Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Erin Shipley, CEN, MSN, RN, Vice President of Consumer Experience at Cooper University Health Care

Transcript

Erin Shipley, CEN, MSN, RN, Vice President of Consumer Experience at Cooper University Health Care · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

0:02
The most important health care decisions don't happen
0:05
in isolation.
0:06
They happen when leaders come together.
0:08
Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings together more than
0:11
3,500
0:12
hospital and health system executives this April in
0:15
Chicago.
0:16
With 800 speakers from Ascension,
0:18
Cleveland Clinic, CommonSpirit and more, the conversations get
0:22
real. Leaders will share how their scenario planning
0:24
for policy shifts, breaking through value based care
0:27
barriers, and building clinical teams that translate
0:37
event
0:38
details,
0:39
visit beckershospitalreview.com
0:41
and click on the events tab in the
0:43
upper right.
0:46
This is Laura Dierdahl with the Becker's Healthcare
0:48
podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
0:50
Erin Shipley, vice president of consumer experience at
0:53
Cooper University Healthcare. Erin, it's a pleasure to
0:55
have you on the podcast today. Thank you,
0:57
Laura. Glad to be here.
0:59
Absolutely. Now excited for our conversation. I know
1:02
we'll dig deep into some of the cool
1:03
things you're doing at Cooper University Health Care
1:05
and how you're thinking about the future. But
1:07
before we dive in, can you tell me
1:08
a little bit more about yourself and the
1:10
health system? Of course. So, again, Erin Shipley.
1:14
I'm the vice president of consumer experience at
1:16
Cooper University Health Care. We are in Camden,
1:19
New Jersey.
1:20
So we are the largest,
1:22
level one trauma center in Southern New Jersey.
1:25
You know, if you think geographically, we're right
1:27
across the Delaware River from Philadelphia.
1:30
Our main hospital has just over six fifty
1:33
inpatient beds.
1:35
We see,
1:36
over 90,000
1:37
patients in our emergency department annually. So rocking
1:40
and rolling.
1:42
Over 130
1:43
primary care and specialty offices,
1:46
big team, over 1,700
1:48
physicians and advanced practice providers,
1:51
with over 95 specialties and subspecialties. So,
1:54
I'm a registered nurse by background.
1:57
I've,
1:58
spent really the last fifteen years in the
2:00
patient and consumer,
2:02
strategy world. And at Cooper, I lead all
2:05
of our, strategy around patient,
2:08
efforts,
2:09
consumer strategy, improvement, work, and support for our
2:12
leaders, and the delivery of the amazing care
2:14
that they provide every single day.
2:17
Absolutely. That's amazing to hear. And, you know,
2:19
such a an important,
2:21
thing that every health care organization has to
2:23
do is kinda look out in the community
2:25
and making sure they're,
2:26
you know, providing the right care and access
2:28
to care, which is not always easy. So,
2:31
very, very much, with respect to what you're
2:33
doing there and and what you're up against.
2:35
Now can you talk about the most important
2:37
initiative that you led in the last year
2:39
or so? What did you do, and what
2:40
were the results?
2:42
Yeah. So, you know, I'm a nurse. I
2:44
I started my career out in the emergency
2:46
department. And so,
2:48
that team has been really close to my
2:50
heart over the years. And there's a lot
2:52
of work to do in the emergency department
2:54
spaces. But,
2:56
at the 2024,
2:58
we had a call to action. And we
3:00
wanted
3:01
to do our work differently in our emergency
3:04
department and innovate that ED experience.
3:07
So we launched,
3:08
what we call our Cooper Experience Excellence Program.
3:12
And that is completely focused on the experience,
3:15
not just for the patients and the families
3:17
in the ED, but everyone.
3:19
Physicians and providers, our frontline team members,
3:22
our essential partners who support that care. We
3:25
really wanted to look at the complete picture.
3:27
And
3:28
rather than get really stuck by focusing on
3:31
the scores,
3:33
our team launched a system wide,
3:36
operationally embedded approach to thinking differently about how
3:40
we improve
3:41
that patient, family, and team member experience. And
3:44
so what that
3:45
looks like is that we take
3:48
the evidence based practices
3:50
around, you know, communication care delivery, and we've
3:53
translated that into what what right looks like
3:57
for daily observable behaviors,
4:00
what we're looking for leaders to do in
4:02
terms of their leader standard work.
