Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Strengthening the Nursing Workforce at Hackensack Meridian Health

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Strengthening the Nursing Workforce at Hackensack Meridian Health · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:01
  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. Join us April 13 through the
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  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 Dierda with the Becker's Healthcare
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  podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  Regina Foley, president of specialty hospitals and clinical
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  services as well as chief nurse executive at
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  Hackensack Meridian Health. Regina, it's a pleasure to
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  have you on the podcast today. Good to
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  talk to you too, Laura, and all your
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  all your listeners.
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  Awesome. Well, thank you so much for being
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  here. I'm excited to have you because I
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  know Hackensack Meridian Health is on the forefront
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  of a lot of amazing things in the
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  clinical care space, and especially thinking about nursing.
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  You know? You're really, really interesting,
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  ways that you've been adapting to the current
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  environment and building on the ecosystem. But before
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  we dig into that, can you tell us
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  a little bit more about yourself and the
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  organization?
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  Sure.
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  So I,
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  Hackensack Meridian Health located in New Jersey.
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  38,000
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  team members strong,
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  recover about eight counties in the state of
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  New Jersey, 18 hospitals, about 500 locations.
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  I'm a career
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  HMH'er. I've been in our company for thirty
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  nine years as we roll into twenty six
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  years, thirty nine years.
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  Different places, different roles. You know, it's been
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  part of the
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  the gift of being a nurse, whether it
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  be, you know, nurse at the bedside, a
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  chief nurse
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  at, one of our hospitals or hospital president
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  or leading transformation efforts, which is all the
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  change,
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  or even landing to the to the enrollment
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  today.
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  I, you know, have certainly have a lot
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  of longevity
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  within Hackensack Meridian Health. I would say I
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  don't I'm not alone, though. We have many
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  nurses that have been promoted from within
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  and, or or say a career,
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  within our company.
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  Certainly proud
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  of,
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  of the organization.
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  We had a recent restructuring
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  in '26 where,
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  we were divided in or or segregated kind
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  of in a regional role within the within
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  our our state.
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  And,
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  our CEO and board,
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  thought let's you know, we need to get
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  a little bit more provocative thinking and forward
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  thinking here.
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  So we actually eliminated,
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  a regional structure
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  and,
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  which was north, central, and south.
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  And then,
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  we eliminated those roles,
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  in that kind of although care is very
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  local. And, you know, we keep care as
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  local to the patient as possible or or
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  community as possible. Administratively,
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  now we've
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  organized that our acute care hospitals are kind
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  of one side of the house, and then
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  areas like specialty hospitals or clinical services,
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  that's what I have the responsibility of. So
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  it's really allowed for a lot of, further
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  integration,
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  further continuity,
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  you know, transparency
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  of information, timeliness,
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  which certainly, at the end of it all,
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  helps us with, caring for our patients. So
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  this kind of recent reorganization we did, in
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  the in the kinda latter half of '25
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  certainly, I think, turned out to be beneficial
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  for the company.
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  That's great to hear. And, you know, certainly,
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  always a lot goes into those kind of
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  restructures and reorganization,
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  but I love that goal of, you know,
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  making sure care is local and, putting the
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  right people in the right places to,
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  transform that care experience.
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  Now when you think about the last year,
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  what was the most important initiative that you
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  led? What did you do, and what were
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  the results?
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  I think the top one of the top
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  three priorities,
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  would be,
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  strengthening
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  and supporting
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  the workforce, the nursing workforce.
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  I would say stabilization
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  of the workforce.
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  You know, the
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  the pandemic really took its toll on the
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  work on the health care workforce,
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  globally.
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  We also were part of certainly a part
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  of that.
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  So recently, I would say the most important
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  initiative that we tackled in '25
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  was stabilization of the workforce, which has led
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  to we have a very low vacancy rate
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  today,
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  just about 4%. Actually, we have two of
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  our hospitals that have below the four vacancy
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  rate. Retention is extremely strong.
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  We also were able to reduce,
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  contracted labor agency utilization,
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  by,
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  about,
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  gosh, dollars 41,000,000
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  last year, which is not insignificant.
