Executives from Ascend Learning reflect on the conversations, themes, and leadership opportunities discussed at LINE 2026 that are defining healthcare's path forward.
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“What makes LINE different was having nursing, HR, operations, culture, and executive leaders all in the same room tackling the same challenges from different perspectives.”
- Jill Ragsdale, Chief Human Resources Advisor, Laudio
Moderator: Mark Solazzo, MBA, President, Strategic Initiatives & COO, Northwell Health, Retired
Mandy Richards, DNP, RN, MSN, APRN, ACNS-BC, NEA-BC, CNE & President of Children's Health, Intermountain Health
Phillip Chang, MD, Chief Medical & Quality Officer, CommonSpirit Health
Joel Vengco, Chief Information & Digital Officer, Hartford HealthCare
Healthcare executives are confronting growing complexity: workforce shortages, financial pressures, and operational strain are converging at a time when health systems are being asked to do more with less.
Against this backdrop, LINE, Laudio’s annual, invite-only thought leadership conference, brought together executive leaders spanning the C-suite around a timely theme: Unlocking Simplicity. Propelling Progress.
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"Healthcare leaders need the space and capacity to focus on the challenges that matter most. People need and want space to have these conversations, and LINE created that space."
– Jill Ragsdale, Chief Human Resources Advisor, Laudio
Drawing on insights over two days of panel sessions, peer discussions, and executive networking throughout the event, four leaders spanning Laudio, StaffGarden, and M7 Health reflected on the strategies and ideas healthcare leaders should carry into 2027 and beyond.
Executive Contributors
Together, their takeaways reveal that solving today's workforce challenges requires greater alignment between people, processes, technology, and leadership than ever before.
LINE’s attendees spanned a wide range of functions, and the event’s intimate format helped turn presentations into working, actionable conversations. "People came to LINE asking, 'What can I take back to my executive team?' That's what made the conversations so valuable,” said Jill Ragsdale.
She added that “the synergy of problem-solving was truly in the room. Leaders weren't just listening to presentations. They were brainstorming with their peers across the country who are facing many of the same challenges,” and were given the space to compare and consider what different ideas could mean inside their own organizations.
Issues like staffing, culture, financial performance, and operational outcomes may fall under different functions, but they are not separate challenges. “Investing in the nursing workforce is increasingly being recognized as a win-win for every part of the hospital,” said Frank Ingari. His opening remarks to kick off the full event highlighted how this strategic investment creates value across the health system, particularly as hospitals and clinical teams navigate significant financial pressures. “We’re understanding what workforce investments bring to each of those constituents and flipping the script on what we offer to hospitals,” he added.
As a first-time LINE attendee, Ilana Borkenstein, RN, Co-Founder & CEO of M7 Health, was struck by the cross-functional discussions. Most conferences are limited to only one area, whether Nursing, IT, HR or Finance. LINE brought senior leaders from across the organization together to discuss workforce challenges and opportunities that intersect all of their priorities.
“Staffing affects engagement, engagement affects retention, and retention affects everything: labor costs, patient outcomes, and organizational performance. LINE created space for leaders to explore those connections together rather than tackling them separately,” she said.
Moderator: Catherine Wilkosz, MSc, BSN, RN, VP of Strategic Content Development, Laudio Insights
Nancy Gaden, DNP, RN, FAAN, SVP & CNO, Boston Medical Center Health System
Katie Beach, VP People Operations, Nebraska Medicine
Maureen Early, RN, MSN, CPXP, VP, Patient & Customer Experience, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, Northwell Health
The opening keynote, Unleash the Power of Simple from Lisa Bodell, set the tone by showcasing how simplification can become a competitive advantage and help organizations cut through noise, regain focus, and lead with confidence when everything feels uncertain. Ragsdale shared that "the theme of simplicity carried through every conversation, every breakout, every dinner discussion, because healthcare leaders are all asking the same question: How do we create more space for leaders to focus on what matters most?"
The call for simplicity is especially relevant for frontline leaders and nurse managers, whose high spans of control can lead to burnout and costly turnover. Given that replacing a single RN can costs health systems an estimated $52,000, even small improvements in leader support and nurse retention can translate into hundreds of thousands of dollars in annual savings while strengthening workforce stability.
