AMN healthcare Archives

Over the years, technology has found its way into many industries to help make things easier and put the power in the hands of the consumer. Many of us now choose to use our laptops and smartphones for everyday transactions rather than go to physical stores and offices or call someone on the phone. Whether you want to book a vacation, buy new clothes, or order your dinner, there’s an app for almost all your needs.

Unfortunately, some industries are slower than others to catch up to the changes of modern technology. As traveling healthcare providers, there are still many things that are outdated with how we go about finding jobs, getting licensed in new states, and managing all of the various aspects of our unique careers. But luckily there are some companies that are starting to move the industry forward by innovating and utilizing technology to make things easier for travelers and put more of the control in their hands.

One of our favorite new technologies is the AMN Passport App. AMN is one of the largest healthcare staffing companies in the United States, and since they serve so many healthcare travelers across various disciplines, they are at the forefront of understanding what travelers want and need. They created the new AMN Passport App to streamline the processes involved with travel healthcare staffing and put more control in the hands of the traveler, from the job search, to communicating with recruiters, to booking a new contract, to managing credentialing and other requirements while on assignment.

Travel Healthcare The Traditional Way

Since we’ve been traveling physical therapists since 2015 and have worked with several different staffing agencies, we’re well situated to compare and contrast the different ways that companies do things, including some of the more outdated ways and some of the newer ways.

As far as the job search goes, usually travelers have to rely on recruiters to let them know when certain jobs they may be searching for come open. This isn’t too bad if you’re looking for something very specific, and if your recruiter is attentive and quick to respond. However, sometimes you’d rather just look at a list of jobs yourself, and decide if any of them would be good choices for you, instead of waiting for the recruiter to tell you about one or a few. Also, having to deal with a “middle man” can really slow the process down, instead of being able to see job updates in real time. Some companies do list jobs on their websites so travelers can search through the jobs themselves, but it depends how often the list is updated as to whether these lists are accurate. Similarly, once you’ve identified a job that may be a good fit for you, trying to get submitted for the job can also have a delay depending on timing and the efficiency of the recruiter.

Once you’ve accepted a travel contract, there can be quite a bit of onboarding paperwork involved. Each company has different ways of handling this. We’ve worked with some that have a fairly efficient system online for filling out and compiling documents electronically, while some will send you dozens of email attachments which you have to either print/sign/scan/fax or find some external app to try to do them online. It baffles us how outdated some of these processes are with some staffing companies.

When you’re on a travel healthcare contract, there are some additional documents you need to be able to access, such as your timesheets, paystubs, and sometimes forms for getting reimbursements. Again, some companies are technology forward and may have the ability to access these online, whether via their own website or an account with an external company like ADP. But others still do this pretty old school with paper documents.

Benefits of the AMN Passport App

We’ve worked with the MedTravelers branch of AMN on and off since we first started traveling in 2015, and we’ve been impressed with their technology integration from the start. Originally when we started, they had a great online portal for travelers called The Service Connection. On this website, they had solutions for many of the onboarding, credentialing, timekeeping, and other documents necessary for travelers throughout the whole job process

However, they’ve really stepped it up a notch with the new AMN Passport App. They’ve still got all the great services they provided before, but now it’s all accessible from either your computer or your phone via the app, and they’ve got additional features on the app that weren’t available before.

Here are some of the features of the AMN Passport App:

Job Search: Access AMN’s large database of jobs at your fingertips, which is kept up to date on a daily basis. You can set your preferences for your job search by discipline, location, setting, pay, start date, shift, and hours. This is absolutely the best way to search for jobs that we’ve found, and we much prefer it over the old school method.
Job Submission: You can tap “I’m Interested” to send a job directly to your recruiter to let them know you’re interested in getting submitted for the job, streamlining the communication and submission process.
Onboarding: The app shows you exactly where you are in the onboarding process and any requirements you still need to complete while preparing to start your new travel contract. Their online portal allows many of the requirements to be completed easily online without any printing, faxing, etc.
Credentialing: The app keeps track of all your credentialing requirements, such as skills checklists, and sends you reminders when you need to update something throughout your assignment or on future assignments.
Timekeeping and Pay: See your weekly timesheet and pay right in the app, so you can make sure everything is accurate and be sure you get paid on time and the correct amount each week.
Profile: The app allows you to see exactly what’s in your profile, which is like your digital resume that goes out to the companies when you’re being submitted to jobs. This is amazing because normally this is a behind-the-scenes, hidden thing. You can make sure everything is exactly right, including your contact info, degree, licenses, certifications, list of work history, dates of time off between contracts, and references.
Benefits: Easily access all the documents related to your available benefits such as health insurance and 401k.

To get a step by step tutorial on how to use the AMN Passport App, check out this video.

The Future of Travel Healthcare Staffing

We are so excited to see positive changes coming to the travel healthcare staffing industry with the adoption of new technologies. Having the AMN Passport App is a gamechanger for healthcare travelers to better be able to find, book, and manage their travel assignments.

We already loved working with AMN MedTravelers, but this definitely steps it up a notch and makes working with them that much better.

If you’re ready to make life easier when searching for travel jobs and managing your travel career, and you’re interested in getting connected with one of our favorite recruiters at MedTravelers, contact us and we’ll put you in touch!

And don’t forget to download the AMN Passport app to get control of your travel healthcare career right at your fingertips!