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  So I would say making significant strides in,
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  stabilization
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  of the workforce and making sure that we
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  have, very strong
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  retention efforts,
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  which is really is led from culture, you
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  know, in the organization. So it's not just
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  about recruiting
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  net new. We want those nurses to stay
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  in the organization, you know, just like me.
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  You know, here he is a few years
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  later. So,
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  that I would say there's many priorities, but
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  I can tell you that's one standout or
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  important initiative for '25,
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  was,
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  the, you know, stabilization
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  of the work environment. I gave you some
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  stats. Vacancy, retention,
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  agency utilization,
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  and,
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  you know, behind the scenes of all of
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  that, there's different kind of unique programs
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  to help on the retentions on the recruitment
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  side
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  because many you know, our care is local.
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  Our team members are local. We're very community
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  based. So our our
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  our physicians,
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  team members, and patients are living within the
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  communities that they're practicing in. So we have
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  different programs in place to ensure that if
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  somebody wants to go to school as a
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  second career choice, how do we support them
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  to do that? They always wanted to be
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  a nurse. We we kinda mentor and figure
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  out different ways, whether it be tuition reimbursement,
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  scholarships, or things that we're bonusing.
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  So a lot of detail there. There's a
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  lot to unpack.
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  But I I can say that probably stabilization
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  of the work environment was a key initiative
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  that we had success with, last year.
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  Sounds amazing to hear. And, you know, definitely
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  something that a lot of hospitals and systems
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  are are trying to achieve. And so when
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  you think about, you know, reaching those goals
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  being,
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  such a low vacancy rate and truly, truly,
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  having that kind of retention that you need
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  and then the savings as well by reducing
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  the contract labor. I know, you know, there's
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  a lot of components that go into being
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  a great place to work and,
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  you know,
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  setting that right type of culture that people
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  wanna be at. So, you know, when you
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  look at that differentiating factor, what did it
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  take to,
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  achieve these these results and really transform the
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  way you were thinking about the workforce?
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  Yeah. I I first think
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  nurses
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  and it's more just that it's not just
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  nursing, but, you know, we're on that topic
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  right now. But the workforce wants to feel
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  respected, appreciated, and that their opinion counts.
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  So our you know, myself, our CEO,
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  our COO,
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  are very
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  grassroots
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  oriented that we're at you know, as I
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  talked to you today, I'm at one of
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  our hospitals
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  where we're very we have a lot of
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  visibility.
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  I mean, you you're never as visible as
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  the team members want, but,
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  we definitely are at the site
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  routinely to keeping things very real.
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  And that that's that's I feel very symbolic
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  on where culture begins.
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  Our CEO
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  was a hospital executive or CEO at one
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  of our hospitals.
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  Our leadership team, our executive leadership team for
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  our company network,
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  all have come from a hospital environment.
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  And that really pays dividends because the team
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  members,
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  they I'll say they I feel like that
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  they always know a faker. Right? Like, they
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  can feel like, what are you talking about?
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  You're saying this, but did you really live
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  it? And in, you know, truth be told,
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  myself, the COO, the CEO have done that.
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  You know, clinicians by background have have literally
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  rendered patient care and came from very humble
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  beginnings. So I think culture begins there because
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  we it is very family oriented. I I
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  don't just say it to resonate like, oh,
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  Virginia, you gotta be kidding me. You know,
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  again, I'm in our company for thirty nine
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  years.
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  It is an extension of my house. I
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  I, you know, have three kids. They're adult
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  children now, but they they know
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  where where I practice and what what I
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  do for a living is extremely important even
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  to our family.
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  And so, therefore, that is that translates
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  because of,
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  I would say, style and type of communication
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  being authentic.
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  Team members know that they're cared for. They
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  know that they're respected.
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  We want nurses to work at full scope
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  of practice and full license.
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  We partner with our medical community to ensure
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  that that happens for potentially advanced practice providers.
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  So, again, culture, it's not I mean, it
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  could probably be a whole other podcast is
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  culture really sets the tone of
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  how you're able to really move the needle
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  in your in your organization,
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  whether it be workforce, whether it be financial
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  results,
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  god forbid, a situational issue.
