Nomad Health Travel Nurse Review

Nomad Health Overview

Travel nursing is Nomad's leading industry, but they also offer contract opportunities to various healthcare professionals, including Respiratory Therapists, Physical & Occupational Therapists, Speech Language Pathologists, as well as specialized technicians. 

Registered nurses from many sectors of nursing can join the Nomad team. Some of the most common nursing specialties for travel RNs include:

• Critical Care – MICU, CVICU, SICU, PICU, NICU, Trauma
• Emergency room 
• Step-down, PCU
• Medical Surgical 
• Cath lab
• Interventional Radiology
• Perioperative
• Labor and delivery
• Dialysis
• Hospice and palliative care
• Home Health
• Outpatient clinic

Nomad offers travel nursing contracts for nearly 60 different nursing specialties. You can check out if Nomad has travel RN job openings for your specialty at Travel Nurse & Allied Health Jobs. 

Based out of New York City, Nomad Health was founded in 2015, by multiple doctors, including CEO, M.D. Alexi Nazem. Having staffed over 250,000 healthcare workers throughout the United States, Nomad is a growing and reputable choice when looking for a healthcare staffing agency to work with. 

Have you worked for Nomad Health? Share your experience with us!

Is Nomad a Good Travel Nurse Agency?

Despite being a startup that has been around for less than a decade, Nomad Health is ranked similarly to longstanding travel nursing agencies.

You may have heard about Nomad's recent internal layoff. As reported by CEO Alexi Nazem in a Forbes interview, this is due to the dynamically shifting economy since COVID. 

It is easy to understand that COVID brought a huge influx of patients, which created an increased need for registered nurses. Although there is still a high need for travel RNs the influx from COVID has diminished, forcing Nomad to downsize.

Despite the ever-changing economy, Nomad continues to work with registered nurses, healthcare workers, and hospitals nationwide to fill the ongoing staffing shortage -- keeping them amongst the top choices for RNs seeking travel opportunities. 

What Travel Nurses are saying about Nomad Health

According to a five-star rating system, travel RNs ranked Nomad Health:

• 3.2 on Indeed
• 3.9 on Glassdoor
• 4.6 on Trustpilot

In comparison to companies like Travel Nurses Across America, Cross Country, Medical Solutions, and Aya Healthcare, which have been around much longer, Nomad's Indeed rating of 3.2 is relatively lower:

• Travel Nurses Across America has a 4.1
• Cross Country has a 3.4
• Medical Solutions has a 4.1
• Aya Healthcare has a 4.2

When you start reading travel RN reviews there' quite a wide range of satisfaction, making it difficult to really gauge if Nomad is a good travel nurse agency. As you dig through the reviews, it becomes clear that the lower ratings primarily come down to poor communication and response times:

One-Star Reviews

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"Stay away from this company. Does not communicate at all. Takes 48 hrs or more for someone to get back with you. Very slow with processing applications. Not a good company for travel nurses"

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"There are no recruiters or anyone who knows anything about the nursing profession. This company is a waste of time, energy and resources and should be avoided...."

Five-Star Reviews

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"If you know the travel world this process is made so much easier. If you are unfamiliar the first contract might seem intimidating with no recruiter but really it's just a bunch of pre employment stuff you need to be aware of...."

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"If you are the type of person that isn't needy and just wants to do their assignment perfect agency for you...."

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"No recruiters, makes it hard to not have someone to settles issues. You get a 'nurse navigator' who is often slow to respond. But, that being said, you are paid more since they don't have recruiters"

So is Nomad Health poor with their response times, or is the system simply set up differently than most other healthcare staffing agencies? 

When comparing Nomad to other travel nurse agencies it is important to keep in mind that they are more of an online marketplace, which increases the overall efficiency of obtaining a travel RN contract but eliminates the supportive recruiter. 

Nomad does utilize navigators, a team of Nomad employees trained and available to support you throughout all steps of travel nursing, but it's not the same handholding experience you will find with other agencies.

