Verity Healthcare

Becker’s requested C-suite executives from hospitals and well being methods throughout the U.S. to share essentially the most important change they’re making this yr.

The 62 executives featured on this article are all talking on the Becker’s Healthcare fifteenth Annual Assembly on April 28 – Might 1, 2025, on the Hyatt Regency in Chicago.

To study extra about this occasion, click on right here.

If you want to be part of as a speaker or a reviewer, contact Mariah Muhammad at mmuhammad@beckershealthcare.com or agendateam@beckershealthcare.com. 

For extra info on sponsorship alternatives or vendor access-only badges, contact Jessica Cole at jcole@beckershealthcare.com.

As a part of an ongoing collection, Becker’s is speaking to healthcare leaders who will communicate at our convention. The next are solutions from our audio system on the occasion.

Query: Inform us in regards to the No. 1 organizational change you are making in 2025

Craig Kent, MD. CEO of UVA Well being; Government Vice President of Well being Affairs on the College of Virginia (Charlottesville): In 2025, UVA Well being’s prime organizational precedence is enhancing doctor wellness by systemic and operational modifications that scale back burnout and empower our suppliers to concentrate on the enjoyment and objective of drugs. Doctor burnout is a essential problem, resulting in fatigue, diminished medical outcomes, and erosion of the belief that defines the patient-physician relationship. 

As we transfer by the yr, we’ll take into account any and all operational modifications that tackle administrative burdens that detract from significant medical care. Initiatives like our ongoing “Much less is Extra” program permit college tradition results in determine methods we are able to streamline duties, together with lowering time spent on computer-based learnings. 

Moreover, our 2025 phased rollout of a brand new AI-driven ambient documentation device will considerably scale back time spent on affected person go to notes, permitting suppliers to reclaim time for sufferers and private well-being. These modifications underscore our dedication at UVA Well being to constructing a supportive tradition that sustains our physicians and strengthens the supply of remarkable care.

Cliff A. Megerian, MD,. CEO of College Hospitals (Cleveland); Jane and Henry Meyer CEO Distinguished Chair: In 2025, we’re remodeling how we take into consideration who we’re. We’re not only a system of hospitals — we’re locations that embody hospitality. We’re specializing in the connection between a number and a visitor, the place goodwill and a real welcome outline each interplay. This shift challenges us to see sufferers as visitors to be cared for with heat, respect, and personalised service.

Healthcare customers in the present day have plentiful decisions. Individuals choose their experiences primarily based on their final greatest service encounter, whether or not in healthcare or elsewhere. To face out, we should create experiences which can be as seamless and pleasant as these supplied by the world’s greatest service organizations, like Disney or Apple. By adopting this mindset, we’ll make it simple for folks to decide on College Hospitals, fostering belief, loyalty and advancing our popularity for distinctive care.

Marschall Runge, MD, PhD. Dean of the College of Michigan Medical College; Government Vice President of Medical Affairs on the College of Michigan; CEO of Michigan Drugs (Ann Arbor): The best precedence for Michigan Drugs in 2025 is to arrange for the long run by strengthening our basis and embracing innovation. Central to this imaginative and prescient is the growth of our digital well being approaches and considerate implementation of AI in particular areas that foster unification of our community. Moreover, in an ever-evolving healthcare panorama, crammed with uncertainties from rising coverage modifications to the long-awaited implementation of key reforms, Michigan Drugs is poised to adapt. Crucial points like Medicare and Medicaid protection charges, 340B program administration, and site-specific billing stay on the forefront. Our dedication is evident: to navigate these complexities with resilience and objective, making certain distinctive take care of our sufferers and communities.

Darryl Elmouchi, MD. Chief Working Officer of Windfall (Renton, Wash.): After changing into Windfall’s new chief working officer this January, I’m presently studying extra in regards to the group and figuring out areas of change and funding that may assist us ship on our Mission now and sooner or later. To that finish, Windfall’s most vital organizational change in 2025 shall be creating a brand new Workplace of Transformation centered on leveraging know-how to enhance affected person well being whereas lowering the executive workload for medical workers and caregivers. This workplace will leverage current sources, not improve overhead, to focus much more vitality on remodeling the way in which care is delivered. It’s one thing we’re enthusiastic about kicking off.

Peter Banko. President and CEO of Baystate Well being (Springfield, Mass.): Millard Fuller, co-founder of Habitat for Humanity, mentioned, “It’s simpler to behave your self into a brand new mind-set, than it’s to suppose your self into a brand new manner of appearing.” Baystate’s prime organizational change in 2025 is the creation of a real clinically pushed and physician-led well being system.  We re-structured our groups and streamlined our decision-making. We’ve been crafting our Baystate Well being 2030 strategic plan and enabling our three-year core operations transformation. Now, in 2025, our difficult, compelling, and essential work on construction and course of should translate to behaviors which can be seen every day to our 13,000 caregivers.

Ben Goodstein. Vice President and Chief Ambulatory Officer of Dayton Kids’s Hospital; President of Dayton Kids’s Specialty Physicians Inc. (Ohio): I want to spotlight our concentrate on enhancing operational effectivity and fostering a constructive organizational tradition. These two areas are essential for us as we try to enhance our providers and the expertise for each our workers and the households we serve.

Carman Ciervo. Chief Doctor Government of Cooper Care Alliance (Camden, N.J.): This shall be a yr of nice concentrate on the Cooper College Well being Care and Cape regional merger particulars. The now Cooper Cape System in Cape Might.

It’s essential that the medical workers, medical help workers and all associates really feel included within the course of and the significance of driving the Cooper College Well being Care mission to serve, to heal, to coach and dwell our values of: One Workforce. One Function.

