Improving patient care remains a paramount goal for healthcare leaders navigating a complex and rapidly evolving landscape.
Becker's collected insights from 94 health system executives highlight a collective commitment to transforming care delivery through innovation, accessibility, and patient-centered strategies. These leaders, representing a diverse range of hospitals and health systems across the country, are focusing on priorities such as leveraging advanced technology, strengthening workforce resilience, enhancing health equity, and reimagining care models to meet the needs of their communities.
They are also all speakers at the Becker's 15th Annual Meeting, April 28-May 1 in Chicago. Click here to learn more and register!
Below, we summarize the top 11 priorities identified by these executives to improve patient care in the years ahead.
1. Enhancing access to care: Many leaders emphasized the need to increase access by expanding services, reducing wait times, and leveraging technology such as telehealth and virtual care. This includes addressing barriers like transportation, financial constraints, and availability of care in rural areas.
"Over the next two to three years, my top priority for improving patient care will be to expand access by extending hours, increasing the number of providers, and adding more urgent care sites in our network," said Shelly Schorer, CFO of the California division of Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health. "Additionally, ensuring that our nursing teams have the necessary staffing and resources to provide high-quality care is crucial. It is also imperative that we maintain a continued focus on safety and quality by actively participating in high reliability programs to drive improvements and enhance patient outcomes."
2. Leveraging technology and AI: A recurring theme was the integration of advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence for diagnostics, predictive analytics, virtual scribe tools, and remote monitoring to streamline operations and enhance decision-making.
"Our teams are our greatest strength, and we are dedicated to integrating advanced technologies, such as ambient AI, to support our teams while redesigning care delivery to ensure patients receive care more seamlessly and efficiently," said Wendy Horton, PharmD, CEO of UVA Health University Medical Center in Charlottesville, Va. "Our ultimate goal is to help patients recover faster, return home safely, and experience unparalleled efficiency. Building on significant progress, including redesigning care in the emergency department, we are excited to continue driving innovation and enhancing patient outcomes as we look ahead to 2025 and beyond."
3. Focusing on patient-centered care: Leaders highlighted personalized medicine, cultural humility, and shared decision-making as critical components of care. Enhancing empathy and communication between providers and patients was a central priority.
"Children's Hospital Los Angeles is dedicated to advancing our clinical practices and cutting-edge research to provide solutions to save lives," said Lara Khouri, executive vice president and COO of Children's Hospital Los Angeles. "Our utmost priority is enhancing health and providing the best care for youth and their families. This includes continuing to prioritize digital health innovation and AI solutions to improve our exceptional patient experience and reduce the EHR burden, which can free up our caregivers to focus on delivering excellent patient care."
4. Building a resilient healthcare workforce: Workforce stability, reducing burnout, and fostering a culture of safety and collaboration were highlighted. Strategies included investing in staff well-being, professional development, and innovative recruitment and retention approaches.
"First and foremost, we must invest in our employees to allow them to be at their best as they care for our patients," said Margie Zyble, chief human resources officer of UC Health in Cincinnati. "An engaged, diverse, and resilient workforce translates to best-in-class patient care. Second, we are committed to creating a high reliability environment with a strong focus on processes and behaviors. We need to reduce variability in key areas…quality, safety, people leader practices, and employee ways of working. Ultimately, this will allow us to create an environment that enables outstanding patient care."
5. Strengthening high reliability: Many executives prioritized high-reliability practices, reducing care variability, and focusing on evidence-based care to improve patient outcomes and reduce preventable harm.
"We are deeply invested in our High Reliability Organization journey, and a critical part of this is engaging all our staff at a much deeper level than ever before. Effective engagement, however, can't happen without excellent communication across every service line," said Bernie Adams, chief quality officer of North Country Healthcare in Whitefield, N.H. "We know that communication is most effective when it's backed by data that is not only accurate but also accessible and actionable. Over the next few years, we aim to focus on streamlining our data systems to ensure that all team members — from frontline staff to leadership — have the tools they need to make informed decisions."
6. Addressing health equity: Tackling social determinants of health, eliminating disparities, and ensuring equitable access to care, especially for underserved populations, were frequently mentioned.
