Meet the West Health Accelerator Team: Stacy Pevney, MPH
As senior change implementation manager at the West Health Institute, Stacy Pevney, MPH, is a critical member of the West Health Accelerator at Mass General Brigham team.
She brings more than 25 years of experience leading systemwide healthcare improvements and turning proven care models into advances in quality and patient experience.
Q&A
What do you enjoy about your role?
I chose a career in healthcare because I wanted to make a difference in people’s lives, and I got my master's in public health because I wanted to do that on a large scale. Before becoming a senior change implementation manager at West Health, I spent 18 years working within a large hospital system, so I understand firsthand what it is like to be on the provider side of our work. I am truly honored to be able to help our founders Gary and Mary West see their vision through this work at Mass General Brigham. The Wests have such passion for older adult care, and they are truly invested in making sure the systems that take care of us are ready for us when we grow older. I've been able to pull from so many different experiences and it is a pleasure to lead this project and others aimed at transforming healthcare delivery at a system level by implementing proven, tech-enabled care models to improve quality and the patient experience.
What excites you most about the West Health Accelerator?
Change at any level can be very difficult especially if the “why” is lost or forgotten. The West Health Accelerator at Mass General Brigham is driven by a strong collective purpose. Together, we are changing lives by hardwiring best practices that are impacting 50% of Mass General Brigham’s inpatient population. Our work reaches more than 70,000 patients each year, improving lives through compassionate, high-quality care while also strengthening the workforce that delivers it. What excites me most about the Accelerator is the scale and depth of our impact. I am honored to implement something this meaningful at such a large scale. I really believe everything I’ve done led to this moment. It is the highlight of my entire career.
What has it been like to partner with the Mass General Brigham team?
West Health deeply values our partnership with Mass General Brigham. The Accelerator team is made up of some of the smartest, most passionate people I’ve ever worked with. Working with Jan Lamey, the Director of the West Health Accelerator, is one of the great privileges of my role. She has a gift for bringing together people, priorities and many moving parts with incredible skill and grace. Zara [Cooper] and Rachelle [Bernacki] are such strong leaders. They put their heart into this work and lead with such humility. They set the tone for everyone else.
Do you have a personal story that connects you to this work?
My love for healthcare started when I got to witness my grandmother, a World War II nurse, “Grandma Snow” as we called her, command her world as an emergency department supervisor.
Grandma Snow was a force to be reckoned with as she stood a whole five feet tall. During WWII, she was based in England and France, providing care for soldiers on both sides of the war. Later she became a supervisor in the emergency department of the hospital near where I grew up — what our family still calls “Grandma’s hospital.”
She was one of the strongest, bravest and kindest people I have ever known. Don’t let the phone books she used to see over the dashboard of her VW bug fool you. Grandma Snow remained calm in all emergencies, and nothing got in the way when she wanted to do what was right for her patients despite systems and hierarchies that didn’t always support nurses. My grandmother’s fulfilling career as a nurse has highlighted my work today.
Nurses are the closest to patients, and their resolve to listening and supporting those in their care is invaluable. The Accelerator is a nurse-led innovation, and I know my grandmother would be over the moon about this work. While the West Health Accelerator is absolutely about improving patients’ lives, it is equally about providing safeguards and systems that lift up our clinicians, making it easier for them to deliver the highest quality care. Empowering nurses and providers with the infrastructure and support they deserve is one of the most meaningful impacts of this work.