St. Louis-based BJC Health is on a pivotal journey, marked by a major merger, ongoing integration efforts, a new enterprise name and the recent appointment of Nick Barto as president and CEO.
Mr. Barto stepped into the top leadership role Oct. 1, bringing more than three decades of healthcare and operations experience. He most recently served as president of the health system and president of BJC’s East Region. He succeeds Rich Liekweg, who announced his retirement in June.
Less than two years before his appointment, St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare and Kansas City, Mo.-based Saint Luke’s merged in January 2024, forming a 24-hospital, $10.7 billion organization. In November, the newly merged entity unveiled a unified name: BJC Health.
The updated brand, including a new logo and tagline — “Because every moment deserves exceptional care” — will roll out in early 2026.
Mr. Barto and Chief Strategy Officer Chris Watts connected with Becker’s to discuss integration milestones, cultural alignment and what’s ahead in 2026 and beyond.
Editor’s note: responses are lightly edited for clarity and flow.
Question: How would you describe where BJC Health is today — as an integrated organization and in terms of its momentum heading into 2026?
Nick Barto: We like where we’re positioned. We have a strong presence across the Midwest, and with our integration with Saint Luke’s, we’ve established ourselves across multiple geographies.
From clinical quality, patient satisfaction, employee satisfaction and financial perspectives, we like where we are. We know we’ll face some headwinds, but having a strong foundation gives us confidence in our ability to thrive — not just survive — in the current healthcare environment.
The integration with Saint Luke’s gave us the ability to lean into what BJC Health is and will be as we go forward.
Chris Watts: It’s been a very good year in terms of performance across all key metrics. As Nick mentioned, we’re nearly two years into our integration work with Saint Luke’s, and we’re either at or ahead of plan on nearly everything we’ve launched together. That gives us a lot of excitement heading into 2026. We can now start shifting our focus externally, thinking about how BJC Health shows up even more deeply in the markets we serve — mainly Kansas City and St. Louis. Our progress over the last few years really positions us well for what’s ahead.
Q: With BJC Health recently unveiling its new enterprise brand — dropping “system” from the name and unifying the East and West regions — what was the strategic intent behind this evolution? How are you aligning culture, operations and stakeholder perceptions to bring the brand promise to life?
NB: The combination of BJC and Saint Luke’s gave us an opportunity to revisit what BJC Health meant — not just to employees, but to the communities we serve. The new brand reflects our internal culture and the experience we promise our patients and communities.
When you bring together two health systems, it’s important to clearly communicate purpose, values and culture — whether you’re in Kansas City or St. Louis. We leaned into that through our tagline: “Because every moment deserves exceptional care.”
That message is meaningful for our caregivers. No matter where they are in the continuum of care, the expectation is exceptional care. And for our patients, whether they’re looking up information online, getting an X-ray after a soccer game or undergoing surgery, we want them to expect that every interaction with BJC Health meets that standard.
This is a shift for us. Historically, we’ve been very hospital-centric. Over the past few years, under Rich’s leadership, we’ve moved toward meeting patients where they are. We want our employees to understand they are part of this brand and this promise.
CW: I’d add that rebranding to BJC Health during our integration with Saint Luke’s was intentionally timed. Both organizations had a long history as mid-Missouri, nonprofit health systems that serve their communities and put people first. That alignment in values has made our integration successful.
We wanted to emphasize that being part of BJC Health means being part of something bigger than any one of us or any one department. That identity matters, especially during integration.
NB: Before we launched the brand publicly, we introduced our core values: kindness, respect, excellence, safety and teamwork. We made sure our people knew that these are the values of the health system they work for. Now, those values are embedded in the BJC Health brand. We laid the cultural foundation first, then launched the brand. People now know what it means to be part of BJC Health.
Q: You’re now well into the integration of Saint Luke’s and BJC’s legacy systems. From your perspective, what’s been the most underestimated challenge of integration?
CW: Integration has gone very well. Our top priority was to ensure that clinical operations were not negatively impacted, and in fact, we’ve seen improvement in our metrics. We also met or exceeded our financial goals.
Early on, we discovered that our organizations didn’t just say we had similar values; we truly believed in the same things. Harmonizing those values wasn’t difficult; it was necessary, and it helped us center the integration around the patient.
