HCA Healthcare nurses have expressed frustration with the AI scheduling tool Timpani, co-developed with Palantir, which they say has led to understaffing, exhaustion, and a lack of respect for their preferences. The tool has been rolled out at about 130 of HCA’s 190 locations since 2023, with Retzloff’s hospital adopting it nearly two years ago.
Nurses report that Timpani frequently schedules too few nurses or not enough experienced staff, particularly on Sundays, and often ignores their stated preferences for shift spacing or days off. This has forced them to waste more time trading shifts or appealing their schedules, with some even skipping assignments to cope with the workload.
"No one is happy with Timpani," says Retzloff, echoing what five nurses at other locations reported in interviews with WIRED. "Everyone complains all the time." Nurses claim the tool has caused care teams to be imbalanced and exhausted, with some shifts having all junior nurses, leaving senior staff to delay care for the sickest patients.
HCA spokesperson Harlow Sumerford says nursing leaders, not Timpani, make final scheduling decisions. He adds that assertions about the tool harming patient care are misrepresentative, and the company is continuing to improve Timpani based on nurse feedback.
Timpani was built on Palantir Foundry, a software platform for analyzing data from across a company’s operations. It uses algorithmic forecasts of patient volumes and staffing needs to automatically build nursing schedules. HCA’s top innovation executive, Michael Schlosser, said in a paper this past July that Timpani has drastically reduced the number of hours managers spend on scheduling each month.
The tool’s issues have prompted HCA management to make minor updates, but problems persist. Nurses say they feel ignored and disrespected, and they are not the only healthcare workers who have raised concerns about Palantir’s push into their industry.
Source: wired