Mark D. Townsend, MD. Chief Scientific Digital Ventures Officer of Bon Secours Mercy Well being (Cincinnati): The primary organizational change that we’re making at Accrete Well being Companions on behalf of Bon Secours Mercy Well being is to implement a framework that permits us to speed up our partnerships with rising applied sciences. Having created a Digital Ventures Innovation fund, we’re doubling down on collaborating with corporations which can be in our funding pipeline. Co-development alternatives which can be sponsored by BSMH operators could be supported by this framework, and we’re excited that we now have been empowered to be extra nimble on this work!

Christine Larson, RN, BSN. Vice President of Medical Group Operations, North Wisconsin Space at Advocate Well being (Charlotte, N.C.): There’s a couple of excessive precedence modifications we’re making in 2025 at Advocate Well being Midwest. 

• Expanded use of AI to facilitate clinician documentation necessities to advertise clinician wellbeing/work-life steadiness methods.
• Expanded use of telehealth providers to incorporate digital major care entry and the hiring of our first “virtual-only” Major Care Doctor. 
• Deeper evolution of our Worth Primarily based Care mannequin journey to incorporate techniques resembling emphasis on diminished readmissions/pointless admissions, decreased size of keep, “hospital at dwelling” fashions of care, and outpatient entry to care utilizing thorough go to closure techniques and applicable web site of service metrics.

Deb Kiser, RN. Coronary heart Service Line Government Lead and System Vice President Operations of Cardiovascular Service Line at The Christ Hospital (Cincinnati): Elevated empowerment to entrance line managers, administrators, and doctor leaders by knowledge, KPI’s and monetary consciousness. It’s crucial that people who drive effectivity, implementation and care are supplied key info to know the enterprise. Collectively we are able to ship top quality care and ķ the underside line.

Amber Campbell. Ambulatory CEO of Sutter Gould Medical Basis, Larger Central Valley Division (Sacramento, Calif.): In 2025, the primary organizational change we’re making is a refreshed dedication to listening. Setting organizational huge intention round lively listening is how we plan to strategy the continued enchancment tradition we worth at Sutter Gould Medical Basis. That is demonstrated in every day chief rounding on sufferers in any respect layers of the group and our course of enchancment huddle happening between 10:00-11:00am. We’re dedicated to our mission of sufferers first and other people at all times with a purpose to study what our affected person and worker expertise wants are so we are able to obtain our targets of greatest place to obtain care, greatest place to apply medication, and one of the best office to develop and develop.

Jay S. Grider, DO, PhD. Chief High quality Officer and CEO of Kentucky Medical Providers Basis at College of Kentucky (Lexington): Whereas the idea of service strains shouldn’t be new, executing the ideas as means to create excessive reliability in a corporation is rarely a easy factor.  We’re refocusing on the service line idea to drive affected person outcomes and entry in addition to advance the educational and analysis missions of our establishment. This work all comes as a part of our concentrate on being an educational medical heart that serves Kentucky and our medical companions as wanted throughout the state.

Sean Fadale. President and CEO of Nathan Littauer Hospital and Nursing Dwelling (Gloversville, N.Y.): The one main organizational change is we’re going to institute a course of of normal work that may permit our group to repeat our successes and study from our errors. Traditionally every chief ran a venture or initiative primarily based upon what labored prior to now and that led to inconsistent outcomes. We’ve gone by a collection of coaching and initiatives to get our management staff prepared for this journey and I’m excited to see the constructive outcomes as we head by 2025.  

Margo Shoup, MD. Professor of Surgical procedure on the College of Central Florida (Orlando), Faculty of Drugs: With the present and impending doctor scarcity, we’re redesigning our oncology care groups and including APP’s to have a minimum of a 1:1 APP to doctor mannequin, and in lots of circumstances 2:1 or 3:1. The aim is to permit entry to as many new sufferers as attainable whereas the APP’s see return sufferers and people on chemotherapy. Our growing platform will embrace APP run inpatient items, symptom administration clinics and postoperative comply with up.

Omar Hasan, MD. Chief High quality Officer of MaineHealth (Portland): Aggressive forces and market modifications in our area are having a tangible impression on sufferers’ entry to wanted healthcare providers. We’re taking steps to make sure that our staff members have the sources and expertise wanted to adapt to this evolving state of affairs. We’re additionally investing in upgrading our info methods, to realize wanted insights and enhance response time for sudden modifications.

Wayne Gillis. President and CEO of Rehoboth McKinley Christian Well being Care Providers (Gallup, N.M.): Probably the most important organizational modifications I’ll concentrate on is driving accountability in operational execution.

In 2025, we’ll work to make sure that each staff member — no matter function — understands how their every day efforts contribute to our hospital’s success. By constructing clear metrics, fostering transparency, and aligning targets throughout all ranges, we intention to shift from reactive operations to proactive execution.

This strategy is about making a tradition the place excellence is not only a objective however a regular. It’s not solely about holding others accountable but in addition about equipping leaders with the instruments and knowledge they should execute successfully and constantly.

I’m excited to share extra on this matter and discover how accountability could be the cornerstone of sustainable operational excellence in healthcare.

JohnRich R. Levine, DNP, MSN. Supervisor of Surgical Providers at Bayshore Medical Middle (Holmdel, N.J.): In 2025, our No. 1 organizational change curiosity focuses on constructing a tradition of agility and predictive excellence by the mixing of superior AI-driven determination help methods in perioperative providers. As healthcare faces growing complexities — staffing shortages, rising affected person expectations, and operational inefficiencies — we’re implementing AI options to optimize scheduling, useful resource allocation, and real-time decision-making. This initiative is rooted in actionable knowledge and goals to make sure effectivity whereas lowering clinician burnout.

