If you were to follow Lorenzo Brown, president and CEO for Orange City, Fla.-based AdventHealth Fish Memorial and the West Volusia market, on LinkedIn, you would see that his posts exhibit a passion and dedication for improved healthcare leadership.
His passion has led to increased communication, pay, education and mental health support for employees. These efforts have also helped reduce turnover rates for nurses, something Mr. Brown told Becker's has put AdventHealth on the map as one of the lowest agency rates among the 20 largest health systems in the U.S.
Becker's connected with Mr. Brown to learn more about his leadership style and strategies used to improve some of healthcare's biggest challenges.
Editor's note: Responses have been lightly edited for clarity and length.
Question: How has the CEO role evolved over the last three to five years?
Lorenzo Brown: In the last five years, we went through a global pandemic, which magnified the importance of collaboration and the value of building relationships with patients and their families, team members and medical staff members, and hospital board members before, during and after challenging situations. During this time, partnerships with local officials and non-profit organizations in the community took on even more significance.
Intentional listening and continually testing new, creative solutions in working closely with these groups ultimately helped me be better positioned to meet the needs of our community today with the services we offer, while preparing for tomorrow.
Q: What do you think makes a strong CEO?
LB: As CEO, I focus on leading with compassion and empathy. Being a leader in health care requires resilience, adaptability, strong communication and a commitment to lifelong learning. It is about balancing technical expertise with empathy and helping to inspire our teams toward a shared vision.
Our vision is to be known as a preeminent, faith-based, consumer-focused organization that helps those we care for feel whole. A significant way we will reach this vision is by providing uncommon compassionate care in an environment focused on ensuring the highest level of patient safety.
Q: As an industry leader, how do you ensure that your employees feel seen and heard?
LB: We prioritize regular, open communication with our team members and physicians at all levels. This includes town hall meetings, one-on-one sessions, and anonymous feedback channels to ensure everyone has a voice. I regularly and purposefully visit units throughout the hospital, connecting on a one-to-one basis with team members and physicians to hear directly about their experiences.
We also host regular recognition events, including annual service awards where we come together to celebrate and recognize our team – many of whom have chosen to stay with us for decades.
Q: What strategies have you implemented as a leader to combat these issues?
LB: At AdventHealth we see our teams for who they are – people, caring for people. Hearing directly from team members about their needs and working together to make meaningful changes is paramount to our success.
Florida is the fastest-growing state in the U.S., and that is something we are certainly experiencing in West Volusia County.
As our communities grow, so does the need for more caregivers. To support the sustainability of the local health care workforce, our team looked for creative and innovative ways to enhance the entire nursing experience and bring even more clinicians to the area so we can continue to deliver on our promise of providing high-quality, compassionate care.
To address recruitment and retention, we enhanced our benefits package and career development opportunities to include tuition reimbursement, mentorship programs and clear pathways for advancement within the organization.
We created opportunities to hear directly from our nursing teams about their needs and worked with them to make meaningful changes throughout the Central and East Florida area, including:
1. Pay: More than $100 million invested in nursing pay and bonus initiatives
2. Education: Nearly $40 million provided in tuition assistance for all team members since 2020
3. Mental health support: AdventHealth began offering resources for all team members companywide to have 24/7 access to mental health professionals and on-site, hospital-based mental health consultants.
4. Work intensity: We recruited 4,110 patient care technicians and 930 licensed practical nurses since 2020 to ensure registered nurses have the support they need to focus on our most acute patients and practice at the top of their license. AdventHealth Fish Memorial was also among the first in our area to pilot virtual nurses to assist bedside nurses with admissions and discharges in inpatient units and the ER.
These combined efforts contributed to our Florida facilities in Flagler, Lake and Volusia counties reducing the number of external agency nurses by an impressive 83%, reducing turnover by 22% and reducing travel nurses by 39%.