Becker’s asked pharmacy executives from hospitals and health systems across the U.S. to share their top 2026 priority for balancing financial or operational stability with growth in mind.
The 12 executives featured in this article are all speaking at the Becker’s Healthcare Spring Chief Pharmacy Officer Summit, from April 15 – 16, 2026 at the Hyatt Regency 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’s your top priority for balancing financial or operational stability with growth as we welcome 2026?
Mike A. Skafi. Interim Chief Pharmacy Officer of Providence and Credena Health (Renton, Wash.): As we head into 2026, my top priority for pharmacy is being very disciplined about where we standardize and centralize so we can reinvest in the areas that directly benefit our patients and the communities we serve. Financial and operational stability is about simplifying how we operate so we can spend more time, energy, and resources on patient care. Operationally, that means reducing unnecessary variation and duplication in core functions like procurement, pharmacy operations, finance, and programs oversight. When those foundations are aligned, well-run and consistent, our teams can focus on access, safety, and continuity of care rather than administrative workarounds. From a financial standpoint, it allows us to be good stewards of limited healthcare dollars at a time when reimbursement pressure and some many headwinds continue to intensify. For example, investing in growth areas such as specialty pharmacy, infusion, and advanced clinical services improves care coordination and patient outcomes. The balance we’re working toward is a model where operational discipline enables growth, and growth strengthens our ability to serve patients. Going into 2026, success for us means a more resilient pharmacy service that delivers better access, better experience, and better outcomes for the communities that rely on us.
Stephanie Goldman, PharmD. Vice President of Pharmacy at Tower Health (West Reading, Pa.): As we enter 2026, financial sustainability and operational stability must be viewed as interdependent rather than competing priorities particularly in today’s rapidly evolving healthcare environment. Sustainable growth within pharmacy service lines requires disciplined operational execution, strategic resource allocation, and targeted investment in areas where technology and innovation can meaningfully expand capacity without disproportionately increasing cost.
From an operational standpoint, it is critical to evaluate where resources are best deployed to support growing service lines, while leveraging technology to automate, streamline, and scale operations. In parallel, any new growth opportunity that carries incremental cost must be supported by a clearly defined return on investment, with transparency around both the timeline to break even and the long‑term value to the health system.
Equally important is the need to identify and proactively address barriers to care across the pharmacy continuum. With community pharmacy closures increasing and access becoming more fragmented, health systems are uniquely positioned to fill gaps by offering services such as bedside delivery, and free home delivery. These services not only enhance medication access and adherence but also contribute to downstream cost avoidance and improved clinical outcomes.
Growth priorities must also align with where the industry is evolving. Infusion services, for example, continue to represent a significant growth opportunity, yet payer site‑of‑care restrictions are becoming increasingly restrictive. As a health system, we are best positioned to manage these complexities holistically ensuring patients receive appropriate therapy in the most clinically effective and financially sustainable setting. Evaluating how to navigate or mitigate site‑of‑care limitations while maintaining quality and access will be essential.
Ultimately, our approach to growth must be intentional, data‑driven, and patient‑centered. By focusing resources on high‑value service lines, leveraging technology to enhance operational efficiency, and removing barriers to medication access, pharmacies can serve as both a clinical and financial driver for the health system.
Scott Knoer, PharmD, MS. Regional Chief Pharmacy Officer of MercyOne (Des Moines, Iowa): My number one priority is to continue to build the retail pharmacy infrastructure to capture the significant amount of prescriptions being written by our physicians for our patients. This positive margin is critical for our health system in these challenging times. Pharmacy is one of the few departments in the hospital that can drive significant margin as a true revenue center.
Joshua Weber, PharmD. Senior Director of St. Luke’s Health System (Boise, Idaho): My top priority heading into 2026 is doubling down on investing in our people and the technology tools which directly improve the patient experience and reinforces our St. Luke’s promise to be our patient’s most trusted partner in health every step of their journey. We are deliberately strengthening our operating foundation of our people, workflows, technology, and data to make it easier for patients and providers to choose and stay within our system. We are focused on removing friction, improving outcomes, and aligning incentives so operational excellence and financial performance reinforce one another. St. Luke’s firmly believes that when we lead with patients at the center and support our teams, stability follows and growth accelerates despite headwinds rather than reactive to market conditions.
Sunil Patel, RPh, MHA. Vice President of Pharmacy Ambulatory at Sentara Health (Norfolk, Va.): Our strategic plan is based on four pillars: expanding market reach, enhancing service offerings (increased differentiation), leveraging technology, and optimizing operations. For balancing financial and operational stability, I would choose expanding market reach as a top priority. Volume growth provides a cushion for operational stability and margin compression, two key challenges in ambulatory pharmacy.
Yahya Ahmed, PharmD. Pharmacy Director Associate of UK HealthCare (Lexington, Ky.): This is a critically important question in today’s environment and directly informs how we prioritize initiatives for a successful year. The pressure to maintain financial stability during periods of economic hardship can drive organizations toward excessive cost-cutting, which in turn risks undermining operational resilience. At the same time, there is often a perception that growth is not feasible in such climates. Innovation frequently emerges under these very constraints.
