Intermountain, Northwell Health Workforce Collaboration Spawns a Nationwide Alliance

At the height of the pandemic and patient surges, New York-based Northwell Health and Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare began collaborating on how to address each system’s staffing shortfalls. Intermountain would soon deploy 48 team members to Northwell, which later returned the favor.

Positive feedback from that experience became the trigger point for the recently formed Evolve Health Alliance. The six regional health systems partnering in the program are focused on workforce innovation and collaborations and have begun sharing information on:

• Best practices for initiatives focusing on employees’ well-being.
• Workforce data and analytics into how human capital programs and operations can be redefined.
• Collaboration to enhance innovation and implementation of diversity and inclusion programs.
• Ad hoc reciprocal agreements to address staffing needs.
• Enabling human resources teams to remain ahead of the curve amid continuously changing external factors.

Partners in the alliance include Advent Health, Altamonte Springs, Fla.; Atrium Health, Charlotte, N.C.; Henry Ford Health System, Detroit; Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City; Northwell Health, New Hyde Park, N.Y.; and OhioHealth, Columbus.

System leaders in the alliance are trying to continue the momentum that occurred during the pandemic’s early days when provider organizations heavily relied on each other’s expertise like never before, Maxine Carrington, senior vice president and chief people officer at Northwell Health said in a statement.

The organizations also will collaborate on leadership development programs in which members from each health system can participate in skills development programming at other alliance member organizations. The shared development opportunities will involve clinical and nonclinical staff as well as administrative and operational teams. This facilitates the sharing of ideas, processes and best practices that will benefit each organization.