4:04
And it has a very strong emphasis on
4:07
rounding by multiple team members.
4:10
We're focused on tying all of that work
4:13
back to our high reliability journey,
4:16
and some really thoughtful recognition. Right? We we
4:19
lose the opportunity a lot to recognize our
4:21
team members.
4:23
And so we started there first. And so
4:25
we added a layer of patient ambassadors who
4:28
support our clinical team members.
4:31
Those folks focus on closing the communication gaps
4:34
for patient and family members. And so while
4:36
they're
4:46
narrating and helping with any questions around wait
4:49
times and delays.
4:50
They are providing
4:52
support for comfort needs,
4:54
reducing
4:55
that burden off of our clinical team members.
4:57
And then they are working with the flow
4:59
managers and charge nurse charge nurses to keep
5:02
that
5:03
patient care spaces moving. Right. They're looking at
5:06
the tracking board, seeing what testing is complete,
5:09
helping to move people around so that no
5:12
one is really forgotten.
5:15
Results wise, we
5:17
documented over 125,000
5:19
rounds in 2025
5:21
on patients,
5:23
reduced that left without triage. So patients who
5:26
leave and don't
5:28
don't get the care that they need were
5:29
under one point five percent, which is well
5:32
below the national
5:33
standard,
5:34
improved our average doctor to disposition time
5:39
to just around a hundred and thirty six
5:40
minutes. And so when you're thinking about, you
5:43
know, a patient who presents to the ED,
5:45
who is needing testing, that's just over two
5:49
hours,
5:50
which is well below that standard.
5:53
And so that you know, all that to
5:55
say,
5:57
great results and good results from a patient
5:59
experience perspective. We had struggled in that space.
6:02
We're below the fortieth percentile nationally.
6:06
And in one year, we were able to
6:08
move those scores. We're now above the seventy
6:11
ninth seventy ninth percentile nationally for likelihood to
6:15
recommend,
6:16
when we compare ourselves against, like emergency departments.
6:20
And our physician provider communication scores are over
6:24
the ninety fifth percentile nationally. So even though
6:27
those ambassadors and rounders aren't clinical, we see
6:30
that translation,
6:32
to help the the the patient's perception of
6:35
experience
6:36
across all of our care disciplines.
6:39
That's fascinating to hear. You know, what a
6:41
great and important initiative to me putting forth,
6:44
I think, especially as you mentioned, you know,
6:46
it's great care and being able to, provide
6:49
that quality of care for patients, making sure
6:51
that they get the care that they need
6:52
quickly, and then two, you know, following through
6:55
with that. So as you mentioned, you know,
6:57
there are very few, of those patients that
7:00
are leaving without the right kind of, care
7:03
and triage. And so,
7:04
I I really feel like this is a
7:07
huge, huge,
7:08
win for the organization. And I'm curious as
7:10
you were going through some of these changes,
7:12
and, obviously,
7:13
you were able to get results, but what
7:15
were some of the things that your teams
7:17
had to do differently or or types of,
7:20
systems, processes, technologies you had to put in
7:22
place in order to get there? Mhmm. Well,
7:25
I you know, one, we started with making
7:27
sure that those team members
7:29
had access to,
7:32
the
7:33
the Epic tracking board. You know, we provided
7:35
them with tablets so that they didn't have
7:38
to go and find
7:40
a computer
7:41
or or, you know, burden a clinical team
7:43
member to to open a chart. We we
7:46
wanted to make sure that they had direct
7:48
access to all of the things that they
7:51
needed to do that work.
7:53
So that involved
7:55
some shadowing. We asked our team members to
7:57
shadow,
7:58
the the RNs and the physicians that they
8:01
were going to be working directly with,
8:03
we created that open line of communication
8:06
where, you know, as we it was almost
8:09
like a pilot in progress. Every week we
8:11
were meeting with our emergency department leadership to
8:14
say,
8:15
what else? What else can we take off
8:17
of your plate?
8:19
We didn't want our clinical team. We it
8:21
think of I think of it like skill
8:22
task alignment. Right? Like, we don't want our
8:25
highly
8:26
talented
8:27
clinical team members
8:29
focused on some of those things that,
8:32
we we have other people to support.
8:34
We want them focused on the delivery of
8:37
care
8:38
and that
8:39
communication and assisting with throughput. Right? We have
8:42
other members of our team who can divide
8:44
and conquer and help support those other initiatives.
