Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Jeremy Stephens, Chief Human Resources Officer and Executive Vice President at Tidelands Health

Transcript

Jeremy Stephens, Chief Human Resources Officer and Executive Vice President at Tidelands Health · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  This is where health care leadership comes together.
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  Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings more than 3,500
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  hospital and health system executives and nearly 800
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  speakers to Chicago April.
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  This year's event includes keynote conversations with Dallas
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  Cowboys legend Troy Aikman and former president George
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  w Bush. For the agenda and event details,
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  visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  and click on the events tab in the
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  upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you
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  in Chicago.
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  Welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast. I'm Kelly
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  Gooch, senior editor and enterprise lead at Becker's.
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  I'm thrilled to be joined today by Jeremy
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  Stevens, executive vice president and chief human resources
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  officer at Highlands Health in South Carolina.
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  Jeremy, thank you so much for being here.
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  I'm really looking forward to this conversation, especially
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  given the work you're leading at the intersection
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  of workforce and transformation, talent development, and organizational
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  culture, all areas that are, of course, front
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  and center for for systems navigating
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  continued change today.
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  So to kick us off, I'd love for
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  if you could introduce yourself, share a little
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  bit about your background and and your path
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  in health care leadership that led you to
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  Highlands Health.
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  Oh, sure. Thank you. And and and thanks
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  for having me. I appreciate the opportunity to
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  share a little bit about what we're doing.
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  Really excited at Highlands Health. We've got some
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  really great initiatives.
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  Before we get into all that, like like
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  you said, I'm Jeremy Stevens. I've been at
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  Thailand's for about eight years. I've been in
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  health care for probably fifteen.
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  And then my background's kinda crazy. Before that,
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  I was actually the state personnel director for
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  the state of Michigan
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  for four years. And then before that, about
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  fifteen years or so in automotive. So I've,
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  been around the block in several different industries
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  and really enjoy health care though. I think
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  that it's, a really an opportunity for HR
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  to make a real difference.
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  Absolutely. Sounds like just a wonderful background, like
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  you said, across many areas there.
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  So
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  I was wondering
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  what maybe was the most important initiative you
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  led in the last year or so, and
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  and what did you do, and what were
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  the results? I'd love to hear from you.
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  Sure. So I I I think there's two
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  major projects that I'd like to to hit
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  on. The first was we really focused on
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  travelers. We had
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  a pretty high number of travelers during COVID
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  and and did not
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  really do a great job of bringing that
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  number down.
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  And so we really made a focus in
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  2025
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  of attacking the traveler number
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  and getting that number down. We were at
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  about 80 travelers. We're down to 12 now.
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  So it was a real significant decrease. We
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  have around 2,500 total employees.
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  So getting that number from 80 to 12,
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  that's a big deal for us. And we
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  really, really put a lot of time, a
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  lot of effort, and focus all the hiring
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  managers, operations, and HR partnered and really did
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  a great job in in focusing on that.
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  And that was a big initiative and a
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  huge cost savings.
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  And then the other one that I'm really
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  excited about, we launched what's called the Highlands
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  Health Scholars Program.
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  And and what that is is a program
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  where
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  we partnered with the local school district in
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  the county
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  as well as the local,
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  technical college. So Georgetown Community School District and
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  Horry Georgetown Technical College.
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  And we came together, the three of us,
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  and developed this scholar
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  and what it is is we look at
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  juniors in high school,
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  and we interview them. They can apply,
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  and they're then selected for their senior year
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  to go through a curriculum
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  of
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  health science classes.
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  And then when they go through that, they're
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  also receiving
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  a dual education dual,
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  certification through Horry Georgetown Technical College
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  while they're also getting their diploma through high
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  school.
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  And so as they're doing that, they're graduating
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  with that dual certification
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  in health science,
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  and then that allows us,
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  we're hiring every one of them. We guarantee
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  them a job when they get through the
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  program,
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  and then we bring them on board. And
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  we also have, ability
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  in our state in partnership with Horry Georgetown
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  Technical College to offer kids two years free
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  education so they get their associate's degree.
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  So their junior year, they figure out they
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  wanna be in health science. They're guaranteed a
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  job. While they're working, they can get their
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  two year degree for free. We're real flexible
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  with that.
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  And then the goal is to find some
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  some sponsors or some some folks to help
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  us get from a two year to a
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  four year degree for for those folks also
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  with the end goal being really to give
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  students that are juniors in our community
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  the ability to have free education.
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  So we're over halfway there getting them through
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  two year program.
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  We wanna end up with about 50 kids
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  per year.
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  We have 15
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  that,
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  went through for our first inaugural year, which
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  was a really good number, and we're going
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  through that year right now. And our goal
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  is for 50 for next year. So that's
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  a real big focus. And if you just,
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  you know, you think about that after five
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  years, that's potentially
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  250
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  kids
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  that have received all the education that they
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  want
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  and are members of our community with great
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  paying jobs,
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  working with us.
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  And it's just a win for the community,
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  for the hospital, for our patients, for everybody.
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  So we're really excited about that program.
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  Wow. That's amazing. Both initiatives,
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  just incredible results there. And I was going
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  to ask, how many say in the system?
