BayCare Health System is a not-for-profit academic health system serving West Central Florida. The organization operates across acute care, ambulatory care, behavioral health, pediatrics, home care, urgent care, imaging, laboratories and physician services.
How has your nursing background shaped the way you lead BayCare?
Nursing is part of my identity. Nurses bring a unique complement to this work because we pay attention to what’s most important — that high-touch, compassionate, exceptional care that has to come first. I strongly believe the old saying of “no margin, no mission” was the wrong approach. Without great people, you don’t have great margins, because great people deliver the highest safety, service, quality and outcomes.
Our people are our greatest asset. If you give people the runway to be the best at who they are, they bring their best self to the job every day. And if they do that, we deliver on our North Star at BayCare, which is clinical excellence.
How is BayCare redefining what a modern hospital system looks like?
Modernization is not about chasing technology for its own sake. It’s about building connected, reliable health systems that expand access, strengthen safety, support team members and keep care deeply human. Simply doing more of what we’ve done in the past is not an option. We’re reimagining healthcare with technology as an enabler, never as a substitute for compassion, clinical judgment or human touch.
We’ve been at the forefront of technology for quite some time. We were the first in the region to implement robotics in our ORs more than two decades ago, and today robotics exist throughout our operations — in supply chain, stocking shelves, transporting beds and moving equipment. Innovation is not about creating a competitive edge for its own sake. It’s about meeting our obligation to the communities that depend on us and advancing care in ways that improve outcomes for everyone.
Where are you seeing the most practical impact from AI across BayCare’s operations today?
The most practical impact is in our daily work. AI is embedded in our communication tools, helping team members quickly research and refine information. At the bedside, nurses can care for patients without constantly looking at a computer because there’s automatic dictation directly into the electronic medical record. Plans are currently underway to implement similar applications system-wide.
We’re also using AI to identify adverse outcomes and clinical risk earlier. In physician practices, AI helps reduce after-hours administrative work so physicians can spend more time with their families instead of finishing records late at night. Beyond clinical care, AI and robotics are integrated into operations, supply chain and surgical suites.
What has BayCare learned from expanding robotics across hospital operations?
When team members are already working at full capacity, we have to think differently. Transport work is physically demanding, and many people in those roles are also trying to advance their careers. Our investment in robotics is about making sure team members don’t get hurt and that they can focus more on the clinical aspects of care rather than physically moving stretchers or equipment.
What we’ve learned through pilots with Rovex is the importance of understanding workflows and operational patterns before scaling technology. Robotics can help improve delays, reduce repetitive tasks and decrease the amount of time it takes for a patient to move from admission to discharge. It’s not an either-or between surgical robotics and operational robotics. We have advanced robotics in our surgery suites while also modernizing the infrastructure that supports care delivery across the system.
How is BayCare balancing workforce shortages and rising costs with continued investment in technology and infrastructure?
We pay close attention to workforce shortages, labor inflation, rising supply-chain costs and reimbursement pressures that don’t always reflect the true cost of readiness and care delivery. Our responsibility is to protect access and mission without starving the future. If you focus only on clinical innovation and neglect infrastructure, eventually that foundation crumbles underneath you.
When you look at BayCare’s outcomes, we rank top-tier in safety, service and quality. We focus on delivering the highest safety, service and quality first, and the margins follow. One in three people in our community choose BayCare. Patients come for our physicians, but they stay for the extraordinary care.
Do current Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement models adequately support innovation and long-term hospital planning?
Reimbursement models will always be a challenge. What matters is fiscal rigor and operational performance. Every year we assess where there’s waste in the system and where technology can improve performance. We have a process called OMIs — operational margin initiatives — where teams identify opportunities to remove waste and improve efficiency through technology and AI.
There will always be changes in reimbursement and funding, so our philosophy is to build a system that performs on its true merits. We prepare our teams for that reality by showing them exactly how funding impacts operations and asking what we would need to do if that support disappeared. Rather than fear those pressures, we use them as motivation to become better and more efficient.
What does BayCare’s partnership with Northwestern Medicine make possible that would have been harder to achieve independently?
When I came to BayCare from academic medicine, I saw that BayCare already had all the components of a great system. What was missing was the academic medicine model of the future. We didn’t want the traditional academic structure attached to enormous university costs. Instead, we focused on advancing training, research and clinical care in a different way.
Northwestern brings a strong education and research foundation, giving our physicians access to broader collaboration, clinical trials and advanced research opportunities. The partnership also helps us expand transplant care in Florida so patients don’t have to leave their communities for life-saving treatment. For us, the partnership is about giving patients access to the most advanced care possible while maintaining the high-touch, compassionate care that defines BayCare.
