Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Dr. JohnRich R. Levine, Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), Reeves Regional Health

Transcript

Dr. JohnRich R. Levine, Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), Reeves Regional Health · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  This is where health care leadership comes together.
• 0:04
  Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings more than 3,500
• 0:07
  hospital and health system executives and nearly 800
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  speakers to Chicago April.
• 0:14
  This year's event includes keynote conversations with Dallas
• 0:17
  Cowboys legend Troy Aikman and former president George
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  w Bush. For the agenda and event details,
• 0:23
  visit beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:25
  and click on the events tab in the
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  upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you
• 0:29
  in Chicago.
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  This is Laura Deirdre with the Becker's Healthcare
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  podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  John Rich Levine, chief nursing officer of Reeves
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  Regional Health. John Rich, it's a pleasure to
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  have you on the podcast today. Thank you,
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  Laura.
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  Now I'm looking forward to our discussion because
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  I know we'll dig a little bit deeper
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  into some of the great things you're doing
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  at Reeves Regional and how you're thinking about
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  the future. But before we dive in, can
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  you tell me a little bit more about
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  yourself and Reeves Regional Health?
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  Yes. Thank you. So, again, my name is,
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  doctor John Rich Levine. I am the current
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  chief nursing officer at Reeves Regional Health
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  in Pecos, Texas, that is West Of Texas.
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  Our hospital serves as a large serves a
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  large
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  area in West Of Texas and the families
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  who live and work throughout the entire region.
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  And, this hospital, which is our teams, they
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  care for ranchers,
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  oilfield workers,
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  teachers,
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  travelers on long highways, and even many others
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  who rely on us for safe care and
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  a steady presence
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  during crucial
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  moments, like there was, recent last year, we
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  have this huge train wreck, and they we
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  cater to those,
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  casualties because we're the only ones available.
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  Reeves embodies the spirit of a frontier
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  hospital,
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  and that is combined with the discipline of
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  modern health system as well. We have a
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  brand new hospital
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  building that,
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  the county
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  bought for us, and our teams take pride
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  in a strong clinical judgment
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  with clear communication because we're a small
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  organization.
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  We also have, we pride ourselves with firm
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  commitment to reliability
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  because to us every improvement is viewed from
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  a rural perspective
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  where access and trust are highly valued
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  and this approach
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  shapes our work and fosters a close partnership
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  with the community we serve.
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  That's amazing to hear. And, you know, really,
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  such a great service you're providing that community
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  and certainly serving an important population.
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  Now when you think about the last year
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  or so, what was the most important initiative
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  you led? What did you do, and what
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  were the results?
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  Yeah. The last this year, that's 2025.
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  Actually, we're still not there. Right? But we're
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  we're getting there. So as we close the
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  year, it really is important for us to
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  remember what what happened to us. And the
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  most critical
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  initiative that led us for this year was
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  the the focus on clarity and consistency.
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  We established a unified nursing governance
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  pathway across the entire hospital.
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  Also, each of our departments set up a
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  clear structure for
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  policy management,
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  competency
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  requirements,
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  and daily routines that are responsible for our
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  results.
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  So aside from that, we also establish shared
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  processes for
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  safety huddles, which is, if you would think
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  in critical access, what is that huddle all
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  about? And we want to implement that and
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  it's safety huddles for us. We also have
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  the bedside communication,
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  rapid review of real time risks that could
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  happen.
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  All these things enabled every nurse to assume
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  a leadership role and enhance
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  their reliability
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  at the point of care. It's not just
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  focused on the nursing leaders, but leaders at
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  the bedside as well.
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  And, doing this, the results are evident in
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  our performance. Our antibiotic timing, we improved that
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  very significantly.
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  Our surgical services have become more prepared.
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  Our care teams have enhanced communication and collaboration
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  across the medical surgical units,
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  ICU,
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  our obstetrics,
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  our emergency departments, including even our swing beds
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  and perioperative
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  services. In fact, even our hospital operated
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  outpatient clinic and our wound care, dialysis, and
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  home health services,
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  all of this, our community sees more coordinated
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  hospital with clear guidance
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  that our nurses feel that that this direction
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  every day.
