January 28, 2025 • 30 mins
“This is the right thing to do. People deserve good, healthy food, especially in a hospital, when we're talking about starting the healing process.” —Andrew Bennett
Hospital food has long been the butt of jokes, but what if it could rival five-star restaurants? Imagine a world where patients look forward to their next meal, not just their next dose of medication. The revolution in hospital cuisine isn't just about taste— it's a powerful tool for healing and recovery.
Andrew Bennett is the Executive Chef at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, bringing his fine dining expertise to healthcare. With a background in Michelin-starred restaurants and a passion for healthy cuisine, Bennett is at the forefront of transforming hospital food into a key component of patient care.
Tune in as Justine and Andrew explore the impact of high-quality hospital food on patient recovery, the challenges of implementing restaurant-grade cuisine in healthcare settings, the role of dietitians in menu planning, the business advantages of investing in food quality, and the future of food as preventive medicine in healthcare systems.
Meet Andrew:
Andrew Bennett is an Executive Chef at Lenox Hill Hospital in the New York City Metropolitan Area. With over 25 years of experience in the culinary industry, he has worked in various restaurants in the US and the UK. Andrew is known for his creative approach to menu development and operational strategies, utilizing research and data analysis. He emphasizes positive leadership, team building, and mentorship in his management style. Andrew is also an avid cyclist who incorporates his passion for health and nutrition into his culinary practices.
His recent posts on LinkedIn highlight his team's achievements and celebrations at Lenox Hill Hospital, including winning the Hospitality Above and Beyond award and spreading festive cheer during the holiday season. Andrew has also shared his experiences and insights in a podcast with Joshua Spodek, discussing his journey into healthcare and the evolution of food at Northwell Health.
Andrew's professional journey includes roles as Executive Chef at Half Moon Restaurant, Patina Restaurant Group, and Rouge Tomate Chelsea. He holds certifications such as ServSafe Manager and NYC Food Handlers.
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Episode Highlights:
01:34 Hospital Food: A Focus on Quality and Patient Recovery
07:55 The Role of Dieticians
12:01 The Potential and Challenges of Northwell’s Food Service Model
16:16 Chef Challenge!
19:23 The Importance of Quality Ingredients
24:43 The Business Advantage of Offering High-Quality Hospital Food
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Justine Reichman (00:12):
Good morning, and welcome to Essential
Ingredients. I'm your host,Justine Reichman. With me today
is Andy Bennett. He is theExecutive Chef at Lennox Hill
Hospital in New York City.Welcome, Andy.
Andrew Bennett (00:24):
Hey, how you doing today?
Justine Reichman (00:25):
I'm well. Thank you. And you?
Andrew Bennett (00:27):
Great.
Justine Reichman (00:28):
Great. Well, I'm super excited to have you
here. Your background is just sovast and varied. You've worked
with amazing other amazingchefs, and you've taken a little
bit of a change. You've made achange to go from one area in
food to another area of food.I'm not sure the people at
Lennox know how lucky they are,because hospital food is
(00:52):
notoriously not amazing.
Andrew Bennett (00:58):
I think there's a good couple parts of that. And
because people ask the question,how do they make this turn or
jump in this direction? I'vebeen extremely lucky to work
with some phenomenal chefs anddone a lot of cool thing. But
there was a restaurant in 2008that we opened called Rouge
(01:20):
Tomate.
Justine Reichman (01:22):
Wait a second, you mean right around the
corner? A block or so fromBarneys and around the corne? I
loved Rouge Tomate.
Andrew Bennett (01:34):
In 2008, there was a challenge in there, I
think the industry was verydifferent in what everyone was
expecting. The whole goal was toshow, okay, you can do fine
dining food, but it can behealthy, and break down some of
the stigmas around what that is.On a very basic premise, no
butter, no heavy cream in thesavory dishes. We worked with a
(01:56):
team of registered dietitians.And while we were doing this, it
was great learning experience.All these kind of things tha you
Justine Reichman (02:01):
I'm curious. I don't know that this is a
kind of reset your mindset aboutbeing creative as a chef. And
instead of thinking, okay, wecan't use these ingredients.
It's a restriction. I just needto be more creative. How do we
find a solution to this? Butwhile we were doing that, I was
thinking, okay, there's otherthings I want to continue to do
(02:24):
in my career, other areas I wantto kind of develop and grow in.
But can and, you know, and roosttomorrow was amazing. But again,
we're cooking for a very smallpercentage of people and making
healthy food.And then, can Itake all these things I've
learned through craft operationsleadership, and then do
something good with it? How canwe help more people? Healthcare
(02:48):
was that logical step to be ableto combine those two, so I kind
of got to a point of career. Iwas like, hey, I'm ready to do
something different. I juststarted researching healthcare
groups, hospitals and all thesekind of things. And I came
across Northwell, and there wasalready a ton of great press
about what Northwell had beendoing on their food program.
(03:12):
Really started about 8 years agoin terms of making that first
time ever. Realizing, okay, weneed to put the same energy into
our food and hospitality as wedo in all our clinical care. And
then that huge process across abig network, how do you move
that forward? Looking at thosedetails. And the thing I always
(03:32):
say about this is that when Iinterviewed a couple of
different healthcare companies,Northwell stood out straight
away because the only thing wetalked about was quality of
food, food in general,hospitality, patient experience,
and not really much else. Alittle bit on the background
stuff and the logistics of whatthat means in healthcare. When I
(03:55):
spoke to other healthcaregroups, it was all the opposite.
It was about systems, all theback end stuff, and nothing
about food. You want to workwith people that believe that
it's very easy to get in asituation, especially with food
where people say, we're going todo this because it become
fashionable. They know it's theright thing to do. That's very
(04:18):
different from working withpeople that truly believe and
say, okay, we're going to dothis difficult thing, and we're
gonna figure it out and make ittaste great. And again, this was
a little bit different fromother healthcare providers, on
the way that they're looking attheir food programs. With
Northwell, it's hired by a greatchef, Bruno Tison, who's the
(04:41):
corporate chef, VP of diningservices. And really, the way he
looked at it was like, okay, wewant to hire chefs from outside
hospitals. We don't wanthospital chefs. We want chefs
that have had this background,whether it's in Michelin Star
restaurants, resorts, hotels,and then we're going to bring
that culture into hospitals.Okay, how do we bring all these
(05:05):
things from same hospitality wewould use in restaurants? How do
we adjust that and make thatfeasible in a hospital for our
patients? And then the same withthe food? Maybe there's not as
many touches to the food, butthe vendors we used are the same
vendors we used at Rouge Tomateand great restaurants across the
(05:25):
city. So started with the samething we do, all great food
start with great ingredients.Apply your techniques, and then
how do you scale that up in a hospital?
question you could answer. Itmight be out of your scope. But
I think food is integral topeople's health. How we live,
(05:47):
how we feel, and how we recover.And oftentimes, people are in
the hospital, whatever the issueis, needing to get better,
recover and feel well. And withthe food in many hospitals, I'd
say that a lot of times, what Ihear from people like my mother
or whomever who've been in thehospital are like, you need to
send me food. This is justawful. And you look at it, and
(06:14):
you feel bad. So I wonder if byNorthwell and you collaborating
and working with Lennox Hill andwhoever else to provide better
for you food options, how thatimpacts? Or if we've seen any
numbers on how it's impactedpeople's health and recovery.
