Core Schedule Raises $1.2 million to accelerate growth and extend product to supportCOVID-19 management

Wellington based Core Schedule, a company providing rostering solutions for Hospital Departments, announced it had closed an investment round led by venture capital firm Punakaiki Fund, along with K1W1 and one other investor to be announced.

Core Schedule was developed for the complex and dynamic needs of Hospital Emergency Departments, where founder and CEO Dr. Stephen C. Pool has over 20 years of medical and administrative experience. “I personally use the program every day in my Emergency Department,” Dr. Stephen states.

Over time the product has extended reach, with Dr. Pool stating, “We introduced our new Anesthesia and Operating Theatre modules in Middlemore hospital this last year, giving Core Schedule a presence in just about every type of ward and unit throughout NZ hospitals.”

Today Core Schedule’s software as a service (SaaS) is used in over 80 hospitals, including 14 District Health Boards (DHBs) in New Zealand as well as hospitals in Australia and the United States.

“We are delighted to support Dr Pool and his team with this investment,” said Lance Wiggs from Punakaiki Fund. “The company is not only solving a real problem, but doing so in a way that saves hospitals money, lowers the administrative burden on medical professionals and ensures those professionals are fit and certified to work.

”Core Schedule plays a role in helping hospitals cope with the sudden impact of the COVID-19pandemic. “When Covid-19 hit, most hospitals painfully learned that their existing rosters(frequently maintained on spreadsheets) were completely inadequate to the task. So it was no surprise that we had our busiest 3 months during the height of the Covid-19 lockdown.

”Core Schedule was also awarded a $172,000 grant by the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment’s Covid-19 Innovation Acceleration Fund. This money will be used to develop Disaster Contingency Rostering tools for hospitals to help plan their rosters in advance for any level of disaster response and not wait until it happens.

The company has an unusual reason for being located in New Zealand: “My partner and I took our honeymoon in New Zealand and fell in love with the country and its people. We moved here for a “6 month” change of pace. Now 7 years later, we are still here with a house, 2 Alaskan Malamutes, and a thriving business employing 8 people here in Wellington and 4 in Brisbane.”

Core Schedule has had tremendous growth over the last year. Stephen attributes this to the extensive logistical difficulties in hospital rostering. “Trying to juggle a staff of hundreds while making sure the properly credentialed person is in the right place at the right time is deceptively difficult and yet very important. You have to ensure compliance with 50-page multi-employer collective agreements (MECA) agreements, and ensure that doctors and nurses have enough recovery time between shifts and are fit to work. Getting this right helps deliver better patient outcomes and fewer on-the-job mistakes.”

Core Schedule is investing the funds in extending the product and growth, and has already hired 5 people, including a CTO, programmers, and data scientists.

About Core Schedule

Core Schedule was first developed by Emergency Medicine Specialist, CEO and Founder Dr. Stephen C. Pool in New York City 10 years ago. Stephen was an Emergency Department Doctor at several NYC hospitals who, because of his interest and flair for creative problem solving, always ended up being responsible for safely scheduling staff. “As a self-taught programmer I started to put together the pieces of what would eventually become Core Schedule.”

From the start, the SaaS software was designed with the end user in mind, drawing on Stephen’s 20 years of administrative and medical experience in Emergency Departments. Core Schedule allows rosters to be made easily and safely, and to manage changes efficiently and fairly. This allows doctors and nurses to spend more time with their patients and not spend hours trying to figure out why the night shift is not covered right now.

Core Schedule also provides photo boards so everyone can put a face to the name of their doctor and nurse, and features like this have helped drive the program’s popularity in the hospital community.

Contacts Dr. Stephen C. Pool

PH +64 27 529 1224

[email protected]

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