Healthcare leaders across the country are grappling with an urgent and undeniable reality: the workforce crisis is reshaping every part of our industry. Burnout, staffing shortages, rising patient acuity and the accelerating pace of change are putting unprecedented pressure on hospitals and health systems.
The data makes the challenge obvious. The U.S. could face a shortage of up to 187,000 physicians by 2037. The nation needs more than 200,000 nurses a year to support an aging population and a retiring workforce. These trends are not isolated — they affect every hospital, every clinic and every community we serve.
For years, many of us have responded with understandable urgency. We’re expanding recruitment pathways, increasing compensation, investing in new technologies and redesigning care models. These interventions matter and must continue. But they cannot, on their own, sustain the teams who show up every day to deliver care under extraordinary pressure.
What we need now is something more foundational: a culture where people feel supported, valued and connected to purpose.
Culture shows up in the numbers
Culture is often dismissed as a soft concept, but in healthcare, it is anything but. It determines whether people stay through difficult moments, whether innovation takes hold, whether collaboration thrives and whether patients feel the humanity behind the care they receive. When culture is strong, it becomes the force that holds teams together and propels them forward.
At Ochsner Health, our culture model centers on belonging and excellence built on a foundation of trust. Through core behaviors, such as caring communication, psychological safety and empowered teams, we’re creating an environment where everyone can grow and excel. As a result, we have seen firsthand how culture can reshape outcomes.
Our overall turnover dropped to an all-time low in April 2025. Bedside nurse turnover fell from 13.81% to 9.6%, well below the national average. And despite recruiting in “Hurricane Alley,” where challenges are amplified, we maintained our annual physician hiring during a year when others in the industry were scaling back — achieving significant milestones with a projection of 250 physician hires and 200 advanced practice provider hires.
These results were not the product of a single initiative. They were the result of committing to a culture rooted in transparency, accountability and shared purpose.
We are also building an environment where people feel they belong and where excellence is expected and supported. Through investments in leadership development, ongoing feedback and meaningful recognition, we create a culture that inspires growth and gratitude, driving best-in-class engagement among our more than 40,000 team members. In 2024, over 156,000 recognition moments were shared through our Ochsner Ovations digital platform, embedding appreciation as a core part of our daily practices. Systemwide meetings start with uplifting stories of extraordinary work happening across the organization, reinforcing the value each person brings. When team members feel valued and motivated, their positive impact ripples throughout the communities and patients we serve.
We’ve also seen the impact of culture on safety and quality with our Target Zero initiative, which aims to eliminate patient safety issues like pressure injuries, infections and falls. Through shared accountability and process changes, our teams achieved and sustained a nearly 50% year-over-year reduction in Target Zero events. We focused on promoting cultural behaviors that prioritized real-time safety, allowing us to address and prevent errors as they arose. Progress like this happens when teams trust one another, speak openly and solve problems collectively. It’s a reminder that culture is not abstract — it shows up in every patient outcome.
Technology is another place where culture determines success. New tools promise efficiency and reduced administrative burden, but they only work when clinicians trust the process behind them. Our teams adopted ambient listening technology not because it was new, but because our teams were part of the decision-making. They shaped how it was deployed and guided which tools would genuinely give them more time with patients. When people feel included and respected, innovation becomes an opportunity rather than a disruption.
Call to action: the one lever leaders can control
Across the industry, we all face the same headwinds — workforce shortages, financial strain, rapid evolution in care delivery and rising patient needs. But culture remains the one strategic opportunity fully within our control. As leaders, we can continue to chase solutions that address symptoms, or we can invest in the environment that determines whether any solution will succeed.
Culture influences every metric we care about, from quality and safety to retention to innovation and patient experience. And that culture is strengthened not through grand gestures, but through everyday actions that build trust and connection.
My message to fellow healthcare leaders is this: culture is the most important investment we can make right now. It is the antidote to burnout. It is the engine behind innovation. It is the glue that binds teams together in moments when the industry feels strained. And it is our greatest opportunity to build a future where people can continue doing the work they were called to do.
When culture is strong, teams don’t just persevere. They rise. They collaborate. They innovate. They deliver extraordinary care. And they move healthcare forward.
Culture is the cure. And together, we have the responsibility to build it.
Pete November is the president and CEO of Ochsner Health, the leading nonprofit healthcare provider in Louisiana, Mississippi and across the Gulf South with more than 40,000 team members, delivering expert care at 47 hospitals and more than 370 health and urgent care centers.
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