8:47
So,
8:48
it it was just a different way of
8:51
saying, okay. We we didn't really have to
8:53
add any team members. We already had members
8:56
of our patient relations teams that were,
8:59
helping to support some of that work. And
9:01
so we really just looked at their,
9:03
roles differently and leaned really hard into what
9:06
our emergency department leaders and nurses were asking
9:09
for.
9:11
That makes a lot of sense. Thank you
9:13
for digging a little bit deeper there and
9:14
kind of giving us an inside look on,
9:17
how you did all of this. Now looking
9:18
ahead, what are some of your big priorities
9:20
and headwinds for 2026?
9:23
Yeah. You know, digging into '26, our we
9:26
we talk about access. Our focus is really
9:29
centered around improving that access
9:31
and ensuring
9:32
a seamless clinical experience
9:35
across that entire continuum of care.
9:38
We know
9:40
we're not alone.
9:42
A lot of healthcare systems nationwide are navigating
9:46
significant headwinds.
9:48
You know, we are dealing with an aging
9:50
population
9:52
with more,
9:53
more complex chronic conditions.
9:56
We've got patients who come into
9:59
our ED and our direct,
10:01
admissions to our hospitals that are sicker than
10:04
they've ever been before. They have higher acuity
10:06
levels.
10:07
We have patients in our community who are
10:10
delaying care,
10:11
for a variety of reasons, right, until their
10:14
issues become urgent and then we see them.
10:17
And so that's a national trend,
10:20
that
10:21
increases demand
10:23
on the post acute care settings. And it
10:26
it requires,
10:27
you know, from our perspective, you know, really
10:30
thoughtful and system level solutions. I mean, for
10:32
us, we've I've been talking a lot about
10:34
the emergency department, but that means continuing to
10:38
charge ahead on strengthening ED throughput,
10:41
it means that we have to
10:44
innovate our inpatient flow
10:47
on the back end around discharges.
10:49
And that looks like it expanding our ambulatory
10:53
capacity
10:54
so that patients receive the care in the
10:57
right setting at the right time. So it
11:00
you know, it's not just about throughput
11:02
operationally. Right? But it you know, because it
11:05
it actually impacts, you know, patient safety and
11:08
patient experience. But team member well-being, like, let's
11:11
not forget that, you know, when we
11:14
have inefficient systems, that impacts the people at
11:18
the elbow of care the most, not just
11:20
the patients. It's harder to deliver care,
11:24
when those systems aren't working.
11:26
So, when we when we think about those
11:29
access challenges, when hospitals
11:31
operate
11:33
near an overcapacity,
11:35
even the smallest
11:37
in
11:38
sufficient inefficiencies
11:39
and those pebbles in the shoe can cascade
11:42
really quickly
11:43
and create a negative environment for everyone. So
11:48
our key strategy at Cooper
11:50
is accelerating that those appropriate
11:52
transitions of care
11:54
to outpatient settings.
11:56
It is a cultural
11:57
challenge, right? So many
12:00
patients, historically, they remain in acute inpatient beds
12:05
while awaiting testing or follow-up
12:07
that, you know,
12:09
for for all reasons, they can act that
12:12
could follow-up can happen safely
12:14
outside of the hospital. And so when we
12:16
strengthen
12:17
our outpatient infrastructure and improve that coordination
12:22
across our care teams,
12:24
we can drive and reduce unnecessary hospital days
12:29
while preserving that capacity in house for our
12:32
sickest patients who need that inpatient critical care.
12:36
And those access challenges,
12:39
you know, as we look at our post
12:41
acute providers and our community partners, they they
12:44
are critical for us being able to do
12:46
that because it requires
12:49
a super strong collaboration,
12:52
to be able to to make those safe
12:54
discharges happen.
12:56
We our goal when we think through all
12:58
of these headwinds and how we're gonna be
13:00
successful
13:01
is that we have to create a system
13:04
that feels coordinated
13:06
and responsive,
13:07
and we're constantly
13:09
innovating
13:10
so that we are identifying those barriers and
13:13
that we try to minimize them and that
13:16
we we
13:17
have these moves happen efficiently
13:20
without compromising
13:21
the clinical quality that we've been known for.
13:27
That makes a lot of sense. You know?
13:28
And it's no small task to make sure
13:31
everything's coordinated and, truly getting to a a
13:34
space where, you know, the the organization is
13:36
optimized in a way that it never has
13:38
been before, both from the patient experience side
13:41
as well as the team member, experience too.
