Ochsner Health announces system-wide launch of M7’s Workforce Management Platform to improve staffing efficiency

NEW ORLEANS - Ochsner Health and M7 Health today announced the successful system-wide launch of M7’s workforce management platform across all Ochsner inpatient hospital campuses, marking a major milestone in the health system’s efforts to modernize staffing and scheduling for frontline care teams. In April 2025, Ochsner introduced a pilot with nursing teams at three of its hospitals. By the end of 2025, M7 was deployed across every inpatient nursing unit at all 47 hospitals in the Ochsner system, with expansion to additional frontline, shift-based teams planned for 2026. 

M7 Health is a workforce optimization platform built by nurses to solve one of healthcare’s most persistent and overlooked challenges: staffing and scheduling. While hospitals have long relied on data and advanced tools to deliver complex clinical care, staffing decisions have historically depended on manual processes, spreadsheets, and fragmented communication. M7 was designed to change that by treating staffing as both a data science problem and a human experience. 

“At its core, staffing is not just about headcounts,” said Ilana Borkenstein, RN, cofounder and CEO of M7 Health. “There is objective data around patient demand and productivity, but there is also deep human data around skill set, experience, preferences, and life outside of work. If you ignore either side of that equation, the system breaks. Ochsner understood that from the beginning, which is why this partnership worked.” 

Through M7 all inpatient nursing staff can express personalized schedule preferences, pick up open shifts, and manage their schedules in a simple, mobile-first interface, creating transparency that helps leaders make fairer decisions while reducing unnecessary interruptions. 

For nurse managers, house supervisors, and centralized staffing teams of approximately 9,000 team members, M7 replaces hours of manual work with automated, real-time decision support. Leaders can see coverage across units and facilities, understand fairness and workload distribution, and fill shifts in the most cost-effective and least disruptive way, without relying on constant calls, texts, or spreadsheets. 

"Incorporating M7 Health’s workforce management platform as a part of our daily clinical operations has been a game changer for our nursing teams," said Tiffany Murdock, senior vice president and chief nursing and clinical excellence officer at Ochsner Health. "By reducing the manual scheduling work, M7 has given our nurse leaders valuable time back to focus on what truly matters –   supporting their teams and ensuring safe, high-quality patient care. The platform’s ability to align staffing decisions with both a digital and human experience has not only improved the day-to-day lives of our nurses but also strengthened our commitment to delivering exceptional care to our patients.” 

M7 was implemented as a complementary layer to Ochsner’s existing workforce systems for timekeeping and payroll, integrating with current infrastructure while adding the intelligence, automation, and transparency required to manage today’s increasingly complex workforce. 

"Ochsner Health chose the M7 health workforce management platform because it seamlessly integrates with our existing systems while addressing one of the most critical challenges in healthcare, staffing and scheduling," said Amy Trainor, system vice president and chief information officer at Ochsner Health. "M7’s innovative approach, combining data-driven insights with a focus on human experience, made it the right choice for our organization. Expanding this platform beyond inpatient nursing, shift-based teams is a natural next step in our enterprise-wide commitment to operational excellence and ensuring our care teams have the tools they need to thrive." 

M7 was deployed across 38 hospital campuses in just four months, integrating seamlessly into existing workflows and leading to over 90% monthly average usage among clinical staff. With the implementation of M7, Ochsner has seen a decrease in open shifts with over 2000 shifts filled automatically every week, reducing reliance on overtime and incentive pay. Nurse leaders have reported significant time savings, stating they save approximately 10 hours per pay period that was previously spent on manual scheduling work.  

Following the system-wide nursing rollout, Ochsner and M7 are now expanding the platform to additional shift-based frontline teams, including surgical and procedural areas and other inpatient roles. The expansion is driven by these early results. 

“What we’ve seen at Ochsner is that investing in dynamic workforce management tools can deliver an outsized impact, not only on staff satisfaction, but also on the health system’s bottom line,”  Borkenstein says. “Scheduling is more than a complex logistics challenge. It is a window into the employee experience, and a lever health systems can use to better tailor work for both the organization and the individual. The urgent need began with nursing, but it is not limited to nursing. We’re excited to partner with Ochsner to expand this solution across the broader front-line workforce.” 

To learn more about career opportunities at Ochsner Health, visit careers.ochsner.org/nursing. For more information about M7 Health, visit www.m7health.com.