Andrew Bennett (06:34):
There's a lot of things that go into that. We
have a full team of registereddieticians. There's a lot of
programming that kind of goes interms of recipes, nutritional
analysis, how we break thatdown? How we work on these
dishes? But that very first stepyou're talking about is how do
we get people to want to eat ina situation where they might not
(06:59):
be hungry, not in a great place,not super happy. So we take it
all the way back to thebeginning. We write menus that
looked like, if I handed youLennox Hills menu, you would
have thought that it's arestaurant menu. So in beautiful
favor, beautiful design, and itwill read exactly the same way.
It won't read like you're in ahospital. So we have this kind
(07:20):
of first talk where we say, howdo we create this environment
and this kind of situation forthe patients where at least also
mentally, we get to take themaway from their problems for a
little bit. Give these 10, 15minute windows of not have to
worry about something. And thenwe basically go from there. We
build those menus, making surewe hit lots of bases, whether
that's making sure we have lotsof plant forward dishes, lots of
(07:42):
clean proteins, tons ofvegetables. And then making sure
that we can, in a hospital likeLennox which is a tertiary
hospital, we have a lot ofpatient needs in terms of
dietary, a lot of things we needto kind of hit, and a lot of
people we need to make happy.
Justine Reichman (07:55):
That was my next question. Because people
come in with, nowadays versus 40years ago, people are much more
acutely aware of some of theirown issues, whether it's gluten
intolerance, or allergies, orIBS, or fructose intolerance. So
how flexible are you to be ableto tailor those menus to meet
(08:17):
the individual patient needs?Because you have so many people
in there. That can't be veryeasy to do.
Andrew Bennett (08:24):
There's a lot that goes on the background. So
a lot of the software we use forputting orders in dietitians
will do that programming. Aschefs, we make our recipes, we
run nutritional analysis on it,okay? We fit it into the
guidelines that we need, whetherit's for certain diets, or for
just across the board that getsprogrammed in. And then when a
(08:46):
host goes to take patientsorder, the patient's diet or any
restrictions are alreadyprogrammed in them. So anything
they want to eat or anythingthey can eat is going to be
available. Anything they can'teat that won't hit their
guidelines is going to beblocked out.
Justine Reichman (09:02):
That sounds like a tall order, though, for
the people in the kitchen.
Andrew Bennett (09:07):
kitchen phase, it's no different from a
restaurant kitchen in thatsense. And coming from
restaurants, it's almost exactlythe same thing you have. Whether
it's restrictions or requests,the same kind of thing applies.
We just try to make sure that wehave so many great products on
(09:30):
hand. Things that, okay, if weneed to customize for whatever
it is, we make that very easy.In that sense, there's a lot of
flexibility there. And again, werun into a couple of different
parts. I think the first partis, okay, how do we find the yes
in these situations.Understanding, okay, we're
feeding a lot of people. Howdoes this not impact other
(09:53):
people at the same time? But wewould do the same in a
restaurant as long as we havethat product. As long as it is
within the realm of what we cando in house, then we can do it.
We have a team of great chefs.We have a great kitchen, and we
approach it the same way.
Justine Reichman (10:10):
Amazing. I think that in this day and age,
I don't know how many hospitalsoffer that.
Andrew Bennett (10:16):
I think where that culture shift comes from
is, why does it have to bedifferent from a restaurant or
hotel? Why can't it be exactlythe same? And I think by
bringing chefs from outside andthen just having that mentality,
okay, where do we find, again,to go back to your original
point, our goal is to make surethat people don't want to order
(10:37):
food from the outside. We wantedto have our food because it's
going to help with the healingprocess. We know it's great and
clean food. And then there's aknock on part of this is that,
what we hope in some of thesesituations is it also education.
People could be in the hospitalbecause of some of their food
choices historically. So if wecan show that they get this
(11:00):
food, they realize this is greattaste in food and it's healthy,
it fits what I need in my liferight now. So we have this
training, teaching moment aswell with patients in terms of
cake. The goal is for them notto come back. The big difference
from the hospital and therestaurant is that we don't want
to see them again at this point.So how do we help set them up?
(11:20):
And that's, again, working chefswith dietitians. How we kind of
articulate and package that. Andthen, we're looking at other
programs that we can do, whetherit's through videos that we
record that we're able to dothese kind of classes with
patients once they've left thehospital.
Justine Reichman (11:43):
When they leave the hospital, now they've
had this. Does that nutritiouson staff that work with the
food? Are they the same onesthat work with the patients to
create their meal plans whenthey go home? Or to give them
guidance?
Andrew Bennett (12:02):
That will work our way through. We have
dietitians that are working inparticular units or assign
certain units, and that kind ofworks the way through, whether
it's things that we can givethem to take away, whether it's
simple recipes. Or just guidanceof where they should be going.
And again, this is in general, Ithink in food, the hardest part
of getting people to eat healthyis to understand how do we find
(12:24):
these kind of gateway dishes.They need to be recognizable,
right? And that's the firstpoint. When we can get something
that's recognizable, that ishealthy, and it's like, I like
this. Then it starts to build.Then we get excited about
vegetables and all these otherkind of clean ingredients. But
it's got to be recognizable. Alot of times, right, reducing
(12:46):
protein portion sizes can be astarting point. How do you get
creative in terms of adding morevegetables to the plate without
it looking like this giant plateof vegetables? So that's where
the stuff part comes into it,and that's how all the normal
things. Itneeds to look great.Needs to get to the room heart,
be interested and kind ofengaging. And then in the
(13:07):
hospital setting, a lot of thethings that we get, that we look
at is it needs to be confidentwork. It's one of those things
that, at that point, when you'renot doing great, you want
something that's going to makeusers feel a little more
confident.