There were challenges. One that surprised me was the risk of doing too much, too quickly. Because our markets don’t have much overlap, we intentionally didn’t focus too much on clinical integration at first. But as relationships formed, the pull to collaborate grew naturally.
My role often involved pacing the organization, sometimes holding things back rather than pushing them forward. That was important for managing change and maintaining alignment with our values.
NB: I’ve been part of many integrations, and I echo everything Chris said. What made this successful was the historical relationship between our two organizations and the deliberate approach we took.
My key takeaway is this: No one should pursue a health system integration unless they can protect core operations. Everything needs to be additive — not disruptive — to the great work already happening.
Q: Nick, As the new president and CEO of BJC Health, what is the single most important strategic priority you’re focused on over the next 12 to 18 months, and why? How are you aligning the organization’s resources and leadership teams to support that goal?
NB: Our people are our top priority. We have 48,000 caregivers, and exceptional people are what drive exceptional care and clinical quality.
If we get people and quality right, growth and financial performance will follow. We’re focused on reducing turnover, enhancing the employee experience, creating career paths and attracting new talent.
In St. Louis, we’ve partnered with the Believe Academy, a high school that immerses students in healthcare fields. Students spend 60% of their time in the classroom and 40% in BJC facilities. We also have our own school of nursing. These programs help create a talent pipeline of individuals who understand what BJC Health stands for.
You can’t separate people from clinical quality. We’re investing in data and analytics to identify the core drivers of quality and safety and to support both inpatient and outpatient care. People and clinical excellence are our top two priorities for the coming year.
Q: Chris, with “exceptional care” now central to BJC’s brand identity, how are you translating that into measurable improvements in patient experience, equity of care and employee engagement across diverse regions?
CW: Our promise — “Every moment deserves exceptional care” — is one of our core four priorities: clinical excellence.
It’s been exciting to evaluate performance not just at legacy BJC sites, but across the combined system. Our care settings range from critical access hospitals to large academic centers to pediatric and suburban facilities.
We set a systemwide aspiration: Every site of care should perform at or above the top quartile of national benchmarks. Where we’ve already hit the top quartile, we aim for the top decile. This aligns everyone around a shared standard and goal.
For example, we focused on reducing length of stay across both regions. By addressing discharge planning and communication breakdowns, we made significant improvements — even in complex units — and have since applied those lessons more broadly.
On equity, excellence and people go hand in hand. We want to be a destination employer in the Midwest. Creating an environment where people want to work helps us attract and retain top talent, which in turn drives better care.
We’re also expanding access — digitally, through physical sites, and with new models of lower-acuity care. We’re making sure these resources are available in underserved areas of St. Louis and Kansas City to ensure equity of access across communities.
Q: How are you balancing BJC’s growth and innovation agenda — including digital health and data investments — with the mission of serving communities equitably? What innovation bets are you making, and what outcomes are you aiming to achieve?
NB: Equitably serving our communities is a top priority. We don’t differentiate among patients when they come to us. But to make an impact, we need the right data — available to the right people, at the right time.
We’re investing heavily in data and analytics to provide a consistent, reliable foundation across the system. We call it the democratization of data. Whether it’s care delivery, supply chain or revenue cycle, we want everyone to have access to the same source of truth.
We’ve also partnered with Washington University School of Medicine to establish the Center for Health AI. Together, we’re exploring how to use data and artificial intelligence to enhance operations and improve care delivery.
Innovation isn’t just about flashy tech — it’s about improving core operations. We’re expanding digital tools like ICU monitoring, digital pathology and radiology to ensure high-quality care at every touchpoint.
We’re also investing in shared services that support our clinicians, such as automated supply chain centers, central pharmacy and laundry services. These operational improvements create efficiency and attract talent by showing that we’re serious about investing across the board.
Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
NB: I’d emphasize how excited we are about BJC Health and the idea that every moment deserves exceptional care. We have a long legacy in St. Louis and Kansas City, and we’re now delivering care under one unified brand. BJC came together early, in 1993 — well before most health systems formed — and has a long history of innovation in how healthcare is delivered and integrated. I’m excited to keep building on that.
CW: I agree completely. We have a real-time, real-world example of successful integration with Saint Luke’s. We’re not finished, but we’ve made significant progress. That builds on BJC’s legacy and demonstrates our commitment to system development.
We’re working to create an environment where everyone — especially across the Midwest — wants to work. And I think we’re on the right path.
