcare staffing needs have become more complex for facilities to manage, so it’s unsurprising that tech-enabled solutions like nurse staffing software and apps have evolved to improve upon the traditional staffing agency business model in response.
Facility administrators can balance cost-efficiency without sacrificing staff quality or patient care when they leverage on-demand staffing to bolster staffing ratios and relieve their overworked clinicians.
Better yet, administrators don’t have to wait to get to the office to do so. With these nurse staffing apps, a few taps on the phone can serve up a solution—some within minutes.