Pros & Cons

As with any other temporary healthcare staffing agency, there will be pros and cons. Here are some of the most important to think about:

PROS

• Higher Pay Packages.
• Licensure Reimbursement.
• Certification Reimbursement, if needed for the position. 
• Travel Reimbursement.
• Easy application and hiring process.
• Medical, Dental, and Vision Benefits.
• Retirement Benefits.
• Browse travel nurse jobs available, job descriptions, job requirements, and pay packages– before connecting with Nomad staff or filing an application. 
• Apply to travel RN job openings independently. 
• A Nomad navigator assigned to you once your credentialing process is complete. 
• Easy to update your application.
• Easy to view missing job requirements on your profile.  

CONS

• Best for experienced travel RNs, or nurses ready to manage their credentialing process. 
• Potential for slower response times, per reviews. 
• Cannot apply for a job opening unless the license and certifications required are in hand – even if you can get them easily. 
• Navigate the application, hiring, and credentialing process without a direct point of contact (some Travelers see this as a Pro).

Nomad Health Application Process

Nomad's online marketplace makes applying for new travel nurse contracts hassle-free. If you are unfamiliar with the hiring process there may be some road bumps along the way, but nothing a registered nurse can't handle. 

Before applying, it's important to note that Nomad requires each of their travel RNs to have at least 12 months of experience in the specialty you are applying to, within the last 2 years. 

Further, they require more experience for travel nurses in a specialized field, like Cardiac ICU. 

1. To start the process with Nomad Health it's as easy as going to their website or downloading their application to your phone and searching for a travel nurse job opening that suits your needs and desires. 
   
   
   • Search filters make looking for your desired travel RN contract so easy.
     
     
   • Here you can see job descriptions and requirements for travel RN job openings. 
   • Nomad streamlines the process and empowers travel nurses by providing the pay package upfront. 
     
2. Once you decide you want to apply to a travel RN job opening, create a profile and fill out your application. 
   • With Nomad's online marketplace platform, the application process is hassle-free. 
   • The best part is no waiting or depending on a recruiter to submit for you!          
3. Next, you wait. As with any job application, it takes some time for references to get processed. 
4. If you are qualified for the job position, you will receive an email letting you know that you are hired!
   • Most of Nomad Health's travel nurse job openings are on a first come first serve basis so long as you fulfill the job requirements the contract is yours. 
   • Some travel nurse jobs have special requirements, like an interview, but you can find this information in the job description before applying. 
     
5. After you formalize the offer in writing, Nomad will send you a travel RN contract to sign. It is imperative to triple-check your contract before signing, ensuring all the details are accurate, especially your pay package, required hours, and job description. Check out this article: Want to Be a Travel Nurse? to guide you through the onboarding process in more detail. 
6. The last task before you can start working as a Nomad travel RN is to complete your credentialing. 
   • Background Check
   • Fingerprinting
   • Drug Test
   • Physical 
   • Immunizations 
   • Relias Testing

As a travel RN with Nomad Health, you can enjoy the benefit of quickly seeing the job requirements specific to you for each job opening once your application and profile are fully updated. This makes the process of applying for future travel nurse contracts even more hassle-free than your first one.  (See Photo 5)

Pay and Benefits at Nomad Health 

Pay

When you start working as a travel RN with Nomad Health you will be paid weekly. 

To make timekeeping easy for temporary healthcare workers, Nomad has set up a timekeeper application. Through this application, you can set reminders as well as submit your timecard each week. 

All your tax documents, pay, direct deposit and insurance are set up in Paycom,  a hassle-free digitized system. 

Retirement

Nomad Health even offers travel RNs a 401K plan that they are eligible for on the first day of their assignment. 

They will start employer matching at 50% of your first 3% vested when you work with them for twelve months and complete at least one thousand hours. This plan yields immediate vesting from employers' contributions.  Even better, you can take breaks between travel RN contracts, as long as you maintain one thousand working hours within 12 months to remain eligible for matching.  

To set up your 401K Benefits with Nomad you can expect to use Principal.