The foundational priority must be operational stability in an era of austerity. Achieving this may require expanding or redefining employee roles, making difficult decisions about which programs can no longer be sustained, and aligning efforts toward the greater organizational good. A clear, honest assessment of available talent, infrastructure, and resources and how to optimize them, is essential.
Once operational capacity and resource utilization are well understood, growth priorities should shift toward services that demonstrably improve patient outcomes while also contributing to sustainable revenue generation. This disciplined approach enables organizations to remain stable, innovate responsibly, and position themselves for long-term success despite near-term constraints.
Ursula Tachie-Menson, PharmD. Director of Pharmacy Services at Memorial Hermann, The Woodlands Medical Center (Texas): A focus on revenue cycle management will be a key priority for us. Drug costs continue to rise and with the looming policy changes that impact medication reimbursement and how we handle medication management across the continuum of care, we will need to ensure that we have a strategy around our financial performance. That means a focus on appropriate and effective drug spend, accurate charge capture and optimal reimbursement. Any opportunities to do this work efficiently with technology or AI will also be explored. This is aligned with one of our organizational pillars to decrease the total cost of care without impacting care delivery.
Justin L. Vesser, PharmD. Director of Ambulatory Pharmacy at UVA Health (Charlottesville, Va.): The top priority for pharmacy in 2026 should be achieving balance in how we project value. It is a privilege that pharmacy has been a revenue driver for health systems for years, and we should continue to pursue those opportunities. However, if our value to the organization is tied solely to margins, and we fail to invest in our value to the patient in outcomes and better health, the very real financial threats that exist in 2026 and beyond become a lot riskier. Pharmacists should remain financially valuable to hospitals and health systems, but we should also use 2026 to break through and own the medication management of our patients and our place as providers in a better working system.
Kristin Brooks-Shrum, MBA. Regional Director of Pharmacy, Cardiopulmonary and Oncology Services at Deaconess Illinois (Marion): A top priority for Deaconess Illinois Hospital pharmacies for balancing financial stability with growth in 2026 is expanding our ambulatory footprint. The costs incurred by employing additional pharmacists will be offset by the return on investment from both a patient care and financial standpoint. We hope to improve outcomes of our patients and reduce overall healthcare costs.
DeJuan Branch, PharmD. Director of Pharmacy Services at Bon Secours – Richmond Community Hospital (Va.): As we enter 2026, my top priority as director of pharmacy services is to balance financial stability with strategic growth by strengthening medication stewardship, advancing operational efficiency, and expanding high value outpatient infusion services. By tightening cost control around high‑expense therapies, optimizing workflows through technology and team redesign, and scaling infusion capacity in alignment with patient needs and payer trends, we can reinforce financial resiliency while elevating access, quality, and the overall care experience for the communities served.
Matthew Webber, PharmD. Director of Pharmacy Business at Novant Health (Winston-Salem, N.C.): As health systems prepare for 2026, the margin for error has disappeared. Labor costs remain elevated; reimbursement pressure continues to intensify, and regulatory complexity shows no signs of easing. At the same time, many health systems continue to lose significant revenue through preventable leakage driven by underinvestment in pharmacy revenue integrity. Pharmacy revenue integrity has long been miscast as a corrective function focused on billing audits, denial management, and compliance reviews after problems arise. That approach is costly. It allows errors to occur, requires downstream rework to fix them, and quietly erodes margin. The reality is that pharmacy revenue integrity should be viewed as part of a health system’s growth infrastructure. That is why it is one of my top priorities at Novant Health as we work to maintain financial stability heading into 2026.
Most health systems underinvest in pharmacy revenue integrity, which is precisely why it represents an opportunity in 2026. The traditional approach accepts errors as inevitable, detects them after the fact, and relies on corrections and appeals to recover revenue. This model consumes operational capacity and diverts teams from higher value work. Strong pharmacy revenue integrity shifts this work upstream by preventing errors at their source. A single prevented error can eliminate multiple downstream touches, freeing teams to focus on optimization rather than constant remediation. Over time, this shift creates a compounding advantage as operational efficiency and financial performance reinforce one another.
Pharmacy revenue integrity also plays a critical role in aligning silos within the organization. Clinical decisions, operational workflows, and financial outcomes are deeply interconnected, yet they are often managed in silos. Pharmacy revenue cycle integrity brings these domains together by creating shared accountability. When these functions are aligned, health systems are better positioned to deliver both financial performance and better patient experience.
As revenue tightens and healthcare complexity increases, tolerance for revenue leakage is gone. Pharmacy revenue integrity is no longer a back-office function. It is foundational infrastructure for sustainable growth and that is why we will be prioritizing investment in pharmacy revenue integrity growth in 2026 at Novant Health.
Josephine Lai, PharmD. Associate Chief Pharmacy Officer of UC Davis Health (Sacramento, Calif.): My top priority for 2026 is strengthening business operations while enabling innovative, scalable growth. That means improving reliability, affordability, and revenue by investing in people, systems, and actionable data insights. I’m focused on building leadership and team structures that support sustainable expansion, implementing systems and standard work, and developing deep expertise across pharmacy contracting, procurement, inventory, payer benefits and authorizations, charge capture, reimbursement, forecasting, and financial planning — including high‑cost innovative therapies. All of this is centered on reducing financial and operational leakage while ensuring we have the capacity to grow without compromising care and employee experience.