Justine Reichman (13:19):
So my question, as I'm sitting here
listening to you and I'mwondering, okay, if I was in the
hospital, I'm eating this food,I'm feeling better. Do you guys
have a service that woulddeliver it to me? Is that coming
next? Or do you have that?Because it just seems like that
would be an easy way to maintainpeople that are just recovering
(13:41):
at home, and maybe can't doeverything themselves.
Andrew Bennett (13:44):
I think it's twofold. The extra education as
we go out in terms of recipesand ongoing training and this
kind of idea, if we can createthese programs through videos, I
think, is one step. And lookingat food as medicine and it being
(14:09):
a medical expense that can bepaid for by insurance companies,
looking at those avenues whichwas a long way off. There's
programs already in place, Ithink, and within healthcare
that's starting to go thatdirection. I think the jump
around a little bit, but I thinkthe other side why I think
Northwell can be super inspiringis that, from northwell look on
(14:31):
it, that same kind of thing, wedon't want patients back. So how
do we invest more in prevention,opposed on the back end?
Justine Reichman (14:38):
And preventative medicine has always
been a little bit challenging.What do they do? Paying for
preventive, there's certainthings, annual checkups, certain
things like that. But gettingsomething like this is, while
it's been more popular and moreof a conversation the last 10,
15 years, it's still on thefringe, right? And it's still
(14:59):
not integrated. I don't know ifNorthwell has thought about the
next step of creating policychange, if that's anywhere in
there agenda. Because to me,Idon't know what motivated
Northwell to do this. Maybe youcan share that, but it seems
(15:19):
that you can't tackleeverything, but it does sound
like it would be somethingthey'd be interested in.
Andrew Bennett (15:24):
Yeah, wonderful. When we look at where we came
from on the food journey 8 yearsago to where we're at now, and I
think the exciting part wouldn'tauthorize like, hey, we're doing
great, and we've done a lot ofgreat things. And I think other
healthcare systems are lookingat us and saying, okay, how did
you go about this? Becauseeveryone thought it wasn't
(15:47):
possible, right? So that impacthealthcare system wise across
the country, that impact thatNorthwell had is already huge.
But for us internally, we'restill not happy with where we're
at. Once we hit that littlemilestone, whether it's in
scores or when it's justsomething we've looked at, we
then look at the next thingwhere we can improve and
(16:08):
justkeep going from there. SoNorthwell is always trying to
push these things in thisdirection, so it won't be far off.
Justine Reichman (16:16):
Talk to me about their landscape and how
far and wide it goes. So
Andrew Bennett (16:21):
Northwell was the biggest healthcare provider
around New York. We get abouthalfway through this year. We're
about to hit 100,000 employeesacross the system. So largely in
Long Island, in Manhattan,Staten Island. And then this
year with some acquisitionsmoving into Connecticut and kind
of into the Hudson Valley alittle bit. Basically Queens
(16:45):
into Long Island, Staten Islandand Manhattan. Nothing in
Brooklyn.
Justine Reichman (16:53):
Evolving in all the hospitals around,
because Lennox Hill, it's notlike it used to be where Lennox
Hill was just on 70, whateverstreet. There's other
affiliates. It's the same way inall these different hospitals
that have fought up differentthings. I think this is amazing.
And I love the way Northwell isgoing to do this. I don't know
(17:15):
if you can speak to thisexpanding outside the Northeast
Corridor. And Northeast Corridorreally goes from Philadelphia to
Boston or something, right? Butcan we see them expanding to the
west coast?
Andrew Bennett (17:31):
My assumption would be no, just because of
we're at the point where we'rehitting big at this point. We
kind of navigate through that,and how quickly we grow. That's
definitely a question forsomeone else.
Justine Reichman (17:44):
Just curious. It does seem like you're a
leader in this space, unless ofcourse, you know of other
organizations that have such astrong focus on this, but I'm
not familiar with them.
Andrew Bennett (17:58):
I think there's lots of healthcare systems that
are starting to take itseriously, which is just a win
for everyone. And I think itcontinues to push us in that
sense. Because as we go through,it's like, okay, as that bar
gets raised across the platform,we have to continue doing more,
and continue to find those ways.So I think we're still that kind
(18:18):
of exciting phase of thatprogression. There's also these
things that Northwell do. Andthen one of the big things we
do, we have a chef challengeevery year across all the
hospitals. Basically whathappened, Bruno picked three
ingredients, one for theappetizer, one for the entree,
one for the dessert. The chefsget a good couple of months to
(18:40):
conceptualize, and then we do abig kind of, basically, all the
employees across the network getto vote which ones go to the
final. Then we have a cookingcompetition, and a lot goes into
it. And it's great. Chefs arecompetitive, and lots and lots
of fun, really. Because one ofthe big parts of that is that
part of the rules that is, anyof the dishes that we do for the
(19:02):
competition have to be on ourmenus in the hospitals. It can't
just be things that aren'tattainable. It has to be
something that patients gonnaget. And ultimately, what that
does is just continues to pushall the chefs forward to be
creative, raise the level of thefood. So internally, we have
lots of things that I think helpus continue to drive forward.
Justine Reichman (19:23):
So I know that you've been working there now
for how long a year? I'm surethat there's a lot that goes
into this. But I'm wondering, assomebody that works in this
program and the director of it,if other people wanted to do
this on the West Coast, or inthe Pacific Northwest, and be
able to offer something like youguys are doing, would you tell
(19:48):
them to start? Where's the topthree places you'd say you need
to just start.
Andrew Bennett (19:55):
Basic things. And again, let me go back to
that. Start with the qualityingredients. You need to bring
the talent in, right? You needpeople that are gonna understand
and be able to work in that way.That's what you're looking for.
Scratch cooking, everything madein house. And one of the reasons
why some of that hospital foodhas such bad reputation is they
made a lot of pre made food.Opening bags, freezer bags,
(20:18):
Reese, not really any realcooking going on. So you have to
reset the kitchen, retool thekitchens to fit what you want to
do. So at Northwell, what wasdone in the beginning was there
was a lot of conversions wherethere was lots and lots of big
walk in freezers. They gotconverted into refrigerators so
we could have fresh produce,fresh ingredients. And then new
(20:40):
ovens, stoves that we couldactually cook like we were doing
a restaurant. So you're applyingall these same things as if you
were going to open a restaurant.You got to look at it in that
same. Or if you're going to opena hotel, it's got to be that
same mindset. Maybe the way youdo service is a little
different, but you're looking atthose same things, quality
ingredients. Make sure you'vegot the tools to do the job.