We’re not simply adopting know-how; we’re embedding it into the material of management and staff collaboration. This consists of AI-powered forecasting to foretell affected person circulation and surgical calls for, in addition to steady coaching packages to empower workers to maximise the instruments at their disposal. The final word objective aligns with Becker’s mission to foster innovation and excellence in healthcare: delivering value-based care that balances effectivity with humanity.

This transformation isn’t about changing folks however enhancing their means to ship care. By embracing predictive applied sciences whereas prioritizing staff empowerment, we hope to mannequin how innovation can help each medical excellence and sustainable operations. I stay up for sharing extra insights on the Annual Assembly!

Darrell Bodnar. CIO of North Nation Healthcare (Whitefield, N.H.): The most important change we’re making in 2025 is driving systemwide alignment by centralizing management and standardizing processes and workflows throughout all affiliate hospitals. This shift isn’t nearly construction — it’s about creating consistency, bettering effectivity, and making certain we function as one cohesive system. By streamlining how we work collectively, we’ll improve affected person care, strengthen our HRO dedication, and construct a extra sustainable, high-performing healthcare group.

John Goodnow. CEO of Benefis Well being System (Nice Falls, Mont.): Whereas we now have lengthy supplied nursing dwelling care, assisted residing, and dementia care inside our well being system, all of which take care of seniors after they can not dwell independently, this yr we’re constructing a freestanding wholesome growing older heart centered on maintaining seniors properly and capable of dwell independently. A companion 2025 venture shall be building of unbiased senior residing housing. 

With the ever rising share of 65+ inhabitants and with our state being one of many prime six states for 65+ share of inhabitants, we really feel this is a vital want and we stay up for including this to our continuum. 

Judd Hollander, MD. Senior Vice President of Healthcare Supply Innovation at Thomas Jefferson College Well being (Philadelphia): We’re enthusiastic about leveraging all the new instruments to dramatically enhance entry to experience. After years of re-imagining, the items now exist to re-create. We’re re-creating the affected person expertise and enabling improved top quality entry to take care of our expanded group. A similar day/subsequent day most cancers program to get newly recognized outpatients care in the present day or tomorrow, a digital take a look at program to coordinate take care of sufferers leaving appointments, and a complete inpatient telemedicine program bringing experience into the hospital room, when specialists should not bodily current are just some examples.

Mohammed Quadri, MD. Vice President of Technique, Lecturers, Analysis and Innovation at Hackensack Meridian Well being (Edison, N.J.): In 2025, Hackensack Meridian Well being is launching a transformative initiative fueled by over $500 million in analysis funding over the previous 5 years and the experience of two,600-plus researchers, investigators, and workers, together with 800-plus residents and fellows: constructing a strong, interconnected ecosystem to speed up the interpretation of cutting-edge analysis into impactful healthcare options. 

Recognizing the worldwide digital well being market’s projected progress to $500 billion by 2030, HMH is prioritizing disruptive, sustainable, and efficiency-driven improvements. This includes: 1) Empowering doctor leaders by centered improvement packages — like our second cohort of electives launching January 2025, “The Way forward for Well being: Developments and Innovation” — emphasizing AI, quantum computing, and data-driven decision-making. 2) Strategically investing in these rising applied sciences to drive breakthroughs in now-mainstream precision and preventive medication, from wearables to nearables. 3) Making a dynamic help system for entrepreneurs, together with mentorship, sources, and streamlined commercialization pathways to translate promising discoveries into impactful startups, capitalizing on the accelerated drug discovery and burgeoning medical trial panorama. This built-in strategy will foster a tradition of innovation, speed up analysis impression, and solidify HMH as a frontrunner in next-generation healthcare.

Tom Vasko. CEO of Newman Memorial Hospital (Shattuck, Okla.): This yr’s strategic plan encompasses growth into maternity well being. Whereas many organizations are closing or transferring away from maternity providers we’re storming in direction of it. In pedigree hospital operations the mentality is the alternative. Advanced challenges create havoc but in addition alternative. As regional hospitals shut their maternity providers, we see this as a quantity and geographic growth alternative throughout service strains together with major care and surgical providers. As well as, the native financial impression to native rural communities is profound. 

We’ll inject a maternity mannequin that has but to be carried out in Oklahoma. In co-authoring an Oklahoma State Invoice (SB-222) alongside Senator Casey Murdock (R) which can present capital to implement our answer for different Oklahoma hospitals to emulate is ready to be voted upon subsequent month. Key to organizational shift is making certain novel thought, strategy, and a tactical plan that’s executable, accountable and measurable day-to-day. The momentum, continuance of success, and cultural buy-in throughout the group and supporting communities could be very palpable and can drive constructive outcomes. 2025 seems brilliant for Newman.

Mark Coticchia. Company Vice President of Innovation at Baptist Well being (Jacksonville, Fla.) South Florida: Additional improve our knowledge extraction and evaluation capabilities so that giant portions of information could be put to professional and productive use.

Rawle “Tony” Seupaul, MD. Government Vice President and Chief Doctor Government of Carilion Clinic (Roanoke, Va.): When it comes to what our No. 1 organizational change in 2025 is – we’re assessing and modifying our organizational construction to replicate market dynamics, creating and strengthening partnerships, and investing within the progress of our tutorial success.  

Deb Potempa, MSN, RN. South Market President of Parkview Well being (Fort Wayne, Ind.): As a market president for community-based rural hospitals inside a bigger well being system, we search for alternatives to help the system targets of progress, excellence and decrease price of care. In 2025, we’re specializing in recognized areas of excellence at every facility in our market to boost efficiency and improve volumes. We may even strengthen collaborations with our group companions, employers and county well being departments to increase preventive care packages and scale back the price of power illness administration. When supported to take action, our rural hospitals have the flexibility to considerably impression the price and high quality of healthcare in our nation.

