Janelle Metzger

Human Resources Executive · Workforce Strategy · People & Performance · Healthcare

Executive Bio

Janelle Metzger is a Human Resources executive who turns people strategy into business performance. She has led workforce strategy and People and Culture operations for multi-billion-dollar healthcare and insurance organizations, driving a 1 billion dollar lift in operating income, more than 100 million dollars in annualized savings, and significant improvements in retention and access.Janelle is the creator of the RIDE Method, a disciplined approach that helps executives align talent, operating models, and financial results so their organizations can grow with more clarity and less friction. Her work centers on the fundamentals that move organizations forward: improving access, stabilizing teams, strengthening leadership alignment, and building clear structures that enhance execution.She partners with executives who want a more strategic and business-aligned approach to people and performance. Organizations engage her when they want a clearer operating model for HR, stronger alignment between people and financial outcomes, improved workforce stability and productivity, and leadership clarity around what truly drives results.Janelle’s approach reflects a modern view of HR as a core business system. She brings a calm, structured, and outcomes-oriented perspective that helps organizations simplify complexity, lift performance, and scale with confidence.

The Ride Method

Review
Understand what the business truly requires to deliver high-quality care efficiently.Imagine
Create a clear view of the future state and the barriers that must be removed.Design
Focus on workforce and operating model shifts that improve quality, increase revenue, or reduce cost.Execute
Deliver with discipline and connect HR work directly to financial and operational outcomes.

Results

Four Workforce Shifts CEOs Should Be Paying Attention to in 2026

December 19, 2025
This article was originally posted on LinkedInAs healthcare organizations look toward 2026, workforce challenges are no longer cyclical issues leaders expect to resolve and move past. Labor costs, access constraints, leadership fatigue, and execution gaps have become persistent features of the healthcare operating environment. For CEOs, the question is no longer whether workforce issues matter, but whether they are being addressed as tactical problems or treated as part of how the enterprise is designed to operate.Across health systems and payer organizations, a consistent pattern is emerging. Organizations maintaining stability are not necessarily those with the most resources, but those that are deliberate about aligning workforce strategy with operations, financial performance, and care delivery.Four workforce shifts stand out as particularly consequential heading into 2026.1. AI Is Changing How Work Happens Before It Changes Care
Much of the discussion around artificial intelligence in healthcare focuses on clinical innovation. In practice, the earliest and most reliable impact is occurring in how work is organized and executed.AI-enabled tools are increasingly shaping scheduling, documentation, capacity planning, and revenue cycle performance. Organizations seeing meaningful returns are not simply adding technology. They are redesigning roles, workflows, and expectations around it. Where AI is layered onto existing processes without structural change, the impact is far more limited.For CEOs, the implication is straightforward. Technology alone does not create leverage. Operating model decisions do. Workforce design determines whether AI improves productivity and access or adds complexity without measurable return.2. Chronic Disease Management Is Reshaping Demand and Cost
The expansion of GLP-1 therapies reflects a broader shift toward long-term management of chronic disease. As these therapies scale, they are changing how frequently patients interact with the healthcare system, what services are required, and how value accumulates over time.Healthcare marketing executive Sandy Prietto notes that this shift is altering how organizations think about lifetime value and sustained engagement, as care moves away from episodic encounters toward ongoing relationships.For CEOs, the strategic question is not whether these therapies work clinically. It is whether care delivery and workforce models are designed to support continuous engagement rather than one-time visits. Organizations that do not adjust staffing models, care teams, and workflows accordingly risk capturing only a fraction of the clinical and financial value.3. Fragmented Care Models Are Becoming a Performance Liability
Siloed delivery across primary care, behavioral health, dental, and specialty services has long been standard in healthcare. That acceptance is eroding quickly.As pressure increases to improve access and control costs, fragmentation is showing up as missed handoffs, inconsistent patient experience, workforce frustration, and unnecessary expense. In 2026, integration across these domains is expected to accelerate, not because it is theoretically appealing, but because the current model is increasingly difficult to sustain.This is less a clinical challenge than an operating one. Integrated care requires clear roles, aligned incentives, and leadership accountability across functions that have historically operated independently. For CEOs, fragmentation now represents execution risk.4. Consumer Expectations Are Pulling Care Upstream
At-home diagnostics, wearable technology, and greater access to health data are moving care earlier into the consumer journey. Patients are engaging sooner and more frequently, and expectations around access, responsiveness, and clarity continue to rise.Meeting these expectations requires workforce models that support flexibility, digital engagement, and real-time decision-making. Leadership teams must assess whether workforce capacity and skills are aligned to where demand is moving, not where it has historically existed.
Organizations that fail to adjust risk remaining reactive rather than shaping demand and experience proactively.The CEO Imperative for 2026
The defining workforce challenge of 2026 will not be staffing shortages alone. It will be whether leadership teams treat workforce strategy as a core element of enterprise design.Workforce decisions increasingly shape access, margin, leadership capacity, and execution speed. CEOs who integrate workforce considerations into operating models, financial planning, and technology investments will be better positioned to navigate continued volatility.The next phase of healthcare will reward clarity and alignment over incremental fixes. Workforce strategy is no longer a support function. It is a business decision.

let's connect

If you are leading a healthcare organization and want a more strategic and business-aligned approach to people and performance, you can reach me here:

310-773-4773
[email protected]