Make sure you've got the talentthat can produce this and
(21:01):
execute. But that's where it'sstart. It's gonna be that ground
level. And I think the biggestthing I go back to on what I
said earlier is that there hasto be a true belief that this is
what we're doing. It's notsomething we can go in half.
We're going to improve our food.There's got to be a drive to say
our patients deserve better, andwe're gonna go after that, and
(21:22):
we're gonna make that happen. Ithink one of the surprising
things that happened withNorthwell, and this is long
before my time, but I thinkpeople assumed by going to the
system that we have now withchefs and all this fresh cook,
and that was gonna cost moremoney.
Justine Reichman (21:37):
My next question, you have all these
frozen produce in yourrefrigerator, and now you're
getting fresh. I was curiousabout a the incremental cost,
but also any additional waste.
Andrew Bennett (21:50):
And again, these things was phased before my
time. But I think what happenedwas it actually the opposite. It
was less waste because peoplewere eating the food. So instead
of having all this food that weneed to heat and send, and then
people just like, yeah, this isnot what I want. And then the
other part of that, I think, iswhen you go to that kind of
(22:11):
system, again, it's just likeyou would in a hotel or
restaurant. You can look at yournumbers in terms of, okay, you
know what you sell, you knowwhat your big sellers are. And
then again, it's just kitchenmanagement, and how you kind of
work those things and go throughthat. But I think the opposite
happened of what we thought.Other people have said the same
thing. You're assuming it'sgoing to be the other way
around, right? And we found theother way.
Justine Reichman (22:34):
This was so interesting. It's personal for
me also, as I have an elderlymother who is potentially,
actually putting into a longterm nursing facility because
she has ALS. And I'm like, oh,my God, she's never going to
eat. Food is not going to begood. I'm sitting here going,
(22:54):
okay, well, how do we make thishappen in Florida? How do we
inspire people to recognize theimportance of food as part of
taking care of these people?What do you think the biggest
challenges in that?
Andrew Bennett (23:10):
I think that if you're buying food that's
already pre made and all you'vegot to do is reheat it, it's
easy, right? There's a lowerrisk there. I think that the
biggest hurdle was gettingcompanies and people to be
brave, have the courage to say,hey, no, this is what's right.
And we're going to do the hardthing. It's scary in the
(23:31):
beginning. Because all of asudden, you're applying new
variables. We've got fresh food.We need team of chefs to come in
and operate at a higher level,and in a hospital setting.
You're also looking to feed in alot of people in a very short
space of time, three days aweek. In the restaurant
industry, you'd have your upsand down, your lows. For
(23:53):
hospitals, our business level isextremely consistent, so you're
adding these variables. It canbe scary from an operations
standpoint. But I thinkultimately, you just got to say,
okay, this is what we believein. This is the right thing to
do. And I think the other thingthat I think would help change
decision makers way of lookingat it is get them to go eat the
food.
Justine Reichman (24:19):
The minute you said that, I was like, never eat
that. That's awful. I've seenit.
Andrew Bennett (24:25):
If you're running a company, and if you
wouldn't eat the food, you'vegot a problem. It's got to be
something. As a chef, he waslike, hey, would I be happy with
it? It's a very simple questionto ask. And if you wouldn't be,
then, okay, you're doingsomething wrong, and that needs
to change.
Justine Reichman (24:43):
I think that's a great idea. More people would
try their own food at thehospitals, maybe they would have
a shift in the way that theythought about it, right? And
then you make it personal foryou. Would you want your mother
to eat this? Your sister, yourkid to eat this? Would you serve
this in your home?
Andrew Bennett (25:02):
We have a funny thing that, for us, that created
a small problem. In the foodacross Northwell improves so
much so that we actually havetrouble getting people out of
the beds when it's the day todischarge. We need the bed back
and everything, but what we'vefound is that we have people
that want to stay. I'm going tostay for lunch. I'll go after
(25:25):
lunch. Because they want to stayfor one more meal. So a great
problem to have. And again, ifyou step back from the whole
thing, we talk about it in termsof, this is just the right thing
to do. People deserve good,healthy food, especially in a
hospital when we're talkingabout starting the healing
process. But when you step backfrom that, it's also a business
advantage. We have a lot ofpeople that come back to us,
(25:47):
whether it's for pregnancies orjust the hospital because they
know they're going to make achoice. Especially in Manhattan
and New York, people have amassive choice of great health
care systems that they can goto. So knowing that you can go
to Lennox Hill and get greatfood, and that helped make that
choice. That you know from thebigger picture, it's also a
(26:08):
business advantage.
Justine Reichman (26:09):
Lot's great doctors there to begin with.
It's known for women givingbirth. It's known for a lot of
things equally. To know that,oh, hey, look, I could choose
one of the top doctors, and Icould have great food, which I
think that that makes you justfeel good. You don't feel like
I'm gonna be in the hospitalstuffed with mush and broccoli
(26:30):
that doesn't look like broccoli.It's like brown and meatloaf.
Andrew Bennett (26:35):
One of the things we do across the network
is that chefs will go around onpatients the same way we were
doing a restaurant visit. A bigpart of our day is that
interaction with patients, ithelps us kind of learn what's
going right, what's going wrong.But we get in these situations
where either I can't leave theroom because we get stuck in a
(26:56):
conversation about food. We getpeople asking for the recipes or
the food because they want tomake the same things at home. So
unheard of. It's a crazysituation.
Justine Reichman (27:10):
And I think it's really inspiring. As I'm
sitting here and I'm like, theyneed to do this in the nursing
homes. They need to do this inhospitals here. I mean, it seems
like it should be on everybody'smind. And as we talk about the
impact of food on our health andwellness, I really hope that
people listen to this, andreally hear what you're saying
and the impact you're having, sothat maybe we can experience
(27:33):
this in all parts of the countryor world.
Andrew Bennett (27:35):
Yep, absolutely.
Justine Reichman (27:37):
So are there any analytics, though, in
particular that you know ofbased on changing the food in
people's health and well beingthat you could share?
