What Would a Health System Sponsored Innovation Career Path for Nurses Actually Look Like?

Cedars-Sinai recently launched a new Digital Innovation Platform in partnership with venture-builder Redesign Health to leverage internal clinical expertise, infrastructure, and research capabilities. They go even further to announce an internal incubator with this program that invites clinicians (which includes nurses!) to ideate startups using clinical data and insights. They aren’t the only ones making this move. Health systems such as Providence, Intermountain Health, and Memorial Hermann have launched or expanded venture arms and partnerships with firms like Redesign Health, General Catalyst, and Abundant Venture Partners to incubate or deploy emerging healthtech startups. With ~17% of U.S. GDP, $4.9 trillion dollar market size in 2023, and the development of Artificial Intelligence, it's not hard to imagine why everyone’s gung-ho on cashing in.

As a FINE Fellow with the Commission for Nurse Reimbursement, I have been researching and analyzing nursing economic impacts through the lens of nursing entrepreneurship and innovation. Two questions I am exploring: 

1. How can nurses, too, cash in on this HealthTech wave?

2. Can these innovation structures help build new sustainable career pathways for nurses?

Today, hospital innovation offices often encourage nurses to contribute ideas, but rarely offer meaningful ownership or financial rewards. Many nurses also lack formal training in entrepreneurship, and without safeguards, they can unintentionally give up valuable intellectual property or accept unfair equity terms. This is why I am personally hesitant to recommend any nurse colleagues to explore innovation through their health systems (prove me wrong someone who works within health system innovation offices??? 🥲).

The pathways into innovation and leadership are far more established for physicians. More than 60 MD/MBA programs now operate in the U.S., graduating hundreds of dual-degree physicians each year, many of whom move into entrepreneurship or leadership roles. Nearly all large health systems have a Chief Medical Information Officer (CMIO), a role with substantial influence on digital health strategy and vendor selection. By comparison, only 32% of U.S. hospitals report having a Chief Nursing Informatics Officer (CNIO), and many CNIOs lack formal budget authority. For nurses, formal programs and leadership roles focused on entrepreneurship and commercialization remain rare (i’ve looked 😭). Talent or ambition is not the problem. We need structured opportunities.

Historically, nurse-led innovation has been framed around unit-based quality improvement projects such as reducing CAUTI rates or optimizing workflows. These are valuable, but they are not equivalent to building companies or driving system-level innovation. Advancement into traditional nursing leadership roles can take 10 to 15 years and is largely focused on operational management, not entrepreneurship.

At the same time, research shows that the average age of a successful startup founder is 45. In other words, deep clinical experience and domain expertise are highly valued in the startup world. Nurses have this expertise, but few are given opportunities to apply it beyond process improvement projects. If hospitals want nurses to fully participate in innovation, they need to provide clear entrepreneurial pathways that build the right skills and open doors earlier in a nurse’s career.

To get more buy-in from nurses, hospitals should consider building structured bridge programs that cross-train nurses in entrepreneurship, business development, and data analysis. These should connect nurses directly to the system’s venture or business arms, giving them a path to a future as a founder, clinical operator, or C-suite leader. Mentorship, advancement, and fair equity participation must be built in from the start, particularly when nurses lead internal startups. This is how nurses can move from contributing ideas to building companies and earning a real stake. For health systems, this is a smart way to retain talent, surface commercially valuable ideas, and build a stronger internal pipeline of clinical operators who understand both care and markets.

There’s a real opportunity here! I urge health systems to build these programs the right way. If they did, I wouldn't have to keep shouting about it here. We’d already be seeing clinician founders coming out of 👏🏻 every 👏🏻 major 👏🏻 health system.

We should not limit nurse innovation to bedside process improvements. Nurses should be building companies, leading clinical product strategy, and shaping venture portfolios. Only then will we unlock new perspectives and solutions that will drive the next wave of healthcare transformation.