Rethinking Workforce Strategy for a More Resilient Future

Summary

Podcast Summary: Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

Episode: Rethinking Workforce Strategy for a More Resilient Future
Date: January 14, 2026
Host: Lucas Voss, Becker’s Healthcare
Guests:

• Kathy Conkey, Senior VP of Client Services, Ingenovis Health
• Jodi Paul, Chief Nursing Officer, Workforce Outcomes and Experience of Care, Bon Secours Mercy Health
• Vince (last name not specified), Director of VMS and Contingent Workforce Operations, Bon Secours Mercy Health

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the evolving complexities of workforce strategy in healthcare, with a specific focus on fostering resilience in clinical teams and operations. The panel discusses rising patient acuity, burnout, flexibility needs, and the critical role of collaborative, data-driven models and external partnerships in transforming workforce management. They provide insights and lessons drawn from their experiences across multiple states and institutions, highlighting successful tactics, future directions, and actionable advice for healthcare leaders.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Top Workforce Pressures in Healthcare

[01:18–02:49]

• Vince highlights increasing patient acuity as a persistent challenge:

  “What our clinicians are facing is a tougher workload and really a lot sicker and more difficult patients than probably historically has been on that average level for a long time... it seems like it’s just been kind of that high level for most of the last 12 months.”
  — Vince, [01:45]

• Consistently high patient census and operational pressures (financial, reimbursement, regulatory) are compounded by evolving demands based on local community needs.

2. Collaborative Workforce Models and Flexibility

[03:11–04:28]

• Jodi describes how collaborative workforce models at Bon Secours Mercy Health create flexibility and resilience:
  • Internal float pool covers 49 care sites in four states.
  • Agencies are leveraged to fill gaps and transition into permanent roles.
  • Care delivery and shift models are redesigned to better match patient complexity and staff skills.

  “...Collaborative workforce models really have helped us address creating flexibility and resiliency for our staff... We are designing care delivery models and different shift models to better align skills with our patient needs.”
  — Jodi, [03:14]

3. Shifting Approaches to Staffing and Design

[04:57–06:09]

• Kathy points to changing workforce demographics (aging nurses vs. younger generations) and the importance of hyper-local, tailored solutions:

  “Every hospital is different and every hospital will tell you they’re different. Every market is different... so you really have to understand the idiosyncrasies of the different hospitals.”
  — Kathy, [05:00]

• Emphasis on innovative scheduling and catering to generational preferences for shifts.

4. Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration for Performance & Support

[06:34–09:53]

• Vince underscores the value of standardization in processes while balancing customization:

  “Standardization in the structural processes... is really the biggest key... Collaboration between clinical and business leaders is where you create that synergy.”
  — Vince, [06:40]

• Jodi adds that external partners (like Ingenovis/Genovest) help alleviate administrative burdens so clinical managers focus on coaching, mentoring, and patient outcomes:

  “They’ve helped remove a lot of that administrative burden on agency staffing from frontline managers so I can have my managers out, you know, coaching and mentoring new nurses...”
  — Jodi, [08:49]

• Trust, transparency, and shared accountability at all organizational levels strengthen workforce sustainability.

5. Lessons for Building a Resilient Workforce

[10:35–12:11]

• Kathy shares lessons on using data to forecast needs and balancing full-time with part-time ratios (70/30 mix) for flexibility:

  “You don’t staff at 100% of what your capacity is... you do this 70/30 mix... instead of moving patients around, moving nurses around.”
  — Kathy, [11:34]

• Focus is moving from COVID-driven crisis staffing to data-driven planning for sustainable growth.

6. Future Directions and Excitement for 2026

[12:35–15:23]

• Vince looks forward to further modernizing and integrating agency partnerships and leveraging technology for operational excellence and flexibility.

  “We’re really just excited about continuing to modernize the program... to ensure the terms of our partnerships... are up to speed with what the industry is demanding... but also positioning us for future growth and future flexibility.”
  — Vince, [13:05]

• Jodi highlights piloting new care delivery models—especially LPN integration—and rapidly deploying pilots to validate outcomes beyond just nursing roles.

