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§ Private Profile · San Francisco, CA, USA
Automating equipment operations for nursing facilities
Key people at Norra.
Norra was founded in 2025 by Ben Rubin (CEO and Cofounder) and Yining Zhang (Founder).
Nursing facilities are bleeding money and staff time due to operational chaos. They have zero visibility into their equipment and operations, leading to over-purchasing, equipment failures, and nurses spending hours hunting for things instead of caring for patients.
Norra creates a real-time view of everything happening in the facility. We use AI and autonomous tracking to transform operational chaos into proactive decision-making. Instead of reacting to equipment failures or over-purchasing because they can't find what they own, facilities get actionable insights that prevent waste before it happens.
Norra was founded in 2025 by Ben Rubin (CEO and Cofounder) and Yining Zhang (Founder).
Key people at Norra.
Norra is a technology company that automates equipment operations for nursing facilities, primarily skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). It builds an AI-driven platform that uses custom hardware and real-time tracking to create a digital twin of a facility’s equipment inventory, enabling operational intelligence previously unavailable to these facilities. Norra’s solution addresses critical challenges such as equipment lifecycle management, preventative maintenance, and automated purchasing workflows, helping facilities reduce waste, improve compliance, and save significant costs—up to 70% reduction in rental spend and over $100K annually per facility. The company serves nursing facility operators struggling with operational inefficiencies, staff shortages, and Medicare reimbursement cuts, transforming chaotic manual processes into proactive, data-driven decision-making[1][2].
Norra was founded by Ben and Yining, who met while working at NASA on astronaut operation software. Their background in building complex operational systems inspired them to apply AI to healthcare, specifically to solve the operational crises faced by nursing facilities. The idea emerged from recognizing the massive inefficiencies and lack of visibility in equipment management within these facilities. Early traction came from pilot programs with skilled nursing facility networks in New York, where Norra demonstrated rapid cost savings and operational improvements within 30 days of deployment[1][2].
Norra rides the growing trend of AI-driven automation in healthcare operations, addressing the urgent need for efficiency in the face of an aging population and staffing shortages. The timing is critical as nursing facilities face financial pressures from Medicare cuts and operational challenges that threaten their viability. By digitizing and automating equipment management, Norra helps facilities reduce costs, improve compliance, and free up staff time for patient care. This contributes to a broader ecosystem shift toward intelligent healthcare operations, where data-driven insights replace manual, error-prone processes. Norra’s approach exemplifies how AI and IoT (Internet of Things) technologies can transform legacy healthcare infrastructure, making it more sustainable and scalable[1][2].
Looking ahead, Norra is positioned to expand its footprint across more nursing facilities, leveraging its early success to scale operations and deepen AI capabilities. Trends such as increasing regulatory scrutiny, rising healthcare costs, and the ongoing labor shortage in elder care will continue to drive demand for automation solutions like Norra’s. The company’s influence may grow beyond equipment management to broader operational intelligence in healthcare facilities, potentially integrating with other clinical and administrative systems. As AI adoption accelerates in healthcare, Norra’s model of combining hardware, software, and domain expertise could become a blueprint for operational transformation in other care settings, reinforcing its role as a key innovator in the sector[1][2].
