We at HealthLeaders have the privilege of speaking with smart and ambitious leaders making waves across the healthcare industry throughout the year. Each edition of our bimonthly magazine includes a conversation with one of these leaders.

Here are insights from each of the six leaders we featured in “The Interview” in 2019:

1. PATRICIA A. HICKEY: CONSIDER HEALTH OF WORKPLACE ENVIRONMENT

Patricia A. Hickey, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, vice president and associate chief nursing officer, cardiovascular and critical care patient services at Boston Children’s Hospital and assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, said supporting nurses and sustaining healthy work environments are foundational to achieving organizational goals.

“[A] big part of leadership is understanding employee well-being, and taking care of the frontline staff who provide care to patients. Care complexity is increasing, and as leaders, we need to make sure that the health of the work environment is considered in all of our decisions, so we can support nurses and care teams by understanding what’s important [to them].”

2. BONNIE CLIPPER: NURSES ARE EQUIPPED FOR INNOVATION

Bonnie Clipper, DNP, RN, MA, MBA, CENP, FACHE, vice president of innovation at the American Nurses Association, said she fell in love with the concept of innovation after her experience in the three-year Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellows program.

“It is interesting to me that nurses don’t really understand what innovation is and don’t see themselves as innovators, yet they’re absolutely natural innovators,” she said.

“The common response when I ask a room full of nurses—nurse leaders, outpatient nurses, inpatient nurses—’Is anyone here an innovator?’ a couple of hands go up,” she added. “Then I ask them, ‘Have you ever had to do a work-around to provide care for a patient?’ Well, then a lot more hands go up. Then I say, ‘Have you ever macgyvered anything to take care of a patient?’ By the end of that [question], every hand is up.”

Read the full interview in the March/April edition of the magazine.

3. ANN MOND JOHNSON: SEEKING TRANSFORMATION? CHANGE THE STORY

Ann Mond Johnson, who became CEO of ATA in 2018 said her organization, formerly known as the American Telemedicine Association, is responding to shifts in the healthcare landscape just like everyone else.

“The way you [transform an organization], No. 1, is to change the story, which is to ensure that people get care where and when they need it. When they do, they know it’s safe, effective, and affordable, and clinicians can do more good for more people.”

Read the full interview in the May/June edition of the magazine.

4. BRIAN GRAGNOLATI: LEADERS MUST GRAPPLE WITH CONTINUITY OF CARE

Brian Gragnolati, president and CEO of Morristown, New Jersey–based Atlantic Health System, and 2019 chairman of the American Hospital Association board of trustees.

“Throughout my career, I realized that unless you had access to insurance, you were going to struggle to get healthcare,” Gragnolati said. “As I continued my work in various capacities, I kept seeing that becoming a roadblock.”

Read the full interview in the July/August edition of the magazine.

5. SEEMA VERMA: WE NEED TO CURB OVERALL SPENDING

Seema Verma, MPH, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said much of the recent healthcare policy talk has centered on who will pay for the care that’s delivered.

“But really at the end of the day, the discussion needs to turn to how much we’re paying for healthcare,” she says. “We pay more than any other country pays.”

“I think if we’re going to address healthcare issues, seriously address healthcare issues, that’s what we need to be focused on,” she says. “There’s not a silver bullet. It’s a multi-tiered strategy, a multiprong strategy.”

Read the full interview in the September/October edition of the magazine.

6. ANDY SLAVITT: LET’S COMMIT TO TARGETED PROBLEM-SOLVING

Andy Slavitt, MBA, who returned to the private sector in 2017 after serving as acting administrator of CMS, said his tripart mission focuses now on solving specific problems.

“I think what motivates me today is I ask myself the question, ‘What could be different in this country 10 years from now, and what can we be working on today to get there?’ ” Slavitt said.

“When I left the Obama administration, I was 50 years old, and I decided that instead of looking through the lens of ‘What do I want to do every day?’ or ‘How much money do I want to make?’ or even ‘What kind of issues do I enjoy being involved with?’ I decided to ask the question, ‘What could I help change? What problems could I help solve?’ ” he added.

Read the full interview in the November/December edition of the magazine.