What's next for patient care? Insights from 96 healthcare executives

Becker's asked C-suite executives from hospitals and health systems across the U.S. to share their plans on improving patient care in the near future.

The 96 executives featured in this article are all speaking at the Becker's Healthcare 15th Annual Meeting on April 28 - May 1, 2025, at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago.

To learn more about this event, click here.

If you would like to join as a speaker or a reviewer, contact Mariah Muhammad at mmuhammad@beckershealthcare.com or agendateam@beckershealthcare.com. 

For more information on sponsorship opportunities or vendor access-only badges, contact Jessica Cole at jcole@beckershealthcare.com.

As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who will speak at our conference. The following are answers from our speakers at the event.

Question: What is your top priority for improving patient care over the next 2-3 years?

Peter Banko. President and CEO of Baystate Health (Springfield, Mass.): Baystate Health is rapidly accelerating its High Reliability Organization journey over the next two to three years. Our top priority right now within that journey is embedding psychological safety as the foundational element. 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.

Cliff A. Megerian, MD, FACS. CEO and Jane and Henry Meyer CEO Distinguished Chair, University Hospitals (Cleveland): At University Hospitals, we're continually looking for new ways to improve patient care, so it's impossible to limit these efforts to just one priority. However, what all our initiatives in this vein have in common is our commitment to both science and compassion. We are, for example, in the midst of right-sizing, reducing variation in care paths and optimizing our clinical services to maximize quality, safety and efficiency. These decisions, informed greatly by data on patient volumes and other key metrics, allow us to meet the evolving needs of the patients we serve. 

Beyond these efforts, we also continue to prioritize research and the transformative role it can play for our patients. We are now among the country's leaders in clinical research studies and trials, with the number here at UH at approximately 3,400 and growing. These studies and trials are where medical progress happens, and we're proud to be able to offer the hope they provide to our patients. At the same time, however, we're also doubling down on our well-earned reputation for compassionate care. 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. 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.

Shelly Schorer. CFO of California Division at CommonSpirit Health (Chicago): 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. 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. 

Craig Kent, MD. CEO of UVA Health (Charlottesville, Va.); Executive Vice President of Health Affairs at University of Virginia: Over the next 2-3 years, UVA Health will focus on ensuring our world-class clinical expertise is more accessible to patients across the Commonwealth of Virginia and beyond. We are taking a multifaceted approach, including forging strategic partnerships with other health systems and organizations to strengthen regional care delivery. For example, through our new strategic alliance with Riverside Health System, in which UVA Health holds a minority ownership, we have expanded access to innovative care for complex cardiothoracic conditions, advanced transplantation services, and cutting-edge clinical trials in Eastern Virginia. Similarly, through the Virginia Congenital Cardiac Collaborative, we are improving outcomes for children with complex congenital heart defects by having our surgeons provide pediatric cardiac services at hospitals across the state. We will continue to pursue partnership opportunities throughout Virginia that strengthen access to our UVA Health subspecialists. Meanwhile, we are expanding capacity at our flagship University Medical Center to increase accessibility for those complex patients that require tertiary and quaternary care. 

Wendy Horton, PharmD, MBA, FACHE. CEO of UVA Health University Medical Center (Charlottesville, Va.): UVA Health's top priority over the next 2-3 years is to deliver exceptional care to our patients while fulfilling our responsibility to both our local community and the Commonwealth of Virginia. To meet the growing demand for our services and expertise, we are focused on expanding access to care within and beyond the hospital by adding new beds at University Medical Center and prioritizing patient throughput, with quality and safety at the forefront. 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. 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.

Roxanna Gapstur, PhD, RN. President and CEO of WellSpan Health (York, Pa.): Our top priority for patient care in the next two years is to focus on our care and support teams by ensuring they have the resources needed to excel in their roles. Our focus on new ways to leverage people, process and technology while engaging our teams to drive these approaches — and creating stronger linkages between teams – has already improved quality and safety. Our value of Find a Better Way guides our work to improve care for our friends and neighbors.

Darryl Elmouchi, MD, MBA. Chief Operating Officer of Corewell Health (Grand Rapids and Southfield, Mich.): We have two primary areas of focus over the next few years when it comes to patient care. The first is to improve the experience of our patients by not only enhancing access but making sure all the non-clinical touch points are easy. This encompasses everything from scheduling to paying bills. The second is patient safety. The national data on patient safety hasn't moved much in the 20 years since the seminal report, “To Err is Human,” was published. While we have made great strides, there is always more work to be done. We are looking at patient safety through the lens of complexity theory with the goal of moving the needle even further.

JP Valin, MD. Chief Clinical Officer of Intermountain Health (Salt Lake City): One of Intermountain Health's top priorities for improving patient care over the next 2-3 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. 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.

Alyson K. Myers, MD. Associate Chair of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion of the Department of Medicine at Montefiore Einstein (Bronx, N.Y.): Taking my fight for health equity upstream to the policy makers. Too many working Americans are suffering from complications of diabetes which could be curtailed with better reimbursements and policies.

Deb Kiser, RN. Heart Service Line Executive Lead and System Vice President Operations of the Cardiovascular Service Line at The Christ Hospital (Cincinnati): Our priority over the next several months to improve patient care is to focus on accessibility to care. We are experiencing 30, 60 and even 90 day wait times depending on specialty — our goal is to see all patients within 7-10 days and sooner if possible.

Tabitha Hapeman, DNP, APRN, RN. Enterprise Director of Utilization Management and Clinical Appeals at WVU Medicine (Morgantown, W.Va.): The patient experience is inclusive of their interactions with the hospital revenue cycle. In order for patients to perceive having had an excellent direct care experience, their interactions with billing and finance must also be top tier. A negative billing experience can override a positive clinical interaction, leaving an overall poor impression of the hospital. Focusing on improving the financial health literacy and customer experience, while also increasing transparency will be part of the healthcare journey in the coming years.

Lisa Griffin. Chief Consumer Officer of Consumer Experience and Patient Access at University Hospitals (Cleveland): At University Hospitals Cleveland, our top priority over the next two to three years is revolutionizing the patient experience by aligning access, care pathways, and consumer insights into a cohesive, patient-centered strategy. This includes expanding digital tools like automated scheduling and prior authorization systems, integrating services such as call centers and referral management through our Care Connections Access framework, and leveraging analytics to proactively address patient needs. By combining innovation with a culture of empathy and equity, we aim to deliver seamless, personalized care that not only meets but exceeds the expectations of the communities we proudly serve.

Luis Taveras, PhD. Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Lehigh Valley Health Network (Allentown, Pa.): My top priorities are: 

• Improving Access by better management of appointments availability
• Driving compliance with care plans with technology assistance
• Driving care alignment with analytics

Kim Meeker, MBA, BSN, RN. Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer at Henry Ford Wyandotte (Mich.) Hospital: As chief nursing officer, my top priority for improving patient care is to enhance the quality and safety of our services through a robust culture of nursing excellence. This involves empowering our nursing staff with ongoing education and professional development opportunities, ensuring they are equipped to practice at the top of their license. I am committed to fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, where nurses work closely with other healthcare professionals to deliver holistic, patient-centered care. Additionally, I aim to implement data-driven strategies to monitor outcomes and refine our practices continually, ensuring that we meet and exceed the needs of our patients and their families. Ultimately, my goal is to create an environment where compassionate care and clinical excellence go hand in hand, leading to improved patient satisfaction and health outcomes.

Kurt Koczent, RN, FACHE. Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of UR Thompson Health (Canandaigua, N.Y.): Our health system and enterprise are growing, and it is connected by Epic, allowing for consistency of care and communication throughout our seven-hospital enterprise. This integration is critical to ensuring continuity of care, no matter where a patient may go within our network. From primary care to urgent care and specialists, we are also focused on engaging our patients with the MyChart app, which helps keep demographics, past medical history, surgical history, and medications up to date. This engagement not only fosters good care but also ensures that patients remain within our enterprise for their lifelong care needs.

