DropStat, an AI-powered workforce automation platform that helps healthcare organizations tackle staffing shortages, has raised $5.5 million in a seed funding round led by Panoramic Ventures, according to a statement from the company.
DropStat says its technology helps healthcare companies predict staffing requirements, visualize and access staff across multiple systems, fill shift gaps with cost and safety in mind and build internal float teams and agencies.
The company uses open APIs to integrate with other travel and shift marketplaces. Its cost management technology ensures in-house resources are used before high-cost labor options. Its platform provides business intelligence platforms, churn prediction technology and proprietary staffing feedback to help healthcare companies build stronger teams, fill more shifts and spend less.
DropStat tries to differentiate itself from traditional systems that need staffing managers to identify shift gaps and then contact staff to fill them manually. This can lead to unfilled shifts and an increased workload for the nurses available to fill them. DropStat says its mobile and cloud-based systems can predict staffing needs months in advance, autonomously filling shift gaps using shared staff across departments and facilities to streamline processes and provide more effective cost controls.
The company will use the new funding to expand its services across the U.S. targeting over 50 markets, to help more organizations better manage their staffing needs, with demand having increased since the start of the pandemic. The company said the nursing industry has already lost 500,000 nurses due to Covid-19 fatigue, with 1 million more planning to retire in the coming years.
“The growing labor shortage negatively impacts patient outcomes and increases wait times and the cost of care, all of which threatens to create a public health crisis,” said Sara Well, CEO of DropStat. “Healthcare facilities need to be empowered to build stronger teams and decrease their reliance on high-priced outsourced labor.”
“DropStat helps healthcare facilities solve nurse shortages. The secret is that the software gives nurses more control over their schedule, which makes them happier to work more shifts,” said Paul Iaffaldano, general partner of Panoramic Ventures.