Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Prioritizing Quality and Growth at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital

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Prioritizing Quality and Growth at Northwestern Medicine Delnor Hospital · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  Every year, Becker's annual meeting brings healthcare leaders
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  together to unpack the most pressing issues facing
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  the industry.
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  And every year, those conversations shift in profound
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  and unexpected ways.
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  This April, more than 3,500
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  health care executives will return to Chicago for
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  Becker's sixteenth Annual Meeting.
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  Seven ninety five elite speakers will offer new
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  lessons, new case studies, and predictions about what
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  comes next.
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  Join us April 13 through the sixteenth.
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  For the agenda and event details, visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  and click on the events tab in the
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  upper right.
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  This is Laura Dirda with the Becker's Healthcare
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  podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  Emily Giacchi, president of Northwestern Medicine, Delanor Hospital.
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  Emily, it's a pleasure to have you on
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  the podcast today. Thank you, Laura. Great to
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  be here. Happy New Year. Absolutely. Now I'm
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  excited for our conversation because I know there's
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  so much happening in health care and, you
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  know, you're doing some really unique and interesting
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  things, especially around quality of care and everything
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  you're doing to serve the community better in
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  2026. And so I'm looking forward to learn
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  more about that. But before we dive in,
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  can you tell me a little bit more
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  about yourself and Del Norte Hospital?
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  Certainly.
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  I originally hail from the great state of
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  Michigan,
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  but have lived in the Chicagoland area since
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  about 2008,
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  working in health care,
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  for
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  the entire time,
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  I've been in the Chicagoland area.
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  I've been with Northwestern Medicine,
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  about a year and a half.
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  It's been wonderful,
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  and really have just
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  been so honored to serve here at Geneva
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  at, Del Norte Hospital in the Fox Valley.
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  We are a 159
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  bed level two trauma
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  hospital. I like to say that Del Norte
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  acts like a bigger hospital than it is,
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  with an incredibly robust,
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  surgical and outpatient platform.
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  We've got a incredibly
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  beautiful, recently renovated,
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  cancer center,
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  where we're routinely serving over a 100 patients
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  a day between infusion
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  and radiation oncology services.
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  We have a family medicine residency,
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  program on this campus, so we're certainly doing
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  some teaching here.
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  And it's growing. We have
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  renovation projects,
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  you know, similar to a lot of other
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  hospitals,
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  underway every single day. So, it's a it's
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  a wonderful place serving a a wonderful growing
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  community.
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  That's fantastic to hear. And, you know, I
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  I think it's so important to have that
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  ability,
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  to serve the community and understand what they
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  need to live there and really,
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  be integrated into everything that that's happening on
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  a local level. You know, when you think
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  back the last year or so, what was
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  the most important initiative you led? What did
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  you do, and what were the results?
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  Great question. So,
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  I, I actually joined
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  Northwestern and Del Norte in August 2024. So
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  2025
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  was really my my first year here. So,
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  I would be
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  remiss if I didn't say going through,
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  my team, this incredible leadership transition,
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  so smoothly with such incredible results is something
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  I'm so proud of.
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  We have an incredible executive team here at
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  Del Norte and
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  had a lot of good opportunity to promote
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  a lot of folks from within,
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  make sure that we are developing in our
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  leaders. We focused a lot on leadership development,
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  just to make sure that, you know, the
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  reality of a major leadership transition is a
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  big,
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  shift for a culture and for an organization.
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  And I'm just incredibly proud of how well
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  that went and,
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  how warm of a welcome I received, and
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  I think we're just,
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  the Del Norte's done incredible work
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  predating me, and I'm just glad to be
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  a part of it going forward.
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  One of the things that I'm most proud
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  of,
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  is, you know, what we're here to do
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  is serve our patients,
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  and our quality performance.
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  My team,
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  has a target, and then they look at
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  the max target and set that as their
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  target. So, we perform just incredibly well across
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  the board on many of our our health
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  outcomes and quality scores,
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  namely mortality,
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  safety,
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  efficiency,
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  equity.
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  In our Visiant,
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  cohort of complex,
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  medical centers,
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  we finished the year ranking number three out
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  of 211
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  hospitals.
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  And, again, that is meeting top decile or
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  above in all of our key metrics. So,
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  it you know, when you when you score
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  that high, maintaining it then becomes the next
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  challenge. But it's something we're just incredibly proud
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  of, and it's one patient
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  at a time every day, and it's something
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  we talk about every single day.
