A Project Leader’s Guide to Driving Change in Complex Healthcare Systems

Ramsey Abdallah is Assistant Vice President, Quality Management & PI at Northwell Health.

  Healthcare   Leadership  

Project managers are often trained to track tasks and deliverables, but what happens when your “project” spans hundreds of sites, touches multiple electronic systems, and needs to change behavior, not just check boxes?

In 2024, Northwell Health embarked on an ambitious goal to tackle access challenges in mental health. We set the lofty goal of improving depression screening across the largest health system in New York by setting a goal to nearly double our screening rate from 27% to 41%. Through months of planning, iterating, and changing management, we were able to accomplish this goal.

Drawing from my experience leading the system-wide depression screening initiative, this article shares hard-won lessons and strategies that helped transform an ambitious vision into real, measurable impact across a fragmented healthcare landscape.

Don’t Lead with the Tool—Lead with the “Why”
Our depression screening tool was evidence-based, easy to use, and embedded in the electronic health record (EHR). But that didn’t mean staff would adopt it.

People don’t enter healthcare randomly—it’s a calling. Most of us enter the field because of a shared mission, and it is one of the greatest privileges to be in the business of healing. But that privilege comes with a cost. Healthcare professionals face high levels of burnout and…

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