Over the next two to three years, we aim to solidify our commitment to excellence in clinical care within our communities, fostering strong patient relationships and driving clinical outcomes and financial growth. Through these efforts, we ensure that our patients receive the highest standard of care while building a robust and sustainable healthcare network.

Scott Wooten. Executive in Residence of Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.): My top priority for improving patient care is to provide more whole person care to enable individuals to reduce their reliance on costly pharmacological and hospital care. Let's make America healthy so they can build wealth. Traditional healthcare is amazing and we need to keep it that way, but traditional healthcare is taking too much of America's family budget.

Carman Ciervo, DO. Chief Physician Executive of Cooper Care Alliance (Camden, N.J.): Our top priority for improving patient care is staffing up our access center to hold an abandonment rate of 5% or less. This is much better than industry standard but improves patient access. In addition, we have done open access scheduling through MyChart in Epic.

Finally, we will have scheduling advocates who will be responsible for scheduling patients into specialists. This too will improve quality for patient access.

Nicholas Testa, MD. Chief Medical Officer of California Region at CommonSpirit Health (Chicago): In my role as a regional chief medical officer I have the opportunity to see the impact of our patient safety work across dozens of hospitals. I am so proud of the improvements we have seen and believe we have made great progress forward. That said, I have also had the opportunity to see how frequent significant patient harm events are and realize that there is still significant work ahead of us to enhance our culture of safety.

Thomas S. Ivester, MD. Chief Quality Officer of UNC Hospitals (Chapel Hill, N.C.): While there are many foundational priorities for improving the quality and safety of patient care, perhaps chief among these is stabilizing the healthcare workforce. Our teammates are critical to building a true safety culture in support of high reliability practices, and one that is deeply committed to our collective mission. 

Significant turnover in the healthcare workforce has led to persistent dependence on contract staff and an influx of less experienced staff across the sector. These staff have played important roles in maintaining operations and access to care, but they present unique challenges in building culture and the consistent delivery of efficient, high quality care. Effective onboarding and retention of permanent staff are critical precursors to a strong culture, which will accelerate improvements in access, quality, and patient safety, and ultimately in rebuilding trust in healthcare. 

Zafar Chaudry, MD. Senior Vice President, Chief Digital, Chief AI, and CIO of Seattle Childrens: Improving patient care over the next two to three years involves addressing challenges and leveraging innovations to enhance outcomes, experiences, and efficiencies which include enhancing access to care, personalizing patient care, strengthening workforce well-being, streamlining healthcare delivery, focusing on preventative care, advancing technology integration, and prioritizing quality and safety.

Tahlia L. Weis, MD, PhD. Service Line Medical Director, Cardiovascular Services, Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System: Optimizing accessibility to our patients utilizing AI including self-scheduling, telehealth and remote monitoring.

Athena Minor, MSN, RN. Chief Nursing and Clinical Officer of Ohio County Healthcare (Hartford, Ky.): As with many organizations, we are continually evaluating quality within our service lines and performing quality improvement projects based on those evaluations. This includes continual professional education for our employees and medical staff as well as keeping current with evidence-based best practices, implementing as appropriate. 

However, last year we did a thorough population health deep dive, looking at our transitional care processes. We found that some patients were falling outside of the continuum of care, and we would only see them again in crisis. This year we are expanding our processes for transitional care services utilizing focus transitional care coordinators and volunteers within our community to overcome obstacles. It has already been extremely effective, and I expect great things in the year to come.

Rebecca Andrews. Senior Vice President of Administrator Raleigh at WakeMed Hospitals (Raleigh, N.C.): I am most excited about WakeMed's move toward precision medicine. We recently established a partnership with Helix, a leader in precision health to launch a precision medicine program to improve health outcomes by making individualized care accessible.

Enrolling 100,000 participants over a four-year period, this program will provide actionable DNA insights to certain diseases such as colorectal cancer, ovarian cancer, breast cancer, and high cholesterol. Participants will use this genetic information to improve and prevent disease in more treatable stages.

JohnRich R. Levine, DNP, DPA, MSN. Senior Director of Surgical Services at Virginia Mason Medical Center (Seattle): My top priority for improving patient care focuses on three interconnected pillars: leadership development, evidence-based practice, and patient-centered protocols.

First, building high-performing leadership teams is essential to driving transformational change. By developing robust mentorship and leadership training programs, I aim to empower clinical staff with the skills to innovate, adapt, and foster collaboration across interdisciplinary teams. Strong leadership will provide the foundation for delivering sustainable improvements in care.

Second, implementing evidence-based safety and quality initiatives will lead to measurable improvements in patient outcomes. Specifically, I plan to launch initiatives such as standardized sepsis reduction protocols, wound care improvements, and targeted education to reduce hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). These strategies, paired with predictive analytics for optimal staffing and resource utilization, will ensure consistency in delivering safe, effective care.

Finally, enhancing patient-centered care practices is critical to building trust and improving the overall patient experience. This includes training staff in empathetic communication and engagement, creating a culture that prioritizes holistic care and respects the unique needs of each patient.

These initiatives align with my vision of setting benchmarks for excellence in critical care while striving for national recognition in quality and patient satisfaction. By focusing on leadership, innovation, and compassion, I aim to transform care delivery, elevate patient outcomes, and create a lasting impact on the healthcare landscape.

Karen Miller, RN, MS. Chief Quality Officer of BayCare Health Systems (Green Bay, Wis.): Evaluating for accuracy and implementing safe artificial intelligence to support physician diagnosis and treatment selection. Accepting human error as inherent in healthcare is the first step in recognizing that there is no shame in utilizing computer technology to assist in evaluating objective criteria and comparing it to the vast amount of healthcare related information that is known. This comparison can then be used to accurately identify differential diagnoses and assure every provider has the information to review current best practices and work with each patient to select their best plan of care.  

Kenneth Sable, MD. Regional President of Southern Market at Hackensack Meridian Health (Edison, N.J.): My top priority for improving patient care over the next two to three years is to continue our journey toward High Reliability. Creating standard work and reducing unfavorable variability will no doubt continue to have positive impacts on the patient outcomes that matter most. Making High Reliability a core competency will ensure that all 38,000+ team members are moving in the same direction in terms of prioritizing patient care.

Jeff Gautney. Chief Information Officer of Rush University System for Health (Chicago): 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. Our plan for improving patient care is multi-faceted, and includes:

• 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 feel strongly that we need to address all of these in order to meaningfully impact the quality of care. 

Margo Shoup, MD. Professor of Surgery of University of Central Florida, College of Medicine (Orlando): Top priority is improving access, timeliness of care and identifying value based options. We will be developing programs and extending services to the outlying communities so that cancer care is local.

Ceonne Houston-Raasikh. Chief Nursing Officer of Keck Medicine of USC, Keck Hospital (Los Angeles): My top priority is to leverage artificial intelligence to help improve patient care. This will be done in several ways, including utilizing AI-embedded medical technology, predictive analytics, and remote patient monitoring.

Sarosh Rana, MD. Obstetrics and Gynecology Professor; Chair of Maternal Fetal Medicine and Chief Obstetrical Transformation Officer at University of Chicago Medicine: My goal as the chief obstetrical transformation officer at the University of Chicago is to lead collaborative efforts within the ecosystem of labor and delivery healthcare providers to establish more efficient and supportive care delivery systems for the entire continuum of pregnancy care in Southland. 

I want to provide community-based access to Maternal Fetal Medicine specialists to provide high-risk specialty pregnancy care and high-quality ultrasound.

I want to develop strong partnerships with labor and delivery sites to facilitate care transitions from and back to the prenatal setting at various federally qualified health centers.