Andrew Bennett (27:47):
One of directly related to, there's a rating
system that we use within thehospitals where the system is
press gaining. When you leavethe hospital, you get a
questionnaire. they'll send youan email, and it covers
everything in the hospital, howyou were checked in,
cleanliness, everything awaythrough. When Northwell started
(28:08):
the journey, and I forgetexactly, but you're as a
percentile of everyone that usesPress Ganey in the United
States. If I remember right,somewhere in the 40's, we're
now, I think we're at about 86as a system. So that journey of
where we've come from. We have alot of hospitals within the
(28:34):
system that are in the 90's. Sothat journey, that metrics, the
one we look at, I think, themost in that sense, lots of
other intangibles that go withthat. But I think that
represents what we are doing andwhere we've come from, because
it's for better or worse, it's ablack and white number where
Justine Reichman (28:54):
Well, Andy, thank you so much for joining us
we're looking at.
today. I learned so much. I hopethat our guests did too, and I
hope that it inspires somechange around the world for
other people in the healthcaresystem. I know if I'm going to
be in New York or when I'm inNew York, I would now put that
on my radar if I needed to be ina hospital. Yeah, and food, they
(29:16):
go hand in hand. So again, Iappreciate it so much, and we
look forward to continuing tofollow the journey, and see what
Northwell does as time goes on.Thanks so much for joining. For
those of you tuning in today,thank you so much. If you're
listening to the podcast, don'tforget, we do have a videocast
(29:36):
on YouTube where you can go toat Essential Ingredients, or at
nextgen.purpose. If you'rewatching the video and haven't
done the podcast, feel free togo to Spotify or wherever you
listen to your podcasts, andlisten to Essential Ingredients.
We're also on Instagram,@essential.ingredients. Like,
subscribe, follow. And we lookforward to hearing from you guys
(29:57):
as to what else you want to hearfrom us.
Good morning, and welcome to Essential
Ingredients. I'm your host,Justine Reichman. With me today
is Andy Bennett. He is theExecutive Chef at Lennox Hill
Hospital in New York City.Welcome, Andy.
Andrew Bennett (00:24):
Hey, how you doing today?
Justine Reichman (00:25):
I'm well. Thank you. And you?
Andrew Bennett (00:27):
Great.
Justine Reichman (00:28):
Great. Well, I'm super excited to have you
here. Your background is just sovast and varied. You've worked
with amazing other amazingchefs, and you've taken a little
bit of a change. You've made achange to go from one area in
food to another area of food.I'm not sure the people at
Lennox know how lucky they are,because hospital food is
(00:52):
notoriously not amazing.
Andrew Bennett (00:58):
I think there's a good couple parts of that. And
because people ask the question,how do they make this turn or
jump in this direction? I'vebeen extremely lucky to work
with some phenomenal chefs anddone a lot of cool thing. But
there was a restaurant in 2008that we opened called Rouge
(01:20):
Tomate.
Justine Reichman (01:22):
Wait a second, you mean right around the
corner? A block or so fromBarneys and around the corne? I
loved Rouge Tomate.
Andrew Bennett (01:34):
In 2008, there was a challenge in there, I
think the industry was verydifferent in what everyone was
expecting. The whole goal was toshow, okay, you can do fine
dining food, but it can behealthy, and break down some of
the stigmas around what that is.On a very basic premise, no
butter, no heavy cream in thesavory dishes. We worked with a
(01:56):
team of registered dietitians.And while we were doing this, it
was great learning experience.All these kind of things tha you
Justine Reichman (02:01):
I'm curious. I don't know that this is a
kind of reset your mindset aboutbeing creative as a chef. And
instead of thinking, okay, wecan't use these ingredients.
It's a restriction. I just needto be more creative. How do we
find a solution to this? Butwhile we were doing that, I was
thinking, okay, there's otherthings I want to continue to do
(02:24):
in my career, other areas I wantto kind of develop and grow in.
But can and, you know, and roosttomorrow was amazing. But again,
we're cooking for a very smallpercentage of people and making
healthy food.And then, can Itake all these things I've
learned through craft operationsleadership, and then do
something good with it? How canwe help more people? Healthcare
(02:48):
was that logical step to be ableto combine those two, so I kind
of got to a point of career. Iwas like, hey, I'm ready to do
something different. I juststarted researching healthcare
groups, hospitals and all thesekind of things. And I came
across Northwell, and there wasalready a ton of great press
about what Northwell had beendoing on their food program.
(03:12):
Really started about 8 years agoin terms of making that first
time ever. Realizing, okay, weneed to put the same energy into
our food and hospitality as wedo in all our clinical care. And
then that huge process across abig network, how do you move
that forward? Looking at thosedetails. And the thing I always
(03:32):
say about this is that when Iinterviewed a couple of
different healthcare companies,Northwell stood out straight
away because the only thing wetalked about was quality of
food, food in general,hospitality, patient experience,
and not really much else. Alittle bit on the background
stuff and the logistics of whatthat means in healthcare. When I
(03:55):
spoke to other healthcaregroups, it was all the opposite.
It was about systems, all theback end stuff, and nothing
about food. You want to workwith people that believe that
it's very easy to get in asituation, especially with food
where people say, we're going todo this because it become
fashionable. They know it's theright thing to do. That's very
(04:18):
different from working withpeople that truly believe and
say, okay, we're going to dothis difficult thing, and we're
gonna figure it out and make ittaste great. And again, this was
a little bit different fromother healthcare providers, on
the way that they're looking attheir food programs. With
Northwell, it's hired by a greatchef, Bruno Tison, who's the
(04:41):
corporate chef, VP of diningservices. And really, the way he
looked at it was like, okay, wewant to hire chefs from outside
hospitals. We don't wanthospital chefs. We want chefs
that have had this background,whether it's in Michelin Star
restaurants, resorts, hotels,and then we're going to bring
that culture into hospitals.Okay, how do we bring all these
(05:05):
things from same hospitality wewould use in restaurants? How do
we adjust that and make thatfeasible in a hospital for our
patients? And then the same withthe food? Maybe there's not as
many touches to the food, butthe vendors we used are the same
vendors we used at Rouge Tomateand great restaurants across the
(05:25):
city. So started with the samething we do, all great food
start with great ingredients.Apply your techniques, and then
how do you scale that up in a hospital?
question you could answer. Itmight be out of your scope. But
I think food is integral topeople's health. How we live,
(05:47):
how we feel, and how we recover.And oftentimes, people are in
the hospital, whatever the issueis, needing to get better,
recover and feel well. And withthe food in many hospitals, I'd
say that a lot of times, what Ihear from people like my mother
or whomever who've been in thehospital are like, you need to
send me food. This is justawful. And you look at it, and
(06:14):
you feel bad. So I wonder if byNorthwell and you collaborating
and working with Lennox Hill andwhoever else to provide better
for you food options, how thatimpacts? Or if we've seen any
numbers on how it's impactedpeople's health and recovery.
Andrew Bennett (06:34):
There's a lot of things that go into that. We
have a full team of registereddieticians. There's a lot of
programming that kind of goes interms of recipes, nutritional
analysis, how we break thatdown? How we work on these
dishes? But that very first stepyou're talking about is how do
we get people to want to eat ina situation where they might not
(06:59):
be hungry, not in a great place,not super happy. So we take it
all the way back to thebeginning. We write menus that
looked like, if I handed youLennox Hills menu, you would
have thought that it's arestaurant menu. So in beautiful
favor, beautiful design, and itwill read exactly the same way.
