There’s no shortage of challenges in healthcare right now, according to Laureen Driscoll.
As the chief executive of Providence South Division, Driscoll said they’ve been navigating the changing landscape including the recent passing of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which is projected to cut federal healthcare spending by $1 trillion through 2034.
“We’re all still trying to figure out what the cuts are going to mean and how to continue to deliver care in these communities,” Driscoll told the Business Journal.
One way Providence has been doing so is through Co-Caring, a virtual nursing platform that allows nurses to communicate with patients through two-way audio and video telehealth technology.
Driscoll said the program has been “widely successful” in retention of nursing staff as hospitals collectively face a workforce shortage.
“We’re able to offer flexibility for nurses and have them stay in the workforce longer,” she said.
Providence piloted the program in the inpatient setting and is now rolling it out in the emergency department, starting with its more rural hospitals in Humboldt.
$712M South County Expansion for Mission Hospital
Driscoll won the Business Journal’s Women in Business Award last year for overseeing all of Providence’s 17 acute care hospitals in California, which employ more than 40,000 and generated $9.2 billion in revenue in 2024.
She was named CEO of Providence South Division three years ago and led the restructuring of the nonprofit hospital system’s south division into four service areas.
Today, Driscoll is managing a $712 million, seven-year expansion of Providence Mission Hospital’s South Orange County operations that was first announced in 2022.
The race for local hospitals to expand their footprint in OC has been driven in part by higher demand for inpatient beds.
“We’ve been under-bedded for a while, and hospitals didn’t do a lot of expansion during COVID, so now we’re seeing the backlog of the need coming to the forefront,” she said.
Providence has been making steady progress. It opened an urgent care facility
in San Clemente in June with another scheduled to open in Rancho Mission Viejo next year.
Providence is also building a new, 100-bed patient care tower on its Mission Viejo campus that’s slated to open in 2030. The tower was funded in part by a $50 million gift made in March by Anthony “Tony” Moiso, chairman of Rancho Mission Viejo LLC.
Personal Milestones
Driscoll said that she’s entering a new phase in her personal life.
She recently spent time with her and one-and-a-half year old and three-and-a-half year old grandchildren who are learning how to swim.
Meanwhile, her youngest of three sons is getting married this week.
Another big milestone: Driscoll and her husband are planning their first international trip together in their 32 years of marriage.
She said they will be visiting Rome and Florence in Italy come this April.
“We’re at a different phase in life and are exploring that new adventure,” Driscoll said.