Vi-Anne Antrum. Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer of Cone Well being (Greensboro, N.C): The No. 1 organizational change we shall be making at Cone Well being is our Cone Well being Strategic Imaginative and prescient 2030 which shall be supercharged by our integration into Risant Well being. Our technique has six worth performs: Partnerships; Workforce Improvement; Worth-Primarily based Care Institute; Distributed Care; AI and Know-how; and How We Work & Lead. These six pillars will information our group over the following six years as we remodel healthcare for our markets, our area, and the nation.

Nicholas Nussbaum, MD. Director of Medical Affairs and Group Providers, Adams Medical Group at Adams Well being Community (Decatur, Ind.): We’re transferring ahead with ACO participation. That in and of itself shouldn’t be in any manner distinctive. Nevertheless, we try to take action with out including a single FTE for administration of this system. That isn’t flippant in any way–it is a long-planned and strategic determination a number of years within the making. We’ve deliberately constructed into workflows and staffing fashions the assorted elements of information assortment, reporting, and many others., in such a manner that high quality, monitoring, and reporting needs to be EVERYONE’S job, not only one or a couple of.  

Bold? Sure. Loopy? Perhaps – however 2025 would be the yr we discover out. Shifting from the planning to the execution section of the venture will certainly be a change although, doubtless our largest for 2025.

JP Valin, MD. Chief Scientific Officer of Intermountain Well being (Salt Lake Metropolis): The most important organizational change Intermountain Well being is making in 2025 is aligning our complete system to a single digital well being file system – Epic. Following our merger with SCL Well being in 2022, one in all our key priorities for a profitable integration was to unify our care supply throughout six states, 33 hospitals, 400 clinics and our telehealth service. Our final objective is to offer the identical wonderful care and seamless expertise for our sufferers, no matter the place or how they’re being seen. Our Epic alignment venture will assist us ship on that promise.

Laura C. Duncan. Vice President of Ambulatory and Major Care at Kids’s Nebraska (Omaha): We’re making ready to realize operational efficiencies by co-designing function charters and instilling compassionate workforce improvement methods. We intention for quicker decision-making capabilities and venture planning by realignments. We’re rising deliberately with a bias towards motion!

David Verinder. President and CEO of Sarasota (Fla.) Memorial Well being Care System: Together with breaking floor on our third acute-care hospital and celebrating our 100-year anniversary in 2025, Sarasota Memorial Well being Care System is transferring ahead this yr with a much-anticipated, multi-year plan to exchange over 80 standalone IT functions with Epic’s absolutely built-in digital well being information platform. We’re wanting ahead to the problem and advantages Epic’s platform will present for sufferers, suppliers and our workers as we transition from our customized system to Epic’s enterprise platform.

Stephanie Weatherly, DNP. Chief Scientific Officer of Psychiatric Medical Care (Brentwood, Tenn.): This yr Psychiatric Medical Care will start to scale our adolescent behavioral well being program, Embrace U, in response to the nationwide want for intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization packages designed for youngsters and teenagers aged 10 to 18 who expertise signs of despair, nervousness, suicidal ideas, and different psychological well being challenges. We need to carry Embrace U to areas of the nation in want of a psychological well being program that gives extra intensive therapy than typical one-on-one remedy whereas serving as a step beneath residential therapy.

Mark Chang, MD. Senior Vice President of CV Technique and Transformation at Ballad Well being CVA Coronary heart Institute (Johnson Metropolis, Tenn.): A key initiative in our ongoing journey as a high-functioning, absolutely built-in service line will concentrate on governance construction and tradition.  We’ll rise up and codify a brand new governing physique whose cost shall be to supervise our strategic course, organizational techniques and operational efficiency to make sure medical excellence and monetary sustainability. Early focus will tackle cultural components which have traditionally hindered prime stage efficiency. Priorities will embrace foundational ideas resembling better-defined management roles, clarified possession and accountability, more practical and environment friendly communication techniques and elevated dedication to cross-functional success. Lowered duplication and variation throughout our system whereas aligning tightly with our complete group’s mission, imaginative and prescient and values will stay our guiding ideas. 

John Q. Younger, MD, PhD. Chair and Senior Vice President of Behavioral Well being at Northwell Well being (New Hyde Park, N.Y.): We’re bettering entry and high quality by constructing a continuum of care organized round key pillars. These pillars embrace digital sources for self-guided care, embedding behavioral well being inside major care practices, colleges, and homes of worship, selling top-of-licsensure care fashions, constructing new clinics, and making our intermediate ranges of care extra strong. These are all nice initiatives. The key sauce is getting these totally different elements of the continuum to hum, to perform as an entire, leveraging every half. That is our major objective for 25 (and certain past).

Greg Chasson, PhD. Affiliate Professor, Psychologist and Director of Behavioral Interventions, OCD and Associated Problems Clinic, Division of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience on the College of Chicago Drugs: As a practising psychologist within the space of cognitive-behavioral remedy in an educational medical heart, I’ve been working with my hospital leaders to use evidence-based conduct change ideas and techniques to enhance system innovation, effectivity, and high quality. Probably the most encumbering points I encounter within the medical heart is perfectionism, and it strikes throughout industries and disciplines. For instance, when surgeons have sufferers open on the desk longer than really useful due to perfectionism (e.g., extreme checking and ‘fixing”), it’s exceptionally harmful for affected person care and causes authorized counsel large misery.  