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  You're able to see very,
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  very clearly in a quick period of time
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  when everybody's on the same sheet sheet of
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  music and moving in the same direction, how
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  you can really make things happen in a
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  very short short,
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  and very timely. And I I would say
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  the definition of that is having a healthy
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  culture. So I I
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  appreciate you bringing it up because very often,
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  when health care executives are asked, you know,
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  it's about margin and volume,
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  and we don't necessarily think that way. I
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  mean, yes, it's those are important,
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  but at the at the beginning of it,
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  you know, quality is at the bedside.
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  How do we make sure that the quality
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  that we're rendering
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  you know, how do we make sure the
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  individuals rendering that care
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  know you know, are we listening to them?
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  And that's, again, where it begins with culture.
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  So probably a long way of answering it,
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  but that I mean, that's just from, you
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  know, my heart sharing that with you.
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  I really appreciate it. And then and such
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  an important thing to to to share, and
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  I can tell your passion for what you're
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  doing and everything that goes into,
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  the organization there in HMH,
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  is really shining through. So,
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  that's amazing. I think when you look ahead
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  to 2026, are there any other priorities you're
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  looking at or headwinds that you're focused on,
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  right now?
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  Easy answer is yes.
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  One is,
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  how and where we can leverage technology.
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  We we did launch virtual nursing
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  in the last two years, and we have
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  a 147
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  beds,
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  activated with virtual nursing. So it's a nursing
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  partner. It's somebody else taking care of the
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  administrative burden
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  of caring for the patient. And we are
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  you know, we'll monitor it for a solid
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  year to make sure to just to say
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  it's it's for those 147
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  beds in four different hospitals, a unit in
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  all in four different hospitals.
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  And we're in the process now of evaluating
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  to see if that's something that should be
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  expanded
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  or not.
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  So I I think leveraging
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  technology
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  to lighten the load
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  for
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  individuals that are patient facing.
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  It could be a doctor, could be a
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  nurse, it could be a PCT. Right? And,
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  you know, a partner, right, a partner
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  in care.
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  So
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  I would say our one of the biggest
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  priority or headwind
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  would be,
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  leveraging technology
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  and advancing technology we have in place
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  as we're monitoring it and, you know, we're
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  measuring it, what are the benefits, and is
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  it something that could be expanded?
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  You know, we can't underestimate the power of
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  AI.
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  We we are at Hackstack Meridian, we do
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  utilize and leverage the EPIC platform,
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  And we have some generative,
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  AI that are helping,
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  nurses with,
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  notes, you know, end of shift notes to
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  help,
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  that,
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  change a shift,
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  time to you know, could we
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  reduce that in any way and can we
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  be more,
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  comprehensive?
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  So, you know, if you would have said
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  five years ago, we were gonna be leveraging
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  AI at the bedside, I'd say, I don't
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  know. I'm not quite there. Now
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  early adopter, and the answer is yes because
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  AI can really be another partner
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  in helping that nurse or clinician care for
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  the patient. So those are two, I would
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  say, big priorities for us this year.
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  Got it. I love that.
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  Fantastic. Thank you so much for for sharing.
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  Now what do you think the hardest thing
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  you're gonna have to do will be in
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  the next year?
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  I would say continuing to innovate, you know,
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  because our our our teams are not,
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  they're not complacent and just same old, same
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  old. They're always looking to challenge. There's you
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  know, with the all the smart scientists and
• 12:50
  things that are happening on the technology side,
• 12:52
  how can we how can we afford to
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  be early adopters
• 12:56
  when we see benefits of patient? You know,
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  robotic surgery comes to mind. You know, if
• 13:00
  if I mean, you can't argue with the
• 13:02
  technology in robotic surgery.
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  Patients are you know, they're back to work
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  quicker. They're back to their regular activities of
• 13:09
  daily living. They're able to travel quicker.
• 13:12
  They have less complications. They have less time,
• 13:15
  you know, in the Operating Room. They have
• 13:16
  less time in the hospital, meaning more time
• 13:18
  with their families.
• 13:19
  So, again, that's where technology has really advanced.
