Latest / Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast / Stacey-Ann Okoth on Nursing Leadership and Workplace Safety at CommonSpirit Health Mountain Division

Transcript

Stacey-Ann Okoth on Nursing Leadership and Workplace Safety at CommonSpirit Health Mountain Division · Becker’s Healthcare - Clinical Leadership Podcast

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  The most important health care decisions don't happen
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  in isolation.
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  They happen when leaders come together.
• 0:08
  Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings together more than
• 0:11
  3,500
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  hospital and health system executives this April in
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  Chicago.
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  With 800 speakers from Ascension,
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  Cleveland Clinic, CommonSpirit and more, the conversations get
• 0:22
  real. Leaders will share how their scenario planning
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  for policy shifts, breaking through value based care
• 0:27
  barriers, and building clinical teams that translate new
• 0:30
  ideas into real world care.
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  Join top decision makers in the room April
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  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 Duda with the Becker's Healthcare
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  podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  Stacy Ann O'Koth, chief nursing executive officer at
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  the Mountain Region of CommonSpirit Health. Stacy Ann,
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  it's a pleasure to have you on the
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  podcast today.
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  Laura, it's great to join you today.
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  Absolutely. Now I'm excited for our conversation because,
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  you know, it's such a interesting and dynamic
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  field in health care. And so to get
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  a sense of how you've been able to,
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  you know, pivot it and be successful in
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  the last year as well as what you're
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  doing to prepare for the future will be
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  helpful. But before we dive into all of
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  that, can you tell us a little bit
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  more about yourself and CommonSpirit Health?
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  Sure.
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  So as you mentioned, I'm doctor Stacy Ann
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  O'Kath,
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  and I serve as the regional chief nursing
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  officer for Common Spirit Health's Mountain Region.
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  Prior to joining this wonderful organization 2025,
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  I held various executive leadership roles in various
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  settings from the East Coast to the West
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  Coast
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  and then back to the East Coast.
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  Our region is vast. It encompasses 20 hospitals
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  across three states, Colorado,
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  Kansas, and Utah,
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  along with about 250
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  clinics and practices
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  and 60 ambulatory care sites.
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  I'm proud to lead a team of approximately
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  6,000 nurses
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  across our region
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  who make up about a third of our
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  entire organization.
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  So we're focused on delivering compassionate, high quality
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  care to all the communities we serve.
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  Yeah. That's great to understand. And, you know,
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  it's,
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  so cool to see how huge your region
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  is and especially, I know, unique populations, I'm
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  sure, in every place. And so,
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  you know, great to have that perspective. Now
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  when you think about the last year or
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  so, could you tell us about the most
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  important initiative that you led? What did you
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  do, and what were the results?
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  Sure.
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  So one of the most critical initiatives we
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  prioritized in 2025
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  really focused squarely on maintaining a safe environment
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  for all of our team members.
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  We know regrettably
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  that health care workers are significantly
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  more prone to workplace violence
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  than those in most other professions.
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  I'm leading our region's comprehensive
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  workplace violence prevention initiatives.
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  So for instance, this past year, we significantly
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  strengthened our structure
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  and approach by adding dedicated committees at all
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  of our facilities,
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  implementing enhanced tools for our team members to
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  report incidences,
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  and increasing our security leadership and protocols.
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  This prevention program is designed to be proactive
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  to identify risks,
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  foster a culture of continuous improvement,
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  and provide critical support to our teams.
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  Because we understand that by doing this,
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  we are fundamentally
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  improving safety, not just for our caregivers
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  but also for our patients and their families.
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  A specific example of this commitment
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  is how we're refining
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  our approach to visitor management.
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  We're piloting a new visitor management system across
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  six of our hospitals initially.
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  This initiative will strengthen our ability to control
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  access,
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  particularly in sensitive areas,
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  and ensure we consistently know who is within
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  our facilities.