  “Because it’s not just nursing. We’re talking all ancillary folks that we need within our facilities.”
  — Jodi, [15:15]

7. Final Takeaways and Advice for Leaders

[15:40–17:36]

• Kathy calls Bon Secours Mercy Health’s model “best practice,” citing transparency, standardization, and piloting as keys for future care delivery.
• Vince recommends organizations focus on continual learning, flexibility, scalability, and data-driven decisions.
• Jodi advises other healthcare leaders to seek trusted partners dedicated to delivering high-quality patient care:

  “Find a partner that you can truly trust and that their goals are to ensure your patients receive the best high quality care...”
  — Jodi, [17:10]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On current workforce stress:

  “It seems like it’s just been kind of that high level for most of the last 12 months, rolling into even the new year here from a patient workload perspective.”
  — Vince, [01:45]

• On tailoring staffing to generational differences:

  “Our workforce is changing... how they run their life is different than the way our senior nurses run their life. So we’re looking at different shift combinations, different ways to schedule.”
  — Kathy, [05:18]

• On the foundation of effective partnerships:

  “When you do create those really, really strong external partnerships with the trustworthiness of your clinical or business leaders, then it really just creates one well-oiled machine that creates good outcomes.”
  — Vince, [13:44]

• On advice for others:

  “Find a partner that you can truly trust and that their goals are to ensure your patients receive the best high quality care. And that’s what we have with Ingenovis.”
  — Jodi, [17:10]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Major workforce pressures & evolving challenges: [00:45–02:49]
• Collaborative workforce models & flexibility: [03:11–04:28]
• Changing workforce demographics & personalized staffing: [04:57–06:09]
• Collaboration for clinician support & performance: [06:34–09:53]
• Building and sustaining workforce resiliency: [10:35–12:11]
• Future vision & innovations in workforce strategy: [12:35–15:23]
• Final thoughts & calls to action: [15:40–17:36]

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Conclusion

The episode provides a rich, practical discussion on how health systems can rethink and modernize workforce strategies for greater resilience. Through candid insights on collaboration, standardization, and flexible workforce models, the guests detail how a data-driven, partnership-based approach can support both clinician well-being and operational excellence. For healthcare leaders navigating ongoing pressures—both clinical and financial—the themes of nimbleness, trust, and continual innovation offer a forward-looking blueprint for the future.

Transcript

[A]

Hi, everyone. This is Lucas Voss with Becker's Healthcare. Thanks so much for tuning in to the Becker's Healthcare podcast series. It's fantastic to have you. Today we're talking about rethinking workforce strategy for a more resilient future. And I'm so excited to have a fantastic group for this conversation here today. Three guests today, Kathy Conkey, she's the senior vice president of Client Services and Genovese Health. Jodi Paul, she's the Chief Nursing Officer, Workforce Outcomes and Experience of Care at Bon Secur Mercy Health. And then he's the director of VMS and Contingent Workforce Operations. Also from Bon Secour Mercy Health, Kathy Jodian wins. It's so great to have you. Thanks for being here today. It's great to have you.

[B]

Thank you.

[C]

Thank you.

[A]

Awesome to have you. And I want to jump right in. We have a ton of stuff to talk about. Vince, I'd love to start off with you on this first question. There's a ton of stuff happening in that workforce sort of environment. Right. Demands continue to evolve. We talk about clinician burnout quite a bit labor complexity. From your perspective right now, what are some of those biggest pressures health systems are facing today? And when you think about collaborative workforce models, how are they helping respond to some of these specific issues that we're seeing?