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  Absolutely. I I love that. And, you know,
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  being able to have that type of quality
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  care and, you know, focus
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  in in putting some of those,
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  targets in place for the team and knowing
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  that it's gonna improve,
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  outcomes and make a big difference for the
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  community is so, so helpful. I'm curious, you
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  know, when you were looking at,
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  putting some more of those scores in place
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  and following them and tracking them and thinking
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  about safety as well as outcomes and equity
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  and everything else,
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  how did you really keep your team focused
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  and and help them,
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  you know, work through any challenges so that
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  they could come out the other end, making
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  some big improvements?
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  Yeah. There was a really great infrastructure here
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  when I arrived,
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  and I would say we just continue to
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  sharpen the pencil.
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  We have our, you
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  know, safety and quality performance improvement committee.
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  We have,
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  a number of kind of department and and
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  service line specific,
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  group work groups as well. One thing that
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  I think really helped us move the needle,
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  we have a a top five, our safety
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  and quality top five every single year. And
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  those are the top five things that drive
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  our focus and keep us focused.
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  Not many have changed this year, but we
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  have falls. We have ambulation,
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  keeping our patients moving.
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  We have safe handoffs.
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  You know, our top five is, has
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  a team around each one of our core
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  measures,
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  and I think that that allows us to
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  take the number of things that are thrown
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  at our leaders all the time,
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  to really focus on what matters,
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  not only for the experience and the outcomes
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  of our patients, but can also drive the
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  results.
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  Got it. That makes a lot of sense.
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  Thank you so much for digging a bit
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  deeper there. Now looking ahead, what are some
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  of the big priorities and headwinds you're focused
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  on for 2026?
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  Yeah. I mean, I think like many organizations
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  and, you know, speaking from the Far West
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  Suburbs of the Chicagoland area,
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  all of our emergency rooms are just getting
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  slammed right now.
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  And it feels like and and the data
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  is telling us that, you know, volume, whether
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  it's stable or up,
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  acuity is certainly up. So I would say
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  a a big conversation
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  on our leadership teams is around throughput. How
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  are we managing?
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  We're we're
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  running out of beds faster than we thought
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  we would, namely because our patients are sicker.
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  So how are we managing those cases? How
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  are we bringing, you know, a full team
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  together to make sure we have a good
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  care plan?
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  Actually, our team in the ED is doing
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  just such a phenomenal job. We're we're starting
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  care in the in the waiting room.
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  And not only do we have two kind
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  of key triage spots, in our waiting room,
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  but we're actually caring for patients and discharging
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  patients who otherwise
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  don't need to be there,
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  from the waiting room. We are just trying
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  to move care up as much as we
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  can because, we're we're trying to manage that
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  aspect of throughput. So I'd say that's a
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  a a daily, hourly conversation,
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  and making sure that both we we are
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  staffed appropriately to manage, the the changing nature
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  of this care, that we're doing it in
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  a safe way,
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  and that we have,
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  the wellness of our staff in mind, making
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  sure that we're appropriately
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  staffed and and making sure that people are
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  are getting what they need through every shift.
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  That that's a a very
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  big conversation, especially smack dab in the middle
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  of a really tough flu season.
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  So I'd say operationally, that's
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  the the the, top priority. A top headwind,
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  I'm I'm confident all of my colleagues around
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  the country are keeping an eye on our
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  our state and our federal health care policy
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  changes.
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  You know, just I think over the weekend,
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  the rural transformation fund,
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  out of Washington was announced.
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  We're just starting to get information at the
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  state level on what that means for the
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  rural,
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  the rural
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  transformation, dollars that will go to some of
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  the rural hospitals.
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  I don't even know what that means for
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  us locally yet,
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  but I can tell you we're all keeping
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  a really close eye on,
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  what's changing,
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  the status of our Medicaid patients,
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  the status of our state budgets.
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  These are all and I call them you
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  know, when I we look at our financials,
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  even if our volume is up, we have
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  to understand the impact of these headwinds and
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  what our managing our expenses
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  looks like going forward just so we can
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  navigate those waters.
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  Absolutely. That's such a great point. And, you
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  know, it's really interesting to hear you talk
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  about all of these things because I know
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  especially when you are thinking about,
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  the legislative changes, those policies could be updated.
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  At any point, you have to stay nimble.
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  And then thinking about the financial challenges, but
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  also, you know, potentially getting some, additional funds
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  for the rural health transformation fund would be
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  exciting. So
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  I'm curious. How are you thinking about,
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  you know, the next twelve months or so?