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  This helps protect our caregivers,
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  but it also designed to build trust and
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  transparency with patients and their families
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  regarding security.
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  I love that. I I think it's so
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  critical to have that type of focus and
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  energy around making sure that the health care
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  providers and team feel safe within,
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  the the hospital and the organization. I I
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  know that's something that so many different
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  hospitals and systems unfortunately
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  have to experience,
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  for folks. And so, you know, it's cool
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  to hear that you've got that structure strengthened
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  and really are designing more programs around finding
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  that risk and and making sure that there's
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  improvement across the board.
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  Is there anything from the last year that
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  you found that worked particularly well or something
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  that, you know, other organizations can should think
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  about,
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  doing similarly within their own systems?
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  Well,
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  absolutely.
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  So the first thing is just making sure
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  that they have a really good, visitor management,
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  to make sure that we know who is
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  in is in our hospitals.
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  OSHA, that is one of their requirement,
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  that we know in case of an emergency,
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  we wanna make sure that we're able to
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  rescue everyone in the building. And so that
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  is a very important
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  and basic,
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  thing that all of our all facilities need
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  to do.
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  That's helpful to understand and a great, great,
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  great place to start. Now looking ahead for
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  2026,
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  what are some of the big priorities or
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  pet ones that you're focused on?
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  So, Laura, for 2026,
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  the commitment is to strengthen and lead our
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  workplace violence prevention initiatives.
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  That's certainly has to be our ongoing priority.
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  Beyond safety, we're intensely focused on continuing to
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  elevate the experience of our patients when they
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  come to us for care.
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  So we've seen strong measurable momentum in recent
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  months in the positive perception of our patients
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  and
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  our caregivers
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  and the quality care,
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  they're receiving from us.
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  A key part of the success is our
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  team's consistent and effective use of evidence based
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  tactics,
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  such as structured patient rounding, which ensures constant
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  communication,
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  proactivity,
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  and comfort for every patient.
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  That makes a lot of sense. And, you
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  know, I I love that focusing on evidence
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  based and the information, data, and communication that
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  they have because, you know, being able to
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  be more precise here seems like it would
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  have
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  a give a big advantage, in making sure
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  everybody stays safe and understands, you know, the
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  risks, going forward. That seems like a great
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  great thing to have. You know, what do
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  you you think is the hardest thing you'll
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  have to do in the coming year will
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  be?
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  Well, Laura, the hardest thing will be navigating
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  the challenging economic headwinds
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  that the health care industry and our health
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  system continues to face.
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  We are confronting a significant triple threat,
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  continued wage inflation
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  and increases in supply costs,
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  the changing landscape in regards to Medicaid reimbursement
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  and increasing numbers of uninsured or underinsured patients.
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  We're actively sharing concerns around potential Medicaid cuts
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  both federally and within our own states, Colorado,
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  Kansas, and Utah.
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  Furthermore, as our three states prepare for the
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  implementation of of measures like HR
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  one, including potential work requirements and redetermination
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  of benefits,
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  we are anticipating
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  further changes in maintaining enrollment for vulnerable populations.
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  So given our deep roots in rural healthcare
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  in the mountain region, we're deeply concerned about
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  the financial sustainability
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  of our rural partners.
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  Healthcare is an ecosystem
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  and we are all deeply reliant on one
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  another to ensure that patients have access to
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  care
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  when and where they need it.
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  Our hospitals are stepping up to provide increased
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  financial assistance,
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  but this combination of diminishing Medicaid reimbursements,
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  rising costs, and a growing population
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  of uninsured patients is increasingly challenging,
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  and we must continue to be fierce advocates
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  on behalf of our patients and communities to
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  present to preserve
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  the access to care that our neighbors deserve
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  and expect.
