Advancing Clinician Workforce Support Through the Chief Well-Being Officer Program
Advancing Clinician Workforce Support Through the Chief Well-Being Officer Program
Building a national model to improve workforce performance and reduce clinician burnout
Burnout among health care professionals poses a significant risk to patient safety, workforce retention and operational performance. For the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), burnout had become a systemwide challenge. In response, the VHA Governance Board approved the transition of the Chief Well-Being Officer (CWO) pilot into a national program. The CWO role is the only VHA position solely dedicated to addressing systemic drivers of clinician burnout.
Challenge
Scaling a pilot to a national program under tight timelines and limited internal capacity
Following the success of an 18-month pilot led by the Office of Patient-Centered Care and Cultural Transformation (OPCC&CT), the VHA Governance Board approved small-scale implementation of the CWO role in 2023. Each Veterans Integrated Services Network (VISN) was tasked with selecting a facility to implement the role. However, VHA lacked the internal capacity to support this expansion. Training, operational messaging, process planning and workforce coordination were needed to ensure the program could launch and grow with measurable success.
Solutions
Aptive supported the CWO program with tailored services to transition from pilot to full implementation, including program structure development, performance optimization and internal agency coordination.
Pilot closeout and transition planning
While designing the national program, Aptive continued pilot support. The team documented lessons learned, led sustainment planning and partnered with Health Services Research and Development (HSR&D) to evaluate the pilot’s impact. These insights informed the next phase of implementation.
Operational support and program growth
Aptive helped build out a structure to support the national program by:
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Facilitating weekly CWO calls and community knowledge sessions
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Designing and executing the CWO Strategic Planning Summit in a hybrid format
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Creating and implementing a change management plan to guide CWO adoption
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Supporting VA’s Response to National Priorities LEARN Center on a three-year CWO evaluation proposal
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Partnering with VHA leadership to support recruitment and hiring based on national recommendations
Training and education
Aptive developed a workforce training strategy aligned to VHA’s mission. Activities included:
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Designing a curriculum framework and development guide
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Facilitating the CWO Fundamentals Conference for onboarding new CWOs
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Integrating change management best practices into the training strategy
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Documenting resources in VA-accessible systems to ensure transparency
Internal messaging and program visibility
Aptive co-developed an operational messaging strategy to support adoption and alignment. Key deliverables included:
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A SharePoint site to centralize CWO program tools and updates
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A communications toolkit to support local messaging needs
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Briefings, fact sheets, FAQs and executive talking points
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A regular newsletter to highlight progress and share best practices
Results
Transforming a pilot into a high-impact, workforce-centered national program
Aptive helped VHA successfully scale the Chief Well-Being Officer role from a limited pilot into a formal national program. With only two CWOs in place at the start of the effort, VHA reached 32 trained CWOs by March 2024. Aptive’s work in operational alignment, performance design and workforce strategy accelerated this growth.
The team also developed the CWO Program Education Framework and launched a series of training conferences to ensure consistency and quality across onboarding efforts. These contributions enabled VHA to address a mission-critical challenge — burnout — through a role dedicated to systemic improvements in workforce experience and performance.
The CWO program team received exceptional ratings in the Contractor Performance Assessment Reporting System (CPARS) for quality, cost control, schedule and management in 2023. VHA leadership noted Aptive’s performance was instrumental to the program’s continued success.