Health Care Workers Are Tired of Cleaning Up Palantir’s Mess
A hospital giant and radiology network turned to Palantir to streamline scheduling, but nurses and other staff say the new software is causing errors, burnout, and frustration.
Healthcare workers at HCA Healthcare, the largest hospital chain in the United States, are frustrated with the AI scheduling tool called Timpani, which they claim is harming patient care. Since 2023, HCA has rolled out Timpani, co-developed with Palantir, at around 130 of its 190 locations. Nurses who have used the tool report that it often schedules too few nurses, particularly on Sundays, and ignores their preferences for scheduling.
As a result, nurses have to waste more time trading shifts or appealing their schedules. Some have even resorted to calling out or taking unpaid time off, risking termination. One nurse, Retzloff, described a recent shift where all four of her colleagues were junior nurses, forcing her to delay care for the sickest patients to guide the novices.
HCA has responded by making minor updates to the software, but complaints persist. A former data science manager at HCA, Angelique Russell, has sued the company for allegedly firing her in retaliation for raising concerns about Timpani. Timpani uses algorithmic forecasts to automatically build nursing schedules, but nurses feel their clinical judgment and the human-to-human aspect of healthcare are being overridden by the tool.
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