Rebecca Napier, Vice President of Finance and Administration at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center

Summary

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Episode Overview

Title: Interview with Rebecca Napier, Vice President of Finance and Administration at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center
Date: January 13, 2026
Host: Laura Dardeau, Becker's Healthcare
Guest: Rebecca Napier

Main Theme:
This episode delves into how the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center (UNM HSC) is navigating key trends and challenges in healthcare, especially around workforce shortages, care access, state-wide collaboration, and the evolution of healthcare education. Rebecca Napier shares thoughtful reflections on leadership, adaptation, and strategic planning in a fast-changing healthcare environment.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Introduction to Rebecca Napier and UNM HSC

• Rebecca Napier introduces herself and her 30+ year career in academic healthcare, spanning administration, education, and system leadership.
• UNM HSC is described as the state’s flagship health science organization, offering a wide array of programs:
  • School of Medicine (allopathic education and residencies)
  • College of Nursing
  • College of Population Health
  • College of Pharmacy
  • Integration with the healthcare delivery system
• [01:23] “Very fortunate to have a broad base and experience here… We span far more than just the School of Medicine and then we have our healthcare delivery system as well.” — Rebecca Napier

2. Current Healthcare Trends and Top Priorities

• Napier identifies regulatory changes and their impacts on funding as critical concerns.
• Persistent healthcare worker shortages, as highlighted by HRSA data, are particularly urgent.
  • It's not only physician shortages—shortages affect the entire healthcare workforce.
• As an academic institution, UNM HSC aims to pipeline graduates into local communities, recognizing both retention challenges and broader impacts.
• Emphasis on ensuring that educational programs anticipate not just current but long-term (10–20 years) workforce and community needs.
• [02:33] “It's really important that as we build these educational programs that we do so in a way that's really mindful of the needs, not just for today and tomorrow, but when we look at the 10 and 20 year.” — Rebecca Napier

3. Strategies and Challenges Around Access to Care

• Healthcare is rapidly evolving with technology and an emphasis on efficiency.
• Moving care out of the acute (inpatient) environment and into outpatient settings is a priority, helping decompress the overburdened acute care system.
• UNM HSC is currently operating at 130% acute care occupancy, underscoring access constraints and system stress:
  • [04:10] “We currently run at about 130% occupancy in our acute care delivery system, which is quite a challenge and a burden to our organization, our providers.” — Rebecca Napier
• Despite system strains, Napier stresses the ongoing commitment to deliver outstanding care statewide and to find positive-impact solutions.

4. Expanding the Healthcare Workforce Pipeline and Physical Capacity

• Top priority over the last year: ramping up physical facilities and infrastructure to double medical school graduate output over the next decade.
• Initiation of a robust business plan and stakeholder alignment to guide the construction and programming of a new School of Medicine building.
• Focus on infrastructure that is flexible and adaptable for future educational and technological changes.
• Internal and external stakeholder engagement is crucial for momentum and shared vision.
  • [05:30] “We've undertaken a very robust business plan that gave us sort of the framework of how to go about achieving this…” — Rebecca Napier
  • [06:56] “I can't say that I've seen the level of interest, engagement and drive that our state has shown for a project of this type… In order to be able to do this type of a large scale project at such a fast pace has become incredibly important to not just have that alignment internally, but also externally as well.” — Rebecca Napier

5. Leadership and Collaboration: Aligning Toward a Common Mission

• Napier credits strong executive and state leadership for accelerating progress.
• Multi-level stakeholder engagement (internal executive team and external partners) is necessary for executing on large, complex projects.
• Emphasizes the unique collaborative spirit and the rapid conceptualization-to-design pace as a testament to effective partnership.

