Nurses Blame Palantir's Timpani for Scheduling Chaos at HCA

HCA Healthcare, the largest hospital chain in the US, began rolling out Timpani in 2023 with the goal of saving time and money and eliminating favoritism in shift assignments. HCA's top innovation executive at the time, Michael Schlosser, said the tool would reduce hours managers spend on scheduling and lower reliance on costly contract nurses. But nurses across the country say the software has instead introduced new problems, from understaffing on Sundays to a rise in temporary reassignments. The complaints have prompted minor updates, yet nurses report persistent issues and say the company has rejected union requests for information about the technology.

The concerns extend beyond HCA. Rayus Radiology, a large imaging chain, introduced a tool also built on Palantir Foundry and began receiving complaints about scheduling errors earlier this year, including cases where requests were linked to wrong patient profiles or listed tests that didn't match orders. A Palantir spokesperson declined to comment on the record, but the company has said its software merely presents information and that customers are responsible for data and decision-making.

How this plays out may hinge on whether HCA and Rayus can demonstrate that human oversight effectively catches errors before they affect patient care. For nurses, the stakes are immediate: they say the tool has become a source of anxiety and that some colleagues have quit over it. The union grievance at one HCA psychiatric center is likely headed to arbitration, which could force more transparency about how Timpani makes its scheduling decisions.