Healthcare-staffing startup Nomad Health just slashed its workforce for the second time this year
- Nomad Health slashed its workforce by 25% in October after previously cutting staff in February.
- Nomad Health is one of a slew of startups that connects nurses and other clinicians to open jobs.
- The company said it’s getting less business as hospital budgets shrink.
Nomad Health, a healthcare staffing firm, has reduced its workforce for the second time this year, as high inflation continues to squeeze hospital budgets.
According to two former employees who were affected by the layoffs, as well as at least eight LinkedIn posts by current and former employees, the startup cut about 25% of its workforce. The former employees requested anonymity in order to avoid retaliation from the company.
Nomad Health, which matches nurses and other health professionals with open positions, confirmed in an email to Insider that a round of layoffs affecting its nonclinical workforce was announced on October 3. The company refused to say how many employees were laid off.
Several healthcare staffing firms have been forced to lay off employees this year as rising drug and medical supply costs put a strain on hospital budgets, leaving them with less cash to fill staffing gaps. In June, staffing platform CareRev laid off 33% of its corporate workforce, while nurse staffing startup ConnectRN laid off 20% of its workforce and IntelyCare laid off approximately 30 employees in July.
“While demand for contract nurses and allied health professionals remains high, healthcare organizations are grappling with budget shortfalls, which directly impact their immediate staffing demands,” Nomad Health’s chief marketing officer, Maquel Shaw, said in a statement to Insider.
She went on to say that the cuts were a “necessary but painful response” to the shifting demands.
When Nomad Health laid off 17% of its workforce, or 119 employees, in February, it cited similar reasons. At the time, CEO Alexi Nazem told Forbes that the startup had seen demand in the healthcare staffing market fall more than expected, and that he had been “too optimistic.”
“We built our team for an economic reality that no longer exists,” he went on to say.
Investors have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into startups touting platforms for travel nurses and per diem physicians. Last year, healthcare staffing startups Clipboard Health and IntelyCare both achieved unicorn status, with valuations of more than $1 billion.
Nomad Health also saved money last year, raising $105 million at an undisclosed valuation in June 2022.
