Introducing Alterra Digital Health, a new name in digital healthcare solutions. We see the summit of what healthcare can be, and we're focused on helping you take the steps to get there. It's time to look at health care solutions differently. Altera, the alternative you need for the outcomes you want. To learn more about us, visit alterahealth.com. This is Rosie Talaga with the Becker's Healthcare podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by Mario Ellis, chief human resource officer at Beacon Health System. Mario, it's a pleasure to have you on the podcast today. It's nice to be here. Thank you so much for inviting me. We have a great conversation in store where we'll discuss the big opportunities and challenges in health care today. But before we dive in, Mario, could you please introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your background? Sure. Again, Mario Ellis. I'm the chief human resource officer here for Beacon Health System. I've actually been in, health care, specifically, starting with the University of Chicago since twenty o four. So, we've got about, what, twenty one years in here, and I've worked with several other, organizations across the country here, including, Cleveland Clinic for a period of time, WellSpent Health in Europe, Pennsylvania, and St. Louis Health System out in Boise, Idaho. And each of those opportunities has afforded me the, opportunity to learn and grow, and now I'm in my, top spot here as chief human resource officer at Beacon. Oh, great. Over two decades of experience in health care. That's phenomenal work. Now that we have a little bit about yourself, we can jump into the questions. And first, I'd like to hear something about your health system's recent success. So what accomplishment are you most proud of from the past year? Well, so and and just a little bit about Beacon. Beacon is in, North Central, Indiana, which we call the Michiana area, and we are in South Bend. We're about six, hospital system. We have about 8,000, employees, and we cover multiple counties, about seven counties. We have over a 46 sites. And, so we're we're a pretty decent sized health system for this region. And, and when I think about the work that we've done over the last year, we really are, really on the verge of being digital first. So we've improved our digital front door for many of our patients and patient experiences, really improving, the ability to schedule online or via phone for appointments. And so those are some really, great things we're doing. We also have expanded some of our services, including, cancer, and which was really, really great about that. And then particularly for me within HR, one of the things I'm I'm most proud of is that we're really working to be more strategic as partners for our organization. Really took the time to step back and and revisit our HR delivery model and the leadership team that was part of HR, and we're now in what we call the HR journey. Really beginning to deliver on some of the things that we've set out to do based on, some approvals from our organizational leaders and and and some of the work we've done in terms of, our strategy development for HR in alignment to our overall strategies as an organization. That's great. And now reflecting on that success in 2024 and building on that momentum, I'm curious with some of the key organizational goals in this HR journey that you discussed. What are some of these goals that you're setting for 2025? So, you know, one of the things I think most HR leaders are realizing is that you have to have good technology. And so one of the things that we're we're working on this year is really improving our, HR technology stack. That includes even beginning to look at our overall ERP, infrastructure, working across the system with a finance and supply chain and our IS team to really say what do we need to do and what does technology need to look like for us. And that is one of the things that we're working on strategically for this year, and I'm really excited about the fact that we are making some, movements in that area. You know, as you think about an ERP system, whether it's, you know, whatever platform you're on, it to me, from my perspective, it is just as important as your electronic health record because you really are looking at an integrated solution from the time that you, hire someone on to how they actually perform in their function as a clinical, provider. So to me, I look at that total integration to help drive that total digital experience for our associates as well as our patients. Absolutely. And it is a very, very exciting time for technological advancements in health care specifically. Mhmm. So when we are looking at this, ERP system, you say making sure it's a fully integrated system And moving towards achieving these goals in 2025, what potential challenges or headwinds do you anticipate for the next year or two? You know, I think with any in any health system, it's always gonna be, your your your financial situation. Reimbursements are changing. Payer mix our payer mix is changing. And so you wanna make sure that you're able to be, you know, put things in place that can be economically, sustained and supported by the organization. So I think that's what any organization everywhere I've worked, we've always had to be very mindful of what's going on in terms of, the industry within health care. So, you know, to me, that's also gonna be top of mind here as we're working as a team. And we're in the very beginning stages of looking at this work. So, you know, we've got an opportunity to really look forward and see where we need to be and then make sure we are positioning ourselves as an organization when we look at any type of technology solution, particularly in the, administrative systems, and when I think about what we're doing in in HR. Absolutely. So now that we've talked a bit about things that are changing, such as financial situations in terms of reimbursement and the payer mix, really talking about sustainability and positioning yourself well alongside this evolving landscape, I'm curious to hear how you think you are personally evolving as a leader to stay ahead of these changes. One, keeping a network of, other leaders within my space. So, you know, I've I've there are several, organizations that I'm a part of, where you have, CHRO leaders from, across the country, you know, hearing different types of ideas and sharing those ideas. We we all are, you know, vying for talent. We all are dealing with technology. We're all thinking about succession planning. And so, and then, you know, going to conferences and sharing those ideas and picking up on those, those things that, you know, that may work well here at Beacon and vice versa, sharing sharing some of our experiences of what we're doing. You know? You know, first is I think about another great accomplishment that we're doing when I think about the headwinds of of of of our economy and the talent that is necessary, you know, we are engaging, with our our local schools, particularly from even from, high school to local colleges, in terms of looking at, for instance, nursing. We have a program what we call Beacon Scholar where we are actually, working with a community college here in in in, South Bend, and we are allowing or paying for our scholarships for individuals who wanna go into nursing. So they come out with a two year degree in nursing. And, you know, part of that program may even provide stipends to support them economically, when you think about some of the communities that we wanna serve, but we also wanna make sure that they are, people in those communities remain in the community, help to to help the economic development within those communities. So, you know, being creative like that, building our programs, we are also thinking about how do we put in place, more structured pro programs within Beacon so that if an individual wants to further their career, because we wanna keep them here, we wanna retain that talent. So they may have they may come in as a a food service worker or they may come in as an environmental service worker, but they don't necessarily wanna stay in those roles. So how do we help them navigate a career path within the organization, including things like tuition reimbursement or tuition assistance and and mentoring and and, and, those types of things to help individuals retain, a good well, I won't say retain, but help them obtain, attain a great career progression within the organization. And then as we think about those individuals moving along, we can continue to build the pipeline by bringing people in to these more entry level positions and then sitting with them and helping them to understand that career in health care is a great place to be, and we help them navigate that. And it's not just clinical. It can be, administrative. How do you wanna work in supply chain? How do you wanna work in finance? How do you wanna work in HR? And so we are really building out those types of programs as well. That's great to hear. That's definitely been a top of mind topic for the financial barriers for career development or even just beginning or progression. So that's great to hear Beacon's focus on community development to strengthen that pipeline. Mhmm. Exactly. Well, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today, Mario. This has been a great conversation with great insight, and we look forward to working with you again soon. Alright. Thank you. Have a good day. You too.