13:43
I know that it it makes a huge
13:45
difference if everything is, working and flowing and
13:48
transitioning in the way it's supposed to.
13:50
Now I'm curious. What do you think the
13:52
hardest thing you'll have to do in the
13:53
coming year will be? That's
13:55
so funny. So I I coach my leaders
13:58
and my team every day
14:01
not to get distracted,
14:04
by the rapid
14:05
pace of change that's that, you know, we
14:08
are familiar with change in health care. That
14:10
is normal.
14:12
The pace of that is new. It is
14:15
the daily fires that prevent us from
14:19
progressing our strategic priorities and action plans that
14:23
it's just that is the reality. And so
14:26
we have to,
14:28
navigate this really common pothole
14:31
that leaders and teams tend to fall into.
14:35
And it takes commitment to take a step
14:37
back and try to remain organized,
14:40
make sure that we are seeking out and
14:43
leveraging
14:45
technology to assist with project management.
14:48
I'm a huge student of, you know, AI
14:51
and and finding different ways to make our
14:54
work more efficient.
14:56
And it's not just the technology piece, but
14:58
it is about knowing who
15:00
are your support systems. How do we pull
15:03
in
15:04
appropriate leaders
15:06
and teams to assist
15:08
when we are being pulled in a lot
15:10
of different directions?
15:11
And, you know, I think some of this
15:13
is about empowering others, too. You know, we,
15:17
we have to commit to doing a better
15:19
job
15:20
of looking
15:22
thoughtfully
15:22
at leader development
15:24
and developing leaders
15:26
within our span of control
15:29
to be able to lead initiatives on their
15:31
own.
15:32
I think of this, like, dividing and conquering
15:35
weight. Like, it is much better
15:38
to grow someone to be able to
15:40
drive initiatives
15:43
maybe with clear direction and guidelines
15:46
versus all of us
15:48
having this, like, fear of missing out and
15:51
attempting to attend every meeting together
15:55
just because we're trying to
15:57
support and check each other. But ultimately, that
15:59
comes down to trust. Like, if I feel
16:01
like I have to attend every meeting
16:04
for my direct report leaders to make sure
16:06
that they're staying on top of their,
16:09
action plans and their projects, I where none
16:12
of us are gonna get anything done. So
16:14
at some
16:15
point, we have to have those skills to
16:18
delegate
16:19
appropriately.
16:20
We need to be able to have
16:23
clear role clarity
16:24
on who is responsible for a project and
16:27
who has the
16:29
authority to make decisions,
16:32
and empower leaders to, you
16:34
know, not seek perfection,
16:37
although that's really attractive, right, is to have
16:40
that that perfect world. But
16:42
instead to seek
16:44
progress
16:46
and to chip away at work,
16:48
that's going to yield better results and successes
16:51
versus all of us spinning or waiting
16:55
for a perfect solution to a problem.
17:00
It makes a lot of sense. You know,
17:02
it's so insightful because I think no matter
17:04
what the organization,
17:05
when you look out and start continuing to,
17:08
grow in your leadership role, having those direct
17:11
reports being able to independently,
17:14
carry on the messaging and carry out that
17:16
strategy,
17:17
is so so critical to meet the demands
17:19
even as you were talking about earlier in
17:21
our conversation
17:22
of the fast paced,
17:23
environment and and how quickly things are changing.
17:25
So, I really appreciate that reflection, and certainly,
17:29
you know, it is easier said than done,
17:31
I can imagine in many ways. But,
17:33
you know, so helpful to kind of keep
17:36
that in mind, especially for leaders as they're
17:38
trying to figure out how, they'll continue
17:41
to grow and change and evolve
17:43
with the the times.
17:45
Well, and we we talk about headwinds, you
17:47
know, there there are a lot of organizations
17:49
who as they're looking to try to navigate,
17:52
you know, the financial pieces that they're they're
17:54
coming up against, you know, they're looking hard
17:56
at their organizational leadership and development teams and
18:00
training. And, you know, at Cooper, we are
18:04
recommitting to that work because we recognize how
18:07
important it is to not just develop the
18:09
leaders that we have, but also
18:12
looking at our emerging leaders, looking at our
18:15
champions, trying to make sure that we're we're
18:17
constantly have that eye ahead to preparing
18:21
people to be their best and authentic selves
18:24
at work.
