Atlantic Health CEO's story of growth

Over the past decade, Brian Gragnolati has overseen significant growth at Morristown, N.J.-based Atlantic Health System.

Since joining as president and CEO in 2015, Atlantic has expanded to employ 5,400 physicians and 21,000 support personnel across 550 care sites in 14 counties. 

Mr. Gragnolati's tenure will conclude with his retirement after a 45-year healthcare career. In conversation with Becker's, Mr. Gragnolati reflected on his career and the system's future moving into 2025. 

He shared a mix of emotions about retirement, describing both the difficulty of leaving and his excitement for the future.

"To me, this has certainly been a job, but it really has been a calling from my perspective," Mr. Gragnolati said. "Whether it was my time as an EMT or doing what I do now, the one thing that I think has been so compelling to me is that this is a great way to [do] 'business with a purpose.'"

"We get the incredible privilege of taking care of our community members, our friends, family members and people we don't know, sometimes at their darkest hours," he added. "I can't imagine being able to have a better profession for your whole life."

He added that this makes his retirement decision hard, but it also allows him the flexibility to spend meaningful time with his grandchildren.

Mr. Gragnolati will remain CEO until his successor is selected and steps into the role, after which he will transition to a special advisor role with the board.

Meanwhile, he is focused on guiding the organization into 2025, with a continued focus on the communities Atlantic serves, ensuring that patients have access to high-quality care and that employees providing that care feel supported.

To Mr. Gragnolati, this means maintaining a mindset of "How many patients do we touch every year?" instead of "How many hospitals do we have?"

During his tenure, Atlantic expanded its reach from approximately 500,000 individuals per year to over 1.1 million. About half of the 1.1 million are engaged in some type of value-based care arrangement.

"Our plans for next year are to continue growing the number of lives we touch and ensuring we're serving them in a way that allows them to get all of their care within the Atlantic Health System," said Mr. Gragnolati.

He said Atlantic will also continue growth through strategic partnerships in 2025 with its acquisition of New Brunswick, N.J.-based St. Peter's Healthcare System, pending federal, state and church approvals for the proposed deal.

Additionally, CentraState Healthcare System in Freehold, N.J., finalized its 2021 agreement to join Atlantic whereby Atlantic became the majority corporate member of CentraState.

Mr. Gragnolati said Atlantic will continue to advance plans with CentraState and help the system grow in New Jersey.

Additionally, Atlantic is focused on alleviating the administrative burdens physicians face in their roles, as well as supporting team members.

"Part of our strategy is to continue to be the best place where people want to practice, where people want to work — not just by having appropriate compensation levels and benefit levels, but also opportunities to grow, opportunities to help with education, … and create a work environment where everybody's working as a team," said Mr. Gragnolati.

"Recently, a member of my family needed some pretty significant heart surgery, and so I saw firsthand the work that we do at the bedside and how our team members collaborate on this. And in my conversations with the nursing team over that period of time, it's really been affirming to me that we're on the right track."

  

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