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Steve Lawler, President and CEO of the North Carolina Healthcare Association (NCHA) is our guest this week on the Healthcare Experience Matters Podcast. 

Steve was selected to lead NCHA in 2017, a trade association founded in 1918. Today it represents more than 130 hospitals and health systems. 

Equipping people to receive and deliver the best care happens in many different ways and at many different levels. Part of that effort takes place through legislation. This is a topic we explore with Steve as NCHA serves as a policy and advocacy resource for its members. 

“We work together as a collaborator with the intent of identifying issues that are important to our membership from a policy perspective,” he said.

When Steve and his team do their job right, the policies will help NCHA’s members provide better care. 

As discussed on today’s podcast with Steve, many of the issues facing hospitals in North Carolina are representative of the challenges confronting healthcare institutions across the United States and world. Many of the lessons Steve shares with our listeners are relevant to the healthcare experience of folks well beyond the borders of North Carolina. 

Steve comes from a family where helping other people is a cherished value. After serving his country in the armed forces; he embarked on his journey to serve the healthcare community in his native state of North Carolina. 

“We grew up in a family where being a part of the community and serving others was important. I’m grateful that my parents set an example so I could follow it,” Steve said. 

Before joining NCHA, he held various positions with Vidant Health for more than 20 years, including seven years as president. He also spent time as the Senior Vice President Regional Group with Carolinas HealthCare System.

Through his leadership positions in North Carolina, he gained firsthand experience understanding the needs of his state’s healthcare institutions. He was selected as President and CEO of NCHA by its board of trustees in 2017. 

As Steve describes on today’s show, NCHA’s purpose includes serving its members to help them provide better care to their people and communities. 

With improving the patient experience at the heart of what NCHA is all about, it was excellent having Steve join us to share reflections, lessons learned, stories, and more.  

More About NCHA

NCHA serves hospitals and health systems throughout the Tar Heel State in many different communities. 

According to their official website: “NCHA represents North Carolina’s individual and multi-hospital health systems — teaching, rural, small community, suburban, specialty, and continuing care facilities — providing acute care, rehabilitative, behavioral, psychiatric and veterans’ services.  NCHA members provide a broad range of services — not just within their walls, but across the continuum and throughout their communities.”

Learn More

You can watch today’s podcast on YouTube here:

Visit the NCHA website to learn more about Steve and his association’s mission. 

Interested in hearing more Healthcare Experience Matters Podcast episodes? The five most recent episodes are as follows:

For more podcast episodes of our show, you can subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and anywhere you get podcasts! You can also visit the Healthcare Experience Foundation (HXF) on YouTube to catch up on our entire archive of episodes. 

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