As health systems face persistent nursing shortages, Advocate Health is pioneering a new approach — leveraging AI to transform workforce strategy.
During a recent presentation hosted by Becker’s Healthcare, Betty Jo Rocchio, DNP, RN, executive vice president and chief nurse executive at Advocate Health (Charlotte, N.C.), detailed how the organization is applying AI to build a flexible, tech-enabled nursing model that meets the evolving expectations of today’s workforce.
Here are four key takeaways from the session:
1. Platform thinking enables better care
Dr. Rocchio emphasized that to effectively care for nearly 6 million patients annually, Advocate Health must redefine care through bold innovation and a break from outdated staffing models.
She introduced a “platform thinking” approach to workforce design. Instead of relying on traditional shift-based scheduling, Advocate assesses staffing through the lens of patient care hours and real-time demand. This creates more agile staffing options and gives nurses greater autonomy over when and where they work.
“It’s about flexibility, but it’s also about matching the right nurse and engaged nurse,” Dr. Rocchio said. “There are ways that we can start to mix that flexibility with not just people and shifts, but hours and making sure that people are working exactly where they want to work and when they want to work. Happy nurses equals happy, engaged patient care and patients.”
2. AI-powered staffing improves efficiency and engagement
To support this model, Advocate Health is partnering with Works on designing workforce strategy. The tool uses real-time data from Epic and patient census levels to calculate staffing needs and incentive rates for open shifts. Nurses are then notified via a mobile app.
The system prioritizes internal staff first, then offers opportunities to float pools and gig-per-diem workers expanding staffing capacity without additional administrative burden.
“One of the beauties about this is the nurse manager has a decreased workload because they make no more phone calls to fill their holes,” Dr. Rocchio said. “They don’t have to beg people to work and they have a larger pool with that per diem gig.”
3. Supporting care teams
Dr. Rocchio identified cognitive workload — the mental demands of daily nursing tasks — as a major and underappreciated driver of burnout. She called for moving beyond staffing ratios to new metrics that reflect the true workload nurses face.
Advocate is shifting to metrics such as workload index, fill rate and supply hours to better align staffing with patient needs and reduce strain on care teams.
“Without a strong healthy workforce, workflows and work environments really matter less,” Dr. Rocchio said. “I want you to think about more of a model where the patient moves seamlessly across the platform for both the workforce and our work environment. We’re all focused on the patient and we’re leveraging technology to get there.”
4. Innovation supports retention and wellbeing
Advocate is also reimagining the care environment to reduce administrative burden and empower nurses through AI. From ambient documentation to AI-generated handoffs and care summaries, technology is being integrated directly into clinical workflows to give time back at the bedside.
Dr. Rocchio emphasized that combining the roles of virtual nurses, care managers and nurse managers through AI-supported workflows can enable new, patient-centered care models.
“As we start to harmonize all these roles, we’re going to have a pretty dynamic model that is focused on the patient and helps out the workload of both the nurse manager, the virtual nurse, the bedside nurse, and our care managers. But you have to have that care platform first.”
To guide this transformation, Advocate has launched “Rewire 2030,” a five-year roadmap for redesigning nursing through innovation, AI and cross-sector collaboration.
“Be bold, think about things in a different way and don’t take anything off the table,” Dr. Rocchio said. “We have an urgency to improve care today so we can promise a better future for both our caregivers as well as our patients.”