It won't read like you're in ahospital. So we have this kind
(07:20):
of first talk where we say, howdo we create this environment
and this kind of situation forthe patients where at least also
mentally, we get to take themaway from their problems for a
little bit. Give these 10, 15minute windows of not have to
worry about something. And thenwe basically go from there. We
build those menus, making surewe hit lots of bases, whether
that's making sure we have lotsof plant forward dishes, lots of
(07:42):
clean proteins, tons ofvegetables. And then making sure
that we can, in a hospital likeLennox which is a tertiary
hospital, we have a lot ofpatient needs in terms of
dietary, a lot of things we needto kind of hit, and a lot of
people we need to make happy.
Justine Reichman (07:55):
That was my next question. Because people
come in with, nowadays versus 40years ago, people are much more
acutely aware of some of theirown issues, whether it's gluten
intolerance, or allergies, orIBS, or fructose intolerance. So
how flexible are you to be ableto tailor those menus to meet
(08:17):
the individual patient needs?Because you have so many people
in there. That can't be veryeasy to do.
Andrew Bennett (08:24):
There's a lot that goes on the background. So
a lot of the software we use forputting orders in dietitians
will do that programming. Aschefs, we make our recipes, we
run nutritional analysis on it,okay? We fit it into the
guidelines that we need, whetherit's for certain diets, or for
just across the board that getsprogrammed in. And then when a
(08:46):
host goes to take patientsorder, the patient's diet or any
restrictions are alreadyprogrammed in them. So anything
they want to eat or anythingthey can eat is going to be
available. Anything they can'teat that won't hit their
guidelines is going to beblocked out.
Justine Reichman (09:02):
That sounds like a tall order, though, for
the people in the kitchen.
Andrew Bennett (09:07):
kitchen phase, it's no different from a
restaurant kitchen in thatsense. And coming from
restaurants, it's almost exactlythe same thing you have. Whether
it's restrictions or requests,the same kind of thing applies.
We just try to make sure that wehave so many great products on
(09:30):
hand. Things that, okay, if weneed to customize for whatever
it is, we make that very easy.In that sense, there's a lot of
flexibility there. And again, werun into a couple of different
parts. I think the first partis, okay, how do we find the yes
in these situations.Understanding, okay, we're
feeding a lot of people. Howdoes this not impact other
(09:53):
people at the same time? But wewould do the same in a
restaurant as long as we havethat product. As long as it is
within the realm of what we cando in house, then we can do it.
We have a team of great chefs.We have a great kitchen, and we
approach it the same way.
Justine Reichman (10:10):
Amazing. I think that in this day and age,
I don't know how many hospitalsoffer that.
Andrew Bennett (10:16):
I think where that culture shift comes from
is, why does it have to bedifferent from a restaurant or
hotel? Why can't it be exactlythe same? And I think by
bringing chefs from outside andthen just having that mentality,
okay, where do we find, again,to go back to your original
point, our goal is to make surethat people don't want to order
(10:37):
food from the outside. We wantedto have our food because it's
going to help with the healingprocess. We know it's great and
clean food. And then there's aknock on part of this is that,
what we hope in some of thesesituations is it also education.
People could be in the hospitalbecause of some of their food
choices historically. So if wecan show that they get this
(11:00):
food, they realize this is greattaste in food and it's healthy,
it fits what I need in my liferight now. So we have this
training, teaching moment aswell with patients in terms of
cake. The goal is for them notto come back. The big difference
from the hospital and therestaurant is that we don't want
to see them again at this point.So how do we help set them up?
(11:20):
And that's, again, working chefswith dietitians. How we kind of
articulate and package that. Andthen, we're looking at other
programs that we can do, whetherit's through videos that we
record that we're able to dothese kind of classes with
patients once they've left thehospital.
Justine Reichman (11:43):
When they leave the hospital, now they've
had this. Does that nutritiouson staff that work with the
food? Are they the same onesthat work with the patients to
create their meal plans whenthey go home? Or to give them
guidance?
Andrew Bennett (12:02):
That will work our way through. We have
dietitians that are working inparticular units or assign
certain units, and that kind ofworks the way through, whether
it's things that we can givethem to take away, whether it's
simple recipes. Or just guidanceof where they should be going.
And again, this is in general, Ithink in food, the hardest part
of getting people to eat healthyis to understand how do we find
(12:24):
these kind of gateway dishes.They need to be recognizable,
right? And that's the firstpoint. When we can get something
that's recognizable, that ishealthy, and it's like, I like
this. Then it starts to build.Then we get excited about
vegetables and all these otherkind of clean ingredients. But
it's got to be recognizable. Alot of times, right, reducing
(12:46):
protein portion sizes can be astarting point. How do you get
creative in terms of adding morevegetables to the plate without
it looking like this giant plateof vegetables? So that's where
the stuff part comes into it,and that's how all the normal
things. Itneeds to look great.Needs to get to the room heart,
be interested and kind ofengaging. And then in the
(13:07):
hospital setting, a lot of thethings that we get, that we look
at is it needs to be confidentwork. It's one of those things
that, at that point, when you'renot doing great, you want
something that's going to makeusers feel a little more
confident.
Justine Reichman (13:19):
So my question, as I'm sitting here
listening to you and I'mwondering, okay, if I was in the
hospital, I'm eating this food,I'm feeling better. Do you guys
have a service that woulddeliver it to me? Is that coming
next? Or do you have that?Because it just seems like that
would be an easy way to maintainpeople that are just recovering
(13:41):
at home, and maybe can't doeverything themselves.
Andrew Bennett (13:44):
I think it's twofold. The extra education as
we go out in terms of recipesand ongoing training and this
kind of idea, if we can createthese programs through videos, I
think, is one step. And lookingat food as medicine and it being
(14:09):
a medical expense that can bepaid for by insurance companies,
looking at those avenues whichwas a long way off. There's
programs already in place, Ithink, and within healthcare
that's starting to go thatdirection. I think the jump
around a little bit, but I thinkthe other side why I think
Northwell can be super inspiringis that, from northwell look on
(14:31):
it, that same kind of thing, wedon't want patients back. So how
do we invest more in prevention,opposed on the back end?
