Through the pandemic, healthcare workers have been stretched thin, working more hours than ever. Senior care facilities seem to have been particularly affected by the need for healthcare workers. The dilemma has the attention of Omaha entrepreneur Molly O’Neil. O’Neil has worked in senior care since the age of 15, where she started as a CNA. Since that time, O’Neil has earned her master’s degree in Gerontology and has worked as an executive for the Douglas County Health Center. As an executive, O’Neil began to see the expensive process that came with hiring qualified nurses. CNA scheduling agencies can charge up to 200% of what the CNAs themselves earn.
For this reason, O’Neil developed Superb Shifts, an application for senior care facilities and nurses that cuts out the middleman in finding qualified nurses. In an interview with KMTV, O’Neil explained, “The concept was developed while I was working in a nursing home. I was experiencing the pain of the staffing crisis, and the pain of staffing agencies taking advantage of us and being at their mercy.” O’Neil took matters into her own hands and did initial market research to identify the demand for her product. She found high interest after interviewing potential clients and coworkers using her network as a senior care executive.
Superb Shifts, now still in the testing stages, has created a practical and cost-saving application that several senior care facilities are using. Senior care facilities post all of their open shifts and the rates they are willing to pay on the app. Nurses can then scan the app and find the shifts that they want to work.
The app offers agility, allowing senior care facilities to shift based on demand by increasing wages for less desirable shifts and filling open shifts. Nurses use the Superb Shifts application for free (with the exception of carrying liability insurance). Senior care facilities are charged on a different pricing model, resulting in an important cost reduction that gives Superb Shifts an advantage over conventional staffing agencies.
To date, Superb Shifts has hit several milestones. The company has partnered with Heritage Communities for its testing and plans to test its product across the network’s fifteen different facilities. Thus far, Superb Shifts has received two grants—a prototype grant from Nebraska and the Future Fellows program, a collaboration of Startup Collaborative and FNBO. In the past year, the company has been working on obtaining additional grants to help support the development of the application as it perfects its service. The company has been in close contact with local investors while working on its overall business model.
The future looks bright for the team at Superb Shifts, and O’Neil couldn’t be more excited about the company. Her focus has always been on supporting the senior care industry island, not the profits. “A driving force in creating Superb Shifts was to bring awareness to the senior care industry,” said O’Neil. “Most health care technologies are built for hospitals, and this is a great opportunity to bring a new advancement to the senior care sector.”
Moving forward, O’Neil and her team are building on their passion for senior care as they continue to develop Superb Shifts’ product, hoping to bring it to market and improve the senior care industry for both nurses and the companies they work for.
To learn more about Superb Shifts visit their website at: https://www.superbshifts.com/