Historically, leaders navigated separate systems and workflows for each one, but a more connected approach creates the possibility of “simplifying that experience while improving the value of workforce investments,” Ingari said. He also shared how bringing Laudio, StaffGarden, and M7 together creates a clearer connection between workforce development, leadership, competency, staffing, and deployment. “Scheduling and staffing are huge pain points and time sinks, with so much potential to save time, improve fairness, and reduce costs,” Eric Flyckt said. “Leaders are increasingly looking for ways to align staffing decisions with competency, development, and organizational needs.”
Borkenstein also observed that leaders were particularly interested in connecting staffing decisions with workforce development, competencies, and operational needs so they could move beyond simply filling shifts and toward deploying people in ways that better support employees, leaders, and patient care.
For frontline managers, simplicity is not just about efficiency. By reducing administrative complexity, health systems can give managers and leaders more time for the human work that matters most: meaningful conversations, recognition, coaching, and support. Those everyday interactions strengthen engagement and retention and, ultimately, help teams deliver better patient care.
“Relevant data and reports from Laudio Insights provided a valuable foundation for the conversations, but what brought that to life were the lived experiences shared by executives from across the country,” Ragsdale said. "Hearing leaders validate what we're seeing in the data, share the challenges they're navigating, and exchange practical approaches to addressing them is where the real value emerges.” The intimate size and structure of the event fostered candid conversations, enabling executives to exchange advice, make meaningful connections, and help one another work through complex leadership challenges.
That openness reflected a shared understanding that while health systems operate in different markets, many of the forces affecting their workforces are collective. “Everyone truly wants other organizations to succeed because better outcomes ultimately benefit employees, patients, and communities,” said Ragsdale.
LINE offered practical solutions to real-world challenges. Through live product demonstrations, small-group roadmap sessions, and interactive discussions, attendees had opportunities to provide direct feedback on emerging capabilities ranging from patient rounding and workforce intelligence to staffing and scheduling innovation.
For product leaders, those conversations provided invaluable insight into the realities health systems are facing today. For attendees, they offered a chance to influence how future solutions are designed and delivered. “Making this data actionable is really critical,” Flyckt said. He saw the same preference for practical application during product roadmap presentations, which dove into the ways technology is facilitating actionable outcomes. “Leaders want better visibility into where solutions are gaining traction, how they're being used, and what insights they can glean from the rich data health systems are already generating.”
While much of the value of LINE came from executives sharing lived experiences and practical lessons from their own organizations, attendees also benefited from a broader view of the forces shaping healthcare. A session from Christopher Kerns, CEO of Union Healthcare Insight examined trends influencing health systems nationwide — ranging across macroeconomic, workforce, policy, technology, reimbursement, and affordability — helping leaders connect the challenges they are experiencing locally to larger shifts occurring across the industry. The combination of peer learning and market intelligence gave attendees both practical ideas and strategic context for the decisions ahead.
Generational change adds yet another layer. Flyckt noted that Gen Z nurses are entering the workforce with different expectations, and require different approaches to communication, development, feedback, and management. Research suggests that Gen Z nurses may require 2.5 times more meaningful manager interactions to achieve retention outcomes comparable to previous generations, reinforcing the importance of leader capacity, sustained engagement, and strong frontline leadership.
As health systems navigate generational shifts, evolving employee priorities, ongoing workforce shortages, and rising labor costs, Borkenstein emphasized the need for greater flexibility, more personalization, and data-informed staffing and scheduling models. “Organizations are actively rethinking traditional workforce management approaches and exploring ways to better align operational requirements with the needs of today’s workforce,” she added.
The organizations best positioned for what comes next will be those that can create alignment across people, processes, technology, and workforce strategy, giving leaders the clarity and capacity to act.
LINE 2026 underscored that healthcare's future will be shaped by organizations and leaders who can simplify complexity, align their organizations, and create the capacity needed to move healthcare forward.
That means treating workforce investments as enterprise investments. It means helping nursing, HR, operations, finance, and technology leaders recognize their shared interests. And it means connecting workforce development, leadership, competency, engagement, staffing, and scheduling so leaders can act with greater context and confidence.
Most importantly, it means preserving capacity for the human work of leadership: explaining the “why,” developing people, strengthening teams, and making decisions that support employees, patients, and communities.
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