[C]

Yeah. Thanks, Luke. It's a really interesting question because, you know, with the footprint that Bonsacco Mercy Health has across four states in very different care communities, both in metro rural and kind of some of those in between communities, we really have to look at, like you said, the complexity of what those pressures are and what we really drill down, a subjective nature of how those impact our care delivery models in our units that we're really trying to put together workforce management solutions into. Really, when you look at it kind of from a global macro view, a lot of those pressures that we've seen consistently both within our organization and partner organizations are just that consistent high patient acuity, something that really hasn't alleviated over the past few years. And just knowing that what our clinicians are facing is a tougher workload and really a lot sicker and more difficult patients than probably historically has been on that average level for a long time that coincides directly with increased and persistently high patient census and patient volume. Usually we'll see kind of those seasonal peaks and valleys that are a little bit more pronounced, but it seems like it's just been kind of that high level for most of the last 12 months, rolling into even the New Year Here from a patient workload perspective. But then you have operational pressures as well, just coming from the things that are within or without of your control and then outside of within the state you operate in from a national standpoint as well. Just some of those pressures around financials and reimbursement processes and some of the complexities that, that impact that. But there's, there's a lot of different, you know, layers to it, but it really is specific to what the surrounding community that you're serving really presents to you.

[A]

That's what makes it so special too, and so complicated, is the fact that it's intertwining so much. Jodi, I'm assuming this is similar for you as well, but from your perspective too, what does this look like? And when you think about, again, the some of the workforce models that are in place right now, some of the collaborative pieces, how are they helping to address some of these issues and what does this look like from your point of view?

[D]

Yeah, so collaborative workforce models really have helped us address creating flexibility and resiliency for our staff. As Vince mentioned, one of our most significant pressures in the health care systems that we're facing today is that rise in a patient acuity. Patients are coming in sicker and more complex needs, and they require that we not only address their medical conditions, but also their emotional and spiritual well being. So that pressure continues with length of stay and expectations really hasn't changed. So we've developed quite a few things. At Bon Secours Mercy Health. We have an internal float pool that goes across all four states into our 49 sites of care. And that really help to support and get to know what the needs are in those clinical roles. We've also had agency that transitioned into permanent roles. And then we are designing care delivery models and different shift models to better align skills with our patient needs. And then this also allows us to respond to rising acuity while remaining financially responsible and more supportive for our teams.

[A]

Really a more proactive approach. Looking at it right away to see how we can solve some of these issues, which is so important. Kathy, from your perspective to again, all of the conversations that you're having, your expertise with in working with a number of organizations and folks, how have you seen this shift in the past few years influence this and especially in how organizations think about flexible staffing and workforce design?

[B]

Yeah, I think there's a number of different things. I think the first thing, especially working with Bon Secours Mercy Health, is, you know, every hospital is different and every hospital will tell you they're Different. Every market is different. And so when you're looking at an approach, you know, I like to even go down to the cost center level because one med surg unit could be different than another. So you really have to understand the idiosyncrasies of the different hospitals. I think the second part of it is our workforce is changing. So if our average age of our nurses in their late 50s, but then you've got this new breed of nurses coming up, you know, how they run their life is different than the way our senior nurses run their life. So we're looking at different shift combinations, you know, different ways to schedule. Because again, as Jodi and Vince said, you know, our patients are sicker than they ever have been. And 12 hours is still a long shift three times a week for a lot of the people. So we're looking at that too. So there's a lot of different, as we're going into kind of this, this new era, there's a lot of different thought processes on how we're going to take care of patients.

[A]

And as you all know, this is a team game. You've all collaborated very closely in attacking some of these issues and working together on some of these things. And Vince, I'd love to start to start off with you on this one. What are some of those elements of the collaboration that stand out to you as meaningful for really supporting clinicians, but also strengthening overall workforce performance across the organization?

[C]

Yeah, it's a great question to look into more deeply from an organizational level because I think something that we discovered over the past, say, five, six, seven years or so is that standardization in the structural processes that you have for tackling workforce challenges really is the biggest key. Right. You have to have, obviously there's a lot of different areas that need structured and more customized approaches. But when you have that structure from an organizational level, coming down from your business leaders, collaborating with your clinical leaders is really where you create that synergy to have a good decision making process and then the trustworthiness that you have with external partners, like we do with our partnership in Genevis, to ensure that our contingent and supplemental workforce is meeting the needs and is matched up essentially with what the requirements are of our internal units. So that there creates that synergy where there's kind of a blurred line between the workforce that's actually serving the care. We might have a larger agency presence in some areas, whereas some areas we might have a smaller agency presence or they're just in the flow pools, or we use a lot of our own internal Flow pools in certain areas. But really the patients shouldn't be able to tell the difference between that because you want to make sure that that collaboration is so strong that those that are serving those patients and providing that care are doing it to the highest level that we expect to fulfill the mission of the ministry. So that collaboration between really goes down to the clinical and business leaders finding that common ground and ensuring that we have that structured decision making process that's informed by data, by also past decision making outcomes that we track over anywhere from quarterly to annually, down to the pay period to pay period level that we have that we review with our leaders. So really it kind of starts at the top and trickles down to the most minute level. But it's really about how that appears as the outcome to the patient.

