Five months into his tenure as president of Pittsburgh-based Allegheny Health Network, Mark Sevco is doubling down on technology investments to improve access to care and workforce engagement.

Mr. Sevco took on the role in March and now oversees the 14-hospital health system, which is part of Highmark Health. The role marks a return to Pittsburgh for Mr. Sevco, who most recently served as senior vice president and COO for Sacramento-based Sutter Health’s Northern California market. He previously spent 30 years in leadership roles at Pittsburgh-based UPMC.

Mr. Sevco told Becker’s that 2025 has been successful for Allegheny Health Network following six years of financial struggles.

“We are growing by 4% or 5% across all of our patient care indicators for admissions and outpatients, and managing our cost really well, which allows us to have a 2% positive operating margin,” he said. “I’m proud of the team that’s working hard so we can continue to reinvest back in our people, our facilities and our technology. “

Through conversations and town halls with leadership and team members, he identified several priorities in the strategic plan the system is rolling out. Looking to the rest of 2025, he is focused on three key areas: workforce, access and innovation.

Improving access with a growth mindset

AHN is prioritizing improved access with the goal of becoming the community’s provider of choice, Mr. Sevco said.

“When you look at metrics on wait times to schedule an appointment, or the difficulty in scheduling an appointment, or the capacity management throughput through the organization — and if you look at best practices — we have an opportunity to improve,” he said. “We really put a high priority on a growth mindset to see more patients, because they need us.”

The work began with a review of access metrics across the system. Recent initiatives include launching a centralized call center and standardizing how advanced practice providers work with physicians to enable same-day scheduling. The system also plans to expand use of its Epic EHR platform.

AHN is also moving toward walk-in availability for primary care and enhancing its digital tools.

“I’ve had the opportunity to work at different places,” Mr. Sevco said. “I know what success can look like — to pull upon these amazing resources at AHN so that we can create a digital app that will be simple, reliable and much quicker.”

Other access-related investments include physician recruitment in shortage areas, expanding ambulatory care and revamping the system’s transfer center to expedite patient transfers.

It is a misconception, Mr. Sevco said, to believe the healthcare industry has fully solved access challenges.

“Whether it’s scheduling an appointment, or if you have a chronic illness or cancer, for example, you are now about to enter a journey of complex healthcare,” he said. “The better we can be — empathetically and compassionately — to meet with our patients and let them know exactly what they’re about to experience, put them in peer support groups and actually walk them through their journey, and help them schedule appointments before they leave, and make it simple, the better we serve them. Those road maps — we can do better in healthcare.”

Workforce flexibility and support

AHN is focused on retaining top talent by offering competitive salaries, flexible scheduling options and a workplace culture grounded in support and recognition.

“We truly believe that people matter, and so we’re putting out there that we want to be the employer of choice, and we want to create the best place for our clinicians and staff to work and to practice,” Mr. Sevco said.

The system is also working to reduce administrative burdens for clinicians. AHN recently launched an enterprisewide agreement with Abridge; its ambient artificial intelligence technology captures and structures clinical conversations in real time.

In 2024, the system had about 500 contract labor nurses; in 2025, that number has dropped to around 100. The shift has led to approximately $25 million in annual savings, Mr. Sevco said, as more nurses have returned to the employed workforce and the system relies less on agency labor.

Driving innovation through a value-based lens

A third top priority for Mr. Sevco is harnessing innovation and technology with a value-based care mindset. This includes expanding the system’s use of Epic and leveraging AI to increase operational efficiency.

“Allegheny Health Network is 100% part of Highmark Health, and 50% of our payer mix comes from Highmark, so we really have a unique opportunity to be an industry leader in population health,” Mr. Sevco said. “Innovation is something that our team is really leaning towards: How do we enhance access and quality, but at a more affordable price point?”

AHN’s living health clinical model emphasizes clinician collaboration and standardization to reduce variability and make care more affordable.

“We want to be one of the most digitally enabled, integrated systems in the industry,” Mr. Sevco said. “That’s going to take a lot of work, but that’s the mindset that we have moving forward here.”

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