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  Before this before this year,
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  we were kinda like I,
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  isolated and,
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  with with each other. Now we converged it,
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  and I think that is the most critical
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  initiative that we had this year.
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  That makes a lot of sense and is
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  really helpful to understand. I think as you
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  mentioned, just so important to have that type
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  of communication and and real understanding in in
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  care coordination.
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  I'm curious as you're working on, you know,
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  converging,
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  these leaders in in in, different folks who
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  are typically
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  operating a little bit more isolated. What did
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  you do to make that go smoothly? I
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  know sometimes these these types of changes,
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  can be a bit of a struggle to
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  make sure they're,
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  complied by all. But, you know,
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  I guess, how did that transition go, and
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  what did you do to make sure that,
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  you know, people were buying into,
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  new processes that you had?
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  Yeah.
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  It it took a lot of effort, I
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  would say. Effort in the sense that we
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  have to spend time listening. So we have
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  this listening and learning tours that we did
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  throughout every department, every team, every
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  and then we sit down with them and
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  it takes a while to build those trust,
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  and then they come out and really
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  go around
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  and acknowledge that the entire team is us.
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  It is not one isolated from the other,
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  but it is just us. It is one
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  hospital,
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  it is one purpose,
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  and it is one,
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  outcome that we want and that is
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  service to our community. So we looked into
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  that and
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  we thought that,
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  when we gathered all of them and focused
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  on one simple direction,
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  We made everybody
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  cooperate, and now we we got the entire
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  result that we enjoy now.
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  That's great to hear. Now looking ahead into
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  the next year, what are some of your
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  big priorities as well as headwinds for 2026?
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  Well, that's really interesting because
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  our priority is
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  so we established that in 2025,
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  and so that becomes our priority for 2026
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  to stabilize it with purpose. So you can
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  see, rural hospitals succeed with teams that it
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  that builds confidence in their rhythm, so it
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  has to be sustained.
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  And for me, as the chief nursing officer,
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  I focus on strengthening that rhythm through
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  talent
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  development, simple governance,
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  clear visibility
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  into performance,
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  being seen, being present in the units and
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  in departments,
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  and being there for them.
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  For us workforce evolution,
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  as we can see, it progresses nationwide.
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  We also want to translate that into our
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  level by prioritizing
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  early investment in communication.
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  So we have this leadership,
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  development program that's ongoing. No matter how small
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  we are, we're still leaders, so we wanna
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  still train them continuously.
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  And we have this mentorship program and we
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  have this,
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  intensive first year experiences
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  for new nurses. We have
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  CNO, a breakfast with CNO. So then they
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  can just see that we are there for
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  them. Our challenges stem from familiar sources, and
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  you can you can probably,
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  are familiar with this too. Limited resources,
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  see that? And also broad geographic needs. We
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  are the only hospital in the 100
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  mile
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  radius.
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  So there is a broad geographic need as
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  you can tell. The complex demands of our
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  patients, they never go down, they go up.
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  Our strength lies in discipline and in our
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  teamwork,
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  and, we grow our capacity
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  through simple, repeatable routines and partnerships that enable
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  our community to access care close to home.
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  So these are our big priorities, and and
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  these are the headwinds that we wanna address
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  as we move forward being able to
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  maintain sustainability
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  with what we just built.
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  Absolutely. I know that is so critical to
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  have that type of, consistency and figure out
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  how to continue to pivot,
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  as needed, especially as you mentioned, you know,
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  just a lot of, different things happening, very
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  familiar challenges and you continue to be, you
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  know, resource,
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  needing to to make sure you've got the
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  right resources. So I I think, you know,
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  when you look at that type of landscape,
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  obviously, you've made a lot of changes in
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  the last year. And looking ahead,
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  what is the hardest thing you'll have to
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  do in the coming year?
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  Laura.
