Sanford shares insights to strengthen health care workforce
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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. — Sanford Health is joining senior health care leaders from across North America this week in Chicago for a two-day event focused on forging an enduring future for health care in the United States.
Reuters Events: Total Health 2025 takes place Tuesday through Wednesday and brings together 400 of the most inspiring and influential leaders in health care.
Jeremy Cauwels, M.D., chief medical officer at Sanford Health, is participating in an executive panel discussion focused on strengthening the health care workforce. Cauwels will be joined on the panel by Shawn Martin, executive vice president and CEO at AAFP and Pete November, CEO at Ochsner Health. Heather Falck Major, executive director at Independence Blue Cross Foundation, will moderate the panel.
The discussion will center on the critical staffing gaps in health care and explore innovative recruitment and retention strategies to build a robust pipeline of future talent. The leaders will also explore strategies to combat burnout and improve employee well-being, including the implementation of support programs, flexible work arrangements, and mental health resources.
Sanford Health has launched the only GI fellowship in the Dakotas to expand access and recruit and retain the next generation of specialists where the need is most urgent. The new Sanford Digestive Health Center—a 45,000-square-foot facility funded through a philanthropic gift from Denny Sanford—was built specifically to support this fellowship.
“We’re not waiting for specialists to move to rural America — we’re training them here, building the workforce where the need is greatest. At Sanford, 40% of residents and fellows who train with us stay here, and 70% remain in the upper Midwest,” said Cauwels. “I am looking forward to sharing and highlighting our vision for how we are going to care for our patients into the future.”
Born in South Dakota and raised in northwest Iowa, Cauwels has bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and biology from the University of Northern Iowa and a medical degree from the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. He completed his residency and a chief resident year at the University of Kansas in Kansas City, Kansas. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the Society of Hospital Medicine.
About Sanford Health
Sanford Health, the largest rural health system in the United States, is dedicated to transforming the health care experience and providing access to world-class health care in America’s heartland. Headquartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the organization has 53,000 employees and serves over 2 million patients and nearly 425,000 health plan members across the upper Midwest including South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, Iowa, Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The integrated nonprofit health system includes a network of 56 hospitals, 288 clinic locations, 147 senior care communities, 4,000 physicians and advanced practice providers and nearly 1,500 active clinical trials and studies. The organization’s transformational virtual care initiative brings patients closer to care with access to 78 specialties. Learn more about Sanford Health’s commitment to shaping the future of rural health care across the lifespan at sanfordhealth.org or Sanford Health News.
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