Podcast Summary: Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

Guest: Holly McCormack, CEO, Cottage Hospital
Host: Kelly Gooch, Senior Editor, Becker's Healthcare
Date: December 31, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode features a conversation with Holly McCormack, President and CEO of Cottage Hospital in New Hampshire. The discussion centers on the challenges and strategies unique to rural healthcare, with a strong focus on workforce investment, sustaining financial health, leveraging technology, and the ongoing evolution of critical access hospitals. McCormack shares insights from her leadership journey and the key initiatives she’s championed to ensure Cottage Hospital’s continued viability and service to its community.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Holly McCormack’s Leadership Journey

[01:07–02:58]

• Started as a “candy striper,” advanced through all nursing roles—from assistant to registered nurse, preceptor, and charge nurse.
• Transitioned to leadership via a supervisory role at a blood center, then moved back to hospital management.
• Relocated to rural New Hampshire, completed a master’s degree, and followed a succession path to Chief Nurse and then CEO.
• Became CEO in 2021, emphasizing her goal: “to take the nursing lens, to use that to lead this organization.”

Notable Quote:

"I have been the CEO here at Cottage four and a half years now."
—Holly McCormack [02:49]

2. Most Important Initiative in 2025: Investing in the Workforce

[03:19–05:24]

• Faced persistent staffing challenges post-pandemic, particularly high contract labor costs.
• In April 2025, responded to a peak in traveler staff numbers by redirecting funds from “things” to “people.”
• Concrete changes included: increasing salaries, maintaining low health insurance costs for employees, adding a nurse educator, and restructuring clinical leadership.
• Measurably reduced traveler utilization by 70% since May 28, 2025.
• This stabilizing move enables forward planning and more consistent patient care.

Notable Quotes:

"The absolute most important thing that I think we have accomplished here at Cottage Hospital in 2025 was our investment in our workforce."
—Holly McCormack [03:20]

"We have decreased the amount of travelers in our organization by 70%."
—Holly McCormack [04:13]

3. Priorities and Headwinds for 2026

[05:49–07:20]

• Financial pressures remain the biggest challenge for independent rural hospitals.
• Uncertainty around upcoming changes in rural health transformation.
• Focus for 2026: refining service lines to eliminate inefficiencies, growing specialty and outpatient services, and leveraging partnerships—particularly with technology, such as telehealth.
• Telehealth is key to providing access without forcing patients to travel far.

Notable Quote:

"We're really prioritizing here at Cottage... first that we're doing it really, really well, being laser focused on our service lines and evaluating them and making sure we're eliminating any waste."
—Holly McCormack [06:22]

4. The Hardest Task Ahead: Evaluating Service Lines

[07:37–08:43]

• The toughest decisions for 2026 involve reviewing services that are financially unsustainable.
• Critical questions: Does it make sense to continue offering a service? Is it available elsewhere nearby? Sometimes, the answer might mean discontinuing or referring patients elsewhere.

Notable Quote:

"We can't do everything all the time here, right?"
—Holly McCormack [08:34]

5. Growth Opportunities: Technology and Telehealth

[08:53–09:30]

• Major opportunities lie in technology adoption, especially telehealth.
• Telehealth can counteract provider recruitment difficulties and expand patient access to specialty care.
• The model allows the hospital to “bring that specialty care close to home” for rural residents.

Memorable Moments & Quotes

• On Choosing Workforce Over Infrastructure:
  "We said we have to put money into people and not into things for this organization right now."
  —Holly McCormack [03:44]

• On Strategic Focus:
  "The difficult things that we have to do sometimes is say, does it make sense for us to continue to do that here?"
  —Holly McCormack [08:08]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction & Background: [01:07–02:58]
• Workforce Investment Results: [03:19–05:24]
• 2026 Priorities & Challenges: [05:49–07:20]
• Evaluating Service Lines: [07:37–08:43]
• Growth Through Tech & Telehealth: [08:53–09:30]

Conclusion

Holly McCormack’s conversation demonstrates the realities of rural hospital leadership—from navigating persistent financial challenges to bold workforce investment and the promise of telehealth. Her nurse-informed leadership style shapes decisions focused on sustainability and community needs: “We can't do everything all the time here, right?” [08:34]. The episode is a candid look at the hard choices and hopeful strategies defining the future of independent rural hospitals.