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Gretchen Berlin

Senior PartnerWashington DC

Leads public and private healthcare organizations to develop innovative healthcare strategies and drive sustainable change through frontline-workforce and clinical transformations

Gretchen is a leader in McKinsey’s Public Sector and Healthcare Practices, as well as our organization work within the Life Sciences Practice, drawing on her in-depth experience in the healthcare industry to serve clients. 

A registered nurse by background, Gretchen has led numerous projects with leading public and private healthcare organizations to develop innovative healthcare strategies and drive sustainable change through frontline-workforce and clinical transformations.  She coleads McKinsey’s provider performance-improvement and federal healthcare work.

Most recently, Gretchen designed and implemented a large transformation for a national public-sector health system to optimize effectiveness and efficiency. She has also led the development of market-level partnerships and large-scale transformations in the private sector to improve quality, access, and efficiency. Gretchen has created workforce strategies for large private-sector hospital systems, focused on improving nursing retention and achieving 5 to 10 percent labor-cost efficiencies through total-reward strategies and changes to core staffing and skill mix.

Published work

"The pulse of nurses’ perspectives on AI in healthcare delivery,” McKinsey & Company, October 2024

Revitalizing organizational health in the care delivery sector,” McKinsey & Company, September 2024

How to bridge the experience gap by supporting nurses of all tenures,” McKinsey & Company, March 2024

Government productivity: Practical methods to deliver more with less,” McKinsey & Company, January 2024

Understanding and prioritizing nurses’ mental health and well-being,” McKinsey & Company, November 2023

Reimagining the nursing workload: Finding time to close the workforce gap,” McKinsey & Company, May 2023

Nursing in 2023: How hospitals are confronting shortages,” McKinsey & Company, May 2023

Should I stay, or should I go? Australia’s nurse retention dilemma,” McKinsey & Company, September 2022

Around the world, nurses say meaningful work keeps them going,” McKinsey & Company, May 2022

Assessing the lingering impact of COVID-19 on the nursing workforce,” McKinsey & Company, May 2022

Women in healthcare and life sciences: The ongoing stress of COVID-19,” McKinsey & Company, April 2022

Surveyed nurses consider leaving direct patient care at elevated rates,” McKinsey & Company, February 2022

Nurses and the great attrition,” McKinsey & Company, January 2022

Increased workforce turnover and pressures straining provider operations,” McKinsey & Company, August 2021

Survey: US hospital patient volumes move back towards 2019 levels,” McKinsey & Company, August 2021

What’s next in nursing? Meet the McKinsey RNs working to find out,” McKinsey & Company, May 2021

Nursing in 2021: Retaining the healthcare workforce when we need it most,” McKinsey & Company, May 2021

Challenges emerge for the US healthcare system as COVID-19 cases rise,” McKinsey & Company, November 2020

Cutting through the COVID-19 surgical backlog,” McKinsey & Company, October 2020

Women in healthcare: Moving from the front lines to the top rung,” McKinsey & Company, August 2020

Future of nursing: Supporting nurses across settings,” McKinsey & Company, June 2020

To succeed in a healthcare transformation, focus on organizational health,” McKinsey & Company, July 2019

Women in the healthcare industry,” McKinsey & Company, June 2019

Why agility is imperative for healthcare organizations,” McKinsey & Company, May 2017

Beating the odds: Hiring and retaining an RN workforce to optimize patient outcomes and minimize unnecessary expense,” McKinsey & Company, December 2016

Optimizing the nursing skill mix: A win for nurses, patients, and hospitals,” McKinsey & Company, May 2014

Health-focused redesign: Creating a payor organization for the future,” McKinsey & Company, February 2014

Past experience

Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust
Hospital administrator in commercial strategy

Education

The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
BS, healthcare management

University of Pennsylvania
BS, nursing