Practitioners who get caught procrastinating on notice writing and shutting encounters — due to needing to get the documentation “excellent” or to keep away from errors — trigger substantial bottlenecks in third-party reimbursement and create legal responsibility for the hospital as a result of sufferers lacking very important items of their medical file. Shedding sight of the massive image, directors who get misplaced within the particulars of budgeting and subsequently miss deadlines trigger substantial delays, disrupt money availability, and finally price the enterprise more cash than no matter few {dollars} they had been caught attempting to reconcile.  Perfectionism shouldn’t be your buddy, and you may scale back its impact with evidence-based conduct change methods that don’t disrupt the standard of labor.

Cindy Russo. President of Perception Hospital & Medical Middle Trumbull (Warren, Ohio): As our hospital was acquired by a brand new proprietor Nov 1, 2024, after having been given a discover of closure by our earlier proprietor, the primary change we’re making is transitioning to a brand new well being system with a confirmed observe file. There may be a lot change nonetheless to be executed, however we’re thrilled that we are able to proceed to offer care to the communities we serve and the people that want our care essentially the most as we now have for greater than 115 years. We’ll use the teachings we now have realized from the challenges we now have gone by, and we’ll construct upon the successes of our new firm, Perception Well being System, to make sure the well being wants of the group are met. This may embrace closing the hole on wanted providers that had not been obtainable earlier than. We may even concentrate on prevention and wellness and eliminating the social determinants which can be a barrier to those issues. In 2025 we’ll “present care that’s second to none.”

Cindy Bo, MBA. Senior Vice President and Chief Technique Officer of Boston Medical Middle Well being System: At Boston Medical Middle Well being System, we proceed to optimize expertise in several methods. It’s not a lot an organizational change as it’s an organizational optimization. Our management staff is consistently easy methods to optimize expertise. For instance, making certain medical staff members are working on the prime of their licenses. One other instance is exposing expertise to totally different areas so there’s a cross-pollination of expertise, competencies, concepts and learnings. The result’s an optimized and engaged workforce. This optimization is a steady evolution.

Matthew Ewend, MD. Chief Scientific Officer of UNC Well being (Chapel Hill, N.C.): UNC Well being is exclusive with its top-notch tutorial medical heart, in depth college apply, and powerful community of group physicians throughout North Carolina. Like many others, we’re adapting to new affected person expectations and a quickly altering market. We intention to restructure our doctor group to higher meet the wants of these we serve. Our objective for the following yr is to create a unified doctor group that mixes each tutorial and group practices, making UNC Well being one of the best place to present and obtain care.

Stephanie Everett. Administrator of Mountrail Bethel Dwelling; CEO of Mountrail County Medical Middle (Stanley, Md.): The primary organizational change we shall be making on the Mountrail County Well being Middle, is specializing in the exterior tasks we now have going inside our groups. We’ll sit down collectively. Consider their value and see whether it is making a distinction for us as a staff, or extra of busy work. We’ll then flip internally contained in the partitions and focus on Tradition. Specializing in something that should change for the embetterment of the campus and taking the steps to right them. Progress is nice, whether it is executed properly and with character and integrity

Holly Lee. Vice President and Chief Audit Government of Parkview Well being (Fort Wayne, Ind.): As Parkview continues to develop and grow to be extra advanced, the No. 1 change for the Inside Audit staff is the concentrate on delivering strategic worth by a holistic strategy to threat administration and by conducting fewer, extra centered engagements. Given the quite a few competing priorities dealing with healthcare leaders, Inside Audit should reduce inefficiencies and keep away from pointless disruptions to operations. Attaining this requires significant collaboration with threat and compliance companions to know how the assorted packages join. This consciousness will permit Inside Audit to determine key threat assurance gaps, alternatives, and areas of uncertainty that Inside Audit can carry worth to. As we proceed to evolve, Inside Audit should attempt to be dependable, trusted, and collaborative companions, embodying the ideas of servant management and delivering value-added, actionable insights that improve the group’s success.

Vernicka Gross sales. Chief of Inhabitants Well being and Efficiency Providers at Legacy Group Well being (Houston): In 2025, we’re dedicated to optimizing workflows and maximizing workforce effectivity to offer high-quality care to advanced affected person populations, even within the face of restricted sources. Our focus is on leveraging Epic’s instruments, resembling Wholesome Planet and Compass Rose, to combine medical pharmacist specialists, behavioral well being specialists, and social employees into care groups in a manner that’s each seamless and scalable.

By strategically utilizing Epic applied sciences, we empower our groups to work smarter, making certain their efforts are directed the place they’re most wanted, whereas minimizing redundancies. These instruments allow interdisciplinary collaboration, fostering higher communication and coordination throughout care groups. This strategy not solely enhances staff effectivity but in addition drives significant enhancements in affected person outcomes and general organizational impression.

Jonathan Fialkow, MD. Chief Medical Government of Worth, Major Care and Inhabitants Well being at Baptist Well being South Florida (Coral Gables): Our system is closely predicated on inpatient , fee-for-service providers and ambulatory transactional care resembling pressing care facilities, free standing ERs, imaging and infusion facilities. All very a lot wanted, of extraordinarily top quality and really profitable. I’m main efforts to coordinate and combine the care supply actions and designs within the ambulatory house, which is the place sufferers spend a lot of their lives versus in a hospital. IT requires a extra holistic understanding of the ecosystem of healthcare supply and the chance is to create understandings and identification of the a number of methods these actions/encounters could be leveraged by organizing and controlling them.

