Nurses are a vital part of the healthcare workforce, making up the most significant professional group within the system. Unfortunately, the United States has been experiencing a severe nursing shortage, which is substantially challenging the healthcare system. Reports project that 1.2 million newly Registered Nurses will be needed by 2030 to address the nurse shortage in the United States. In response to this pressing issue, Sudanese doctor Iman Abuzeid co-founded Incredible Health in 2017, aiming to transform the nurse hiring process in the US.
Born to Sudanese parents in Saudi Arabia, Abuzeid was deeply influenced by her father’s medical career. She pursued her medical degree at University College London and later enhanced her expertise with an MBA from the Wharton School.
Her professional journey included healthcare consulting roles at prestigious firms like McKinsey & Company. However, recurring conversations with her physician relatives in the US about understaffing pointed out that hospitals desperately needed qualified nurses. Yet, nurses were struggling to find the right jobs. The hiring process was slow and inefficient, often favouring hospitals rather than empowering them.
Determined to create a solution, Abuzeid teamed up with Rome Portlock to launch Incredible Health. The company is using technology to address the inefficiencies in nurse hiring. Its platform employs artificial intelligence to match hospitals with nurses whose skills and preferences align with open positions, streamlining the hiring process and reducing the average time to hire from 82 days to just 14.
Incredible Health prioritises long-term appointments by focusing on permanent nurse placements rather than temporary staffing solutions. Hospitals apply directly to nurses on the platform, flipping the traditional recruitment model. This process empowers nurses and ensures that healthcare facilities secure committed, long-term staff. The platform’s efficiency has led to significant hospital cost savings, averaging $2 million annually per facility, and has boosted nurse salaries by approximately 17%.
Over the years, Iman Abuzeid has led Incredible Health to experience exponential growth. By 2022, the company had raised $80 million in a Series B funding round, raising its valuation to $1.65 billion and making the health tech startup a unicorn. This achievement places Abuzeid among the few Black female founders leading a venture-backed unicorn in the American healthcare industry.
The platform now serves over a million nurses, helping them secure jobs with better salaries, more substantial benefits, and fulfilling career opportunities. It collaborates with more than 1,500 hospitals in the US, including 60% of the top-ranked hospital systems, such as Stanford Health Care and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Iman Abuzeid, who has an estimated fortune of $350 million, was featured in Forbes’ 2023 list of America’s richest self-made women. She continues to harness technology to create efficient, equitable hiring practices in the US.