I want to implement evidence-based supportive programs that standardize the treatment of conditions like preeclampsia with community health worker models at the University of Chicago and our collaborative sites.

Nygel Williams. Executive Director of Physical Therapy Program at Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis): Our top priority is to enhance patient care through technological innovation and personalized treatment. We will implement advanced telehealth solutions, leverage data analytics for precision medicine, continue to build capacity to decrease wait times, and prioritize patient education and empowerment. By focusing on these areas, we aim to elevate the patient experience at Washington University Physical Therapy.

Gian Varbaro, MD. Vice President of Ambulatory Services and Chief Medical Officer of Bergen New Bridge Medical Center (Paramus, N.J.): My top priorities are finding ways to off load non-clinical work from my clinical providers and improving patient navigation. The combination of the doctor and nursing shortages, along with increased regulatory needs has put more pressure on providers. If we can offload them, possibly using technology, we can free them to spend their time with the patients, improving communication and patient compliance, which will, in turn, improve patient care. Similarly, if we can improve navigation to make the healthcare system less opaque and easier for patients to use and to get the care that they need, we will greatly improve our care.

Mark D. Townsend, MD. Chief Clinical Innovation Officer of Bon Secours Mercy Health (Cincinnati): Improved access is arguably our top priority for improving patient care over the next two to three years. We need to wrap care around our patients when they need it, where they want it, and with service that meets their expectations! To empower that access, we will need omni-channel communication with our patients that personalizes care throughout their care-journey. When our patients no longer wait to access our care, we will be getting closer to achieving our goals!

Margie Zyble. Chief Human Resources Officer of UC Health (Cincinnati): First and foremost, we must invest in our employees to allow them to be at their best as they care for our patients. 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.

Jason Spigner. Chief Human Resources Officer of Sinai Chicago: Stabilization and engagement of the workforce are my top priorities in improving patient care. Successful caregivers have been shown to have a sense of belonging and a sense of safety. We must provide experiences that help caregivers connect and see others displaying our values. Additionally, our caregivers must know we are committed and will provide them with the necessary resources to deliver care safely, including holding our patients accountable for not harming our caregivers. As a human resources professional, I am committed to helping build a culture that solves issues and helps build a stable workforce that learns, remains, and creates a culture of excellent patient care.

Bryon Schaeffer, MD. Chief Medical Officer of Clarinda (Iowa) Regional Health Center: A priority I have for our medical staff over the next two years to improve patient care is to focus on compassionate, informed care. This past year I have embraced the data and concepts presented in "Compassionomics." Patient experience and patient perception are crucial in healthcare as they directly influence trust, satisfaction, and outcomes. We are working on active listening and empathetic communication to help build trust and understanding.

Christine Larson, RN, BSN. Vice President of Clinic Operations, North Wisconsin Area at Advocate Aurora Health Care (Downers Grove, Ill., and Milwaukee): My top priority for improving patient care over the next two to three years is access to safe/high quality primary care services. We are seeing significant gaps in health equity and access concerns for our most vulnerable patients in the communities we serve, with particular concerns in urban areas where there are transportation concerns, financial concerns, and a general lack of support with care coordination to manage available resources. 

Chad Konchak. System Assistant Vice President of Data Analytics of Endeavor Health (Evanston, Ill.): Over the next two to three years, our top priority is aligning systems and structures as we continue to come together as a truly unified health system, ensuring better care for every patient we serve. By integrating our teams and analytics across clinical and business service lines, we're creating a strong foundation for data-driven decisions that improve outcomes. At the same time, we're expanding our capabilities in Generative AI to unlock new ways to support clinicians and personalize care. These efforts will allow us to deliver smarter, more connected, and compassionate care to our communities.

Thomas Maddox, MD. Vice President of Digital Products and Innovation at BJC HealthCare (St. Louis)/Washington University School of Medicine: A major initiative for our innovation work is clinical wellness, which has direct implications for patient care. Our clinicians are under an enormous amount of stress, driven in large part by the administrative demands on their time. We are looking at innovations to improve that and bring the joy of practicing medicine back!

Over the next two to three years, my top priority for improving patient care will focus on ensuring consistent delivery of evidence-based practices across our hospitals. By prioritizing applying these practices — every patient, every time — we can drive continuous improvements in patient outcomes, ultimately enhancing the quality of care provided. To support this initiative, staying abreast of new evidence and research developments in the medical field is essential, enabling our team to integrate the most effective methods into our daily practices. Furthermore, I believe that actively listening to the voices of our patients is crucial. Their feedback informs us about their needs and preferences and motivates our team to strive for excellence in patient-centered care. Combining these efforts can create a healthcare environment prioritizing safety, effectiveness, and patient satisfaction.

Brandi Fields, DNP, RN, NEA-BC. Chief Nursing Officer of Mercy Health – Cincinnati: Over the next two to three years, my top priority for improving patient care will focus on ensuring consistent delivery of evidence-based practices across our hospitals. By prioritizing applying these practices — every patient, every time — we can drive continuous improvements in patient outcomes, ultimately enhancing the quality of care provided. To support this initiative, staying abreast of new evidence and research developments in the medical field is essential, enabling our team to integrate the most effective methods into our daily practices. Furthermore, I believe that actively listening to the voices of our patients is crucial. Their feedback informs us about their needs and preferences and motivates our team to strive for excellence in patient-centered care. Combining these efforts can create a healthcare environment prioritizing safety, effectiveness, and patient satisfaction.

Nariman Heshmati, MD. Chief Physician and Operations Executive of Lee Physician Group (Fort Myers, Fla.): My top priority for improving patient care is evaluating and redesigning the entire patient experience and care delivery model. Healthcare is a complex maze for patients — from the challenges of getting an appointment to navigating visits, testing, and medications. Patients want not only high-quality outcomes but convenient care and we have the ability to give them that experience — and in the process improve outcomes and lower costs.

Marc Perkins-Carrillo, MSN, RN. Chief Nursing Informatics Officer of Moffitt Cancer Center (Tampa, Fla.): My top priority for improving patient care over the next 2-3 years is to leverage technology to enhance both patient engagement and clinical decision-making. By implementing a virtual nursing program focused on patient education and utilizing AI-powered tools to proactively identify patients experiencing decompensation, we can significantly improve patient outcomes and satisfaction. Virtual nursing will empower patients with timely, personalized information, leading to better self-management and adherence to treatment plans. Concurrently, AI-driven early warning systems will enable early intervention for deteriorating patients, reducing adverse events and hospital readmissions. This integrated approach will not only enhance the quality of care but also optimize resource utilization, improve overall patient experience, and reduce costs to the organization.

William Kumprey. Assistant Chief Medical Officer of Emergency Medicine at ThedaCare (Neenah, Wis.): We have an impossible task ahead… do more (access), better (efficiency, pt experience, hospital ratings, CMS, JCAHO), for less (declining reimbursement). The only way we succeed is to promote the wellbeing of our physician and non-physician practitioners. We need to reduce burnout, make the job desirable, and keep people from leaving. This can only be done through a mix of proper contracts (hours and pay), proper staffing (physician led teams and proper pph ratios), proper support, maximizing efficiency through innovation (AI scribe, streamline Epic), and proper education and expectation of maximizing wellness/time away from work stress.

If we don't adapt, create an even more engaged team, and involve our physicians heavily in the solution, the system will crash.

David Verinder. President and CEO of Sarasota (Fla.) Memorial Health Care System: Sarasota Memorial Health Care System is a multi-hospital health system in southwest Florida and leading provider of specialty care and referral services in one of the fastest growing regions in the United States. As we continue to expand our range of services and geographic reach, SMH is making a significant investment in a new, fully integrated electronic health records system that will help enhance our quality of care and harness the power of innovative technology and tools for the future.

