CoverED vs Plank

CoverED builds monthly schedules for emergency medicine groups, including single- or multi-site departments and residency programs. Its six-pass scheduling algorithm considers requests and configured constraints, fills NOC shifts first, and balances weekends. The model supports AM, PM, and NOC shifts, separate nocturnist roles, and an APP layer with one to four daily slots depending on plan. Providers can submit availability, block dates, request shifts or PTO, trade named shifts, and claim open shifts from a phone. CoverED tracks shift and weekend equity, shows three-month rolling burnout indicators, and carries deficits into later months. Published schedules can sync to Apple, Google, or Outlook calendars through ICS or webcal; PDF and CSV exports and email and SMS digests are also available. Residency tools include block scheduling and ACGME duty-hour checks. The service can import prior schedules from PDFs, screenshots, exports, or copied text. It stores scheduling data only, not clinical data, and says it encrypts information in transit and at rest on SOC 2 infrastructure. Paid plans include setup; a free 30-minute walkthrough is available with any plan.

Plank develops planning and scheduling software based on mathematical optimization, alongside consulting. Plank Admissions is a web system for recruiting reviewers, registering candidates and interviewers, scheduling interviews, scoring applicants, and managing related email. Registration controls are intended to prevent duplicate entries and overbooked sessions. Programs can automatically assign candidates to file reviewers and interviewers using specified criteria and traditional, MMI, or MPI formats. Scoring forms can reflect custom rubrics with anchors, checkboxes, numeric fields, and comments; scores and flagged concerns can be reviewed, and rank lists exported by site for CaRMS import. Email tools provide merge tokens, recipient filters, templates, and replies or bounce-backs in an inbox such as Outlook. Files and scores are stored on university servers, backed up nightly, and transaction-logged. Plank also offers a free browser-based ranked matching tool and scheduling systems for rotations and tutoring. Pricing is available on request.