Becker’s Healthcare Podcast Scaling Ambulatory Quality and Depression Screening at Northwell Health with Nancy Beran, MD
Feb 24, 2026
Nancy Beran, MD, Vice President and Chief Quality Officer of Ambulatory Care at Northwell Health and internist who co-founded a women's health practice. She discusses scaling a PHQ-2 depression screening to 700,000 patients and building workflows with behavioral health navigation. She outlines redesigning ambulatory quality oversight across 1,000 sites and aligning data, staffing, and Epic integration for standardized care.
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Ambulatory Care Is Becoming More Complex And Widespread
- Ambulatory care is handling increasingly complex procedures as care migrates from hospitals to outpatient settings.
- Northwell now supports over 1,000 ambulatory sites, creating scale and complexity that demand new quality and safety approaches.
Systemwide Depression Screening Scaled From Pilot To 700K Patients
- Northwell implemented system-wide depression screening starting with a 2024 pilot in ENT and expanding system-wide in 2025.
- The program screened over 700,000 unique patients using PHQ-2, routed positives to primary care or behavioral health navigation, and added collaborative care and telehealth links.
Pair Depression Screening With Navigation And Embedded Care
- Pair screening with capacity to connect patients to care by building behavioral health navigation and collaborative care teams.
- Northwell embedded social workers in specialty offices, created a behavioral health service line, and partnered with telehealth vendors for urgent access.