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  So I would just say that one of
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  the hardest thing is can continuing to innovate
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  and be early adopters of the technology
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  as it, you know, as it evolves. Certainly,
• 13:34
  I shared on the AI front
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  or virtual. We have those 147
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  beds that we have activated.
• 13:40
  Well, how do we how do we quantify
• 13:42
  the benefits of that? Hard savings. It can't
• 13:45
  just be soft. I can't just say to
• 13:47
  CEO, oh, so we're retaining nurses longer,
• 13:50
  or
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  we have less incidental
• 13:53
  overtime because the the change of shift time
• 13:55
  is is quicker. I I need to quantify
• 13:58
  with hard savings.
• 13:59
  So that's what we're in the process to
• 14:01
  do now, and that's hard. Because there's a
• 14:02
  lot of soft savings associated with,
• 14:05
  virtual nursing.
• 14:07
  But, you know, our CEO and board are
• 14:08
  gonna look for some hard savings. So those
• 14:10
  are,
• 14:11
  tough because it's a delicate balance of to
• 14:13
  be innovative,
• 14:14
  to bring technology to the bedside. But now
• 14:17
  that we have it, how do we expand
• 14:18
  it? And I'm gonna have to quantify that
• 14:20
  with, hard savings. So that's certainly
• 14:22
  a that's a it's a big nut to
• 14:24
  crack for this year.
• 14:26
  Absolutely.
• 14:27
  That that sounds like a huge, huge challenge.
• 14:29
  And, you know, I appreciate all the dynamics
• 14:31
  that go into trying to,
• 14:34
  be that innovative
• 14:35
  and tech forward organization while at the same
• 14:37
  time making sure that you've got,
• 14:40
  quality, safety, everything else there, and it can
• 14:42
  really prove,
• 14:43
  the results coming from those different initiatives. So,
• 14:47
  I I love that, you know, kind of
• 14:49
  talking about those soft savings, especially in virtual
• 14:51
  nursing, and then trying to continue to to
• 14:53
  transfer that into the hard savings as well.
• 14:56
  Before we wrap up here, I'm curious. How
• 14:58
  do you see growth and development over the
• 15:00
  next year? Where do you see the best
• 15:01
  opportunities to continue growing?
• 15:04
  Well, I guess two two things.
• 15:07
  We've
• 15:08
  had a pretty significant appetite the last couple
• 15:11
  of years to expand our ambulatory footprint. You
• 15:14
  know, patients that are in hospitals are so
• 15:16
  acute. Right? They're really acute. They're the acuity
• 15:19
  is high.
• 15:20
  They're very sick. Patients are very sick. We
• 15:23
  wanna keep people certainly, if they need to
• 15:24
  come to us, we we're the we're the
• 15:26
  guy to take care of them. I have
• 15:27
  no problem with that. We wanna keep people
• 15:29
  healthy and happy in their local community environment.
• 15:33
  So we've placed ambulatory
• 15:35
  locations
• 15:36
  peppered throughout the state. As I mentioned in
• 15:38
  the outset, we have about 500 locations.
• 15:40
  But,
• 15:41
  even today, I think there's about 14 or
• 15:44
  15 shovels on the ground, different different areas
• 15:46
  in New Jersey, building an ambulatory
• 15:49
  environment
• 15:49
  so that patients can go to to see
• 15:52
  their primary care doc, go to a pharmacy,
• 15:54
  get a CAT scan, or or an image
• 15:56
  done for something. So that's one. The other
• 15:59
  is, you know, as we roll into '26,
• 16:01
  we really can't talk about health care in
• 16:03
  New Jersey with Hackensack Meridian Health without talking
• 16:06
  about the FIFA World Cup.
• 16:08
  We this global
• 16:10
  this global you know, these games are gonna
• 16:12
  be played here in New Jersey at MetLife
• 16:14
  Stadium beginning this summer July June into July.
• 16:17
  And our quaternary facility,
• 16:20
  Hackensack University Medical Center,
• 16:23
  will be on the world stage. I know
• 16:24
  that is this that that our hospital will
• 16:27
  be the hometown hospital,
• 16:29
  for New Jersey, New York hosting this global,
• 16:33
  this global,
• 16:34
  game, so to speak. So that on top
• 16:37
  of the two hundred fiftieth anniversary of our
• 16:38
  country, obviously, we're booked down between New York
• 16:41
  and, Philadelphia.
