Investing in Nurse Wellbeing: An Essential C-Suite Partnership

January 6, 2026 ‐ HealthLeaders Media

By G Hatfield

As the new year begins, it’s time once again to address nurse wellbeing.

Nurses are the backbone of the healthcare system, and prioritizing nurse mental health and wellness results in lower turnover rates and increased cost savings.

According to Vi-Anne Antrum, system-wide CNO at Cone Health, prioritizing nurse wellbeing provides several benefits, including improved continuity of care and more success with recruiting.

“A third of every orientation session that we have are nurses who are returning to Cone Health,” Antrum said. “That cultural differentiation and what it affords to people from a wellbeing perspective can’t be overstated.”

Leading in partnership

For health systems to be able to invest in nurse wellbeing, both CNOs and CFOs must work together. Leaders must be aware of the cost of nurse turnover and weigh that cost with the investment in wellbeing programs.

“So, you lose a nurse. Now, you’re utilizing the resources that you have to go out and recruit,” Antrum said. “In the meantime, you’re using additional resources to backfill because patients are still in those beds [and] you have to still take care of the patients.”

In this scenario, nurses end up having to work overtime and health systems might have to outsource to travel nurses.

“It takes on average, depending on your system, anywhere from 70 to 90 days to recruit a nurse…so there’s a three-month gap that you’re using,” Antrum said, “and then when you get the nurse in the door, you have to train them to your organization. That’s an additional eight to 12 weeks right off the bat.”

According to Andy Barrow, CFO at Cone Health, the investment in wellbeing is worth it because of the cost of turnover.

“I usually am a big advocate for precision,” Barrow said, “but I think this is one where we’re doing a lot of things and the correlation between what we’ve done with the Well-Being Coaching Initiative and building a culture of wellbeing is closely enough correlated with the results that we’ve seen in reducing contract labor, employee retention rates, [and] lower turnover that the attribution is pretty easy to me.”

Cone Health saved more than $4 million after implementing the Well-Being Coaching Initiative created by nurse, speaker, and author Diane Sieg. The program helped the health system reduce turnover and improve retention.

“The results of the Well-Being Coaching Initiative is quantitative, we know there’s an ROI,” Sieg said, “…but it’s also qualitative, because when you feel good about yourself and what you do every day, you are more engaged, you are safer, you are a better representative of Cone Health in general.”

For CNOs and CFOs who want to invest in nurse wellbeing, Antrum and Barrow recommended focusing on tangible metrics. Leaders should look at employee engagement surveys, retention and turnover rates, overtime usage, contract labor expenses, and other productivity metrics.

“Every time at the Well-Being Initiative graduations when you get to hear the stories and the power of the impact, for me that is the priceless moment,” Antrum said, “but there are real dollars that you can attach to it, too.”

G Hatfield is the CNO editor for HealthLeaders.

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