It should be no surprise to any of our readers that healthcare is an incredibly important industry here in Arizona, and perhaps even most so in Scottsdale. The combination of Americans collectively living much longer than they have in the past and the fact that very many of them choose to live their golden years in our city has led to the outsized importance of the industry in our home. The numbers reflect this reality: it employs more people in our state than any other industry.
As such, we found a recent survey of the best hospitals to work for very illuminating, both in who it includes and who it leaves out. 70,000 employees participated in this survey nationally and the hospitals were ranked based on working conditions, compensation, diversity, potential for advancement, as well as if they would recommend their employer to others. Two notable Scottsdale hospitals were on the list, and one major Arizona healthcare provider was not.
As for the Good list, Scottsdale’s born-and-raised gem HonorHealth makes the cut as one of the best hospitals to work at, which should come as absolutely no surprise. Having been founded in 1962, it is a long-standing good steward in our city and a dedicated member of the community. It is clearly doing many things right, both in quality of services and in how it treats its talent.
Also on the list is the Mayo Clinic; while not originally from Arizona, its two campuses in Scottsdale and Phoenix routinely rank high in quality of care. When employees like where they work, it is often reflected in the quality of work that they do, so it is entirely understandable that Mayo is a genuinely positive place to be a healthcare provider.
However, it’s notable who is off the list of great places to work, and it happens to be the biggest single employer in Arizona: Banner Health. The company trying to make their way into the Scottsdale market was nowhere to be seen on this list. If one were to directly connect the happiness of healthcare providers with the quality of care they give (a very reasonable connection to make in our view), why would we want a lesser provider in the city to lower our quality of care, especially during a nursing shortage?
Part of the reason why Scottsdale is such a great place to live is the high quality of services that we have the luxury of enjoying in nearly every sector. When it comes to healthcare, the Scottsdale firefighters seem to have it right. We should support our existing system, not disrupt it for the sake of a hospital that just wants to expand its empire at the expense of Scottsdale.