William Morice II, MD, PhD. President and CEO of Mayo Collaborative / Mayo Clinic Laboratories (Rochester, Minn.): The primary organizational change we’re implementing is empowering our workers to make knowledgeable selections aligned with our strategic priorities. It’s important that staff members all through our group have a standard understanding of what’s most vital for us to realize our targets, really feel assured within the selections they will make to maneuver us ahead, and know that they are going to be supported in an surroundings of steady studying. Preserving our sufferers on the heart of all we do, and utilizing this strategy, which aligns with Mayo Clinic’s values, fosters a tradition through which everybody looks like a significant a part of the staff.

Annie Thomas-Landrum, MSN, RN. Chairman of the Board of Sunshine Group Well being Middle (Talkeetna, Alaska): 2025 positively holds plenty of alternative for change in a wide range of instructions. Historically, our board has been very community-focused, and we now have many superb board members who attain out to the group on behalf of the well being heart regularly. I completely love this focus. In changing into chairman of the board on the finish of final yr, I’m excited to increase our focus as a board to incorporate extra state and nationwide advocacy in 2025. As a corporation, we’re seeing some unimaginable outcomes. There’s a actual and pressing have to carry this success into arenas the place our sources and pursuits could be protected and upheld. Our CEO has been doing a tremendous job with this the final couple of years, and I’m excited so as to add my voice to his on this effort. I feel if our healthcare establishments are going to thrive going ahead, we’re going to should search for new collaborations and new locations to carry the wants of our sufferers and communities into the limelight. 

Danielle Scheurer, MD. Chief High quality Officer of MUSC Well being System (Charleston, S.C.): Our No.1 organizational change in 2025 is a considerable shift from charge for service to worth primarily based care. Whereas our group has been on an incremental journey for a few years, we’re strategically specializing in the folks, processes, and know-how that may speed up the tempo of change. That is for the great of our group, and extra importantly, for the great of our sufferers and their households.

Pranavi Sreeramoju, MD. Former Vice President and Chief High quality Officer: I see plenty of organizations reorienting themselves with respect to well being fairness and likewise embracing extra synthetic intelligence primarily based applied sciences. In 2024, the Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Providers required screening all sufferers for health-related social wants, and now the organizations have knowledge on the wants of their sufferers that they’ve a duty to handle utilizing their very own capabilities in addition to by looking for out related group collaborations. Well being methods are determining one of the best methods to strategy the knowledge generated by these knowledge throughout a yr of change through which the political local weather is totally different from the years when the screening was carried out, and tuning themselves to the relative emphasis on well being inequities and balancing them with their organizational values and priorities. 

The growing adoption of AI primarily based applied sciences is anticipated and a results of pure evolution. Extra organizations are adopting AI primarily based notice writing applied sciences that are a sport changer to cut back documentation burden on clinicians. Organizations are persevering with to determine how a lot and what parts of AI to permit of their medical apply, and more and more accepting the instruments whereas finding out their impacts and potential blindspots. AI instruments are additionally more and more getting used for knowledge evaluation and producing knowledge summaries in lots of organizations.

James Newman. Vice President of Affected person Logistics at Virtua Well being System (Marlton, N.J.): In 2025, one in all my largest priorities is centered on implementing a complete workforce planning technique that bridges generational gaps and aligns expertise improvement with our long-term targets. This consists of tailoring recruitment, coaching, and retention efforts to satisfy the varied wants of multigenerational groups, fostering collaboration and mutual respect. By leveraging know-how and data-driven insights, we intention to create agile workforce options that anticipate future calls for whereas empowering staff to thrive of their roles, no matter their generational background. This strategy will improve each organizational resilience and our means to ship distinctive outcomes.

Thomas Maddox, MD. Vice President of Digital Merchandise and Innovation at BJC HealthCare (St. Louis)/Washington College College of Drugs: At BJC, we serve each type of group, from rural and suburban areas to massive metro areas. In 2025, we’re centered on our folks and tradition, medical excellence, creating the flexibility to reinvest into our system, and discovering new methods to broaden the worth we carry to the markets we serve. In my function because the Innovation Lab chief, we shall be focusing our innovation portfolio on testing how novel care supply fashions, incorporating each know-how and workflow redesign, can additional these priorities.

Michael Prokopis. Vice President of Provide Chain at MD Anderson Most cancers Middle (Houston): The College of MD Anderson Most cancers Middle’s provide chain will proceed to evolve, leveraging new know-how to make sure environment friendly and efficient stock administration. By deploying stock administration software program paired with digital shelf applied sciences that mix pc imaginative and prescient with AI, we are able to obtain excessive accuracy. Including consumption knowledge to our projected, conventional stock planning and permitting PARs and Perpetual Stock areas, we are able to obtain unprecedented automation. Taking this strategy, we are able to construct a 12-18 month rolling demand plan, supported by real-time consumption knowledge, enabling us to share buy plans and shift your complete channel from manufacturer-driven to supplier consumption.

Alexa Kimball. President and CEO of Harvard Medical School Physicians at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Middle (Boston): The No. 1 organizational change we’re specializing in in 2025 is realizing the imaginative and prescient of our partnership with Dana-Farber Most cancers Institute and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Middle. Collectively, we’re creating the area’s first devoted most cancers hospital, which can set a brand new customary for most cancers care. This work begins with recruiting a major variety of physicians who shall be important in making our imaginative and prescient a actuality. We’ve already developed a number of frameworks to streamline recruitment, onboarding, and integration throughout the community. These frameworks guarantee departmental cohesion whereas enhancing doctor help and well-being. Now, our focus is on effectively executing this recruitment effort to satisfy the amount of hiring required, particularly in in the present day’s aggressive expertise panorama. To draw prime expertise and help workforce satisfaction, we’ll prioritize flexibility and autonomy for brand new physicians.