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  That's such a great point. I know access
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  to care is, a huge challenge. And as
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  you mentioned, because of some of these factors
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  and headwinds, could become even more challenging in
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  the future. And you mentioned, you know, thinking
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  about concerns on sustainability,
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  especially for rural health care, and and I
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  can imagine that impacts a lot of the
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  markets in in areas that you serve. And
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  so, you know, when you're looking at all
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  of that, is there anything that you are
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  doing right now to prepare for that future,
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  or is it more sharpening awareness and making
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  sure you've got your systems and processes in
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  place so that you can absorb changes that
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  might come down the pipe?
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  Yeah. Well, our organization,
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  Laura, is being very proactive in engaging
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  with state, federal,
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  government officials,
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  to make sure that
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  they're passing common sense laws
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  and also,
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  tapping into the h r one
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  rural funds that was promised in that bill.
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  And then proactively as nurses, we're working with
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  the,
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  AACN
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  in partnership with Johnson and Johnson
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  to
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  be proactive
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  in
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  understanding
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  how
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  we can partner with our rural communities to
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  bring programs,
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  to them instead of waiting for someone to
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  do it for us.
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  So we are launching our, cohort program in
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  July.
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  And so
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  I would anticipate
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  a lot of
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  innovation coming out of that program.
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  Absolutely. That's great to hear, and we'll definitely
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  keep an eye out for that, you know,
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  in in computing a logic closely. I I
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  know it'll be certainly a model for
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  solutions that hopefully others will be able to
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  learn from and go from as well. Now
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  when you look into the future, where do
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  you see some of the best opportunities for
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  both at Conner Spirit too?
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  Well, we have two key areas of opportunity
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  for organizational growth that are both strategic
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  and mission critical.
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  So first, we are proudly serving some fast
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  growing communities,
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  particularly in South Metro Denver,
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  and we're excited to be growing along with
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  them.
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  This year, we will be breaking ground on
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  a new health campus in this area that
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  will ensure our neighbors have high quality,
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  patient centered care conveniently located close to home.
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  This campus will also serve as an important
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  hub for innovation and compassionate care,
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  connecting us to communities across the entire state.
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  And then second,
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  we view nurse recruitment and retention as a
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  strategic growth imperative.
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  We know the entire industry faces challenges in
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  hiring enough nurses,
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  and we're pleased to be at the forefront
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  of efforts to recruit and retain the very
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  best.
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  We offer competitive compensation here at CommonSpirit,
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  benefits, and expansive educational opportunities to help both
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  new and veteran nurses thrive.
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  Crucially, we offer
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  programs to nurture new nurses such as our
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  graduate nurse residency program that helps new graduates
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  transition seamlessly into their roles.
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  This systemic
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  approach is working.
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  Our nurse residency program as a common spirit
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  system nationwide
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  has led to an outstanding retention rate
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  of ninety one percent for new nurses who
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  complete the program.
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  Oh, that's incredible. What a great results. And,
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  you know, it's really cool to see having
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  that type of pipeline and support for new
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  nurses because I know
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  in in many areas and for many organizations,
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  that's a a place of,
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  you know, that they're challenged because they don't
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  have such a pipeline or or haven't been
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  able to build, a program that successfully
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  brings more folks into their organization in that
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  way. And so, that's really neat that you
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  have that type of success, and I think
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  it makes sense that there's opportunities for additional
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  growth there too. Yeah.
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  We're really proud of our results.
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  We know that retaining our nurses is is
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  a huge priority for us because
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  we can hire all day long, but at
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  the end of the day, we have to
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  retain our nurses.
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  And this is a wonderful place,
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  to do so. We have great nurses and
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  a great team, and
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  I know that we are going to continue
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  to,
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  contribute
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  to growing this organization.
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  Fantastic.
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  Stacy, thank you so much for joining us
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  on the podcast today. This has been such
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  a fun conversation.
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  I appreciate your time and expertise, and I
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  look forward to seeing you as well at
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  our annual meeting. I know you'll be speaking
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  on a panel and talking more in-depth on
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  many of the things we touched on today.
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  So looking forward to seeing you there. Looking
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  forward to it, Laura. Thank you.