Justine Reichman (14:38):
And preventative medicine has always
been a little bit challenging.What do they do? Paying for
preventive, there's certainthings, annual checkups, certain
things like that. But gettingsomething like this is, while
it's been more popular and moreof a conversation the last 10,
15 years, it's still on thefringe, right? And it's still
(14:59):
not integrated. I don't know ifNorthwell has thought about the
next step of creating policychange, if that's anywhere in
there agenda. Because to me,Idon't know what motivated
Northwell to do this. Maybe youcan share that, but it seems
(15:19):
that you can't tackleeverything, but it does sound
like it would be somethingthey'd be interested in.
Andrew Bennett (15:24):
Yeah, wonderful. When we look at where we came
from on the food journey 8 yearsago to where we're at now, and I
think the exciting part wouldn'tauthorize like, hey, we're doing
great, and we've done a lot ofgreat things. And I think other
healthcare systems are lookingat us and saying, okay, how did
you go about this? Becauseeveryone thought it wasn't
(15:47):
possible, right? So that impacthealthcare system wise across
the country, that impact thatNorthwell had is already huge.
But for us internally, we'restill not happy with where we're
at. Once we hit that littlemilestone, whether it's in
scores or when it's justsomething we've looked at, we
then look at the next thingwhere we can improve and
(16:08):
justkeep going from there. SoNorthwell is always trying to
push these things in thisdirection, so it won't be far off.
Justine Reichman (16:16):
Talk to me about their landscape and how
far and wide it goes. So
Andrew Bennett (16:21):
Northwell was the biggest healthcare provider
around New York. We get abouthalfway through this year. We're
about to hit 100,000 employeesacross the system. So largely in
Long Island, in Manhattan,Staten Island. And then this
year with some acquisitionsmoving into Connecticut and kind
of into the Hudson Valley alittle bit. Basically Queens
(16:45):
into Long Island, Staten Islandand Manhattan. Nothing in
Brooklyn.
Justine Reichman (16:53):
Evolving in all the hospitals around,
because Lennox Hill, it's notlike it used to be where Lennox
Hill was just on 70, whateverstreet. There's other
affiliates. It's the same way inall these different hospitals
that have fought up differentthings. I think this is amazing.
And I love the way Northwell isgoing to do this. I don't know
(17:15):
if you can speak to thisexpanding outside the Northeast
Corridor. And Northeast Corridorreally goes from Philadelphia to
Boston or something, right? Butcan we see them expanding to the
west coast?
Andrew Bennett (17:31):
My assumption would be no, just because of
we're at the point where we'rehitting big at this point. We
kind of navigate through that,and how quickly we grow. That's
definitely a question forsomeone else.
Justine Reichman (17:44):
Just curious. It does seem like you're a
leader in this space, unless ofcourse, you know of other
organizations that have such astrong focus on this, but I'm
not familiar with them.
Andrew Bennett (17:58):
I think there's lots of healthcare systems that
are starting to take itseriously, which is just a win
for everyone. And I think itcontinues to push us in that
sense. Because as we go through,it's like, okay, as that bar
gets raised across the platform,we have to continue doing more,
and continue to find those ways.So I think we're still that kind
(18:18):
of exciting phase of thatprogression. There's also these
things that Northwell do. Andthen one of the big things we
do, we have a chef challengeevery year across all the
hospitals. Basically whathappened, Bruno picked three
ingredients, one for theappetizer, one for the entree,
one for the dessert. The chefsget a good couple of months to
(18:40):
conceptualize, and then we do abig kind of, basically, all the
employees across the network getto vote which ones go to the
final. Then we have a cookingcompetition, and a lot goes into
it. And it's great. Chefs arecompetitive, and lots and lots
of fun, really. Because one ofthe big parts of that is that
part of the rules that is, anyof the dishes that we do for the
(19:02):
competition have to be on ourmenus in the hospitals. It can't
just be things that aren'tattainable. It has to be
something that patients gonnaget. And ultimately, what that
does is just continues to pushall the chefs forward to be
creative, raise the level of thefood. So internally, we have
lots of things that I think helpus continue to drive forward.
Justine Reichman (19:23):
So I know that you've been working there now
for how long a year? I'm surethat there's a lot that goes
into this. But I'm wondering, assomebody that works in this
program and the director of it,if other people wanted to do
this on the West Coast, or inthe Pacific Northwest, and be
able to offer something like youguys are doing, would you tell
(19:48):
them to start? Where's the topthree places you'd say you need
to just start.
Andrew Bennett (19:55):
Basic things. And again, let me go back to
that. Start with the qualityingredients. You need to bring
the talent in, right? You needpeople that are gonna understand
and be able to work in that way.That's what you're looking for.
Scratch cooking, everything madein house. And one of the reasons
why some of that hospital foodhas such bad reputation is they
made a lot of pre made food.Opening bags, freezer bags,
(20:18):
Reese, not really any realcooking going on. So you have to
reset the kitchen, retool thekitchens to fit what you want to
do. So at Northwell, what wasdone in the beginning was there
was a lot of conversions wherethere was lots and lots of big
walk in freezers. They gotconverted into refrigerators so
we could have fresh produce,fresh ingredients. And then new
(20:40):
ovens, stoves that we couldactually cook like we were doing
a restaurant. So you're applyingall these same things as if you
were going to open a restaurant.You got to look at it in that
same. Or if you're going to opena hotel, it's got to be that
same mindset. Maybe the way youdo service is a little
different, but you're looking atthose same things, quality
ingredients. Make sure you'vegot the tools to do the job.
Make sure you've got the talentthat can produce this and
(21:01):
execute. But that's where it'sstart. It's gonna be that ground
level. And I think the biggestthing I go back to on what I
said earlier is that there hasto be a true belief that this is
what we're doing. It's notsomething we can go in half.
We're going to improve our food.There's got to be a drive to say
our patients deserve better, andwe're gonna go after that, and
(21:22):
we're gonna make that happen. Ithink one of the surprising
things that happened withNorthwell, and this is long
before my time, but I thinkpeople assumed by going to the
system that we have now withchefs and all this fresh cook,
and that was gonna cost moremoney.
Justine Reichman (21:37):
My next question, you have all these
frozen produce in yourrefrigerator, and now you're
getting fresh. I was curiousabout a the incremental cost,
but also any additional waste.
Andrew Bennett (21:50):
And again, these things was phased before my
time. But I think what happenedwas it actually the opposite. It
was less waste because peoplewere eating the food. So instead
of having all this food that weneed to heat and send, and then
people just like, yeah, this isnot what I want. And then the
other part of that, I think, iswhen you go to that kind of
(22:11):
system, again, it's just likeyou would in a hotel or
restaurant. You can look at yournumbers in terms of, okay, you
know what you sell, you knowwhat your big sellers are. And
then again, it's just kitchenmanagement, and how you kind of
work those things and go throughthat. But I think the opposite
happened of what we thought.Other people have said the same
thing. You're assuming it'sgoing to be the other way
around, right? And we found theother way.