Among many other benefits, transitioning to Epic's platform over the next two years will enhance our efforts to seamlessly share medical records and data across multiple locations and providers. With Epic widely used by many large health systems, SMH providers can exchange health information with clinicians in our own community and around the nation, and deliver more coordinated and efficient care to our seasonal patients, tourists and new arrivals to our gulf coast community. 

The new platform also continually deploys advanced, state-of-the-art technology, including artificial intelligence and predictive modeling, to help optimize care delivery. Communication and patient experience are top priorities, and we look forward to enhancing both through face-to-face, personal interactions with our patients as well as a new and improved patient portal that expands and enhances access to their health information.

Joel George, MSN, RN. Executive Director of Retail Services of AdventHealth Parks & Training Center (Altamonte Springs, Fla.): As an executive focused on strategizing, conceptualizing, and operating AdventHealth Health Parks with a hospitality-centered approach, my top priorities for improving patient care over the next 2-3 years will be

1. Personalized, Patient-Centric Care Delivery

Transform patient interactions into tailored experiences that feel seamless and attentive. Invest in training staff in empathy, communication, and personalization strategies inspired by consumer obsessed service industries.

2. Operational Excellence with Lean Processes

Ensure operational systems are optimized to reduce delays and improve patient flow. Develop flexible scheduling models to adapt to patient demand and improve provider efficiency.

3. Focus on Community Health and Preventative Care

Extend care beyond treatment to empower patients in managing their health. Partner with community organizations for health education, screenings, and wellness programs. Develop tailored preventative care programs for high-risk populations and incorporate mental health services and lifestyle medicine into our offerings

I truly believe that by combining high-tech solutions with high-touch care, and ensuring your facilities culture and operations are consistently aligned with patient needs and the next generation of the healthcare consumer we will redefine excellence in patient care.

Nikki Romence. Chief People Officer of Chapters Health System (Temple Terrace, Fla.): Over the next 2-3 years, a key focus for human resources in enhancing patient care is strengthening employee engagement, as it serves as the foundation for delivering exceptional patient experiences. By investing in employee well-being, professional growth, and providing the tools they need, we can empower our teams to deliver compassionate, high-quality care. A culture of feedback, recognition, and collaboration will ensure employees feel valued and aligned with the organization's mission, directly enhancing patient satisfaction. This strategic alignment creates a cycle where engaged employees drive better outcomes, improving both patient and caregiver experiences.

Hillery Shay, MBA. Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Children's Minnesota (Minneapolis): At Children's Minnesota, we have a bold vision for the future. We aim to be the premier independent pediatric health system in our region. As the Kid Experts, Children's Minnesota will focus on achieving an unparalleled experience across five key domains: clinical, human, digital, brand and environmental. From high quality clinical care to a comforting environment to seamless digital tools, we will deliver on our promise of excellence for everyone who interacts with us.

Heath M. Roberts. Chief Administrative Officer of Henry Ford Health Healthy Populations (Detroit): A top priority for improving health over the next two to three years involves integrating population health strategies into traditional healthcare. 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. Collaboration across care teams (care delivery and payors), supported by advanced data analytics, will allow us to personalize interventions while optimizing resource allocation, reducing costs, and creating a more patient-centered system.

D. Richelle Heldwein. Chief Risk and Compliance Officer of St Johns Health (Jackson, Wyo.): As an organization we have identified that access to care is something that we can focus on that would positively impact our community and improve patient care and patient experience.

The quality pillar of our strategic plan is centered around improving patient navigation, improving care coordination, and enhancing efficiencies that will allow us to better serve our community.

These goals are designed to improve access, decreasing care inequities, and improving quality of care for our patients and our community.

Christopher Douglas, Ed.D. Houston Market CEO of River Oaks Hospital & Clinics and East Houston Hospital & Clinics (Houston): Over the next 2-3 years, I am committed to investing in our clinical staff by fostering partnerships with local educational institutions to offer clinical rotations, on-the-job training for new graduates, and opportunities for continuing education. Additionally, as a system, we are dedicated to revitalizing foundational practices in clinical settings such as bedside shift report, AIDET use, unit safety huddles, acuity and competency-based nursing assignments, and consistent Nurse Leader rounding to ensure the highest standards of patient care and staff support.

Mehdi Shishehbor, DO, MPH, PhD. President of University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute (Cleveland): Our team at University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute will be working on several priorities. We will focus on the evolution of cardiovascular procedures to outpatient settings, with the overall goal of better serving patients where they live and work. We have been at the forefront of this transition by bringing our communities the highest-quality cardiovascular care, now offering cardiac and vascular procedures at 10 hospitals across Northeast Ohio. 

We will also enhance patient care through our system-based approach to cardiac surgery. UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute now provides open-heart surgery at five sites in our region. We are unique in our approach with a decentralized program structured around one team. For example, our cardiac surgery program has a team of first-assists, perfusionists and nurses who rotate across these programs. This supports a high-quality surgical program with high-level experience. It also creates the benefits of acting as one, integrated system, which allows us to leverage our entire program to address capacity and access. 

In addition, we will continue our already-substantial efforts to add new members to our team. A significant shortage of nurses and physicians in the next two to three years will require novel approaches to recruiting and retention. At UH Harrington HVI, we've had significant success with physician recruitment, with over 50 surgeons and cardiologists joining us in the last five years. Our belief in creating and empowering multidisciplinary teams to better serve our patients' diverse needs, rather than departments or divisions, is fueling this growth. Quality is another critical area that will continue to be important. As complex procedures move to outpatient settings, a more matrix- and system-based quality infrastructure will be necessary. We are already addressing this need with a complex, system-based quality structure. To improve patient care even further, this will only continue and grow here at UH Harrington HVI.

Lewis W. Marshall Jr., MD, JD. Chief Medical Officer; Affiliate Dean; Assistant Professor, Clinical Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine at Lincoln Hospital (Bronx, N.Y.): There will always be numerous priorities aimed at improving patient care, and the top priority will depend on where you currently stand in the process. We need to keep in mind that it is about the patient! One of the most critical aspects of advancing patient care will be ensuring access. In-person care remains vital for many patients to build a strong relationship with their healthcare provider, and this will continue to grow in importance. Additionally, being fully committed to offering remote access when appropriate will increase touch points, though some patients remain hesitant about virtual visits. It will be essential to meet patients where they are, offering both in-person and remote options.

For our organization, improving communication stands as our top priority. Strengthening communication between physicians and nurses is key to creating a safe environment for patients. Similarly, improving communication between healthcare providers and patients, as well as their families, will further enhance safe patient care. Clear and consistent communication is critical in reducing errors, addressing medication concerns, managing post-discharge needs, and ultimately reducing readmissions. All of these outcomes benefit our patients.

Jenny Collopy. Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer of The Christ Hospital Health Network (Cincinnati): We have several key priorities for improving patient care over the next few years, but perhaps the most impactful are expanding access to primary care and improving access to all specialties and services to reduce wait times.

Access to primary care is foundational to good health. Establishing a relationship with a trusted primary care provider ensures you have a partner in your health journey — someone who knows your history, monitors changes that could indicate early signs of disease, and ensures you're staying on top of essential screenings and preventive care. This relationship helps patients stay well and catch potential issues before they become serious.

Equally important is improving access to all specialties and services by reducing wait times. Whether it's waiting for an appointment, a scan to inform treatment, or test results, these delays can cause anxiety and hinder timely care. By streamlining processes and removing barriers, we aim to provide faster, more efficient access to the care patients need, when they need it.

At The Christ Hospital Health Network, our mission is to improve the health of our community by delivering the best experiences and outcomes at an affordable cost. These priorities are essential to fulfilling that mission and ensuring every patient gets the care they deserve.