[A]

Well, and then that as you said, that synergy in turn enables more holistic care. Absolutely improves the holistic piece. Jody, same question for you here. What elements of that collaboration stand out for you and how have you seen it really strengthen again, not only clinicians, but also then again, workforce performance across the organization?

[D]

Yeah, so as Vince said, what's great is I'm clinical and Vince's business, which has been wonderful for our partnership even at the system level. So we've put a structure in and a really system level process which we empower our local CFOs and CNOs and COOs to operate with trust and transparency and that shared accountability. Another key has been, you know, the external partnership has been great and they've really streamlined for my nursing leadership. They've helped remove a lot of that administrative burden on agency staffing from frontline managers so I can have my managers out, you know, coaching and mentoring new nurses and supporting those clinicians. Rather than managing contracts and logistics, they really focus on outcomes, improvement of experience, of care, you know, falls, pressure, injuries, getting all of those outcomes in line. So together these elements, you know, we really are strengthening the workforce performance and created more of a sustainability model for our teams. And Genovest has been great. They're a of part pipeline for actually for our hiring. So we've hired a lot of those agency nurses as our nurses, you know, on the front lines.

[A]

And in turn again leads me to my next question because again it improves resiliency across the organization too. It makes the organization both clinically and from a business perspective, more resilient. I feel like to, to change and to some of these pressures that we're feeling and, and Kathy, I'd love to come to you on this for the next Question as well. Again, we know that many health systems are focused on, you know, sustainable staffing models and that improve nurse experience, patient outcomes, operational stability. Those are the things that we hear about quite a bit. Right. What are some of the lessons that have emerged from your work that could help other leaders build more resilient workforce strategies and build more resiliency for the business? But also on the clinical side, I.

[B]

Think there's a couple of different things. You know, the first thing, just as we're all kind of moving into 2026, we're still coming down off this mountain from COVID And so that was one of the things why our relationship came together. We were really trying to get back on point of just spend and how many nurses we're going to need. So that was one of the first driving initiatives that we wanted to do. Now with you going into 2025, it's really, really looking at volumes, census, what the trends are and then really trying to use the data that we have to see. You know, is there a historical look at being able to better plan? You know, we do see census kind of go the way of history and we're seeing it kind of level out since COVID but we still have to look at it. So I think there's that. I think it's really understanding what we want our full time complement and our part time complement to be. And you don't staff at 100% of what your capacity is at the hospital. You kind of do this 7030 mix. And so really working with leaders on that and then just really trying to understand how can we make it more flexible within the hospital. And that's having nurses work more than one unit, they have different skills and really just trying to, instead of moving patients around, moving nurses around. So it's really just understanding that skill consensus in really looking at data and how we can make those decisions.

[A]

Yeah, it becomes an enabler of the process that we've just highlighted throughout our conversation, which is really, really key. Well, Vince and Jody, I want to touch on the future a little bit, both from a business perspective and the clinical perspective. Vince, I'd love to start off with you on this. From the business perspective. What's next for your partnership with Ingenivus and what are you excited about here for 2026 and beyond?