Justine Reichman (22:34):
This was so interesting. It's personal for
me also, as I have an elderlymother who is potentially,
actually putting into a longterm nursing facility because
she has ALS. And I'm like, oh,my God, she's never going to
eat. Food is not going to begood. I'm sitting here going,
(22:54):
okay, well, how do we make thishappen in Florida? How do we
inspire people to recognize theimportance of food as part of
taking care of these people?What do you think the biggest
challenges in that?
Andrew Bennett (23:10):
I think that if you're buying food that's
already pre made and all you'vegot to do is reheat it, it's
easy, right? There's a lowerrisk there. I think that the
biggest hurdle was gettingcompanies and people to be
brave, have the courage to say,hey, no, this is what's right.
And we're going to do the hardthing. It's scary in the
(23:31):
beginning. Because all of asudden, you're applying new
variables. We've got fresh food.We need team of chefs to come in
and operate at a higher level,and in a hospital setting.
You're also looking to feed in alot of people in a very short
space of time, three days aweek. In the restaurant
industry, you'd have your upsand down, your lows. For
(23:53):
hospitals, our business level isextremely consistent, so you're
adding these variables. It canbe scary from an operations
standpoint. But I thinkultimately, you just got to say,
okay, this is what we believein. This is the right thing to
do. And I think the other thingthat I think would help change
decision makers way of lookingat it is get them to go eat the
food.
Justine Reichman (24:19):
The minute you said that, I was like, never eat
that. That's awful. I've seenit.
Andrew Bennett (24:25):
If you're running a company, and if you
wouldn't eat the food, you'vegot a problem. It's got to be
something. As a chef, he waslike, hey, would I be happy with
it? It's a very simple questionto ask. And if you wouldn't be,
then, okay, you're doingsomething wrong, and that needs
to change.
Justine Reichman (24:43):
I think that's a great idea. More people would
try their own food at thehospitals, maybe they would have
a shift in the way that theythought about it, right? And
then you make it personal foryou. Would you want your mother
to eat this? Your sister, yourkid to eat this? Would you serve
this in your home?
Andrew Bennett (25:02):
We have a funny thing that, for us, that created
a small problem. In the foodacross Northwell improves so
much so that we actually havetrouble getting people out of
the beds when it's the day todischarge. We need the bed back
and everything, but what we'vefound is that we have people
that want to stay. I'm going tostay for lunch. I'll go after
(25:25):
lunch. Because they want to stayfor one more meal. So a great
problem to have. And again, ifyou step back from the whole
thing, we talk about it in termsof, this is just the right thing
to do. People deserve good,healthy food, especially in a
hospital when we're talkingabout starting the healing
process. But when you step backfrom that, it's also a business
advantage. We have a lot ofpeople that come back to us,
(25:47):
whether it's for pregnancies orjust the hospital because they
know they're going to make achoice. Especially in Manhattan
and New York, people have amassive choice of great health
care systems that they can goto. So knowing that you can go
to Lennox Hill and get greatfood, and that helped make that
choice. That you know from thebigger picture, it's also a
(26:08):
business advantage.
Justine Reichman (26:09):
Lot's great doctors there to begin with.
It's known for women givingbirth. It's known for a lot of
things equally. To know that,oh, hey, look, I could choose
one of the top doctors, and Icould have great food, which I
think that that makes you justfeel good. You don't feel like
I'm gonna be in the hospitalstuffed with mush and broccoli
(26:30):
that doesn't look like broccoli.It's like brown and meatloaf.
Andrew Bennett (26:35):
One of the things we do across the network
is that chefs will go around onpatients the same way we were
doing a restaurant visit. A bigpart of our day is that
interaction with patients, ithelps us kind of learn what's
going right, what's going wrong.But we get in these situations
where either I can't leave theroom because we get stuck in a
(26:56):
conversation about food. We getpeople asking for the recipes or
the food because they want tomake the same things at home. So
unheard of. It's a crazysituation.
Justine Reichman (27:10):
And I think it's really inspiring. As I'm
sitting here and I'm like, theyneed to do this in the nursing
homes. They need to do this inhospitals here. I mean, it seems
like it should be on everybody'smind. And as we talk about the
impact of food on our health andwellness, I really hope that
people listen to this, andreally hear what you're saying
and the impact you're having, sothat maybe we can experience
(27:33):
this in all parts of the countryor world.
Andrew Bennett (27:35):
Yep, absolutely.
Justine Reichman (27:37):
So are there any analytics, though, in
particular that you know ofbased on changing the food in
people's health and well beingthat you could share?
Andrew Bennett (27:47):
One of directly related to, there's a rating
system that we use within thehospitals where the system is
press gaining. When you leavethe hospital, you get a
questionnaire. they'll send youan email, and it covers
everything in the hospital, howyou were checked in,
cleanliness, everything awaythrough. When Northwell started
(28:08):
the journey, and I forgetexactly, but you're as a
percentile of everyone that usesPress Ganey in the United
States. If I remember right,somewhere in the 40's, we're
now, I think we're at about 86as a system. So that journey of
where we've come from. We have alot of hospitals within the
(28:34):
system that are in the 90's. Sothat journey, that metrics, the
one we look at, I think, themost in that sense, lots of
other intangibles that go withthat. But I think that
represents what we are doing andwhere we've come from, because
it's for better or worse, it's ablack and white number where
Justine Reichman (28:54):
Well, Andy, thank you so much for joining us
we're looking at.
today. I learned so much. I hopethat our guests did too, and I
hope that it inspires somechange around the world for
other people in the healthcaresystem. I know if I'm going to
be in New York or when I'm inNew York, I would now put that
on my radar if I needed to be ina hospital. Yeah, and food, they
(29:16):
go hand in hand. So again, Iappreciate it so much, and we
look forward to continuing tofollow the journey, and see what
Northwell does as time goes on.Thanks so much for joining. For
those of you tuning in today,thank you so much. If you're
listening to the podcast, don'tforget, we do have a videocast
(29:36):
on YouTube where you can go toat Essential Ingredients, or at
nextgen.purpose. If you'rewatching the video and haven't
done the podcast, feel free togo to Spotify or wherever you
listen to your podcasts, andlisten to Essential Ingredients.
We're also on Instagram,@essential.ingredients. Like,
subscribe, follow. And we lookforward to hearing from you guys
(29:57):
as to what else you want to hearfrom us.
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