Podcast Summary

Becker’s Healthcare Podcast: Advancing Nursing Leadership, Workforce Stability, and Value at Trinity Health

Release Date: January 23, 2026
Host: Laura Dardel
Guest: Dr. Tim Kerrigan, Regional Chief Nursing Officer, Trinity Health (Illinois & Indiana)

Episode Overview

This episode features Dr. Tim Kerrigan, Regional Chief Nursing Officer for Illinois and Indiana at Trinity Health. The conversation centers on the organization’s recent and forthcoming initiatives to advance nursing leadership, stabilize the healthcare workforce, drive value in healthcare delivery, and uncover avenues for growth. Dr. Kerrigan shares both strategic insight and practical approaches from his experience leading one of the largest faith-based health systems in the nation.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Introduction to Trinity Health and Dr. Kerrigan’s Role

• Trinity Health:
  • One of the largest non-profit, faith-based health systems in the U.S.
  • Employs 130,000+ colleagues; operates 90 hospitals nationwide.
  • Mission-driven with a focus on quality, safety, and serving diverse communities.
  • Illinois: Loyola Medicine (3-hospital academic system); Indiana: St. Joseph’s Health System.
    (01:09) Dr. Kerrigan:

  “Our mission and vision and values really stay at the forefront of what we do.”

2. Top Initiatives from the Past Year

a) Quality, Safety, and Experience

• Renewed regional focus; rebuilt teams for consistency across all care sites.
• Standardized data management, accountability, and balanced scorecards.
• Achieved improvements in Leapfrog ratings and maintained Magnet status in Illinois; Indiana hospitals starting Magnet journey. (03:03):

  “We often talk about if we can’t deliver on [quality, safety, experience], everything else is really secondary.”
  (03:50):
  “All three of our [Illinois] hospitals are magnet designated... our Indiana hospital is launching their journey to become a magnet hospital.”

b) Driving Value and Cost Efficiency

• Emphasized clinical leaders’ responsibility in cost and strategy, not just patient outcomes.
• Regionalizing structures and operations to eliminate inefficiencies.
• Focused on removing unnecessary costs for sustainable care. (04:32):

  “Our cost structure in healthcare is not sustainable... the more that we are able to drive cost, in some cases unnecessary cost, out of our health system to improve value for the populations that we serve.”

3. 2026 Priorities and Headwinds

a) Workforce Stabilization

• Essential to recovery from COVID-19’s protracted impact.
• Strategy is broader than recruitment and retention; includes physical/psychological safety, resiliency, and workplace joy. (06:35):

  “Workforce stabilization, a big, big audacious goal and much more than simply recruiting colleagues.”

b) Technology Adoption

• Trinity is implementing what may be the largest single instance of Epic electronic medical records.
• Leveraging AI, ambient listening, and advanced data analytics to improve patient and provider communication, population health, and care coordination. (07:32):

  “We are in the process of implementing one of the, if not the largest instance, single instance of EPIC as our system wide electronic medical record.”

c) Navigating Regulatory and Policy Change

• Responding proactively to government policy shifts and CMS cost reductions, which present significant risks for non-profit providers.
• Emphasis on operational resilience and innovation. (08:53):

  “These changes are going to hit not for profit healthcare particularly hard and we’ve gotta really be thinking about how we sustain our product for the next hundred years.”

4. Hardest Challenge for the Coming Year

• Managing workforce transitions as healthcare delivery fundamentally evolves.
• Need for strong change management, sensitive communication, and supporting staff through transitions. (10:01):

  “Those are all individuals... that have connections to the way health care was practiced... over the last 40 years... and, you know, we know a lot of those things are going to change, and change is hard.”

5. Recruitment and Retention: New Approaches

• Pay and benefits remain important, especially in competitive markets.
• Flexibility and customized scheduling are crucial for attracting emerging workforce.
• Emphasis on using technology for communication and engagement (text, social platforms), and programs to boost joy, address burnout, and enhance resiliency. (12:42):

  “What we are seeing in our emerging workforce is those people... focus on things like flexibility.”
  (13:53):
  “We’ve embedded programs and invested significant amounts of money in how we can help combat and create a less burnt out and more joyful and engaged workforce.”

6. Opportunities for Organizational Growth

• Access: Making healthcare easier to access for patients is seen as a future differentiator.
• Ambulatory Surgery: Shifting procedural care from hospitals to more efficient, lower-cost ambulatory settings.
• Primary Care: Renewed investment in broad primary care networks and virtual technology for preventive care. (15:51):

  “One of the key growth strategies that we have is just making ourselves the easiest health system to access in our market.”
  (16:35):
  “Investing in high access primary care, perhaps that uses virtual technologies... is going to be a winning formula in the future.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the core of nursing leadership:

  “If we can’t deliver on [quality, safety, experience], everything else is really secondary.” — Dr. Kerrigan (03:03)

• On clinical and financial partnership:

  “Sometimes clinical leaders focus on clinical outcomes and leave some of the financial and strategy initiatives to other executives. And I think that’s flawed. I think we need to be at the table and helping to lead that.” — Dr. Kerrigan (04:10)

• On workforce engagement:

  “It’s about providing both physical and psychological safety for our colleagues, resiliency for colleagues that are often faced with very stressful situations, and frankly embedding joy into the workplace.” — Dr. Kerrigan (06:58)

• On change management:

  “Much of what I and the nursing leaders that I work with do is focus on our people. And that includes change management, communication, helping to deal and confront the emotion that occurs with change.” — Dr. Kerrigan (10:34)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:09] — Introduction to Trinity and Dr. Kerrigan’s regional role
• [02:23] — Biggest initiatives of the past year (quality/safety & financial value)
• [05:44] — 2026 priorities: workforce, technology, regulatory change
• [09:48] — Anticipated hardest challenges: leading large-scale workforce change
• [12:25] — Recruitment/retention strategies and evolving staff expectations
• [15:12] — Strategic growth: patient access, ambulatory care, primary care

Tone & Overall Takeaways

Dr. Kerrigan’s perspective is pragmatic, forward-thinking, and deeply people-centered. He blends an emphasis on clinical quality with operational and financial discipline, stressing that sustainable healthcare must prioritize both employees and innovation. The episode delivers actionable insights for healthcare leaders facing the complexity of post-pandemic recovery, workforce transformation, and the push for value-based care.

For more thought leadership and future episodes, visit Becker’s Healthcare Podcast.