"One of Intermountain Health's top priorities for improving patient care over the next two to three years is enhancing access to care by leveraging technology solutions, simplifying administrative processes, and redesigning care models to proactively address health concerns early; simply said, going upstream to keep people well," said JP Valin, MD, chief clinical officer of Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health. "We will also continue to focus on equitable access for patients across our footprint, including our rural communities and individuals facing barriers from social determinants of health. By addressing these challenges, we aim to create a more inclusive and proactive healthcare system that benefits patients, caregivers, and the communities we serve."
7. Improving patient experience: Simplifying non-clinical touchpoints, enhancing navigation, and ensuring seamless interactions with the healthcare system were noted as critical for boosting patient satisfaction. Cliff Megerian, MD, CEO of University Hospitals in Cleveland, said his team is doubling down on their "well-earned reputation for compassionate care" next year.
"The goal is for our patients — our guests — to feel truly cared for at each touchpoint along the patient journey, with clinical and non-clinical caregivers alike both bearing the responsibility to make this happen," he said. "The word 'hospitality' has at its root the word 'hospital' — it's our goal to work to bring that 'hospitality' energy to our work in healthcare, always informed by world-class science."
8. Innovating care delivery models: Emphasis was placed on flexible, patient-centric approaches such as hospital-at-home programs, integrated care networks, and outpatient services for traditionally inpatient procedures.
"Over the next 2-3 years, we are excited to continue to invest in innovative care delivery models through the use of virtual care and remote patient monitoring technology to bring care closer to our patients' front porches," said Tiffany Lawrence, president and CEO of Sanford Fargo. "During a time of rapid disruption, our clinicians are embracing cutting-edge solutions, including robotic surgery and AI-enabled colonoscopy technology, to deliver the most advanced care and best outcomes. We will continue prioritizing investments in technology to adapt to the evolving healthcare landscape and better serve our patients."
9. Harnessing data and analytics: Many leaders identified the need for real-time, actionable data to drive improvements in clinical care, operational efficiency, and resource allocation. Jeff Gautney, CIO of Rush University System for Health in Chicago, said the system plans to do the following for improved patient care with data and analytics:
Improving access to care, and streamlining processes so that we are maximizing their time;
Reducing administrative burden on our clinicians so that they are able to spend more time with the patient and less time documenting
Providing AI-enabled protocols to help clinicians making better diagnostic and therapeutic decisions that take the most complete information available about the patient and their problem
Support new models for care, including virtual specialty care, virtual primary care, hospital at home, etc.
"We have a unique perspective on this, given that we have been No. 2 in quality in the Vizient process for the past few years. Quality and safety are our brand, so this is something we think about all the time," said Mr. Gautney.
10. Expanding value-based care: Shifting focus upstream to address health concerns early and prevent disease through community engagement, screenings, and wellness programs was highlighted as a path to sustainable healthcare systems.
"A top priority for improving health over the next two to three years involves integrating population health strategies into traditional healthcare," said Heath Roberts, chief administrative officer for Henry Ford Health Healthy Populations in Detroit. "By leveraging value-based care initiatives, we aim to reduce unnecessary hospitalizations through proactive care management, focusing on high-risk populations with chronic conditions. Strengthening care transitions, particularly post-discharge, and expanding community-based resources will help address social determinants of health and improve overall population wellness."
11. Building a culture of transparency: Health systems with a strong culture can achieve performance improvement and provide better patient care. Many executives see transparency and trust as essential elements of a highly reliable organization, and CEOs are taking bold steps to reshape system culture.
"Our top priority right now within that journey is embedding psychological safety as the foundational element," said Peter Banko, president and CEO of Baystate Health in Springfield, Mass. "We want to best enable our 13,000 incredible caregivers to freely voice concerns, report potential issues before they become bigger issues, admit mistakes without fear of negative consequences, and learn from our errors. Pivoting towards a culture of openness and transparency is absolutely vital for highly reliable patient care in a complex academic safety net health system. This relentless patient care improvement focus also creates significant understanding, momentum, and camaraderie for our other strategic priorities."