How real-time data empowers ‘healthy’ nursing units at HCA
HCA Healthcare has implemented a data tool that allows nursing leaders to view unit and individual operations at the shift level, enabling them to offer support when needed.
At HCA Healthcare, nursing support is offered in numerous ways, including a data-driven tool that allows leaders to quickly and easily assess the 'health' of their unit at the shift level. The technology, called the CNC Resource Tool, has been live in acute care units for one year.
In a recent interview, Sammie Mosier, HCA's chief nursing executive, shared that the tool leverages data to provide insight into unit operations, enabling nursing leaders to step in and help nurses who need assistance during a shift without sacrificing patient care.
HCA nurses appear to be embracing the tool, which is modeled after the health system's COVID-19 patient tracker. Spurred by high adoption rates, the health system is continuing to refine and scale the tool.
HOW DOES THE TOOL WORK?
According to Mosier, the CNC Resource Tool was created to support the work of HCA's clinical nurse coordinators (CNCs), who are equivalent to the charge nurse in most hospitals. These leaders guide nurses through their shift, managing unit operations, patient throughput and clinician workflow.
To perform their duties effectively, CNCs require insight into the needs of the overall units and individual nurses, which is precisely what the tool provides. It aggregates key metrics like shift changes, nurse breaks, missing assessments and patient medication schedules to show areas where the CNC can step in to support their team members.
This is one tool in our tool belt that helps us continue to build our culture around nursing, and just using their voice to help really determine where to reprioritize things is really what led to that success.
Sammie MosierChief nursing executive at HCA Healthcare
For instance, Mosier explained that CNCs can use the tools to see admission and discharge data and how many nurses have taken their breaks. This allows them to ensure nurses get appropriate breaks without creating patient throughput hurdles. The tool also enables CNCs to monitor nurses who may be falling behind in their tasks.
"So, they can proactively reach out to that nurse and say, 'Hey, I see you didn't give a med to patient in room X. I'm going to jump in and help you with that and catch you up,'" Mosier said. "[The tool gives the CNCs] a true view of the unit activity and then where they need to spend their time."
DEVELOPING AND IMPLEMENTING THE TOOL
HCA Healthcare began developing the tool after its corporate CNC Council highlighted the need for better visibility across acute care units. Instead of developing a new tool from scratch, health system leaders decided to leverage an existing COVID-19 patient tracker tool.
"What the tool offers us is the ability to see real-time data," Mosier said. "So, our teams can pull it up, and they can look at their hospital and see how many patients have COVID and how many were discharged. It just gives us a lot of insight so that we can make operational decisions."
HCA's Information Technology Group (ITG) worked closely with the CNCs to adapt the patient tracker. Together, they decided that a mobile app versus a dashboard platform would be most beneficial for CNCs, as CNCs could access the tool in real time and on the go. The CNCs also helped determine the data points the tool would aggregate and analyze.
"They're the experts, and we were able to work with our experts in our ITG department to surface that data and to bring that all together to benefit our team," Mosier noted.
Once the tool was developed, HCA conducted a pilot and refined it based on user feedback. Then, in 2024, they scaled the tool's deployment across HCA's med-surg units, including medical, surgical and specialty units. Even though the tool is designed to be highly intuitive, Mosier said that the health system communicated about the tool's capabilities extensively and trained CNCs on how best to use it. In addition, CNCs were invited to 'office hours' to hear about how their peers were leveraging the tool.
"The biggest challenge was making sure that the right people had the right access," Mosier said. "And so, that goes back to making sure that our CNCs are identified clearly in their role."
EXPLORING THE TOOL'S BENEFITS
The tool is proving extremely popular among CNCs, with a 90% utilization rate across units.
Mosier highlighted the benefits that have spurred this popularity, including the tool's ability to enhance nurse experience. For example, something as simple as making sure each nurse has taken a break to eat during a shift can make all the difference to morale.
"Making sure that people get their lunch was really important to our team," Mosier said. "And so, the CNC's ability to see that right up front and make those assignments and make sure if somebody needs a break that we have somebody stepping in to help them, that gives people time to just walk away and take a break."
This is especially important as health systems struggle to retain nurses amid nursing shortages and growing burnout. The 2025 NSI National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report shows that the nurse turnover in the U.S. is 16.4%, while the nurse vacancy rate is 9.6%.
The tool not only enhances nurse experience but also enables CNCs to provide an extra layer of support for newly graduated nurses and those joining a new unit with little prior experience in that clinical area, further improving nurse retention rates.
"There's no better feeling for a new nurse than when somebody just proactively reaches out to them and says, 'Hey, let me help you with this,'" Mosier emphasized. "To prevent that overwhelming feeling as a new nurse, knowing that somebody has your back, this tool has created that. Our teams are seeing that our nurses are happier -- we have less turnover."
The health system plans to expand the tool into the emergency department, behavioral health and women's health units. Mosier shared that nurses in these units have been hearing about the tool and its benefits and asking for access. The corporate CNC Council still meets monthly to enhance the tool and integrate new data points to enable the expansion.
As HCA plans to bring the tool into more units, Mosier emphasized its critical role in prioritizing nurse support systemwide.
"This is one tool in our tool belt that helps us continue to build our culture around nursing, and just using their voice to help really determine where to reprioritize things is really what led to that success," Mosier said.
Anuja Vaidya has covered the healthcare industry since 2012. She currently covers the virtual healthcare landscape, including telehealth, remote patient monitoring and digital therapeutics.
