Nurse Scheduling Is Messy. Atlanta’s vflok Built an AI Copilot to Clean It Up.
Atlanta-based startup vflok is tackling the nurse staffing crisis with Swift, an AI-powered SMS scheduling copilot that streamlines hospital shift management.
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The V-shaped formation of migrating birds, designed to maximize both efficiency and flexibility, inspired the name of an Atlanta-based healthcare startup looking to bring that same order to the messy process of shift scheduling.
Nurse managers have traditionally used Excel files, GroupMe chats, or one-off phone calls to fill open shifts.
Vflok, and its AI scheduling copilot Swift, ensures unfilled shifts get staffed in a way that is easier for employees and managers alike. To reduce friction, vflok’s Swift sits on top of current scheduling data platforms and onboards employees by sending a single SMS text. Nursing teams and managers message Swift via SMS text or an SSO-enabled web portal. The platform then connects via API to the healthcare system’s scheduling system, validating specific rules and qualifications needed to cover any new shift requests.
Swift manages and logs the text-based communications between the team and the managers. It then obtains requisite approvals and updates the scheduling system for each stakeholder.
Ultimately, this helps increase workforce flexibility while decreasing costs associated with filling shifts inside a hospital.
Building Tech For The Healthcare World
Fixing healthcare staffing is big business, and there are several startups in the Southeast building in the space. Some include SnapCare (previously known as SnapNurse) and NPHub. But vflok in unique given its partnership with established healthcare systems from its inception.
The concept for vflok started with Catalyst By Wellstar, in partnership with venture builder High Alpha Innovation. Wellstar was thinking about what solutions could be built to tackle healthcare staffing problems in 2021, when nursing shortage numbers were high and travel nursing demand was high.
The original hypothesis was that staffing issues were a matter of compensation. But as the team dug in, they learned that what nurses also wanted was autonomy over their schedule, Jaimie Clark, Catalyst By Wellstar’s Head of Innovation and Venture Strategy told Hypepotamus.
Vflok was piloted inside three hospitals between January and June of this year. One key learning was that no one wants another app to download or log into yet another platform when at work.
That influenced Swift’s product design and workflow, resulting in agentic AI that probabilistically identifies W2 resources that are able to swap or fill vacant shifts. Its generative AI manages system-wide communication. This "[increases' shift-fill success rate and [reduces] administrative burden for all stakeholders," said co-founder and CEO John Sheehan.
To date, well over 1,100 Wellstar employees have been onboarded by Swift. The Pilot demonstrated an average time savings of 90% for nurses and managers and a 100% success rate in shift swap transactions.
"Nurses are the backbone of our care delivery system," said Susan Grant, former Wellstar Health System's Chief Experience Officer and Chief Nurse Executive. "Hearing the voices of nurses in the development of a product that will change their lives and the lives of our patients is truly differentiated. With tools like vflok, we will continue to reduce administrative burden and help our nurses do more of what they became nurses to do: care for patients."
Meet The vflok Team
Sheehan built his career in and around the HealthTech space, including serving as the CEO of Pri-Med International Ltd. (acquired by Bain Capital) and HealthHonors (acquired by Healthways).
He was drawn to vflok for the opportunity it provided to build something new inside of a current healthcare system. He is building vflok alongside Atlanta-based co-founder and CTO David Sommers.In its early stages, vflok is focused on improving the scheduling woes for nurses and the healthcare system. But Sheehan said that there is an opportunity to move into other industries that have recurring and rules-based scheduling needs.Investors have taken note. Sheehan told Hypepotamus that the team recently closed a $1.5 million seed round. That gives the startup 18 months of runway.
* This article has been updated 10/14/2025