• 16:43
  A lot of activity happening in the Philadelphia
• 16:45
  market, certainly in the New York market, but
• 16:47
  right across the river here in New Jersey,
• 16:49
  we'll be hosting the, the FIFA World Cup.
• 16:52
  So
• 16:53
  that certainly is something it certainly it's a
• 16:55
  tremendous opportunity for us, but then it's on
• 16:57
  you're on the global world stage of, rendering
• 17:00
  care.
• 17:01
  God forbid, you know, somebody gets hurt. But
• 17:04
  in the world we live in on,
• 17:06
  you know, mitigating risk and
• 17:08
  protecting those,
• 17:09
  making sure that when they go to an
• 17:11
  event, it's as safe, right, as safe as
• 17:14
  possible, and that they're going to have a
• 17:16
  good time. So we'll we're gonna be part
• 17:19
  we're,
• 17:19
  you know, very much early adoption in the
• 17:22
  you know, this plans have been going on
• 17:24
  for more over more than a year.
• 17:26
  But, certainly, as we get into this year
• 17:28
  and opportunities
• 17:29
  on the growth side,
• 17:31
  you know, we're we're gonna be hosting or
• 17:33
  we're we're sponsoring the FIFA, World Cup. I
• 17:36
  believe that, you know, New Jersey, it's very
• 17:39
  highly diverse,
• 17:40
  diverse state.
• 17:42
  The post of it as as this the
• 17:45
  attention
• 17:46
  is on New Jersey for this,
• 17:48
  to be, you know, to be shown for
• 17:50
  a month, you know, June into July. We're
• 17:52
  also gonna build, these, I think, what they're
• 17:55
  called, like, legacy fields. So in communities that
• 17:58
  need additional fields where kids need, you know,
• 18:00
  get away from technology, get outside,
• 18:03
  you know, team sport,
• 18:05
  be with your friends. Right? Get out in,
• 18:07
  get out in the environment.
• 18:09
  We're gonna build three three, fields,
• 18:11
  in our state so that kids could, you
• 18:13
  know, get excited about it as much as
• 18:16
  we are, but keeping them more, you know,
• 18:17
  in their community. So,
• 18:19
  certainly a global platform,
• 18:21
  that we'll be able to share, well, things
• 18:23
  that are important to us, tackle kids' cancer.
• 18:25
  You know, we do have two children's hospitals,
• 18:27
  and they're doing a lot of cancer care
• 18:29
  with children.
• 18:30
  And we have you know, we we wanna
• 18:32
  fundraise as much as we can for that
• 18:34
  because, I mean, nobody should be nobody should
• 18:37
  feel sick or or feel badly. But let
• 18:39
  me tell you, when a kid has cancer,
• 18:41
  it is, really it's a very pivotal thing
• 18:44
  for the those that are caring for the
• 18:45
  child as well as the family. So we
• 18:47
  have a lot of initiatives behind the scenes
• 18:49
  on that. So those are another areas of
• 18:51
  growth for us on the philanthropy side.
• 18:53
  That's amazing to hear. Wow. A lot of
• 18:56
  great opportunities coming up this year. Regina, thank
• 18:58
  you so much for joining us on the
• 18:59
  podcast today. I really appreciate your time, and
• 19:01
  this has been a great conversation. I look
• 19:03
  forward to seeing you at our annual meeting
• 19:05
  as well coming up here. I know you'll
• 19:06
  be speaking on a panel, and we'll continue
• 19:08
  to to deepen,
• 19:10
  some of the themes we talked about here.
• 19:11
  And this will be a great opportunity to
• 19:13
  connect with all those, from across the country
• 19:15
  leading very similar health care challenges as well
• 19:17
  as initiatives moving forward.
• 19:19
  Sounds good, Laura. You know, flattered to be
• 19:21
  asked and, happy to partner with any of
• 19:24
  my friends and colleagues throughout our country.