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Eric Cole, a 25-year veteran of healthcare, learned early in his career to apply a holistic approach to the healthcare ecosystem. While earning his master’s in healthcare administration and finance at Temple University, where he rounded with doctors and interns, he first observed how finance, operations, and physicians can work in concert to provide the most effective care for a patient.
Now, as corporate senior vice president of human resources at Scripps Health—a nonprofit integrated healthcare delivery system in San Diego, California—Cole has added transparency as a key component in his holistic approach. One of the tools in his transparency toolkit is stoplight reports, which track various clinical, financial, workforce, and growth outcomes.
“If we’re doing well, it’s in the green. If we’re in transition, it’s a yellow. If it needs attention, it turns red,” Cole says. These reports encourage Scripps employees to celebrate their wins, learn from each other, and identify areas that require improvement, while also promoting healthy competition among the staff. “Healthcare is not the best industry that celebrates the wins,” Cole says. “It’s such a serious business that sometimes we have to remind ourselves that we do have wins, and we need to celebrate those wins.”
Stoplight reports are one of the tools that support this philosophy of transparency. Another initiative that reflects Cole’s commitment to transparency and quality patient care is a program called Model Care. “It’s transitioned how we provide care to the patient by bringing the problem-solving to the lowest level of the organization,” Cole says. For example, if a frontline nurse identifies a problem, they are the most qualified to provide a solution. The nurse proposes the solution to leadership and then leadership gets out of the way.
Tools and processes such as stoplight reports and Model Care play vital roles in helping Cole’s human resources team maintain transparency, achieve positive outcomes across the organization, and keep Scripps relevant in a competitive healthcare market. “We’re surrounded by other great healthcare organizations here in San Diego,” Cole says. “Any publicly reported outcomes that are published just push us to do a little bit better.”
His partners have taken notice of the achievements at Scripps. “Aon is very proud of our decades long partnership with Scripps Health,” says Drew Erra, SVP of Aon. “Scripps Health is one of best run health systems in the country and Eric’s leadership on complex executive benefit issues has been essential to our success.”
Strong outcomes require strong talent. To stay ahead of his competition, Cole must recruit the most talented prospects, which isn’t always an easy task. Though San Diego’s perfect weather, vibrant culture, and recreational offerings are appealing, its high cost of living makes it a tough sell. Cole has had limited success recruiting from other large cities, like New York and San Francisco, but he knows every candidate needs a personal reason to commit. “You have to find that uniqueness to tie somebody here,” Cole says. “It’s a sales pitch.”
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That’s why Cole turns his focus inward, investing in those who have already chosen to work with Scripps. “When you look at our mission, it boils down to providing superior health services in a caring environment and making positive, measurable differences in the health of individuals in the communities we serve,” he says. “We are serving ourselves, and from a staff development perspective, we have put in quite a few training and upskilling programs to ensure that.”
One such program places nurses into student rotations as they near completion of their degrees. Upon graduation, they can enter a 40-week orientation program, “a pipeline into the organization as a new grad registered nurse,” Cole explains. The program ensures the new graduates are fully prepared for the demands of the nurse role. After one year, they can apply to different upskill programs, Cole says.
Cole’s human resources department also forges academic partnerships with schools in and around San Diego. Through the partnerships, students can do clinical rotations, earn an MBA, and receive scholarships. “We have scholarships aligned with system priorities such as the Martin Luther King scholarship and the President’s scholarship. We also have scholarships aligned specifically to our hospitals,” Cole says. “Some are even full ride scholarships. Just another area we’ve dedicated to support the workforce.”
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But Cole understands that supporting employees is about more than credentials. It’s about culture. To foster a sense of celebration and connection, Scripps Health plans an annual Spirit Week. During Spirit Week, Scripps employees highlight and honor each other’s wins. This year’s theme was the patient experience. Departments submitted videos showing examples of what good and poor patient scenarios look like. Winners are chosen, but in the spirit of transparency, all videos are shared with the whole organization.
“It demonstrates across the organization who’s doing what,” Cole says. “We’re bringing a little bit of fun and motivation to the team while making sure everybody is held accountable and that we’re achieving what we need to achieve from an organizational perspective.”
“TriscendNP is proud to be a partner of Eric Cole and Scripps Health: trailblazers in the healthcare industry where workforce innovation; transparent, mission-driven culture; and organizational excellence are concerned,” says Kristie Hartmann, SVP of TriscendNP. “It is a privilege witnessing firsthand how this holistic approach elevates the healthcare experience for the community they serve.”
By prioritizing transparency and holistic leadership, Cole strengthens cross-departmental relationships, fosters leadership development, and enhances team performance—all for the benefit of the organization and the community it serves. “Everything we do is focused on providing the best patient care possible,” he says.
Aon’s National Healthcare Practice is a dedicated team of professionals who specialize in delivering tailored risk management, insurance, health and wellbeing benefits solutions to healthcare organizations across the country. With a deep understanding of the unique challenges and opportunities that the healthcare industry presents, we are committed to helping our clients navigate the complexities of this dynamic sector. Our team brings together a wealth of experience, knowledge, and a proven track record of assisting healthcare providers, payers, and related entities in managing risk, optimizing operational efficiency, and achieving strategic goals.
TRISCENDNP is an employee-owned firm devoted to empowering nonprofit organizations through high-impact executive benefit solutions. For more than two decades, TRISCENDNP has partnered with mission-driven institutions to attract, retain and reward leadership essential to advancing their causes. With deep industry insight and a client-centered approach, our collaborative professionals deliver customized strategies that reduce risk, optimize outcomes and support long-term sustainability. We’re proud to champion the champions — nonprofit leaders — and amplify the impact they make in the communities they serve.
