Becker's Hospital Review

18 THOUGHT LEADERSHIP Atlantic Health CEO's story of growth By Kelly Gooch Over the past decade, Brian Gragnolati has overseen significant growth at Morristown, N.J.-based Atlantic Health System. Since joining as president and CEO in 2015, Atlantic has expanded to employ 5,400 physicians and 21,000 support personnel across 550 care sites in 14 counties. Mr. Gragnolati's tenure will conclude with his retirement aer a 45- year healthcare career. In conversation with Becker's, Mr. Gragnolati reflected on his career and the system's future moving into 2025. He shared a mix of emotions about retirement, describing both the difficulty of leaving and his excitement for the future. "To me, this has certainly been a job, but it really has been a calling from my perspective," Mr. Gragnolati said. "Whether it was my time as an EMT or doing what I do now, the one thing that I think has been so compelling to me is that this is a great way to [do] 'business with a purpose.'" "We get the incredible privilege of taking care of our community members, our friends, family members and people we don't know, sometimes at their darkest hours," he added. "I can't imagine being able to have a better profession for your whole life." He added that this makes his retirement decision hard, but it also allows him the flexibility to spend meaningful time with his grandchildren. Mr. Gragnolati will remain CEO until his successor is selected and steps into the role, aer which he will transition to a special advisor role with the board. Meanwhile, he is focused on guiding the organization into 2025, with a continued focus on the communities Atlantic serves, ensuring that patients have access to high-quality care and that employees providing that care feel supported. To Mr. Gragnolati, this means maintaining a mindset of "How many patients do we touch every year?" instead of "How many hospitals do we have?" During his tenure, Atlantic expanded its reach from approximately What front-line work taught 1 Mississippi hospital CEO By Kristin Kuchno T hroughout his two decades in healthcare — including as a critical care nurse early in his career — Rob Coleman, BSN, RN, has embraced the value of leadership visibility. "We're never too busy to be physically present for employees," Mr. Coleman, who has been with Memphis, Tenn.-based Baptist Memorial Health Care for 15 years, told Becker's. "That goes a long way so that they know if they need something or if there're barriers that need to be discussed or worked through, we work through that with them and listen." Mr. Coleman was appointed CEO of Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle in Columbus, Miss., in 2023. The 323-bed acute care hospital is one of just 12 in the U.S. to earn 26 consecutive "A" safety grades from The Leapfrog Group. An engaged workforce and a culture of safety are key drivers of this accomplishment, Mr. Coleman said. Nationally, the hospital's most recent employee and provider engagement scores ranked in the 90th and 94th percentiles, respectively. "Those engagement scores are a direct reflection of the intentional culture we've built here, fostering respect and clear communication across all lines," he said. One example of Baptist Golden Triangle's focus on safety is its efforts to reduce primary cesarean section rates among new mothers. Hospital leadership enhanced collaboration and engagement with OB physicians, decreasing primary C-section rates from about 25% to 19%, Mr. Coleman said. To support this initiative, senior leadership meets weekly with key directors and managers to address and remove barriers for front-line workers. In 2024, the hospital prioritized bedside shift reports to improve communication with patients and their families while boosting patient engagement. "Our work has led to an improvement in overall HCAHPS scores across all domains, increasing from a 75.54 mean score to 77.12 in 2024," Mr. Coleman said. This is a significant achievement because the higher patient satisfaction scores are, the more challenging it is to move the needle and achieve significant gains, he added. Daily patient visits during shift reports have been instrumental in these improvements, he said. "We do those daily patient visits to improve the communication with patients and families, so the families can ask questions at the time that those shift reports are done," Mr. Coleman said. "That has had a tremendous impact on improving our patient engagement scores." n

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