Medely

What is Medely?

Medely is a online marketplace that helps health care professionals find per diem shifts in health care facilities in 32 states, including New York, New Jersey, Florida, Pennsylvania, California, Arizona, Texas.

How does it work?

Health care professionals sign up by filling out a form that asks about their specialty and experience. You’ll also need to provide information about your education, licenses and submit to a background check. Finally, you’ll need to complete a skills assessment.

The site says all of this is likely to take less than a week. After that, you will get access to assignments that suit your skills in the geographic area where you want to work.

You choose what assignments to take and what to ignore. There are no requirements demanding that you work a set number of hours each week or month.

Medely review

Medely is one of several online marketplaces that connect short-staffed medical facilities with independent health care workers, who are willing to take on-demand shifts.

The site arranges both local and travel nursing jobs and is available to help health care professionals with a wide array of roles — from nursing assistants to RNs; sonographers to GI techs.

Pay rates vary dramatically by role and facility. However, health care professionals are given all the details of the assignments in advance, including the hours, the pay, the requirements, and how far the facility is from their home.

Independent contractors

What you don’t get with Medely is an employer/employee relationship, which confers valuable benefits. So, like other sites that engage independent contractors, workers expect to earn more with Medely than they do with their employers.

That sometimes happens. However, not always. People who have worked with the site say that wages are not competitive in some cities. And, in other cities, the site simply doesn’t have enough work to keep all willing freelancers busy.

That said, you know the shift location, hours and pay before you take it. If the pay isn’t sufficient, you can pass on the offer.

Where Medely operates

Medely operates in 42 markets, including Los Angeles, Atlanta, Austin, Miami and New York. You can find the full list of facilities/locations here. 

Calling out

Unlike employers, who provide sick leave to their employees, independent contractors are penalized if they take a shift and suddenly can’t work.

It can be tough to anticipate whether or not you’re going to get the flu. But, if you’ve accepted shifts and end up calling out sick (or otherwise unavailable) with less than 24-hours notice, you could get suspended or booted from the platform.

Notably, health care facilities can cancel requests — without penalty — right up to the time of the shift.

Pay

To get paid, you need to record your work times through the Medely platform. You may also need to clock in and out at the medical facility and/or have a hand-signed nurse staffing form.

Payments are made via direct deposit two days following a shift’s completion.

Reportable events

If there’s a reportable event, ranging from threatened litigation to patient safety concerns, you’re supposed to report these events to Medely, as well as to the appropriate people at the facility where you’re working.

Opt out fee

If a facility that you worked with through the Medely platform decides that it wants to hire you within 12 months of your last Medely assignment, you may owe Medely an 18% “opt-out” fee.

Recommendations

Medely appears to offer better-than-average job opportunities for health care workers interested in per diem shifts. You can sign up here. 

Other sites we recommend for health care professionals include Intelycare, TrustedHealth and ConnectRN.

What their users say (from Glassdoor):

Good pay when jobs are available, but there are very few jobs to pick up.

Make your own schedule and meet great people everywhere you go. But it gets slow around the second half of the year, holidays, and the new year.

I really enjoy being able to chose when and where I want to work. But not having been a 1099 employee before, I wish there was more information on that.

Flexible. Reliable. Pay is decent. But there are not a lot of shifts and it takes a while to get live help.

From Indeed

Best leadership and culture. Supported in every way. I feel that I have an impact every day, am heard and have opportunities for career growth here.

This company was helpful in building out my own schedule and also allows you to operate as an independent contractor.

Not enough assignments

This company/job board offers great options for per diem shifts and local assignments. The only downfall is that it is a very competitive job market and more often than not, the shifts are already taken by the time you read the notification and open the app to check the offer.

This company used to be good until they recently hired a mass of nurses way more then needed because now there are never any shifts. Medely did this while having enough nurses to fill positions and now there is no work for the dedicated staff who had been keeping medely going for years!!!! Not fair and very unhappy with this company

Easy to clock in and out, get your assignment, shown paperwork, and trained. Can work in different cities, different facilities, whenever you want. Very convenient and fun! Hardest part of job is finding the facilities sometimes. Most enjoyable part is learning about new facilities, and the variety.

There aren’t a lot of jobs on Medely in the Houston area, so when a shift pops up you really have to be fast to book it. The whole Medely concept is great, though. I love the flexibility.

Deactivated

The hardest part about working for Medely is actually getting an assignment. They knocked me off their platform because I was very sick through the 2023 holidays. I had 3 call ins and was suspended for several weeks, then was able to return to work. I kept relapsing during the holiday season so I do understand that it was frustrating for Medely. But then in April, 4 months later, the deactivated my account and refused to explain to my why. It was terribly unprofessional and handled very poorly. Due to the way this was dealt with I wouldn’t be able to recommend Medely as a good place to work.

No benefits

Most job assignments at facilities are a lot of work. You are usually assigned the toughest load, your breaks aren’t a priority, most of the time you don’t get lunch. You are considered an independent contractor, and thus the labor law doesn’t protect you. So, no breaks/lunch.

The hospitals will not train you in their specific guidelines. Each location does things slightly different and it’s important for them to go over it with any new employee.

Easy clock in/out on your phone app, Easy to locate open available jobs, location, Perfect for customizing a schedule built around other obligations for instance school, family or other committments. But there’s no health insurance.
Stride is provided as an option, but it’s cheaper if you go through Healthcare.gov.

From Google reviews:

Great platform for per diem work. Only downside is that they need to keep up with the market value in the states they serve and adjust pay for allied health workers. Currently in my state they are $3-$8 per hour below market rate so it’s actually better to become staff at a facility then to contract with them. Otherwise awesome!

Cancelled for canceling

I worked 60+ shifts with them and had to cancel due to a family emergency. Cancelled at 23 hours and 30 min before the shift and have never cancelled before. They apparently have a 24 hour rule for cancellation but I was not informed of this. Instead they put my account on hold. Attempted to talk with support and got no where. DO NOT WORK FOR THEM. They have extremely bad customer service and do not seem to care.

Love it!

I can’t recommend Medely enough! I am a RN on the platform and was screened very carefully before getting onto the platform. They take the screening process very seriously. The facilities where I have worked complimented Medely staff as some of the best they have ever used. As long as you commit to the shifts you book, there will be zero issues. They understand emergencies happen but will not tolerate repeated call ins or no shows. There are so many options between per diem shifts and local/travel assignments. The flexibility is amazing and really supports the work/life balance I desired. Best decision I ever made!

7/16/2024