INNOVA

What INNOVA does

INNOVA People is a US-based B2B healthcare and technology staffing firm headquartered at 31300 Solon Road, Suite #4 in Solon, Ohio, operating as a subsidiary of Starfish Partners, a holding and investment company. Founded around 2000 by Joel Slenning, the firm connects healthcare professionals with permanent, contract, travel, and locum tenens opportunities across clinical, administrative, leadership, and allied health roles, and serves healthcare systems, technology companies, and life sciences organizations. The company lists marquee customers including UCSF, UCDavis Health, Sutter Health, Providence Health, Providence St. Joseph Health, St. Charles Health, and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and is also the parent of DRI (Direct Recruiters), a Hospital IT and healthcare technology recruiting subsidiary.

The firm operates through at least seven specialized divisions marketed under separate DBA brands: INNOVA Healthcare (general clinical staffing), INNOVA Healthcare IT (Epic, Cerner, Meditech, Workday ERP, data analytics, infrastructure, cybersecurity placements), INNOVA Locum Tenens (temporary physician and APP staffing with one-time streamlined credentialing), INNOVA Travel Nursing, INNOVA Pharmacy (including Epic Willow implementations, specialty pharmacy builds, and 340B program management), INNOVA Population Health (value-based care and risk-based model staffing), and INNOVA Health Analytics Advisory (data strategy, performance optimization, AI-enabled insights, and managed analytics, delivered in partnership with DataLion Solutions and HealthCorum). The stated technology core is a proprietary AI-driven talent matching platform combined with human recruiter expertise, with the firm citing an average 5-day turnaround for Healthcare IT resourcing requests.

INNOVA generates revenue primarily through professional-services staffing economics: placement fees for permanent roles and contract-staffing bill-rate spreads for travel nursing, locum tenens, Healthcare IT contractors, and allied health positions. Pricing is quote-based rather than publicly disclosed. Go-to-market is enterprise field sales targeting health systems and healthcare technology companies via direct website inquiry forms, phone outreach (503-847-9364), and consultative recruiter engagement, augmented by a candidate self-serve portal, a structured referral program paying up to $5,000 for locum tenens referrals, content marketing through the company blog, and organic LinkedIn presence. Recent strategic moves include the January 2026 DataLion partnership, the 2026 HealthCorum CMS TEAM-readiness partnership, and the integration of Dr. David Gorstein's Health Innovations firm into the Population Health practice following its acquisition by parent Starfish Partners.

Name

INNOVA

Legal name

INNOVA People

Website

https://innovapeople.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

INNOVA People is a US-based B2B healthcare and technology staffing firm, owned by Starfish Partners, operating seven specialized divisions across clinical, IT, pharmacy, locum tenens, travel nursing, population health, and analytics advisory verticals serving health systems and healthcare technology companies.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Healthcare Staffing Services

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361), Services-Health Services (8000)

akta.pro primary industry

Healthcare Clinical Direct Hire (Nursing/Allied/Physicians) (BPACAFAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Healthcare IT & Health Informatics Staffing (BPACADAK)

Keywords

• Healthcare staffing services
• Healthcare IT recruiting
• Travel nursing placement
• Locum tenens staffing
• Pharmacy recruitment services

Headquarters

HQ city

Bend

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Healthcare Staffing Services: Provides staffing solutions for healthcare professionals including travel nursing, locum tenens, permanent placement, and contract roles. Revenue generated through placement fees and contract staffing margins.
2. Healthcare IT Staffing: Specialized staffing for healthcare IT roles including Epic, Cerner implementations, data analytics, infrastructure and cybersecurity. Serves both short-term project and long-term direct hire needs.
3. Health Analytics Advisory Services: Consulting services including data strategy, performance optimization, AI-enabled insights, and managed analytics services delivered through DataLion partnership
4. CMS TEAM Readiness Solutions: Strategic consulting partnership with HealthCorum to help hospitals prepare for CMS Transforming Episode Accountability Model through analytics and talent strategy

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

INNOVA People is a US-based healthcare and technology staffing firm that places clinical, IT, pharmacy, population health, and locum tenens professionals into permanent, contract, and travel roles with health systems and HealthTech employers. The company combines an AI-driven matching platform with experienced specialized recruiters across practice areas including travel nursing, locum tenens physicians, pharmacy, healthcare IT (Epic, Cerner, Meditech), and population health, complemented by health analytics advisory services delivered through DataLion and HealthCorum partnerships.