6. Advice for Emerging Healthcare Leaders

• Remain optimistic and reframe challenges as opportunities for growth and innovation.
• Encourages leaders to build “muscle memory” by navigating difficulties and embracing change.
  • [08:36] “A skilled sailor isn’t made through smooth seas. It's actually the difficult seas that make the skilled sailor… These occasional difficulties [are] really honing our skills and helping us create that muscle memory to be able to continue to navigate through challenging times.” — Rebecca Napier

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On anticipating future needs:
  [02:33] “It's really important that as we build these educational programs that we do so in a way that's really mindful of the needs, not just for today and tomorrow, but when we look at the 10 and 20 year.” — Rebecca Napier

• On state-level commitment:
  [06:56] “I can't say that I've seen the level of interest, engagement and drive that our state has shown for a project of this type… Such an absolutely refreshing perspective to have.”

• On reframing adversity in leadership:
  [08:36] “A skilled sailor isn’t made through smooth seas… These occasional difficulties [are] really honing our skills and helping us create that muscle memory…”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:23 — Rebecca Napier introduces herself and the UNM Health Sciences Center
• 02:33 — Top trends: funding, regulatory change, workforce shortages
• 04:10 — Strategies for improving access and managing high acute care occupancy
• 05:30 — Facility expansion to double medical school graduates over 10 years
• 06:56 — Importance of alignment, both internal and state-level, to drive rapid progress
• 08:36 — Leadership advice: reframing challenges as opportunities, the value of adversity

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Summary Flow & Takeaway

Rebecca Napier paints a picture of an academic health system facing workforce shortages, care access challenges, and the necessity of strategic, long-range planning—all against the backdrop of rapid industry change. She highlights UNM HSC's proactive initiatives (facility expansion, flexible education, community-focused retention), the value of stakeholder alignment, and a positive, resilient approach to leadership. Her closing advice is to use adversity as a tool for leadership development and to view turbulent times as opportunities for collective improvement.
This episode is a valuable listen for anyone invested in healthcare system leadership, education, or transformation—especially those curious about effective collaboration at the intersection of policy, institutional change, and community engagement.

Transcript

[Becker's Healthcare Announcer]

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[Laura Dardeau]

This is Laura Dardeau with the Beckers Healthcare Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by Rebecca Napier, Vice President of Finance and Administration at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. Rebecca, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.

[Rebecca Napier]

Thank you, Laura. It's exciting to be here.

[Laura Dardeau]

Absolutely. Well, I'm looking forward to our conversation because I know it's such a unique time in healthcare today and particularly looking at some of the interesting things that are going on across the board in the healthcare industry and then you know, how you're able to provide for your unique and important community there in New Mexico. So I'm looking forward to our conversation. But before we dive in, can you introduce yourself and tell us just a little bit about the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center?

[Rebecca Napier]

Sure, I'm happy to introduce myself. I've been in academic health care for a little over 30 years, spanning across the Tripartite Mission School of Medicine Medical Group system level, and so very fortunate to have a broad base and experience here at the University of New Mexico. I, at the system level am the Vice President for Finance and Administration. The University of New Mexico is the Health Science center for the State. We provide the allopathic education for medical students as well as our residency programs and in addition to that have College of Nursing, College of Population Health and College of Pharmacy. So we span far more than just the School of Medicine and then we have our healthcare delivery system as well.

[Laura Dardeau]

That's amazing to hear. And you know, it's great that you've got such a great coverage area with so many services underneath the same umbrella of the University. Now I'm curious, what trends are you watching currently? What's top of mind for you?

[Rebecca Napier]

So I think top of mind for all of us are, you know, what are some of the regulatory changes and how are they going to affect our institutions? You know, from, from the funding sources. I think it's also Important to keep an eye on the trends when it comes to healthcare access. You know, when we look at the HRSA data, I think we all recognize that we're experiencing a shortage in healthcare workers, not just in the physic component, but really across the spectrum and as an academic institution, making sure that we're doing our part to address this challenge for our state and beyond is incredibly important. Ideally, the individuals that we train, you know, stay here in New Mexico and provide coverage and support to our local communities. However, we recognize we pull from other areas and that individuals may also recruit, you know, our graduates to too. But I think it's really important that as we build these educational programs that we do so in a way that's really mindful of the needs, not just for today and tomorrow, but when we look at the 10 and 20 year.

