CareRev

Overview

CareRev built a local shift marketplace for hospitals and clinicians before “gig nursing” became a pandemic category. Founded in 2015 by ICU nurse William Patterson with Sofia Pessanha and Derrek, the company let health systems offer open shifts to internal staff and then to vetted local professionals through a mobile app.^[1]

COVID-19 accelerated CareRev from a hard-won enterprise product into a heavily funded staffing platform. The surge also hid customer concentration, high burn, and the compliance burden of placing clinicians into patient care. After layoffs, the loss of a major client, disputed credentialing allegations, and a founder transition, IntelyCare acquired CareRev in January 2026. The product survived because local, flexible staffing was useful; the independent company narrowed because liquidity without trust is dangerous in healthcare.

Founding Story

Patterson came to CareRev from the hospital floor. He earned a nursing degree from Duke in 2012 and worked as an ICU and trauma nurse across several health systems. Patient demand shifted by hour, yet hospitals still filled gaps through phone calls, spreadsheets, old workforce systems, and sometimes pen and paper.

He experienced the same friction from the worker side. Patterson carried six figures of student debt and wanted extra shifts on his days off. Finding them was difficult even though nearby facilities needed help. He later explained the product in one question: “Why isn't finding, you know, extra shifts as a health care professional that easy?”^[2]

Patterson founded CareRev in 2015 with Sofia Pessanha, whom he later married, and a third co-founder he identified as Derrek. The company joined Y Combinator's Summer 2016 batch. Its premise was direct local matching: clinicians would choose shifts on a phone, and facilities would buy short-term coverage without a traditional staffing agency.

Enterprise sales took patience. Patterson wrote that after “two years of grinding,” CareRev signed Froedtert Health, its first billion-dollar health-system relationship.^[3] That milestone required more than a marketplace. Hospitals needed credential verification, clinical screening, unit-specific qualifications, onboarding, rate controls, and predictable support.

The founding insight contained both the opportunity and the risk. CareRev could activate clinicians who were locally available but invisible to a facility's scheduler. Yet a last-minute shift is not a rideshare request. A false match can affect patient safety, licensure, worker classification, and a hospital's regulatory exposure.

Timeline

• 2015: Patterson, Pessanha, and Derrek launch CareRev.^[3]
• Summer 2016: CareRev joins Y Combinator.^[1]
• Circa 2017: Froedtert Health becomes the first major health-system client.^[3]
• April 2021: CareRev raises a $50 million Series A after reporting rapid pandemic growth.^[4]
• 2022: The company raises a $50 million Series B and secures $70 million in committed debt financing.^[5]
• January 2023: CareRev announces layoffs and a refocus on self-service technology.^[5]
• June 2023: Brandon Atkinson replaces Patterson as CEO; further layoffs follow.^[6]
• January 8, 2026: IntelyCare announces its acquisition of CareRev.^[7]

What They Built

CareRev connected three pools of labor. A health system could first expose a shift to its own employees and float pool, then use local CareRev professionals for remaining gaps. Facilities posted location, time, specialty, qualifications, and rate. Eligible clinicians saw open work in the app and claimed shifts that fit their schedules.^[4]

This “internal first” sequence mattered. Hospitals wanted the flexibility of a marketplace without replacing their employed workforce or defaulting to expensive multiweek travel contracts. Patterson argued that a health system should centrally deploy employees and float-pool resources before calling external professionals.^[8]

CareRev handled screening and activation. The company said its teams ran clinical evaluations, background checks, and state-specific credential verification before a professional could claim work. In June 2023 it reported more than 40 employees dedicated to recruiting, onboarding, and deployment.^[9] Current product material says clinicians are W-2 workers, are interviewed by a nurse, and meet facility and regulatory requirements.^[10]