Hollis Johnson
- Nomad Health, a startup that connects medical facilities with freelance doctors and nurses, just raised an additional $12 million.
- So far, Nomad's used in 12 states by about 30,000 doctors. The aim with this additional funding is to continue the geographic expansion, with the goal of being in all 50.
- Connecting doctors to hospitals that need them in the US is critical, especially as the country is expected to face a shortage of 90,000 physicians by 2025.
After a "painful" experience finding freelance work as a doctor, Dr. Alexi Nazem decided to create Nomad Health, a site that helps connect doctors to freelance work in healthcare systems.
On Tuesday, Nomad raised $12 million in its series B round led by Polaris Partners. First Round Capital, RRE Ventures. .406 Ventures, which had invested in Nomad's $4 million Series A in 2016, joined in the series B round as well.
Connecting doctors to hospitals that need them in the US is critical, especially as the country is expected to face a shortage of 90,000 physicians by 2025.
Nomad currently works with about 30,000 doctors and 1,500 medical facilities in 12 states. The aim with this next round is to continue the geographic expansion for both nurses and doctors, with the goal of being in all 50.
"It gets us close to that with this financing," Nazem told Business Insider. The plan is to use the funding to keep building out their product, which connects freelance medical professionals to facilities that need extra help.
How freelance healthcare works
Right now, temporary healthcare jobs are usually connected via agencies. The process can take a long time, and it requires doctors to provide a lot of information along the way. It can also be expensive for the health systems that have to pay to find the workers. These agencies also don't connect doctors to telemedicine jobs, which is where Nazem said Nomad can step in.
Altogether, the market for temporary healthcare staff is about $15 billion, according to Nomad. Instead of going through agencies, Nomad uses a site to connect doctors and nurses to healthcare systems directly. Doctors can search for gigs by specifying which state they want to work in, or which electronic medical-records system they know best, among other filters. On the flip side, healthcare providers can supply a lot of information about the job in hopes of finding someone who's interested.
Through the site, the two parties can directly negotiate a contract that works for them, with Nomad helping by providing malpractice insurance for the doctors. In the end, Nomad takes a 15% cut, a rate much lower than the typical 30-40% commission brokers and agencies take.
The goal is to take over that market to become the go-to resource and "dominant player" in the temporary healthcare marketplace, Nazem said.