Nomad also offers legal and financial coaching.

If you want to learn more about Nomad Health's retirement benefits for travel RNs check out their Resource Center.

Insurance

Nomad Health offers their temporary healthcare workers Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance. 

Nomad's health insurance allows you to choose from varying PPO plans through United Healthcare's Choice Plus Plans. They offer multiple options for insurance from high premium/low deductible to low premium/high deductible – and their medical insurance starts as low as $20.00. 

United Healthcare Choice Plus Plan includes.

• Preventative care
• Specialist care
• Diagnostic
• Urgent/Emergency Care
• Inpatient Hospital Services
• Rehab/SNF
• Mental Health

This is a general overview; for more detailed information check out Nomad Health's Insurance FAQ, here you can find a phone number to speak with a UHC representative if you have more specific questions. 

Nomad Health's insurance coverage is relatively standard for the travel nursing industry, but by offering various plans they allow you to make the best decision for you and your family. 

Your insurance with Nomad kicks in on day one of your first travel RN assignment and ends when your contract is complete. If you plan to work another contract with Nomad within fourteen days, you will maintain your insurance. If you take more than fourteen days off after an assignment Nomad offers you the option to switch your benefits to COBRA. 

Should you choose to get insurance through Nomad, UHC also provides the following services to Nomad travel nurses. 

• 24/7 counseling.
• Telemedicine health provider. 
• 3 in-person visits with a mental health provider.

My Personal Experience with Nomad

Overall, Nomad was a great healthcare staffing agency to collaborate with and I recommend them to any experienced registered nurses seeking travel nurse opportunities. 

As a seasoned travel RN, I found the application process very easy. Within three days I had my application submitted, processed, and was hired. 
But I can resonate with some of the travel RN reviews about the slow responses and disorganized onboarding process because the most challenging part of working with Nomad Health was the onboarding process. 

Unlike my experience with healthcare staffing agencies that use nurse recruiters, I had to be more involved in the Nomad credentialing process. Instead of a recruiter telling me each step, I had to ensure all the pieces were complete. But with good communication, I was fully onboarded and ready to start work within 7-10 days.

Through my onboarding experience, I learned that it is best to skip the email and go straight to the Nomad platform for questions and inquiries. Once you have a profile set up you have access to a messaging service on your profile, I found a much faster response when utilizing this platform.

When the credentialing process was complete, I was assigned a Nomad navigator, who worked with me throughout the remainder of my contract. She was very responsive to all forms of communication, and always made sure to let me know whom to contact if she planned to be out of the office. My Nomad navigator guided me through contract extensions and timecard questions, as well as walked me through what to do when I was sick. 

As a bonus, they even paid me when I was out sick!  Granted this was during COVID and I am not sure if this policy remains in effect. 

Unfortunately, like many other healthcare staffing agencies, Nomad is not free from contract rate decreases. About halfway through my contract extension, I was notified of a rate decrease to my contract. With a nearly 50% rate decrease, my pay package remained higher than most (maybe all) the travel RNs contracted through other healthcare staffing agencies working at the same hospital. 

I chose not to take the extension out of principle; I don't think it is right to break a contract. When I relayed this to my navigator, she continued to treat me with dignity and respect, and neither Nomad nor the hospital I was staffed at placed me on a Do Not Return/Rehire list. My Nomad navigator remained very supportive and was ready to help me find job openings for my next travel RN contract. 

Again, I'd highly recommend Nomad Health. As a bonus, I love how once you are established your application is ready to be updated and submitted to your next potential assignment, as well as the ability to see pay packages upfront.

Additionally, Nomad is one of few healthcare staffing agencies that does not repeatedly call or text me for travel RN contracts, with their hassle-free online marketplace Nomad leaves the process up to me as the travel nurse, which I love.      

(image Nomad Health Clinician Spotlight 2022)

If you are getting ready to travel for the first time and want to learn more check out my article Want to Be a Travel Nurse?, which highlights the action steps and everything you need to know to get started.

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