Nygel Williams. Government Director of Bodily Remedy Program at Washington College College of Drugs (St. Louis): We’re leaning into our strengths and specializing in what we do properly as a corporation — it’s really easy with all of the thrilling improvements in healthcare from AI to the entry of tech corporations into our house — to get excited and chase the “shiny ball.” We need to make it possible for we’re maintaining with the tendencies, modernizing medical operations and making certain that we’re delivering the very best care to our sufferers whereas not straying too distant from our mission and our price add. By delivering a clearly outlined and high quality product we are able to ensure that we’re greatest reaching our group and delivering prime notch care, all whereas persevering with to develop and increase.

Ara Feinstein, MD. Doctor Government of Banner College Medical Group, Trauma Surgeon of Banner College Medical Middle – Phoenix; Affiliate Dean of Scientific Affairs on the College of Arizona Faculty of Drugs – Phoenix: In 2025, Banner Well being is enterprise an enterprisewide dedication to changing into a Excessive Reliability Group by putting security and high quality on the forefront of our organizational tradition. By a collaborative partnership between medical management, operations groups, and human sources, the group has carried out a complete HRO framework that touches each a part of the well being system. 

A cornerstone of this initiative is Banner’s dedication to steady studying, exemplified by month-to-month enterprisewide academic periods that reinforce HRO ideas and supply alternatives for workers in any respect ranges to have interaction with these ideas. These instructing periods assist create a cohesive understanding of security practices and foster a tradition the place each worker feels empowered to talk up about potential security issues. The mixing of medical experience with operational know-how and HR greatest practices ensures that HRO ideas are woven into the material of every day operations, from bedside care to administrative features.

Sandra Scott, MD. Interim CEO of One Brooklyn Well being (N.Y.): A pivotal 2025 initiative to additional system integration will concentrate on bettering affected person entry by making a centralized name heart designed to simplify healthcare system navigation for scheduling and referrals. By offering a single level of contact for sufferers, we intention to cut back wait occasions, improve care coordination, and streamline inner processes throughout our system. This initiative will take away obstacles for each sufferers and workers, making certain care is extra accessible and environment friendly. The brand new centralized entry heart will reduce the burden on our emergency departments and supply one of the best healthcare outcomes for the communities we serve.

Kathy Kelly. Market CEO of Kindred Hospitals of Chicago: I’m liable for facilitating enterprise progress by growing and sustaining contacts with present and potential referring hospitals, group leaders and native organizations. Organizational modifications I’m resulting in help progress are offering value-based care to incorporate continuum of care with doctor alignment with our referring hospitals in Chicago. With that comes a better high quality of care, elevated outcomes and a constructive affected person expertise and repair excellence.

Experience consists of bettering packages and providers on this turnaround, restructuring and start-up of latest operations by the constructing of robust management groups with a concentrate on service excellence, medical high quality/security, doctor alignment, open and direct communication and metric-based targets.

Daniel Hoody, MD. Chief Doctor and Chief Medical Officer of Sanford Well being of Northern Minnesota (Bemidji): Sanford Well being has the daring technique to grow to be the premier rural well being system within the nation. The sufferers and communities we serve deserve nothing much less, and our dedication is to ship one of the best medical outcomes, no matter zip code. To realize this technique, in 2025 Sanford Well being of Northern Minnesota is prioritizing velocity to studying to enhance medical efficiency. The central technique to perform that is by advancing high-reliability organizational ideas, significantly by our SAFE program, which emphasizes relationship and reliability expertise from frontline workers to leaders. Our objective is to advance a tradition of “failing ahead quick,” encouraging groups to innovate and clear up issues rapidly. This strategy will empower frontline workers to drive native change and contribute on to strategic goals, making certain that each staff member is concerned in reaching the broader targets of the group. In the end, the intention is to foster an surroundings the place steady enchancment and innovation are on the core of Sanford Well being’s operations.

Michele Szkolnicki, MEd, BSN, RN. Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer of Penn State Well being Milton S. Hershey Medical Middle (Hershey): In 2025, our major organizational focus shall be on fostering a resilient workforce as we proceed to evolve right into a extra collaborative healthcare supply system; absolutely maximizing the affect of our shared governance construction. We’ll improve our workers’s sense of objective, mindset, and possession by skilled improvement initiatives that empower them to thrive in a dynamic surroundings. Alongside this, we’ll implement versatile strategies to enhance decision-making and encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration amongst clinicians, directors, and help workers. We’ll improve communication and suggestions processes to enhance affected person engagement and satisfaction. By embracing this holistic strategy, we’re setting the stage for profitable outcomes that may allow us to realize our objective of offering distinctive care to our sufferers and preserve the very best requirements of nursing excellence.

David Marcozzi, MD, MHS-CL. Chief Scientific Officer of the College of Maryland Medical Middle; Affiliate Dean of Scientific Affairs on the College of Maryland College of Drugs (Baltimore): Devoted to delivering protected, high-quality care, the College of Maryland Medical Middle is embarking on an vital journey to grow to be a Excessive-Reliability Group, in alignment with the steering of our College of Maryland Medical System. This complete initiative consists of: (1) a proper academic marketing campaign centered on HRO ideas and simply tradition, (2) the streamlining of advanced, matrixed processes and committee reporting constructions to boost decision-making and effectivity, (3) conducting worker engagement surveys adopted by actionable plans to handle recognized challenges, and (4) the project of devoted HRO coaches to help unit-level adoption and drive cultural transformation. We’re assured that these actions and others we now have begun will improve our effectivity and assist us obtain UMMC’s major objective of Zero Hurt.