[C]

Certainly, yeah, we're absolutely very excited about our continued partnership with Ingenivus. You know, we've been in lockstep for just over three years now in this managed partnership for agency contract labor with collaborative management over our technology that supports the process as well. And we're really just excited about continuing to modernize the program. You know, we've had created a lot of sustainability in this program from creating contract with our suppliers, with our agency suppliers. That creates a lot of favorability for both the clinician themselves, but to create opportunities for them to have that flexibility to really choose their workforce path, but also creates cost containment and operational excellence for our operators at the ministry level. So that we know that the contract terms that are within these assignments for these still high cost contract labor resources, that we are doing this in a reputable manner that creates integrity for the decisions we're making, even though it is looked at as premium or supplemental labor, that's a high cost. But what we're looking forward to doing is just continuing to modernize that program to ensure that the terms of our partnerships in the terms of the partnerships with our suppliers is up to speed with what the industry is demanding, but also positioning us for future growth and future flexibility with the way that the workforce continues to change. Jody made a really good point earlier about the relationship that we have between our CNOs at the market level and our managers at the market level with the ingenuous team. And I think that over the past three years we've created just a very, very strong level of trust to where it feels like one collaborative team, it doesn't feel like an external partner. And I think that's something that a lot of health systems can take away, is that when you do create those really, really strong ext internal partnerships with the trustworthiness with your clinical or business leaders, then it really just creates one well, well oiled machine that creates good outcomes. So we're just excited about continuing to expand on that and step into even more areas where we can support our workforce even outside of just nursing. Yeah, absolutely.

[A]

Jody, same question for you. From your perspective, what does this look like and what are you excited about?

[D]

Yeah. So one additional area worth highlighting for me is we have been an early adopter of care delivery models that are different, particularly in the LPN integrated model. And as we look moving forward into 2026, we know we have to change up that primary care and look at med surge and really focus on what's smart for our patients and for our caregivers. So indentifis has helped us look at LPNs. How can we integrate them in, how can we take that to the next level by activating across multiple care areas and then, you know, be very strategic about our, you know, the use of agency in Recruitment and allowing us to pilot models very quickly and validate outcomes and then just continue that to identify that strong pipeline of candidates. Because it's not just nursing. We're talking all ancillary folks that we need within, within our, our facilities.

[C]

Absolutely.

[A]

Well, Kathy, Jody and Vince, it's so fantastic to have you all on. I, I want to turn the floor over to you for my last question here. I think it's an important one. Kathy, we'll, we'll start off with you. Anything else that, that you want to share that we might have not touched on that might be important for, for folks that are listening today?

[B]

No, I think it's. We really enjoy the partnership. We enjoy talking about, you know, what's kind of happening in the different markets. This, this project really is a best practice model. Bon Secours Mercy Health is one of the largest entities in the country. So being able to have that transparency and the standardization, you know, across, across all the markets really is, is best practice. So we look forward to continuing to bring down cost, you know, delivering the best healthcare. I think what Jody said about the care delivery, that's going to be what everyone's going to be faced with. And so being able to pilot and look at patient outcomes is going to be key.

[A]

Vince, anything else that you'd like to add, anything else that you want to share that our audience might benefit from?

[C]

No, I think it's just the continued growth and flexibility that's going to be demanded of us both as an organization, healthcare organization, and then Kathy's team at Agenvis, just ensuring that we have to position ourselves to respond to whatever the demands are. And I feel that we're on a path where we've learned a lot over the past three or four years and we're really excited on positioning ourselves in the future to be more scalable and respond to those items, but also be proactive with supporting technology both internally with our clinical workflows and at the same time from a external workforce perspective to ensure that we're continuing to make very, very thorough, data informed decisions. So it's really just about strengthening kind of the foundation of what we already have. And we're really excited about getting into the new year to do that. Absolutely. Jodi, over to you.

[D]

Yeah, I would my recommendation for others out there, find a partner that you can truly trust and that their goals are to ensure your patients receive the best high quality care. And that's what we have with ingenuous. So I truly feel appreciate our partnership. They're constantly looking for ways for us to do it better and and brainstorm with us. So as strategic partner is it's been great.

[A]

Certainly sounds like an exciting 2026 and we'll have to meet again at the end of next year to discuss what all happened throughout the year. Well, Kathy, Jody, and Vince, thank you again for your time and insights today. It's so fantastic to have you all on. We also want to thank our podcast sponsor, Ingenovis, and you can tune into more podcasts from Becker's Healthcare by visiting our podcast [e-mail].