[Laura Dardeau]

Data, that makes a lot of sense. And you know, I really feel that you're, when you bring up access and having access to care, that's such a universal problem. I know so many hospitals and health systems are trying to expand their access to their communities in different and unique ways while they're also working looking on the healthcare workers shortages as well. And so when you're thinking about access, what are some of the things that you've done in the past year or so that have worked well to expand the access or what are you planning in the future?

[Rebecca Napier]

You know, I think it's important to recognize that healthcare itself is changing constantly with the engagement of, you know, technology and, you know, how can we create efficiency? I also think the more that we can move outside the acute environment becomes incredibly helpful to decompress that very limited resource. Managing patients in an outpatient setting tends to be less resource intensive and so it allows us to be able to do more. But I think at the end of the day, we're all still faced with the challenge of, you know, that access. We currently run at about 130% occupancy in our acute care delivery system, which is quite a challenge and a burden to our organization, our providers. But it's really important that we continue to deliver outstanding care to the state of New Mexico. And so we really strive to address those problems in a way that impacts the access to our patients in a positive way.

[Laura Dardeau]

Got it. That makes a lot of sense and it's really helpful to understand now what are you most proud of from the last six to 12 months? What's made you excited and what have you been focused on?

[Rebecca Napier]

So as we've looked to expand our healthcare workers in the state, we have the challenge of being able to have the physical plan in order to be able to train those individuals. And so from the perspective of our medical school, in order to be able to double the graduate size over the next 10 years, we've got to have the facility in which to do that. So we've undertaken a very robust business plan that gave us sort of the framework of how to go about achieving this, you know, from that perspective. We've also worked to provide the programming and the information about, you know, what is it that needs to go into this new School of Medicine building that will allow us to educate not just today, but as technology changes and as learning opportunities change for students in the future. You know, how does this building have that flexibility? And then, you know, how do we align all of our stakeholders in, you know, supporting and making sure that this is the direction that we need to go?

[Laura Dardeau]

Absolutely. That makes a ton of sense. And, you know, I can imagine it's easier said than done building that alignment. How do you work with your executive team and really make sure that you've got a strong plan in place, that everyone is ready to move forward in a united front towards this shared plan and perspective?

[Rebecca Napier]

You know, we're really fortunate that we have a strong EVP that's leading our health system. We also have an amazing state to support these initiatives. Their guidance, their investment, their really ownership of this has just been tremendous. I can't say, you know, I've been, I've lived in multiple states and I can't say that I've seen the level of interest, engagement and drive that our state has shown for a project of this, of this type. And so that's just, you know, such an absolutely refreshing perspective to have. And I think that's really what's allowed us to achieve this in such a short time period. We really were just conceptually thinking of this 18 to 24 months ago. And you know, we're already in the design phase and have an idea of when we would like to break ground. And so I think, you know, having you asked specifically about our executive team within our organization, but I think it goes so far beyond that. In order to be able to do this type of a large scale project in an area like this at such a fast pace has become incredibly important to not just have that alignment internally, but also externally as well.

[Laura Dardeau]

That's great to hear and it's really exciting to have all of the state as well as the leadership of the organization all coming together to fight for the same mission. Now, before we wrap up here, I wanted to ask, what advice would you give evolving leaders today, especially those facing such a unique time in healthcare as we have right now?

[Rebecca Napier]

I think it's really easy to get bogged down in all the things that don't work right or the challenges that we're faced with. But I am a firm believer in really reframing that to the narrative. This is an opportunity for us to reconfigure or retool. This is an opportunity for us to do different, to do better. And so it's not always smooth sailing, but there's an adage that I'll get wrong, but basically that a skilled sailor isn't made through smooth seas. It's the. Actually it's the difficult seas that make the skilled sailor. So I think we have to look at these, these occasional difficulties as really honing our skills and helping us create that. That muscle memory to be able to continue to navigate through challenging times.

[Laura Dardeau]

Rebecca, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today. What a positive and optimistic message to leave us on. You know, I think that's so critical right now in health care. Just have that strong leadership, strong focus and ability to get through any chall that come our way. I appreciate your time today and I look forward to continuing this conversation.

[Rebecca Napier]

Well, likewise, Laura. Thank you so much.