Nurses are the frontline of healthcare, spending nearly twice as much time with patients as physicians. This proximity makes them optimal innovators.
Janna Guinen
Executive Director, HLTH Foundation
Nurses provide preventive care, treatment, education, and advocacy for their patients. They serve as critical connectors between the patient, clinical team, family, and community resources. However, although nurses represent nearly half the U.S. clinical workforce, access to entrepreneurship opportunities remains a significant barrier to nurse-led innovation, just when we need them most.
Rising demand, shrinking workforce
The aging U.S. population is intensifying demand for healthcare services. Federal cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program are projected to increase acute and chronic care needs due to delays in routine care and the effects of poor nutrition over time.
Further, nursing is experiencing shortages. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing reported departures of 2-3% of registered nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in a 2024 survey, almost 40% of RNs planned to leave their role within five years.
Nurses need and deserve opportunities to create solutions that will result in better patient care and make their profession more efficient as these shifts take hold.
Where the gaps are widest
Rural residents, racial and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and underinsured or uninsured patients face especially steep challenges in accessing quality healthcare. For these groups, nurse-led innovation can be especially powerful.
Trained in holistic patient assessment, nurses are uniquely equipped to address the personal and cultural circumstances that shape patients’ health risks. For example, the surgery patient lacking support to heal safely at home, the elderly person who needs translation services and a ride to their appointment, or the child whose living conditions are contributing to recurring asthma attacks. Nurse insights facilitate solutions that close gaps in care.
Investing in nurse innovators
HLTH Foundation is a nonprofit organization improving healthcare for underserved people. That’s why, for the past two years, the foundation has provided grants and mentorships to minority nurse innovators solving preventable health problems, and we’re looking for partners to continue this initiative. In our most recent program, 90% of nurse grantees formed new professional collaborations and 100% planned to share what they learned within their organizations. These are the innovators we need now.
Nurses play a singular role in healthcare. Funding nurse-led innovation is a strategic necessity for a more just, sustainable healthcare system, and an investment in care shaped by patients’ needs. Learn more and support better healthcare for all at hlthfoundation.org.
