Editors’ Note

Joseph Moscola has held a series of positions throughout North Shore-LIJ, most recently as Senior Vice President and Executive Director of Ambulatory Operations. Previously, he served as Director of Health System Operations. He began his career as a physician assistant in Cardiothoracic Surgery. He later transitioned to an administrative career, serving as Administrative Director for Neuroscience at Southside Hospital, and then Senior Administrative Director of Neurology and Neurosurgery at North Shore University Hospital and LIJ Medical Center. Moscola received a bachelor’s degree from St. John’s University, an M.B.A. from Adelphi University, and a physician assistant certificate from Catholic Medical Centers-Bayley Seton Campus.

What excited you about the opportunity to take on this role?

I have always been drawn to healthcare because of the human element. This opportunity spoke to me because it offered the ability to make a bigger impact in a broader way.

How critical is employee engagement when you’re dealing with such a large health system and how important are metrics to track progress?

By the year 2019, our goal is to hit the 90th percentile for positive customer experience. We can’t obtain that goal without also hitting the 90th percentile in the same timeframe for workforce engagement. We can’t do either without data, so we’ve focused on becoming a leader of a data-driven operational culture in HR. We ingrain data into the fabric of what we do. It impacts how we create strategies, how we execute those strategies, how we evaluate those strategies, and how we track our performance along the way.

Does it get harder to maintain culture within the workforce as you grow and how do you hold onto that innovative edge?

We’re a health system that has grown through acquisition and, thereby, integration. This means it is critical to set standards around core values and behavioral expectations. Our approach has been to allow the innovative ideas to boil up. This comes from access to and availability of leadership to hear those ideas. Senior leaders here have an open-door policy and allow for a high level of access, which builds trust with employees.

Is it critical that the diversity of your populations is mirrored within your workforce?

The diversity we bring into the organization matches the diversity of the communities we serve in a major way.

We’re currently examining the idea of neuro-diversity. A few individuals who are on the autism spectrum, for instance, have some extraordinary capabilities, although they may appear socially uncomfortable. We want to bring them into this environment, wrap some resources around them, and encourage them to hold rewarding jobs. We reap the reward – the unusual skills they can offer.

Do you reflect on and appreciate the accomplishments?

We created four strategic pillars on which we align ourselves to the strategy of the organization. We then created a dashboard to facilitate accountability for delivering certain expectations and to allow us to track how successful we have been over the course of the year. This makes it much easier to visualize and appreciate our accomplishments.

I also put my group on an incentive performance plan where they see financial reward. It allows us to set our targets and keep ourselves focused.•