18:27
I love that. That's so helpful. I know
18:30
everybody kinda brings their own strengths to the
18:31
team and can lean into the spaces where
18:34
they can make the biggest impact and and
18:35
naturally
18:36
continue to lead while growing at the same
18:38
time. I know it's a critical balance to
18:41
to strike, but, important for any teams as
18:43
they're moving forward. Yeah.
18:46
Now before we wrap up, I wanted to
18:48
ask about growth. Where do you see some
18:50
of these best opportunities
18:51
for organizational growth in the future?
18:54
Yeah. Well, I you know, I'm a patient
18:56
experience person. I remain
18:58
passionate and committed to,
19:01
Cooper's growth and strategy around, you know, creating
19:05
that ideal
19:06
patient centric care environment,
19:09
where it's not just about
19:12
the patient and family experience itself, but, you
19:15
know, improving
19:16
our current and potential
19:18
opportunities
19:19
for patient communications.
19:21
I think about our digital
19:24
roadmap and our footprint and how we can
19:26
leverage,
19:28
technology in a way that,
19:30
each individual patient wants to receive
19:33
that communication
19:34
and and how they wanna engage with technology
19:37
through our health system,
19:39
that's a huge organizational growth priority for us.
19:43
When we,
19:44
dig in and look at prioritizing preventative care
19:48
strategies
19:48
and wellness programs that attract new patients
19:52
that also
19:53
reduce health care costs for everyone.
19:57
One really
19:59
big example that is close to my heart
20:02
is I help to co lead our
20:05
strategic work with the care of our patients
20:07
with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We call it
20:10
our IDD program.
20:12
And this is a program that we are
20:14
continuing to rapidly grow, but it's developing wraparound
20:19
services to better serve
20:21
a population of patients that is also growing.
20:24
You know, we know that, you know, it's
20:26
about one in four adults with disabilities
20:29
between the ages of 18 and 44, 45
20:33
that don't have a usual health care provider.
20:36
And
20:37
they they're not receiving routine checkups
20:40
and have unmet health care needs and costs.
20:43
And so
20:44
we we understand at Cooper that these patients
20:49
may experience the world in different ways and
20:52
that
20:53
because of that, it they are unable to
20:56
get the care that is most meaningful and
20:58
important to them.
21:00
And so we we have grown and launched
21:03
our mobile care program
21:05
where we actually,
21:07
expand and we bring primary care services
21:10
for our patients
21:11
with intellectual and developmental disabilities
21:15
to the home setting or the group home.
21:18
That's a more familiar environment for
21:21
that patient. So when we make that change
21:23
and we say, you know, we know you
21:25
haven't been able to get to the office,
21:28
and we know that, you know, group homes
21:30
may not be able to send someone with
21:33
the patient and support, and so then they
21:35
cancel the appointment.
21:37
When we can actually bring that care to
21:39
them
21:40
where the patient is best to receive it,
21:43
it's easier for everyone.
21:46
We're able to follow through with testing that
21:49
they have maybe have been unsuccessful
21:51
in capturing in the office because the patient
21:54
is distressed.
21:55
And and we're we bring that care in
21:59
the right setting to them. So then
22:01
we're able to expand
22:03
access to care to that patient population.
22:06
We're able to
22:08
reduce no show rates for the patients in
22:11
the office, and then that also opens up
22:14
care spaces
22:15
for new patients who need to be seen
22:17
in our office setting. So, you know, check,
22:20
check, check. You know, it's certainly the right
22:23
thing to do. But when we look at,
22:25
you know, access to care and outpatient ambulatory
22:29
growth,
22:30
this is this is a no brainer for
22:32
us.
22:33
And it's
22:34
it's definitely been purpose driven. It's, it's kind
22:38
of the pinch me moment. I never expected
22:41
to, be so close to this work, but
22:44
it is,
22:45
is very passion,
22:47
passion filled, purpose driven.
22:50
I love that. Erin, thank you so much
22:52
for joining us on the podcast today. This
22:54
has been such an amazing conversation. I I
22:56
really feel inspired by all the work that
22:58
you're doing at Cooper University Health Care, and
23:00
look forward to, seeing you again soon, continuing
23:03
this conversation. I know you'll be speaking at
23:05
our annual meeting, so this will be a
23:07
lot of fun to see you in person.
23:09
Great. Thanks, Laura. Thanks for the invite.