Stephen Hoang, MD. Medication Safety Officer, Pediatric Anesthesiologist at Children's Health System of Texas (Dallas): I work with a team with subject matter expertise in all aspects of the medication-use process (physicians, pharmacists, and nurses). With this multidisciplinary approach to medication safety, we are already seeing significant reductions in the number of medication errors that reach the patient, and consequently, improvement in patient safety. Over the next 2-3 years, our team's top priority will be to continue to prevent medication errors from reaching the patient. We have utilized our organization's strong just safety culture to encourage reporting of all medication-related events, both errors and good catches. This is extremely valuable data that is actionable and is helping transition us to more proactive (Safety-II) initiatives. Thus, we strive to build a resilient medication use process (as inherently complicated as it is) where every step is designed through the lens of quality care and patient safety. This multidisciplinary approach will allow our pediatric system to optimize the quality and experience of care for every child and family we serve.

Danielle Scheurer, MD, MSCR. Chief Quality Officer of MUSC Health System (Charleston, S.C.): Our top priority for patient care is developing and hard-wiring patient mobility programs. Immobility can result in short- and long-term patient harm, in all patient care settings. But most of our patient care settings and environments are geared toward immobility rather than mobility. Healthcare and community settings need to focus on making mobility more the norm than the exception.

Stephanie Everett. Administrator and CEO of Mountrail County Medical Center (Stanley, Md.): My top priority is to bring in new service lines to our facility such as a specialist clinic, infusion suite and an In-House MRI, so the residents of Mountrail County can stay local for their care. In expanding these services, we need to maintain the best quality of healthcare staff in this very interesting current workforce.

Sriram Vissa, MD. Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Medical Affairs at SSM Health DePaul Hospital (St. Louis): Speaking from the perspective of a chief medical officer of a large, complex, specialized hospital, I would prioritize implementing a comprehensive clinical quality and safety program focused on reducing preventable hospital-acquired conditions and improving care transitions.

Specifically, I would focus on the following:

1. Increase robust data analytics to enable real-time monitoring of key quality measures like early sepsis, revisits to acute care (readmissions), and other adverse events like Hospital-acquired delirium and falls. I anticipate AI algorithms helping with predictive analytics.
2. Enhancing care coordination through:

• Integration of geographical multidisciplinary rounding teams
• Dedicated transition-of-care teams to manage complex care, discharges, and better integration with post-acute care providers through EMRs

3. Strengthening our culture of safety by educating and implementing High-Reliability Organizing at SSM Health

Neil J. Weissman, MD. President and Chief Scientific Office of MedStar Health Research Institute at MedStar Health (Columbia, Md.): Academics can drive improved patient care. Most people think of research solely as the discovery of new drugs / devices. However, applying the academic mindset to everyday patient care challenges can lead to rapid and substantive improvements for today's patients. Whether you call it a learning healthcare system or implementation science, curiosity and courage (to be innovative) will make a difference. We can advance the health and wellbeing of all people through transformational, interdisciplinary and inclusive research.

John Mallia. Interim CFO of Arnot Health (Elmira, N.Y.): I love this question because it's at the core of everything we do. In the next 2-3 years, Arnot Health will go live with our new Epic EMR, Workday ERP as well as a new operating model for the health system. This will empower our fantastic frontline nurses, physicians, APPs, and other professionals by reducing their administrative burden and enabling more patient-centric care.

Paul Coyne, DNP, APRN, AGPCNP-BC. Senior Vice President and Chief Nurse Executive of HSS | Hospital for Special Surgery (New York City): Ensuring that patient care remains paramount amidst a rapidly evolving financial and technological landscape. With so many new models and tools, we must analyze every change to ensure that its implementation leads to a renewed focus on the patient and the clinicians who tirelessly work to provide care. This takes relentless focus, not to simply choose to either embrace change or resist it, but to choose the much more challenging path of harnessing every change into that which yields the most goodness. And what is most good, is to better care for patients. 

Tonya Jackman Hampton, EdD. Professor of University of Minnesota (Minneapolis); Professor of University of St. Thomas (Minneapolis): Focusing on strategic and culture alignment, ensuring team members are feeling valued and desire to stay while providing care to patients and improving healthcare outcomes for the community.

Cheyenne Holland. CFO of Gifford Health Care (Randolph, Vt.): As a rural health provider, our top priority is to preserve and improve access to care for the communities where we serve. This will require strategies focused on workforce recruitment and retention, strategic partnerships, and leveraging technology. We need to be innovative in how we provide care, how we use our limited healthcare resources, and how we can attract top talent to our rural community. Strategic partnerships and the use of technology will be essential for us to meet the needs within our communities and to stretch every healthcare dollar.

Micah Eimer, MD. Associate Chief Medical Officer of Cardiology Division at Northwestern Medicine (Chicago): Once we get patients in the door, we take exceptional care of them. What keeps me up at night is the degree to which the healthcare system has become impenetrable to the average patient. Digital innovation will help for some but many patients do not have access to or lack the fluency to utilize these technologies. We need to be as good with being accessible to our patients as we are caring for them. This will require some organizational restructuring, creative thinking and willingness to innovate. 

Alon Weizer, MD. Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Mount Sinai Medical Center (Miami Beach, Fla.): At Mount Sinai Medical Center, Miami Beach, our core Mission is delivering high quality patient-centered care. Our strategy for improving patient care centers around three large strategies:

1. People: As a closed medical staff and one of the oldest academic teaching hospitals in Florida, we continue to recruit outstanding physicians and providers who are passionate about patient care, teaching, and research. In addition, we have been successful in not only recruiting other health professionals (like nursing and pharmacy) but also in retaining these individuals. This allows us to support their professional development through education and integration into our culture. Aligned with these efforts, is a robust process of quality and performance improvement with engagement throughout the organization to optimize outcomes. Improving patient care starts with having a great team who are motivated to deliver the best care possible.
2. Technology: To support improving care, we are leveraging technology to help physicians and nurses not only be more efficient but also to be able to spend more time directly caring for patients. Our organization has taken a thoughtful approach to integrating AI, remote patient monitoring, ambient listening, virtual nursing, and other technologies into the clinical setting through institutional evaluation and governance that allows us to prioritize these tools based on quality, outcomes, and efficiency.
3. Access: At Mount Sinai Medical Center, we understand that timely access to care is critical to improving patient outcomes. Our strategy relies on two approaches. We continue to grow our physician practices and outpatient care services to serve patients in their own communities with our expert clinical teams and robust services. In addition, we have a very high adoption of our patient portal by our patients which facilitates their access to their providers to ask questions and seek care virtually. Our goal is to continue to leverage virtual alignment of our patients to address concerns as they arise and to support preventative care to improve their outcomes.

Jason M. Raidbard. Executive Administrator of Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences at UChicago Medicine and Biological Sciences: Chronic disease management, enhancing patient engagement through technology, and improving care coordination are all critical priorities in healthcare today. But the foundation for achieving these goals lies in prioritizing the well-being and resilience of our healthcare professionals. By addressing provider and staff burnout, enhancing training opportunities, and fostering a supportive engaging culture, we ensure our teams are equipped to deliver compassionate, high-quality care. A thriving workforce translates directly into better outcomes for patients.

Mark Chang, MD. Senior Vice President of CV Strategy and Transformation at Ballad Health CVA Heart Institute (Johnson City, Tenn.): We remain fully committed to improving patient care throughout our entire organization. In our CV enterprise, we are prioritizing our efforts to actively transform into a fully-integrated regional care delivery system. This is hard work and requires much time, energy and patience. But we believe those resources are well-spent as we aim to tightly align our mission and values as well as incentives and leverage a long-standing culture of clinical and administrative excellence with obsessive attention to quality outcomes in order to deliver top decile value-based CV care for our communities. 

