If you’ve ever worked in or around an emergency department (ED), you know that chaos isn’t a bug of the system. It’s the default state. Every hour brings an unpredictable mix of patients, acuity levels, and staffing realities. 

For decades, health systems have layered technology, protocols, and process improvements on top of that chaos. Yet some of the hardest problems, the “unsolvable” ones, persist.

At Novy, we believe the future of healthcare innovation depends on meeting those challenges head-on. That’s why we’re starting where most stop: in the trenches of emergency care.

The Unsung Backbone of ED Performance is Scheduling

Behind every patient experience and clinical outcome is a web of human scheduling decisions. Shifts, handoffs, coverage gaps, fatigue. All are shaped by how effectively teams are deployed. In many departments, scheduling remains a manual, reactive process, often handled in spreadsheets or legacy systems.

The result?

• Inefficiency: Uneven staffing across hours and days leads to long waits or idle capacity

• Burnout: Rigid schedules and last-minute swaps drain morale and retention

• Financial strain: Poor alignment between volume patterns and staffing drives overtime and locum costs

  
  

Optimizing shift scheduling is not just an administrative fix. It’s a sustainability lever. When hospitals get this right, they protect both their workforce and their margins.

Why Now

Emergency departments are under unprecedented pressure from rising volumes, tighter budgets, and provider burnout that threatens workforce stability. At the same time, predictive modeling and AI-driven optimization are finally mature enough to make a meaningful difference.

We’re building systems that learn from the realities of day-to-day operations where staffing, communication, and human judgment intersect. Our approach focuses on creating visibility and flexibility in scheduling, helping leaders make better decisions faster and with more confidence.

The goal isn’t just to fill shifts. It’s to build a foundation for resilience in healthcare operations.

From Scheduling to Sustainability

Sustainability in the ED doesn’t start with new walls or software dashboards. It starts with people. By tackling scheduling first, we’re addressing the daily friction that ripples through care delivery. When teams are balanced, rested, and well-supported, everything else improves: throughput, safety, satisfaction, and cost.

Emergency care will always be unpredictable. But how we prepare for that unpredictability,  that’s solvable.

That’s why our first portfolio company is focused squarely on shift optimization. It’s rethinking how emergency departments schedule and staff. Not just to fill coverage, but to restore balance and predictability to the workforce. 

The platform simplifies how emergency departments plan and adjust schedules. It streamlines communication, supports fair coverage distribution, and reduces the administrative burden on both providers and managers. The result: fewer burnout-inducing gaps, more equitable schedules, and a stronger foundation for long-term operational health. 

At Novy, we’re proving that the toughest operational challenges in healthcare aren’t unsolvable. They’ve just been waiting for the right kind of innovation.

Over the coming months, we’ll share more about how our first portfolio company is helping emergency medicine groups reimagine their daily operations. Be sure to follow along with us on our journey!