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About Avera Health
Avera Health Nursing Jobs: Rural Reach, Big-System Resources
A Health System Built Around the Bedside Nurse
Most large health systems talk about innovation. Avera Health has been proving it since 1993, when it launched one of the country's first telemedicine networks from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. That early bet has grown into one of the world's most extensive virtual care platforms — and it directly shapes what nursing looks like here. If you're exploring Avera Health nursing jobs, you're looking at a faith-based nonprofit where technology and mission work together to keep nurses practicing at the top of their license.
Avera operates 36 hospitals and over 300 locations across South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, and North Dakota, employing roughly 20,500 caregivers. Its flagship, Avera McKennan Hospital & University Health Center, holds its sixth consecutive Magnet designation — a streak few hospitals in the country can match.
Virtual Nursing: A Real Differentiator
This isn't a bullet point on a careers page — it's a working program that changes your shift. Avera's virtual nursing model pairs bedside RNs with remote nurses who handle admissions documentation, discharge education, medication verification, and safety surveillance via in-room cameras and two-way video. Bedside nurses report more time for direct patient care, and fall-prevention redirects exceeded 6,800 in the program's first six months.
For RNs interested in non-bedside roles, virtual positions leverage clinical expertise through technology — an attractive path for experienced nurses managing burnout or physical limitations. Avera also operates Avel eCare, a Joint Commission-accredited virtual hospital covering 400-plus sites in 17 states, with roles in virtual ICU, emergency, behavioral health, and school health.
The $245 Million Expansion and What It Means for Hiring
Avera is in the middle of the largest building project in its history: a $245 million expansion across two Sioux Falls campuses. The centerpiece is a six-story women's and children's tower at Avera McKennan adding 158 beds for labor and delivery, postpartum, NICU, and pediatric intensive care. Construction hit its midway point in late 2025, with completion expected early 2027. A companion digestive health pavilion on the Louise Avenue campus frees existing space for expanded orthopedic services. More beds and specialty units mean registered nurse positions at Avera in L&D, NICU, peds, and med-surg are growing now.
Benefits That Reflect a Retention-First Strategy
Avera improved its nurse retention rate from 85% to nearly 88% over the past year. The benefits package includes front-loaded PTO (one week advanced at hire), options for free health insurance, tuition reimbursement, student loan repayment, and sponsorship programs covering tuition in exchange for a post-graduation work commitment. Through the Avera Nursing Advantage partnership with Mount Marty University, nursing students receive sponsorships for tuition and partial room and board while gaining clinical experience at Avera facilities.
Nursing careers at Avera include structured development: a clinical development program in Sioux Falls, a Professional Practice Program in Aberdeen, national certification support, and formal mentoring that pairs newer nurses with experienced colleagues.
Where the Jobs Are
Avera's footprint spans urban tertiary care and some of the most remote critical-access hospitals in the upper Midwest. Sioux Falls is the hub — a metro adding roughly 2.5% in population annually — but RN jobs with Avera also reach communities like Pierre, Aberdeen, and Marshall, where you may be the primary point of care within a 50-mile radius.
Ready to see what's available? Browse current Avera Health nursing jobs on RegisteredNurse.jobs to find openings matched to your specialty and preferred practice setting — whether that's a Level II trauma center or a rural clinic where you'll know every patient by name.