Lynne Lee, Esq, RN. Vice President of Risk Management at Encompass Health (Birmingham, Ala.): For the next several years, a top priority for improving patient care is addressing the declining physical and emotional well-being of healthcare workers. This trend, which shows no signs of abating, poses a significant concern. To meet and mitigate this risk, healthcare organizations must provide mental health support for employees in these difficult jobs, as well as assisting employees in maintaining health levels of work-life balance.

Dave Alexander. CFO of Penn Medicine at Home (Philadelphia): The healthcare landscape is undergoing a profound transformation as patient centered care shifts beyond the hospital walls and into the comfort of the patient's homes. Advances in technology, the demand for personalized care, and the rising need for cost effective solutions are driving this trend. Over the next two to three years, treating patients at home promises to significantly improve patient outcomes, enhance the patient experience, and reduce health care costs.

Annie Thomas-Landrum, MSN, RN. Chairman of the Board of Sunshine Community Health Center (Talkeetna, Alaska): As patient needs continue to expand, and there is rising uncertainty over available resources, our team is focused on returning to the basics as a form of innovation. I recently read a great quote from Darin Bifani that provoked a lot of thought on this topic: “Most innovation involves doing the things we do every day a little bit better rather than creating something completely new and different.” We are boldly moving into an increasingly digital world, where AI and telehealth provide the opportunity to increase access for traditionally isolated patients. This is especially true in rural areas like our community. 

Finding ways to use that technology to increase real connection over siloing and create sustainability as we do is the challenge. We are working through this by investing in our collaborations and partnerships, creating environments for our employees and patients that promote holistic health and equity, and having a larger vision that guides how we use temporary and grant-based funding sources. Basically, we are investing in our relationships and working to have a solid strategic vision that guides our decisions. There is nothing revolutionary about these ideas. In fact, they are as simple as it gets. But in times of rapid change and transition, sometimes the most innovative thing we can do, in the iconic words of Kelly Johnson, is to “keep it simple, stupid!”

Ramin Davidoff, MD, Executive Medical Director and Chair of the Board of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group; Chair of the Board and CEO of The Southeast Permanente Medical Group and Hawaii Permanente Medical Group; co-CEO of The Permanente Federation (Oakland, Calif.): Continuous quality improvement is a cornerstone of our strategy as a value-based care organization, and a key priority is to leverage AI to enhance the quality of care we deliver. To that end, we are already integrating AI to increase diagnostic accuracy and treatment efficacy. For example, we are using AI for mammogram analysis to help identify high-risk cases faster and more precisely than traditional methods. When paired with workflows, such algorithms could increase the identification of patients who may be at risk for breast cancer from 20% using traditional approaches to 75% or more.

Nolan Chang, MD. Executive Vice President of Strategy, Corporate Development and Finance of The Permanente Federation; Medical Director, Business Management, Southern California Permanente Medical Group (Oakland, Calif.): The AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) projects that the United States will face a physician shortage of up to 86,000 by 2036. At the same time, the population aged 65 and older is projected to grow 34.1%. Since older Americans tend to need more health care access, a focus for us is to meet this increased demand by investing in programs that meet our patients where they are, such as our advanced care at home programs, which use a combination of virtual and in-person care to deliver high-quality care to patients with serious conditions, such as hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes. Our value-based care programs allow for seamless care coordination between different care teams, enabling them to deliver comprehensive care across various settings, including the home while still driving for improved outcomes.

Stephen Parodi, MD. Executive Vice President of External Affairs, Communications and Brand at The Permanente Federation and The Permanente Medical Group (Oakland, Calif.): A top priority is establishing a policy environment that facilitates a healthier America where value-based care is the norm. My colleagues and I are fortunate to practice in a model established nearly 80 years ago and we believe the approach to a physician-led group practice focused on value rather than volume is critical to our success. An economic model that fosters pre-payment, preventive and population-based care combined with cutting edge information technology frees clinicians to pursue the mission we always envisioned for medicine: helping our patients. The results speak for themselves: Kaiser Permanente quality stars ratings for commercial plans received or tied for the highest rating in all geographic regions we serve, according to the 2024 NCQA results.

Patricia McClure-Chessier. Chief of Operations, Patient Safety and Strategy at Streamwood (Ill.) Behavioral Healthcare Hospital: SBHS top priority is to continue with improving patient care over the next 2-3 years, by increasing access to quality person-centered care through addressing disparities and barriers to treatment. Our healthcare system is also looking to expand outpatient services, to include individual therapy and medication management for adults. Additionally, SBHS will increase their partnerships with assisted living facilities, where clinicians go on site to provide individual therapy and medication management for active aging adults.

Tamara M. Campbell, MD, PsyD. Executive Director of VHA Office of Mental Health in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (Washington, D.C.): Access, quality and cost is the healthcare trifecta. Providing timely access to evidence-based treatments by leveraging all modalities and expanding telemental health whenever and wherever appropriate. Ensuring we close the gap where limited mental health resources exist in our rural communities as well as being intentional about eliminating mental health care disparities. It is imperative that our clinicians are supported to practice at the top of their license. Artificial intelligence can assist us in many ways, and we must ensure as we embark on innovations that we proceed with the highest ethical standards. Standardizing processes so there is easy flow of referral and service care delivery across the country will maximize operations. It is important that policies and clinical priorities align.

Frances Kelly, PhD, MSN. Assistant Chief Nursing Officer of USA Health, Children's and Women's Hospital (Mobile, Ala.): Improving care over the next two to three years is a multi-pronged, interprofessional endeavor, including improving access to care for patients, embracing patient- and family-centered care, optimizing team performance, and ensuring that we recruit and retain valuable talent to provide care.

One of the best ways to prevent disease is through activities aimed at prevention. Preventing disease is thwarted if populations have poor access to health care. Many hospitals are assessing the unique needs of the communities they serve which help to inform programmatic growth of their services as well as strategically determining how many additional providers and sites of care are needed to meet the needs of the population.

Embracing patient and family-centered care has multiple benefits, including improved safety and patient experience. Including patients and their families or caregivers in discussions that impact their plan of care reduces a patient's or family's perception that they have been left out of key discussions, provides them an opportunity to contribute substantively to the plan and ask clarifying questions, some of which may well prevent a medical error. Considering patient and family needs and preferences, providing culturally sensitive care, and communicating in ways that the patient, family, or caregiver can understand is essential to their well-being and ability to carry out the plan of care during their hospital stay and post-discharge.

A key priority for improving patient care is optimizing team performance through implementing evidence-based care and protocols, improving team communication, and having an established mechanism to escalate care concerns. Evidence-based care and protocols reduce care variation which improves care outcomes. Improving team communication through interprofessional team huddles and face-to-face, bedside handoff reduces miscommunication, promotes care coordination, and provides another opportunity to involve the patient and family. Embracing risk-reducing communication strategies such as asking clarifying questions, providing cross-checks, performing three-way repeat backs, and using phonetic and numeric clarification reduce communication errors. When team members have concerns that they need to escalate, employing and supporting care escalation techniques such as ARCC (Ask a question, Request a change, express a Concern, and if necessary, communicate up the Chain of Command) in formats such as SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, and Request/Recommendation) provide the structure for team members to rapidly communicate care concerns.

None of these priorities will make much difference if there are insufficient numbers of healthcare staff to provide care to patients and their families. Finding innovative ways to recruit staff and retain them are key. Fair compensation, safe staffing levels, and creating and sustaining a healthy work environment with opportunities to grow and learn will go a long way to strengthen the healthcare workforce.

Tiffany Lawrence. President and CEO of Sanford Fargo (N.D.): At Sanford Health Fargo, we are committed to strengthening access to world-class care for the patients we serve across North Dakota and western Minnesota. As the region's leading health care hub, 60% of our patients live in surrounding rural communities and may travel hundreds of miles to receive care.

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. 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.