Product overview

INNOVA is a healthcare and tech staffing firm offering a portfolio of specialized staffing and advisory services. The core offerings include INNOVA Healthcare for general clinical staffing, INNOVA Healthcare IT for technology and life sciences roles, INNOVA Health Analytics Advisory Services (partnering with DataLion and HealthCorum) for analytics strategy, INNOVA Locum Tenens for temporary physician staffing, INNOVA Travel Nursing for travel nurse placements, INNOVA Pharmacy for pharmacy staffing and consulting, and INNOVA Population Health for value-based care staffing. The company leverages AI-driven tools and an extensive recruiter network to match healthcare and tech professionals with opportunities across clinical, administrative, leadership, and technical positions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• DataLion: Enterprise-grade analytics and AI services partnership for healthcare organizations
• HealthCorum

Products and services

• INNOVA Healthcare General clinical, administrative, allied health, and leadership staffing services for US hospitals and health systems, covering pharmacy, lab, imaging, travel nursing, nursing leadership, locum tenens, and advanced practice nursing roles.
• INNOVA Healthcare IT Specialized healthcare IT and life sciences staffing covering Epic, Cerner, and Meditech implementations, data analytics, infrastructure, cybersecurity, ERP systems (including Workday), and software development roles for health systems and HealthTech companies.
• INNOVA Health Analytics Advisory Services Healthcare analytics and data advisory services combining DataLion and HealthCorum partnerships to deliver enterprise-grade analytics, AI, and managed services that modernize data foundations and drive measurable outcomes for healthcare organizations.
• INNOVA Locum Tenens Locum tenens staffing services that connect physicians and advanced practice providers with flexible temporary assignments, offering one-time streamlined credentialing, nationwide opportunities, and dedicated recruiter support.
• INNOVA Travel Nursing Travel nursing staffing services matching nurses with opportunities across specialties including MedSurg, ICU, telemetry, OR, L&D, ED, PICU, and NICU, with benefits including medical, dental, vision, 401k, and weekly pay.
• INNOVA Pharmacy Pharmacy staffing and consulting services including strategic pharmacy technology project management, supplemental staffing, permanent placement search, and expertise in Epic Willow implementations, specialty pharmacy builds, and 340B program management.
• INNOVA Population Health Population health and value-based care staffing solutions placing executives, strategic leaders, data analysts, clinical frontline roles, social workers, community health workers, and health educators for risk-based care models.

Quantifiable outcome

• Average 5-day turnaround time for Healthcare IT staffing requests

Named customers7 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• DataLion SolutionscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026INNOVA Health formed strategic partnership with DataLion Solutions in January 2026 to deliver enterprise-grade analytics and AI services. DataLion, led by Natasha Sorokin (MPH, Founder and Principal), brings over 20 years of healthcare analytics leadership. The partnership provides comprehensive analytics advisory, AI, and managed services to modernize data foundations for healthcare organizations.
• HealthCorumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHealthCorum and INNOVA Health united to deliver CMS TEAM-readiness solutions combining HealthCorum's provider intelligence analytics with INNOVA's interdisciplinary team design expertise. Platform includes quality scores for 1.5M+ providers and 150K+ facilities, AI-driven Provider Insights, and executive dashboards for network optimization.
• Starfish PartnerscoreOthersINNOVA People is a Starfish Partners Company. Starfish Partners acquired Health Innovations (Dr. David Gorstein's firm) which is now integrated into INNOVA.
• Technology Association of OregonminorOthersProud member of the Technology Association of Oregon (TAO), demonstrating commitment to the Oregon tech community.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• AMN Healthcare: Largest US healthcare staffing and workforce solutions company covering nursing, allied, locum tenens, and healthcare IT. Directly comparable across virtually all of INNOVA's clinical and IT staffing lines and a benchmark for scale.
• CHG Healthcare: Largest US locum tenens provider and broader healthcare staffing operator under brands like CompHealth and Weatherby. Comparable to INNOVA Locum Tenens and clinical staffing divisions.
• Cross Country Healthcare: Public staffing firm offering travel nursing, per diem, locum tenens, allied health, and healthcare IT staffing. Closely overlaps with INNOVA's multi-divisional clinical and IT staffing portfolio.
• Kforce Inc. Public staffing firm with Technology and Finance & Accounting segments, including significant Healthcare IT staffing. Directly comparable to INNOVA Healthcare IT's Epic/Cerner-focused placement model.
• Aya Healthcare: National travel nursing and allied health staffing leader with technology-enabled matching. Comparable to INNOVA Travel Nursing and broader clinical divisions on candidate sourcing scale and bill-rate economics.
• Medicus Healthcare Solutions: Specialty locum tenens and healthcare staffing firm focused on physicians and advanced practice providers. Comparable to INNOVA Locum Tenens and Advanced Practice placement lines.
• Jackson Healthcare: Atlanta-based healthcare staffing and workforce solutions firm with allied, nursing, physician, and analytics practices. Overlaps with INNOVA across clinical staffing and population-health-adjacent engagements.

Broad incumbents

• HealthStream: Public healthcare workforce development and clinical education company serving hospitals with broader, complementary offerings. Provides an adjacent incumbent benchmark rather than direct staffing competition.

Emerging players

• Solomon Page Healthcare: Healthcare and life sciences staffing division of Solomon Page Group, covering nursing, allied, and healthcare IT. Comparable but smaller in scale than INNOVA, particularly in travel nursing and HIT.
• Trusted Nurse Staffing: Travel nursing and allied staffing firm of comparable mid-market scale to INNOVA. Overlaps primarily on travel nursing and allied healthcare recruitment.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/innova-people
• Facebookfacebook.com/innovapeople

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles14 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about INNOVA