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  So, yeah, that's, just wonderful to hear. It's
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  been able to to really be valuable and
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  a great
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  great thing for the organization that you're continuing
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  to to evolve.
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  And it it leads in actually to what
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  I wanted to hit on next. You mentioned
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  continuing to to look at that. And so
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  looking ahead,
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  what are maybe some of
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  the big priorities and headwinds you're focused on
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  for 2026? Anything else you'd mentioned? Yeah. I
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  I I think the big focus for us
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  is to continue with our pipeline development. We're
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  in one of the fastest growing counties in
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  The United States.
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  We're near the Myrtle Beach area,
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  and so our projections for growth are are
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  just incredible.
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  And so with that growth, it's going to
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  mean that we need to really,
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  have the pipelines in order to expand our
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  services to the community.
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  And so pipeline management is a huge focus.
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  One of the biggest initiatives within that space
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  is our student program
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  that we developed several years ago.
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  And and what we've done is created a
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  a a department that focuses on relationships with
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  students
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  from, really, kindergarten all the way through college
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  and even,
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  masters, and we have a residence program.
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  So we're really focused on developing those students.
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  And what we've seen already
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  is about 30%
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  of our open positions
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  annually are filled through our student program.
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  So it's a huge pipeline. It's almost a
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  third of all of our positions are filled
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  right there through that program.
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  I know a lot of employers
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  struggle with whether or not to put it
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  in place or how to manage it, but,
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  it's it's been an absolute,
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  amazing thing for us to do. And it's
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  really solidified our presence in the area, in
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  the community,
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  and has really allowed us to
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  become a premier employer.
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  We've been recognized through Becker's
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  as,
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  employer of choice now for the past three
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  years in a row. And I think that
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  student program is really feeding into that nicely
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  and will really be a big thing for
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  our for our future growth.
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  That's so wonderful to hear just how that
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  pipeline development has has come about and just
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  the success there as as well. And and
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  we all know as you as you said
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  that these
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  initiatives are are not always
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  smooth sailing, and there are maybe challenges along
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  the way.
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  And so wanted to ask you also just
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  maybe what's the hardest thing you'll have to
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  do in the coming year?
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  So this year's gonna be a bit of
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  a challenge for us in a in a
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  very, very good positive way. We are
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  in we've enhanced our relationship with MUSC in
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  South Carolina.
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  And so this will be a bit of
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  a transitional year for us,
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  and that's exciting. It's gonna allow us to
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  provide more services.
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  It's gonna allow us to have,
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  expanded networks. It's gonna just allow us to
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  take care of our patients in the community
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  better. And and we we were,
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  doing a great job at Thailand's, but adding
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  MUSC to us in a more enhanced relationship
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  is really gonna strengthen that that whole opportunity
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  for our community to get the care that
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  they deserve and that they need. And with
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  the growth that we're experiencing in this area,
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  it was it was needed and and super
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  exciting. So it's gonna be a big year
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  for us to transition
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  and and think about that impact, what it
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  means, how we pull it all together,
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  where we focus,
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  and and really staying focused on our employees
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  and making sure that they're real happy, which
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  they are, but making sure that we're really
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  doing a good job with the transition and
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  and just kind of working through all that.
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  So that's gonna be a big, big focus
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  for us this year.
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  But we'll still have to keep an eye
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  on all our other critical things when it
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  comes to engagement and turnover and pipeline and,
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  all of that. So a lot of strategic
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  work that we'll be doing as well as
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  just a lot of transitional and transactional type
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  things, but a really exciting time for the
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  future for TidalHealth.
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  Yeah. Lots of lots of things to focus
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  on. I know it at the same time
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  there. And, I know you mentioned, of course,
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  MUSC. That sounds like that's going to be
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  just a wonderful opportunity,
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  moving forward.
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  Anything else you mentioned on just where you
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  see
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  the best opportunities for organizational growth? Anything else
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  you'd mentioned about about either that transition or
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  or other efforts?
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  So I I think for us, as I
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  mentioned a couple times now with the growth
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  that we're experiencing in this area,
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  we're gonna put in several new freestanding
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  EDs. We're gonna build a new hospital
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  over the next few years. So
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  that's gonna require
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  growth. I mean, it it could easily gosh.
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  Maybe even double our size.
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  But it's certainly going to allow us to
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  to reach the patients and and have that
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  community
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  focus that we need.
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  But it's gonna be tough for HR. That's
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  that's gonna be a real challenging year and
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  for our operations group and and really all
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  the areas to to really bring the talent
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  and the right talent, develop the talent, make
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  sure we keep all our talent, and we
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  grow towards the future. I I think that,
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  as I mentioned, this is just an extremely
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  exciting time. I think we're gonna be,
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  really identified with this partnership with MUSC as
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  the premier
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  place for health care in our area. And,
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  I'm excited to make sure we're bringing in
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  the providers and the the rest of the
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  staff to to provide those services for,
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  all the people that need it in our
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  community. It's just a really, really exciting time.
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  I really appreciate your time and really look
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  forward
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  to working with you again soon. Oh, it's
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  my pleasure. Thank you for the opportunity.