As the only healthcare organization in North Dakota with a five-star rating from CMS, we remain focused on providing safe, high-quality care to our patients who place their trust in us during their time of greatest need. We are honored to be home to the region's only Level 1 trauma center, a blood and bone marrow transplant program and an advanced comprehensive stroke center. Additionally, we are expanding access to clinical research trials to ensure our patients benefit from the latest medical discoveries as quickly as possible.

Girish N. Nadkarni, MD. Fishberg Professor of Medicine; Chief, Division of Data Driven and Digital Medicine, Department of Medicine; Director, Charles Bronfman Institute of Personalized Medicine of Mount Sinai Health System (New York City): My top priority for improving patient care over the next 2-3 years is integrating artificial intelligence into clinical workflows to enhance diagnostic precision, personalize treatment strategies, and streamline operations. AI-powered tools, such as predictive analytics and causal machine learning models, hold the potential to not only improve patient outcomes but also reduce healthcare disparities by providing data-driven insights tailored to diverse populations. By focusing on responsible and equitable AI deployment, we can ensure that technological advancements directly translate into better care for all patients.

B. Justin Krawitt, MD. System Medical Director of Utilization and Clinical Documentation at Dartmouth Health (Lebanon, N.H.); Assistant Professor of Medicine of Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine: Appropriate reimbursement, even for high-quality healthcare delivery, can be an elusive goal in the setting of multiple payment structures that overlap site of care settings. Payment models, in a mixed world of value-based and fee-for-service arrangements that don't always align, can cause revenue shortfalls critical for maintaining access to high-quality care and funds to invest for the future. Hospitals, including many serving our most vulnerable patient populations, are closing or curtailing services. It is incumbent upon health systems and payers alike to ensure healthcare is reimbursed at a level appropriate to care for patients in the immediate term, and prepare for the future.

James Burroughs. Senior Vice President of Government and Community Relations and Chief Equity and Inclusion Officer at Children's Minnesota (Minneapolis): In the past few years, Children's Minnesota has greatly increased the racial, gender, and cultural diversity among our staff to reflect the children we care for, but the work is only beginning. Now, I'm prioritizing bridging gaps in the health outcomes we see every day. This starts at the root, transforming the foundation of our organization to embed DEI throughout Children's Minnesota. This process includes connecting patient families with the services they need, advocating for public policies that benefit our patients, and listening to our community. Working together, we can eliminate health disparities and advance health equity for every child and family we serve.

Claire Agnew. Executive Vice President and CFO; Steve Purves. President and CEO; Michael White, MD. Executive Vice President and Chief Clinical Officer of Valleywise Health (Phoenix): For Valleywise Health, Arizona's public teaching hospital and safety net system of care, our top priorities include maintaining our first-ever 'A' Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade through a continued laser focus on quality and safety. We're also making additional focused efforts to optimize throughput at the new Valleywise Health Medical Center, which has seen a steady increase in volumes since opening in June. Our other focus is recruiting and retaining top talent in behavioral health to ensure we can open additional units in our three psychiatric hospitals spread across Maricopa County. Staffing at our Maryvale behavioral health hospital, opened in 2019, has been impacted by workforce challenges exacerbated by the pandemic. 

Sandra Scott, MD. Interim CEO of One Brooklyn Health (N.Y.): Over the next 2-3 years, our top priority is to improve patient care by increasing access to critical services and enhancing both employee and patient experiences. By leveraging data and conducting valuable assessments that align with our communities' needs, we will ensure services are available where and when they are needed most. We will also continue strengthening our network of primary care facilities, while addressing the issues of health inequity impacting our communities. 

At the same time, we are committed to an interpersonal process of collaboration between our providers and our patients to encourage shared decision-making, which is a key component of patient-centered care. Empowering our patients through the planning of their care journey aids in establishing respect, trust, and improved patient outcomes. 

Recognizing that exceptional care depends on an engaged workforce, we are committed to creating a supportive environment for our employees, equipping them with the resources needed to deliver the highest quality care. One example is our current patient-centered training focus, which reinforces the importance of honoring patient goals, cultural competency, and active listening. As a result, our staff members become more effective communicators, which fosters an increased sense of purpose in their work. Together, these efforts will create an improved patient-centered experience and build lasting trust within the communities that One Brooklyn Health serves.

Becky Compton, MBA, DNP. Chief Clinical Officer of UVA Physicians Group (Charlottesville, Va.): For the physician groups at UVA Health, we will maintain a focus on increasing access to primary care services over the coming years. We aim to do this in all the geographies we serve by looking at ways to optimize our flow in primary care clinics, hire more providers, partner in expanding clinical space, and ensure we are meeting people where they are physically — whether that be through mobile care units, telehealth or community outreach programs. At UVA Physicians Group, we will also maintain our focus on quality improvement initiatives in partnership with UVA Health as a system at large.

Michelle Stansbury. Associate Chief Innovation Officer and Vice President of IT Applications at Houston Methodist: Looking ahead, Houston Methodist's top priorities include a continued focus on patient access, from the installation of video monitored inpatient rooms to improve patient access through online scheduling and appointments, we're always looking for ways to expand the patient experience to give our patients convenient, high quality care. We continue to explore and embrace the use of AI and predictive models to better enable our physicians and staff to focus on patient care, including voice technology to reduce the time clinicians spend documenting in the EHR. As Houston Methodist continues its innovation journey, we're leveraging pioneering technology to build the smart health system of the future, always keeping the patient at the center of everything we do.

Ebrahim Barkoudah, MD. System Chief and Regional Chief Medical Officer of Baystate Health (Springfield, Mass.): Priority 1: Transform inpatient care delivery through advanced predictive analytics and AI-enabled care coordination, shifting from reactive to proactive patient management. Innovation at this intersection will revolutionize how we anticipate patient needs, prevent complications, and optimize care pathways in real time.

Priority 2: Revolutionize care team communication and decision-making through next-generation digital collaboration tools. The convergence of mobile technology, AI assistance, and clinical workflows will create a seamless ecosystem where information flows effortlessly, enabling faster, more informed care decisions.

Priority 3: Build an intelligent data infrastructure for continuous quality improvement and value-based care outcomes. The innovation here will merge clinical, operational, and financial data streams to create actionable insights, enabling precision in care delivery while simultaneously reducing costs and improving outcomes.

Lisa Hudnall. Executive Director of People Operations of UVA Physicians Group (Charlottesville, Va.): Over the next 2-3 years, our strategic focus will be centered on leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance key operations. This includes implementing ambient listening technology in patient rooms to improve care delivery and utilizing advanced AI-driven recruitment tools to address staffing gaps in critical service areas.

Vi-Anne Antrum. Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer of Cone Health (Greensboro, N.C): The top priority for Cone Health for improving patient care is improving the human experience. By collectively solving for things that help our patients, our clinicians, and our staff, everyone wins! We are working toward standardizing care delivery whenever possible and expanding access to enhance everyone’s ability to receive affordable care. This will be how we win!

Nicholas Nussbaum, MD. Director of Medical Affairs and Community Services, Adams Medical Group at Adams Health Network (Decatur, Ind.): As a physician, we are trained to identify and address the underlying cause of a problem, not just treat the symptoms. My personal assessment is that 95% of all issues in healthcare start with either insufficient and/or dysfunctional primary care.  However, 95% or more of issues with primary care access, dysfunction, efficacy, etc., ultimately tie back to excessive panel size. Can't get an appointment with your PCP? It might be because they are also the PCP for 5,000 of your closest friends and neighbors as well. Only get five minutes with your physician to address a complex issue that really needs at least 20 minutes? It might be because they have 30-40 other patients with the same level of complexity that also need to be seen that day...because they have 5,000 patients total. That's not good care by any measure. As such, my top priority regarding improving patient care is ensuring adequate primary care access for my community, at patient/physician ratios that are sustainable for all parties.