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  What is the hardest thing you're gonna have
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  to do? How are you looking at all
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  of these things and, continuing to to pivot
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  it and grow your teams?
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  The hardest thing? I think all of us
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  jump into health care because every day, is
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  game day. That's what I like to say.
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  Every day is interesting in our jobs. I
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  think the hardest thing continues to be prioritization.
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  There are so many areas, so many programs,
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  so many teams that, you know, need investment.
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  There are so many great innovations coming down
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  the path.
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  There's replacements we need to do.
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  Prioritizing
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  those projects, I think, for a leadership team
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  becomes the hardest part of the job.
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  There's a finite number of dollars, especially when
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  you're in a health system. When you're thinking
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  about things like strategic capital, you can't fund
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  it all.
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  So I think what we're trying to do
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  is really roll up our sleeves and understand,
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  the why. You can't always prioritize things that
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  have a positive return on the investment.
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  Some things are safety issues. Some things are
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  about meeting needs of our community or meeting
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  needs of our campus.
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  So we're really focused on making sure we
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  have all the information and all of the
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  data
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  so we can make the best informed,
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  decisions when it comes to prior priorities on
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  this campus.
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  That's fascinating to hear. And and I really
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  like your point about, staying focused and having
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  the right priorities. And when you talk about
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  having the information, having the data, it it
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  more power at your fingertips there. What does
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  it look like for you, or or has
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  the journey been to,
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  incorporate that data into your decision making process
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  and making sure on the technology side,
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  you know, all all the data and,
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  technology that goes into it is really strong
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  and dependable?
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  Yeah. I mean,
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  yeah,
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  ask a lot of good questions,
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  listen as best we can,
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  and make sure we have the right people
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  at the table.
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  Again, you
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  know, when you're a part of a health
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  system like Northwestern,
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  we're grateful to have a lot of new
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  things vetted, at the system level. Will this
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  integrate with our systems? You know? Is this
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  product safe? Is it in our is it
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  within kind of the usable function of our
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  our supply chain? Whatever whatever the the new
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  thing may be.
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  A lot of vetting gets done at our
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  system level.
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  We need to make sure that it fits.
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  So we need to make sure we have
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  the right nurse leaders at the table, physician
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  leaders at the table, operational leaders at the
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  table,
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  our support services, our ambulatory and outpatient functions.
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  Our team likes to have that really comprehensive,
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  diverse,
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  numbers are numbers. Data
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  can tell lots of different stories.
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  It's the users
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  to make sure that our teams help us
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  understand the why
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  that, start to really inform the prioritization.
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  That is so helpful to know and understand.
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  Thank you, Emily. And before we wrap up,
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  I wanted to talk about growth as well.
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  Where do you see some of the best
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  opportunities for growth in the next year?
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  You know, specifically for us in our market,
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  we have an incredibly
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  robust
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  ambulatory and outpatient,
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  platform.
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  More and more,
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  patients are requiring kind of a complex workup.
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  So our imaging and diagnostic imaging modalities are
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  busy.
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  You know, I'm sure everyone is focused on
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  this, but I'd say you can always do
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  more at looking at how you're looking at
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  your schedules, your access, and your ability,
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  to make sure you're getting your patients in
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  and through for
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  your diagnostic imaging imaging department. It's just a
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  huge growth opportunity for our campuses.
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  Our surgical platform here,
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  is robust.
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  You know, we're a 159
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  bed hospital,
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  and we have a tertiary campus to our
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  east that we refer higher acuity things to.
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  But that makes us a really great bread
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  and butter,
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  operating facility where we start on time. We
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  can, you know, be really efficient, we can
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  add on cases, and that's been a really
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  attractive thing for some of our surgeons and
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  proceduralists. So I'd I'd say for us, we're
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  we're really focused on growth,
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  our procedural areas, our diagnostic imaging areas, and
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  our ambulatory platform, including our our oncology and
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  cancer center.
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  That's amazing to hear. A lot of exciting
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  things upcoming. So, Emily, thank you so much
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  for joining us on the podcast today. This
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  has been a a really fun discussion to
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  have, and I'm looking forward to seeing you
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  as well at our annual meeting. I I
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  know coming up here in April, we'll you'll
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  be speaking on a panel, and it'll be
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  just really fantastic to hear a little bit
• 14:36
  more about some of the things we're talking
• 14:38
  about today as well as how it's continuing
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  to make an impact on the communities you
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  serve.
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  Really looking forward to it. We always love
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  the Becker's conference.