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  I think that the hardest thing
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  that I will have to do in the
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  coming year with all this in place and
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  what we have started in 2025
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  is maintaining
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  the progress
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  with grace, and I think that is very
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  important because it could be
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  turmoil, it could be chaos. Every improvement that
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  we bring,
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  also brings in new habits, and,
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  those habits need daily
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  reinforcement. So that could be the hardest thing
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  for me. My role is to establish a
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  pace
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  that our teams can sustain,
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  and it involves clear expectations. It also involves
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  consistent coaching,
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  thoughtful accountability,
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  and the calm presence that I've mentioned before,
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  even in high pressure moments, because you never
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  know these high pressure moments will come, and
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  they will come. It's not a matter of
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  whether they will or not, it's only a
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  matter of when are they coming. Are we
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  prepared for that?
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  So,
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  leaders like me in rural healthcare,
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  we bear
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  the unique
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  responsibility and our teams know every family we
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  serve, we shop with them, we meet their
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  parents or their kids or their neighbors, friends,
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  wherever we are,
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  every success and setback here with that personal
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  significance. And the hardest part for me is
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  respecting that reality
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  while, guiding our teams through growth that benefits
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  the entire region.
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  That makes a lot of sense, you know,
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  and it's a huge huge responsibility.
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  But, you know, in knowing your leadership style
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  and the study,
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  you know, I guess, grace as you put
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  it, that you bring to this role, you
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  know, having a a leader like that and
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  a leader like you at the home,
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  with with the nursing teams, I I can
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  imagine,
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  means a a great deal to the health
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  system overall.
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  Now
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  what do you see as some of the
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  best opportunities for organizational growth?
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  Well, people.
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  Growth for us starts with people.
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  So every hospital probably
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  I I I would say that every hospital
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  has challenges with people, maintaining people, and retaining
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  people, and that will be
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  one of the best opportunities for us to
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  grow
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  with. Skilled nurses like allied health teams, they
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  form the foundation of our
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  service line that we provide, and we just
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  open at least three
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  this year, and that's a lot. You open
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  one service line
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  a year,
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  that's a lot. We open three.
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  So, but when talent thrives, the quality will
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  also improve and the community gains confidence in
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  the care that we deliver to them. So
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  we're being being very careful with that. We're
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  being very careful with opening new service lines,
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  but we are also able to deliver it
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  or measure up to it. We also see
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  tremendous opportunities in partnerships.
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  As you can see, if we don't partner,
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  we're just dead on ourselves,
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  it's hard to survive.
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  Rural hospitals like us can advance through our
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  collaboration
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  with regional systems
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  across
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  our area.
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  We have academic centers that we want to
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  partner with, public health partners that monitors us
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  and, you know, help us, and our community
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  organizations as well, so
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  schools,
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  civic organizations.
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  This leads us to improve specialty access
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  and the knowledge and awareness that we do
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  exist in the neighborhood.
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  Will also, it will also enable us to
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  have more coordinated care pathways and smoother transitions
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  for patients from us to other facilities that,
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  are able to deliver higher care.
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  Some of the best,
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  opportunities for organizational
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  growth is this. We start with people.
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  In January, we will start with our leadership
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  and,
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  mentorship
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  program.
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  Our region is very vibrant,
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  Lower West Texas.
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  There is a lot of resilient
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  spirit
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  in our neighborhood.
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  So growth comes from consistent
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  excellence in daily practices. I always emphasize that
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  only excellence is rewarded.
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  So there is thoughtful data utilization,
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  and we also have that service mindset that
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  respects
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  the West Texas culture,
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  because we know that Reeves Regional Health has
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  great potential for the entire region and our
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  teams are our only tool who are working
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  toward that future with a clear sense of
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  purpose, and that's what we want to see,
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  we want to harness
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  and, take advantage of those opportunities for organizational
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  growth.
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  I love that. John Rich, thank you so
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  much for joining us on the podcast today.
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  This has been such a fantastic conversation. I
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  I think, you know, I learned a lot
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  from you, especially looking at some of the
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  challenges in rural health care and everything that
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  you're doing, organization wide. It's just been critical.
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  I am excited to see you as well.
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  And, April, at our annual meeting, I know
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  you'll be speaking at a panel, and, it's
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  just always truly a blessing to have you
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  there and and share some of the real
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  practical,
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  tips that you have and the things that
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  have worked well for you at Reeves Regional.
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  So I'm looking forward to doing that and,
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  continuing the conversation there. Yes. We'll see you
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  there.