There are some people reading this who think I am joking (or at least exaggerating to make a point) about 5,000 patients. I absolutely am not joking. I personally had 6,000-plus patients at one point in my career as the only physician in an RHC. An RHC, by the way, that was located in a town of 800 people!! At that time, there were other physicians locally with panels significantly exceeding 10,000. These are numbers that are simply not feasible in any realistic sense of the word.

Traditionally, two thousand patients per physician is a commonly referenced number in literature – which, when compared to 5,000-10,000, seems a lot more realistic. However, on further inspection, it is only really feasible to carry a panel of 2,000 patients if you don't see them or take care of them. The math here is simply unforgiving: A panel of 2,000 patients means, if you are practicing true primary care, approximately 2,000 preventative visits per year. That's approximately 4,000 wRVU. The median for family medicine is somewhere in the neighborhood of 5,5000 wRVU per year. That means 73% of your access will be consumed by routine preventative visits alone, before anyone ever gets ill.  

If only half of your patients have simple hypertension (an overly optimistic assumption) and need to be seen one to two times a year for that, you now have no bandwidth for anyone else with anything else. And we all know that there is plenty of everything else--especially diabetes, which is going to require 3+ additional visits per year for many patients. In light of that, even two thousand patients is ultimately an unrealistic number. Given current incident levels of chronic disease(s), the baseline number is probably more like 500-600 adult patients per physician. Radical? Yes. Mathematically true? Also yes.

Adding APPs of any stripe adds some further bandwidth, but it is limited (perhaps an additional 250 to 300 per APP), and simply cannot replace the level of complex management provided by physicians. I know that is heresy to some folks, but it is absolutely true. That does not mean that APPs are not part of the solution, just that they are not the entire solution in and of themselves, and can't be.

The first order of business in improving patient care is improving ACCESS to care. That means continuing to advocate for primary care at any/all venues, and continuing to work on building functional models for recruitment, retention, compensation, and support. Without adequate primary care, nothing else functions. However, without good structure and operations, recruiting and retaining sufficient primary care will never be possible in the current environment. 

Want to increase your market share?  Recruit quality primary care. Want to keep it? Be realistic about how many patients they can service, and monitor their panel numbers.  

A physician that feels like they are drowning will either burn out, check out, or just leave. That's bad for business, bad for access, and bad for patient care. We are going to have to change our assumptions about primary care panels, patient/provider ratios, etc., if we are serious about fixing anything of consequence in healthcare. I know that limiting panels doesn't fix the primary care shortage, but it does help expose the SCALE of it, which is actually substantially worse than even those who are screaming about it want to admit. Until that is addressed on a nationwide level, the temptation will always be there to inundate physicians with ever-growing panels. Don't do it. If you drown your docs, they will grab the first life preserver tossed their way – and someone else will certainly be willing to throw them one. 

Including me. In fact, given the nation-wide shortage of primary care physicians, you could even say that's my top priority.

Maria Ansari, MD. CEO and Executive Director of The Permanente Medical Group; President and CEO of Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group; and co-CEO, The Permanente Federation (Oakland, Calif.): A top priority for improving patient care over the next 2-3 years will be implementing the safe and equitable use of AI to optimize the power of our value-based, integrated system and deliver the best care to the right people in the right place at the right time. As part of that effort, we are focusing on improving patient access and care experience. For example, we are using AI to categorize patient messages, direct them to an appropriate care team member, and help resolve their needs more quickly. We also know that up to 40% of health disparities can be attributed to social needs, such as having a safe place to live, healthy food to eat, and other daily essentials, and are using predictive modeling to help identify when our members have social needs that impact their health. Finally, we recently introduced virtual scribe technology to more than 24,000 physicians across all Permanente Medical Groups to help document conversations with patients and reduce time spent on completing electronic notes. This technology enables physicians to focus more on their patients and less on their computer screens.

Lara Khouri. Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Children's Hospital Los Angeles: Children's Hospital Los Angeles is dedicated to advancing our clinical practices and cutting-edge research to provide solutions to save lives. 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.

Andy Anderson, MD, MBA. Chief Medical Officer and Chief Quality Officer of RWJBarnabas Health (West Orange, N.J.): At RWJBarnabas Health, our goal is to be the best place to receive care, and the best place to deliver care. By truly engaging all of our team members in a culture that values the achievement of exceptional outcomes for our patients, we will reach the top levels of performance that our communities deserve. We are prioritizing the outcomes that are most important to patients, including providing the best possible experience in our facilities and avoidance of all preventable harm. We are focused on improving mortality, reducing readmissions and delivering exceptional care in all of our specialties and centers of excellence.

Margaret Larkins-Pettigrew, MD. Senior Vice President and Chief Clinical Diversity Equity Inclusion Officer; Professor and Chair Ob/Gyn of Highmark Health Allegheny Health Network (Pittsburgh); Drexel University School of Medicine: My top priority is to build partnerships between patients and clinicians that include trust and personalized medicine, meaning that there would be one clinician that will build trust and deliver healthcare in a personalized way. How I work to achieve this partnership is through education and by supporting our network teams to practice cultural humility in the workplace. It's about holding individuals accountable for what they say and what they do in a way that focuses on positively contributing to the lives of patients; making patients feel seen, heard, understood and treated with dignity and respect.

Bernie Adams. Chief Quality Officer of North Country Healthcare (Whitefield, N.H.): My top priority for improving patient care over the next 2-3 years is to provide improved, validated, and clear-to-follow data and reporting, ensuring it reaches our experts and front-line staff in real time. We are deeply invested in our High Reliability Organization (HRO) 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.

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. By fostering transparency, we will be able to track key performance indicators, identify areas for improvement, and ensure that every member of the team has a shared understanding of our goals.

Ultimately, this data-driven communication will empower our teams to act quickly and effectively, improving both patient safety and overall outcomes. When everyone is aligned and empowered with the right data at their fingertips, patient care improves in real, measurable ways.

Christopher Longhurst, MD. Chief Medical Officer, Chief Digital Officer and Executive Director, Jacobs Center for Health Innovation at UC San Diego Health: My top priority for improving patient care over the next two-to-three years is to ensure that AI tools are delivering the real-world benefits they promise. While these technologies hold significant potential, many have not yet proven their effectiveness in practical settings. A key focus for us will be conducting comprehensive evaluations - including local assurance labs - to ensure AI applications are truly enhancing patient outcomes.

As AI rapidly transforms health care, it will be crucial to prioritize patient safety amid these advancements. It’s been 25 years since the Institute of Medicine’s To Err Is Human report highlighted that 50,000 to 100,000 Americans die each year from preventable medical errors, yet progress has been slow. We must adopt a zero-tolerance mindset towards patient safety, ensuring that robust systems are in place to prevent harm and enhance the overall quality of care. This includes fostering a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.

 Tackling clinician burnout is also critical. Health care workers are facing increasing stress, which affects both their well-being and the quality of care they provide. By leveraging advanced proven digital tools to reduce administrative burdens and burnout, we can help clinicians thrive and improve the overall care experience for patients.

Cherie Smith, PhD, MBA, RN. President of Dublin Methodist and Grady Memorial Hospitals of OhioHealth (Columbus): My top priority over the next 2-3 years is to improve patient throughput ensuring inpatient beds are available to our patients when needed.  It is deeply concerning when we are unable to accommodate the volume of patients requiring inpatient care in a timely manner resulting in patients held in the Emergency Department while they wait on a bed to become available in the hospital. This challenge is not unique to our hospitals but is a common issue especially during peak periods/winter months to many hospitals across the country. 

Our teams are dedicated to facilitating safe discharges by connecting patients with the resources and follow-up care needed; however, limited community resources, availability of and the complexities of securing placement in long-term care, skilled and rehab facilities often pose significant obstacles. We are thrilled as we are embarking on expanding our hospital to accommodate the needs of our growing community.