Patricia McClure-Chessier. Chief Healthcare Government Chief of Streamwood (Ailing.) Behavioral Healthcare Hospital: In 2025, the primary organizational change at SBHS would be the implementation of an digital medical file.  This know-how will present enhancements in affected person security, therapy, accessibility, effectivity, fairness, and hospital operations.  Most significantly, the know-how will improve the general patient-care expertise. 

Alon Weizer, MD. Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Mount Sinai Medical Middle (New York Metropolis): At Mount Sinai Medical Middle, in Miami Seashore and all through our 11 areas, we’re persevering with to remodel the way in which we take care of sufferers by leveraging our digital medical file and incorporating new know-how and synthetic intelligence to advertise standardization, affected person engagement, affected person security, and optimum outcomes. As one in all solely 7 hospitals in Florida to be named to the 2025 Newsweek World’s Greatest Sensible Hospitals, we proceed on a journey to remodel the care we offer by incorporating know-how by cautious analysis and oversight. Our objective is to operationalize these instruments to boost the affected person care expertise whereas driving high-value care.  

These focus on three main themes:

1. Affected person Engagement: Affected person engagement improves outcomes by making certain well timed entry to healthcare. Whereas affected person portals have been round for a very long time, we now have leveraged our excessive adoption of the portal to advertise well timed and efficient communication and knowledge for our sufferers. This extends throughout the continuum of care in our group from the clinic to the hospital and again. We’re consistently evaluating extra know-how to advertise the engagement of our sufferers of their well being and strengthen our relationship as a trusted accomplice.  
2. Supporting Our Individuals:  Usually the incorporation of latest know-how provides to the burden of our physicians and workers as they need to study new methods and workflows along with the every day work that they proceed to carry out. A tenet in our group for know-how and incorporation of AI is how this addition will impression our folks. Use of pure language processing and ambient listening have been carried out to lower the executive work of our folks to permit them to focus their efforts on affected person care.  Implementation of central monitoring items and digital nursing permit us to help our frontline groups to take care of sufferers whereas making certain that each one the required processes and documentation are accomplished. On the similar time, we overview greatest apply alerts, order units, and different documentation to eradicate what’s not beneficial and replace instruments to optimize their effectiveness.
3. Bettering High quality and Mitigating Danger:  Our clinicians face an unlimited problem.  They need to juggle extra sufferers who’re more and more extra advanced. Day-after-day there are new gadgets, instruments, and software program that declare to enhance care and outcomes. Given the constrained sources each hospital and well being system face, we accomplice intently with our physicians/clinicians to guage every request balancing innovation with worth. A essential element of that is monitoring metrics to guage the impression on high quality, security, and affected person care of latest know-how. As well as, we now have developed instruments inside our digital medical file to permit clinicians to trace incomplete or cancelled checks to make sure sufferers are getting the really useful care that they want.  

Jeremiah Kirkland. President and Chief Working Officer of TriHealth (Cincinnati): In 2025, the No. 1 organizational change that I am specializing in is bettering the affected person expertise by consistency in our management and frontline staff member efficiency. Our work this yr to hardwire one of the best apply components of communication, rounding, affected person security, cleanliness and exceeding the expectations of our sufferers.  

This organizational change is not going to solely enhance affected person care but in addition place healthcare organizations as leaders in a quickly evolving business, finally main to higher well being outcomes and elevated affected person satisfaction.

Sowmya Viswanathan, MD. Chief Doctor Government of BayCare Well being System (Clearwater, Fla.): BayCare Well being System’s doctor enterprise is on a exceptional progress journey throughout our system. Our focus is on enterprise progress.

The inhabitants has expanded tremendously in our area (West Central Florida) over the previous two to a few years. We’ve to make sure we’re recruiting and sustaining the very best physicians to take care of our sufferers. Delving into varied doctor alignment methods to match the healthcare demand on this area is our prime precedence. The methods would come with the next:

• Making a doctor recruitment pipeline – by exponentially rising our graduate medical schooling (residency) packages.
• Scientific institutes – Persevering with our investments in brick-and-mortar footprint to increase affected person entry factors whereas coordinating providers by medical institutes fashions.
• APP integration – recruiting major care and specialists into our huge geographic area whereas integrating superior apply suppliers into practices, the place relevant.
• Innovation and know-how – Leveraging AI powered instruments and supportive know-how to boost operational efficiencies to optimize care supply.

Todd Schaffer, MD. President and CEO at Sanford Bismarck (N.D.), Sanford Well being: In 2025, Sanford Bismarck’s prime precedence is strengthening our tradition of service to construct on the affected person expertise enhancements we’ve achieved over the previous three years. Regardless of challenges like workforce and capital shortages in healthcare, we stay centered on offering distinctive, patient-centered care whereas upholding the very best requirements of security and high quality. By prioritizing our sufferers’ wants and expectations, we intention to cut back obstacles to entry and foster belief. We’re deeply grateful to our devoted care groups, who fulfill our mission every day by delivering high-quality care in America’s heartland.

Jason S. Fish, MD. CEO of Yale Well being (New Haven, Conn.); Scientific Professor of Inside Drugs, Basic Drugs at Yale College of Drugs: We’re specializing in enhancing each affected person and worker experiences. We perceive that the well-being of our sufferers is deeply related to the satisfaction and engagement of our staff. To this finish, we’re prioritizing the development of our technological infrastructure, particularly by the strategic integration of synthetic intelligence and different revolutionary applied sciences. Our objective is to drive efficiencies that permit our workers to dedicate extra time to delivering compassionate care and help. By fostering an surroundings the place staff really feel empowered and valued, we are able to guarantee they supply the very best high quality of service to our sufferers. In the end, our focus is to rekindle the fervour for service, each to our colleagues and to these we take care of.