The Changing Face of Healthcare Leadership

We've learned a lot about our healthcare system when COVID-19 arrived. We know what doesn't work and needs to be fixed. But we've also learned what does work and needs to be enhanced. Ours is a system that can move at a snail's pace when it comes to beneficial change. But that rate of progress can also give us the time we need to make meaningful improvements for the patients we treat, the communities we serve, and our team members who provide care and services.

The rapid rise in COVID-19 cases in early 2020 forced hospitals everywhere to scramble to meet the pandemic head-on. Conference rooms were turned into ICUs. Team members stretched to their limits stepped in wherever they could to help in the war against the virus, working harder and under more stressful conditions than ever before while supporting each other in a battlefield-like environment.

Cracks in the system became highly visible as the demand for healthcare services varied from community to community, accentuating known disparities while revealing new ones. The influence of cultural beliefs became widely apparent, showing the differences in understanding of the virus' spread, distrust in public health communications, and doubts about vaccine safety and effectiveness. At the same time, the average consumer may know more now than ever about the different types of surgical masks and concepts such as viral transmission, rate of infectivity, mutations, and even the Greek alphabet, as the delta and lambda variants make their way through communities.

While we've made great progress at Hackensack Meridian Health and in vaccinating New Jersey residents since the pandemic's onset, our priorities for the future have never been clearer. My fellow leaders and I have more empathy for our team members, patients, and neighbors than ever before. We've seen firsthand how this disease has exhausted healthcare providers and stressed our facilities. We look with compassion when we see family members mourning those who lose their battle with COVID-19 in our hospitals and when our employees — who know we could win more battles in this war if more people became vaccinated — feel defeated in the face of this continuously oncoming foe.?

Yes, now is the time for change. At Hackensack Meridian Health, we have launched the Reimagining HMH! initiative. We are delving into every part of the healthcare journey for patients, caregivers, and team members to ensure a personalized, seamless experience for every individual, from the first contact to make an appointment through the receipt of services to address all of their healthcare needs. With 17 hospitals in our statewide network, we are working to ensure affordable, easy-to-access, world-class care that is of the same high level of quality, regardless of which of our hospitals a patient visits.

Technology has played the role of a hero in this pandemic, as patients and providers have completed telemedicine visits that enabled them to access quality care from the comfort and safety of their homes. Telehealth is not new, but the rapid ramping up of its use during the COVID-19 era has shown us that it has strengths and applications that were not widely realized until recently.?

The digital systems we use to record confidential patient healthcare data are also easing the work of team members. Rather than replace human contact, they are optimizing the patient care experience by making it easier for providers to access and share patient information.

Within our organization, we are taking serious action to improve the conditions of people's environments, both within and outside of our walls. We rapidly adapt to the changing needs of our team members as social, political, technological, and economic factors alter attitudes and behaviors. Employees everywhere are feeling that their companies must respond to injustice and take a stand on social issues in order to gain and keep their trust. At Hackensack Meridian Health, we have worked steadily — even before the pandemic — to ensure that all 35,000 of our team members feel comfortable being their authentic selves at work through a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.?

We have renewed and expanded our dedication to supporting the work environments of our employees through programs such as flexible work arrangements, wherever possible, such as remote work for jobs where it is feasible. We are proud to be a certified "Great Place to Work," based on feedback from our employees.?

A Deloitte survey of 1,000 full-time employees recently demonstrated that 77% said they had experienced burnout in their jobs, even among those who felt passionately about that they do, and emphasized the need for stress reduction programs. We are stepping up our efforts to address the wellness and well-being our team members during this, the most challenging era of their careers.?

Not only do we need to encourage employees to take their allotted vacation days, avoid or minimize checking work emails while out of the office, and prioritize personal commitments — we need to champion these behaviors. Our team members make up the foundation of our organization. Stress or burnout could widen cracks in that foundation; employee recognition and mental health support will strengthen it.

Hackensack Meridian Health is also seeking to forge strategic partnerships with organizations that share our values and focus, whose expertise complements and enhances our own. We are bolstering a spirit of innovation that allows us to identify opportunities, solve challenges, and make difficult decisions. Together, we will create endless possibilities as we transform our network.

I join with other healthcare leaders during this pivotal time in our industry to assess the needs of our team members, patients, and communities, recognize the steps we can take to improve our ability to meet those needs, and implement measures that will have a ripple effect in improving the way we do business. We all play a role, and everyone will benefit.

Robert C. Garrett