Hospital and health system executives facing potential effects of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, workforce gaps and operational challenges are preparing strategies for staying ahead in an evolving landscape.
In conversations with Becker’s, C-suite leaders shared how their organizations are rethinking their operating models for the next five years.
Jandel Allen-Davis, MD
President and CEO of Craig Hospital (Englewood, Colo.)
Focus: Meeting unmet needs
For Dr. Allen-Davis, rethinking the neurorehabilitation center’s operating model begins with identifying unmet patient and family needs. She applies what she calls a “relevance sniff test” by asking, “What else? What are we missing that could significantly improve the lives of those we serve?”
“While expense reduction is often a natural instinct for leadership teams, and might enhance an organization’s relevance, I was taught years ago that you can’t cut your way to profitability,” Dr. Allen-Davis said. “Instead, I believe that a relentless focus on identifying unmet patient and family needs not only passes the ‘relevance sniff test,’ but also supports both operational and financial performance.”
Currently, Craig Hospital is targeting a gap in the time between intensive care unit discharge and a patient’s readiness for active neurorehabilitation.
Dr. Allen-Davis said addressing complications that may arise during this period — or preventing them altogether — can play a key role in successful program outcomes and long-term recovery.
“Integrating this level of care into our continuum will strengthen our national reach and meet a need that is often difficult to access,” she said.
Dr. Allen-Davis encourages teams to ask, “What else is needed to make working here the best experience in their careers?”
“Given the demographic drought that is happening, and will only worsen over time, thinking about this question is critical as well,” she said. “We continue to identify ways to improve opportunities for clinical and administrative development as a means to reduce turnover, invest in careers, and even get some ‘buzz’ in the market about what working at Craig might create for prospective employees.
“Our newest addition, which is still in development, is the creation of an administrative professional development track that sits alongside our clinical track, admittedly a pretty conventional investment and one that is needed even more today.”
Brett Altman
CEO of Cass Health (Atlantic, Iowa)
Focus: Robotic surgery and physician recruitment
Mr. Altman said his rural critical access hospital is eyeing robotic surgery as a tool to help with recruitment amid the country’s growing physician shortfall.
“One thing that we are realizing is that even as a rural critical access hospital, we need to get into robotic surgery for future surgeon recruitment success,” Mr. Altman said. “General surgeons, urologists, gynecologists, orthopedists and many other specialists are being trained robotically in their residency and fellowship programs. If you don’t have a robot, they won’t come and you will become irrelevant in terms of recruitment with few exceptions at some point in the future.”
Dara Bartels
President and CEO of Mile Bluff Medical Center (Mauston, Wis.)
Focus: Efficiency, AI-driven service shifts
Ms. Bartels said Mile Bluff Medical Center is making changes centered on efficiency and rightsizing services to ensure long-term sustainability.
“We’re flattening our leadership structure to bring decision-making closer to the work, empowering teams and in improving responsiveness,” she said. “Across clinical, nursing, and revenue cycle areas, we’re implementing AI tools to reduce costs and improve both service quality and reaction time.”
She said Mile Bluff is also renewing the hospital’s commitment to the communities it serves by strengthening relationships and transparency about hospital operations.
“This includes taking a fresh look at certain services to reduce stigma and ensure we’re offering what’s truly needed,” said Ms. Bartels. “As part of that, we’re actively reviewing our services lines — expanding where there’s demand and responsibly stepping back where needs have shifted.
“While others may be scaling back, we’re expanding delivery services within our organization to stay connected and relevant. The healthcare landscape is shifting, and we’re determined not just to keep up, but to lead.”
Kelly Beach, MSN, RN
Administrator and Chief Nursing Officer at Ascension Sacred Heart on the Gulf (Port St. Joe, Fla.)
Focus: Community health
Ms. Beach serves as administrator and chief nursing officer at Ascension Sacred Heart on the Gulf in Port St. Joe, Fla., part of St. Louis-based Ascension, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit and Catholic health systems.
She said her hospital is adapting to maintain operational stability by aligning health initiatives with community growth. This includes facility and service enhancements, including diagnostic services close to where patients live, the installation of an advanced CT machine, and heart CT and calcium scoring tests.
Ms. Beach said Sacred Heart Gulf has also recruited a new general surgeon and acquired new equipment to elevate the surgery program.
“The hospital now performs twice the number of surgeries as before, expediting patient care,” she added. “The surgery program has maintained a gold standard, with no surgical site infections in over five years, alongside zero hospital-acquired infections or pressure ulcers in the same period.”
To support women’s health, Sacred Heart Gulf collaborates with local organizations to provide vital diagnostic services such as mammograms to women in need.
“These programs help reduce cost barriers for essential health screenings and facilitate access to further diagnostic testing when needed,” Ms. Beach said.
As part of its focus on community health, Sacred Heart Gulf offers the MyGULFCare program, which Ms. Beach said supports individuals with chronic illnesses such as heart disease, diabetes and COPD by providing education and resources aimed at improving health outcomes. The hospital also offers public health screening events, where there are free tests such as blood pressure checks and risk factor assessments.
Chris Bredeson
Chief Strategy and Operating Officer at EvergreenHealth (Kirkland, Wash.)
Focus: Digital innovation and clinician optimization
Technology is part of the equation for executives when rethinking their operating models. Mr. Bredeson said the public hospital district is eyeing artificial intelligence and digital strategies for efficiency.
“That’s a big topic,” he said. “We’ve done some things, and we have a lot more to do, especially around the revenue cycle.”
The hospital is also focused on clinicians working at the top of their license.
“How do we get the most out of those providers? And also, that brings more satisfaction to them when they get to do what they have trained to do,” Mr. Bredeson said.
Jamie Phillips
President and COO of Seattle Children’s
Focus: Expanding pediatric access and training models
Ms. Phillips serves as president and COO of Seattle Children’s, which recently launched a partnership with EvergreenHealth to expand local access to advanced neonatal and pediatric care. She said partnerships like the one with EvergreenHealth, as well as other efforts to improve access for inpatients and outpatients, is part of the freestanding hospital’s operational approach.
Seattle Children’s also continues to focus on financial stewardship.
“We have to go back and reprioritize things,” Ms. Phillips said. “There are things that we had on our plate that now, with some of the things that are coming down the pipeline, we have to readjust.”
Regarding the workforce, she pointed to a shortage of trainees coming into pediatrics.
“We have to figure out a different model of how the training works,” Ms. Phillips said. “What happens in pediatric medicine — the doctors have to go for another couple years to get their pediatric specialization.
“And what we’re saying is that folks were not matching in some of our specialties that we have in years past, and that has contributed to people making financial decisions. ‘Do I want to go two years more in debt, or do I start practicing medicine now?’
“Those are the things that we’re also trying to ponder: How do we need to look at training differently because of the expenses of that higher education?”
