Ryan Hicks serves as the Director of Continuous Improvement (CI) for the Intermountain Health Business Optimization System Team, overseeing CI initiatives across six Mountain West states: Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho. He possesses more than five years of experience supporting hospital leadership, complemented by 4 years supporting a Region Executive Team, which enhanced his ability to operate in his current role supporting all lines of business at Intermountain Health. He has 19 years of experience managing change and continuous improvement initiatives. During this time, he developed an interest in executive coaching and change management.
Professional Achievements in Healthcare Improvement
Ryan’s notable contributions include leading efforts in acute care that reduced overall injuries by more than 50% and reduced the Stroke Team’s door-to-needle time by nearly 30%, surpassing the American Heart Association’s gold standard. He led the development of a digital, change management system for the Intermountain Operating Model, which was used to implement major process changes across the Intermountain Health Enterprise. These changes included improved visual management standards across an entire region with 220+ leaders at 100% adoption, another included improved hand hygiene standards across 300+ sites again with 100% adoption, and now this system impacts all CI Consultant change events with multiple sites in various geographies.
Educational Background and Early Career
Ryan graduated with University Honors from Brigham Young University in 2012, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in European and Area Studies. He later obtained an MBA from the Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University, where he was awarded the Shingo Certificate for Operational Excellence. Before entering healthcare, he spent a decade leading teams and coaching leaders on Continuous Improvement principles in a manufacturing company focused on oil and natural gas drilling. He finds healthcare to be a very rewarding industry and is driven by his passion for improving processes for patients and caregivers.