Five Key Takeaways from Aya Ideas 2025

At this year’s Aya Ideas Retreat, healthcare leaders from across the country gathered to explore how innovation, data and culture are driving the next era of workforce management. The conversations were bold, practical and refreshingly people-first. Whether through storytelling that celebrates caregivers, AI tools that reduce administrative tasks or platforms that unify disconnected systems, the message was clear: the future of healthcare work depends on connecting technology to humanity.  Here are five key takeaways from Aya Ideas 2025: 

Brand has the power to inspire

In the opening session, leaders from Northwell Health, Intermountain Health and Corewell Health showed how brand is more than a logo — it’s culture, storytelling and connection.  

• Northwell Health spotlights caregivers in action through Netflix and HBO documentaries, fueling pride and engagement. “We showcase the talent inside with little vignettes of our teams in action,” said Ramon Soto, SVP, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Northwell Health. “And we don’t just push that to the outside world. We use it as an employee engagement device.” 

• Intermountain Health launched national campaigns on firearm safety and mental health, giving employees a sense of pride in their system’s leadership on difficult issues. “We took something that we knew was a very hyper local cause that our employees and caregivers cared about, and then we connected it to a national level,” said Megan Mahncke, Chief Marketing & Communications Officer, Intermountain Health. “It became a point of pride.”  

• Corewell Health unified staff post-merger with a new brand identity and patient/caregiver tools for engagement and recruitment. “We came up with this realization that the ‘we’ is incredibly powerful,” explained Charlotte Byndas, Sr. Director of Workforce Planning & Operations, Corewell Health. “It was starting to build the momentum towards everyone in the organization feeling like they are a part of the brand message.” 

Together, their examples underscored that healthcare can, and must, feel cool again; not by glossing over challenges, but by elevating the humanity, bravery and purpose that define the work. When employees see their stories celebrated, they become ambassadors inspired to stay, grow and advocate for their organizations. 

AI has moved from buzzword to bedside

Less hype, more help. AI is already shaping care: cutting delays and busy work while making care more personal. 

Databricks’ Global VP, Sarah Branfman, stressed that AI is no longer optional in healthcare, but it must be used responsibly. “In healthcare, the stakes are really high,” Sarah said. “And we have to give governance and oversight extra care.” She highlighted tools that track bed capacity in real time, speed up prior authorizations and assist with staffing and documentation. With the right data, AI can reduce delays, cut manual work and help make care more efficient and personal. 

Chief Nurse Executive David Marshall shared results from piloting an AI-powered voice tool at his organization: “The documentation timeliness has been incredible. Patient engagement scores skyrocketed to the 100th percentile on the first unit that we implemented the technology on.” Because nurses helped design the system, adoption was strong, reinforcing the idea that AI works best when it augments people, not replaces them.  

Innovation goes beyond technology

Nurse executives reminded us that innovation is about people, processes and advocacy.  

• Rudy Jackson, SVP & CNE, built his own nursing data team to push back on misleading benchmarks that look inefficient on paper but actually save lives in practice. “Benchmarks should be a part of the equation, not the deciding factor. As nurse leaders, we have got to own our own data.” 

• Seth Lovell, SVP of Nursing Transformation & Innovation, showed how empowering nurses to share their experiences on social media has both boosted recruitment and countered the challenges of negative narratives online. “We needed to be in the digital town square…not to change the narrative, just to balance it out.” 

• Sylvia Martin, System CNE, launched a nine-week education program to equip frontline leaders with the skills to tackle problems and inefficiencies directly. “The goal really is to empower our nurses, give them the knowledge of how to go through a process improvement [and] how to address an issue on your unit.”  

Platforms connect the dots, and the data

Aya Healthcare’s Jason Drucker, CPO, highlighted how disconnected tools create inefficiency and roadblocks for AI. Each standalone tool solves a problem but adds friction for clinicians, leaders and staff who have to toggle across different systems. “This fragmented approach isn’t just inefficient,” explains Drucker. “It’s ultimately unsustainable.”  

He showed how Aya’s LotusOne platform unifies contingent labor data across the enterprise: “Our vision for [LotusOne] is a platform that transforms data into strategy, anticipating trends and delivering the insights you need to act with confidence.” Instead of chasing spreadsheets, leaders can see risks and trends in one place — laying the foundation for smarter workforce decisions. 

The right tech makes room for real work

Across sessions, leaders showed how technology should shift from being another task to manage to being a true partner. One health system is piloting Workforce AI’s scheduling tools that auto-balance shifts and recommend incentives in real time. Managers get time back while policies and unit rules are still honored.  

Another health system reimagined contract labor data: what used to be a patchwork of spreadsheets and reports is now a one-to-two-click view of workforce trends, productivity and spend in LotusOne. Leaders walk into reviews ready to anticipate needs and explain results.

To improve float pool coordination, one health system adopted Shifts. By streamlining open shift management, the organization improved coordination, gave nurses easier access to available shifts, reduced the administrative burden on schedulers and empowered staff with greater flexibility and control over their schedules. 

The lesson across all stories: when the right tech is in place, teams spend less time chasing numbers and more time leading people, solving problems and improving care. 

Looking ahead 

The conversations at Aya Ideas Retreat made one thing clear: the future of healthcare work is already taking shape. From storytelling that builds team pride, to AI that lightens the load, to platforms that cut through the noise, leaders are finding new ways to focus on people while navigating constant change. The path forward isn’t just about adopting tools; it’s about creating the conditions where technology, data and human insight work together to make care better for those who give it and those who receive it.