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Lower Bucks Hospital Names New Associate Chief Nursing Officer
Bristol, PA (August 18, 2023)– Lower Bucks Hospital is pleased to announce that Renee Stewart, RN, MSN, has been named the new associate chief nursing officer (ACNO). Stewart is taking over from her predecessor, Lea Rodriguez, who is staying with Prime Healthcare, but working at another Prime Healthcare hospital in NJ.
As ACNO, Stewart will provide clinical and administrative leadership for planning, organizing, directing, monitoring, and evaluating safe, high-quality patient care to advance the mission of Lower Bucks Hospital. She will continue to focus on performance improvement, prioritizing education among nursing professionals and advancing care coordination and collaboration among nursing, physicians, and clinical departments.
“I am thrilled to lead our care teams at Lower Bucks Hospital and to stand side-by-side with our amazing nurses as we care for our community,” said Stewart. “Our team possesses a remarkable capacity for innovation and collaboration, consistently striving for excellence and delivering quality in everything we do. I look forward to embarking on this journey together.”
Stewart started at Lower Bucks Hospital in February 2023 as the Director of Case Management. Under her leadership, the hospital experienced improvement in physician engagement, nursing care, and overall quality of care. In addition, she optimized patient flow in several ways including reducing emergency department admitted length of stay.
While at Lower Bucks Hospital, she had complete oversight and accountability for the operational efficiency and effectiveness of the case management department and focused on continuous quality improvement tools. Before starting her career at Lower Bucks Hospital, she worked at Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia.as the Manager of Case Management, leading the COVID-19 epidemic, partnering with local resources, developing utilization plans, and creating tenacious ways for patient dispositions. Before Einstein, she worked as a Nursing Supervisor at Grandview Hospital in Sellersville, PA, where she oversaw all hospital operations activities. She was the lead person for the operating room when staff were off shift. Before Grandview, Stewart worked at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Langhorne, PA, as a Nurse Manager for their Step Down ICU and IV team, and also as the Nursing Supervisor.
In addition to nursing, Renee has experience in cardiac care, working as a cardiac care clinician at Intracoastal Cardiology Center in Delray Beach, FL; at PHS Health Plans in Philadelphia as their lead comprehensive case manager, where she developed a Congestive Heart Failure Disease Management Program; at Independence Blue Cross, in Philadelphia, as a patient care coordinator and case manager; and started her career, as a staff Level III, CICU/CCU nurse at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Renee earned a Master’s in Science degree with a concentration in Nursing Leadership from Walden University in Minneapolis, MN, and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, graduating Magna Cum Laude from Holy Family University, Philadelphia.
“Renee stood out among the candidates as the best choice for ACNO at Lower Bucks Hospital,” said Jackie Pester-Babcock, Regional CNO of Prime Healthcare’s Region II. “Along with her extensive nursing experience, she holds herself to the highest levels of accountability and quality. She exudes compassion, empathy, and understanding, and she embodies the core values we seek to instill into Lower Bucks Hospital’s organizational culture.”
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About Lower Bucks Hospital: Lower Bucks Hospital is a community hospital, serving the Lower Bucks County region with medical, surgical, and emergency care. Located in historic Bristol, Pennsylvania, the Hospital is well-known for its knowledgeable medical staff, including cardiology, orthopedics, radiology, wound care, and general surgery. The hospital has more than 200 physicians on staff, as well as another 700 employees. As part of Prime Healthcare Services, headquartered in Ontario, California, Lower Bucks Hospital is focused on becoming one of the leaders in technology.
Prime Healthcare is an award-winning hospital management company operating 45 acute care hospitals in 14 states, including Roxborough Memorial Hospital in Philadelphia, Lower Bucks Hospital in Bristol, and Suburban Community Hospital in Montgomery County.
About Prime Healthcare and Prime Healthcare Foundation: Prime Healthcare is an award-winning health system operating 45 hospitals and more than 300 outpatient locations in 14 states, providing over 2.6 million patient visits annually. It is one of the nation’s leading health systems with nearly 50,000 employees and physicians dedicated to providing the highest quality healthcare. Fourteen of the Prime Healthcare hospitals are members of the Prime Healthcare Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity. Based in Ontario, California, Prime Healthcare is nationally recognized for award-winning quality care and has been named a Top 10 and Top 15 Health System by IBM Watson Health. Its hospitals have been named among the nation’s “100 Top Hospitals” 58 times and have received more Patient Safety Excellence Awards from Healthgrades than any other health system in the past six years. To learn more, please visit www.primehealthcare.com