Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Healthcare’s Biggest Challenges: Workforce, Access and AI with Laura Dyrda

Transcript

Healthcare’s Biggest Challenges: Workforce, Access and AI with Laura Dyrda · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system
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  - leaders right now is not a short list.
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  - Growth in a consolidating market, sustainable margins in
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  - a reimbursement environment that rarely moves in your
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  - favor,
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  - a tech investment cycle that demands both urgency
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  - and discipline,
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  - and a workforce story that is still being
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  - written.
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  - Eker's fourteenth annual CEO CFO roundtable brings together
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  - more than 1,500 executive level attendees and nearly
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  - 400 speakers across four days of sessions that
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  - are designed to help c suite leaders benchmark,
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  - pressure test, and sharpen their priorities.
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  - Not in the abstract, but against the real
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  - decisions they'll face heading into the next year.
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  - It's the kind of event you leave with
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  - a clear sense of where you stand and
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  - what comes next.
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  - So join us November second through the fifth
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  - at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago,
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  - and come ready to do the hard thinking.
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  - Register on our events page at beckershospitalreview.com
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  - by clicking on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
• 0:58
  - This is Scott Becker with the Beckers Health
• 1:01
  - Care Podcast.
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  - I'm thrilled today to be joined by genius
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  - editor in chief Laura Dirda.
• 1:07
  - And Laura joins us weekly or biweekly
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  - to discuss with us
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  - the big issues, the big stories that she's
• 1:15
  - following in health care. Laura, let me tee
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  - it up and have you take it away.
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  - What are a couple of the big stories
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  - that you're watching currently?
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  - Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Scott. And
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  - I think one of the big things that
• 1:26
  - we are keeping close eye on right now
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  - is just some of the trends and and
• 1:29
  - the challenges and the things that actually CEOs
• 1:32
  - and CFOs are saying are some of the
• 1:34
  - most dangerous trends in health care today.
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  - We asked all of our CEO and CFO
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  - speakers at our roundtable coming up in November
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  - what they think are some of the biggest
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  - and dangerous challenges. So what they said really
• 1:46
  - was the most common one was the workforce
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  - crisis really reaching a breaking point.
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  - Across the board, leaders are watching their workforce
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  - erode, and that's not just nursing. They're seeing
• 1:56
  - physicians, imaging technologists, respiratory therapists, behavioral health professionals,
• 2:00
  - and even nonclinical staff really,
• 2:03
  - having those shortages brought in and deepened in
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  - many markets. What makes this especially challenging is,
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  - that we're losing not only just headcount, but
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  - experience,
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  - institutional knowledge, mentorship, and the human connection that
• 2:16
  - really draws people into health care in the
• 2:18
  - first place. And they're not just sleeping because
• 2:21
  - of burnout,
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  - but really,
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  - having a a space and a spot where
• 2:25
  - they can have a flexible workplace somewhere they
• 2:28
  - really feel that mission driven, but also feel
• 2:30
  - like they have a great experience as an
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  - employee and a team member, is really top,
• 2:35
  - front, and center in having the the right
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  - work life balance too. And so a lot
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  - of the leaders we talked to mentioned
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  - wanting to have sustainable frontline roles, wanting to
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  - see what they can do in order to
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  - boost, their teams with technology
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  - and figure out ways to really make,
• 2:51
  - that health care working environment,
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  - something that they
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  - can really continue to grow in a sustainable
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  - way in the future as well as building
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  - a culture that the team can be proud
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  - of. I think, secondly,
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  - the big thing that came up across the
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  - board was looking at reimbursement.
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  - The cost of delivering care continues to rise
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  - faster than reimbursement, and health systems are being
• 3:10
  - squeezed in multiple directions, again, from the labor
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  - cost to,
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  - pharmaceutical
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  - supply, capital, and,
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  - where, in many cases, payers and policymakers
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  - are applying pressure from multiple sides. And so,
• 3:24
  - really, health system leaders are feeling squeezed, and
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  - this is especially true for safety net hospitals,
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  - community hospitals, or rural systems
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  - where those financial challenges, you know, really will
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  - lead to,
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  - very much,
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  - challenges that could be access to care issues
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  - where, you know, if they had to shut
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  - down or close services more,
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  - is really an existential crisis for them. And
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  - so,
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  - with that, we're seeing margins across the board
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  - in in many regards,
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  - Executive is paying closer attention to that, figuring
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  - out ways that they can really plan for
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  - the future and and find funding and new
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  - sources and support from their community as well
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  - as philanthropic efforts and then continue to find
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  - ways to invest in growth versus,
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  - being in survival mode as much as possible.
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  - And so I I think in some ways,
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  - we've seen some more transactions,
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  - coming out of that and more people looking
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  - for partners in traditional as well as nontraditional
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  - ways and really being resourceful within their communities.
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  - And then finally, I just wanted to mention
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  - and bring up the
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  - another trend that came up quite a bit
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  - is that executives are worried about the trust
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  - in health care voting and seeing real consequences
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  - from that. So patients are navigating an increasingly
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  - complex and fragmented as well as frustrating system
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  - for them, thinking about the payer side, prior
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  - authorizations,
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  - coverage disruptions,
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  - long waits to get health care, and then
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  - other administrative barriers that should be solved with
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  - some of the technology that we've seen come
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  - out. So these different friction points are also
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  - an opportunity for,
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  - the patients to disengage and and try to
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  - find more efficient, effective, and, consumer friendly ways
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  - to seek their care or not seek care
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  - at all. And, when patients then disengage from
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  - the health system, you know, their care is
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  - delayed. It's harder to win them back, and
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  - it becomes a challenge. And then the other
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  - thing that comes up too quite a bit
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  - is they're becoming more vulnerable to misinformation.
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  - They're asking AI about their health care issues
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  - and coming to appointments with,
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  - very,
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  - specific ideas about what their care plan should
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  - be even if that was rooted in not
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  - the best or most solid medical information,
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  - for their own situations in particular. So it
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  - can be a challenge for health care providers
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  - too to then reroute them and kinda reframe
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  - that care plan in a way that makes
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  - sense for that individual. And and so all
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  - of these things are coming together and compounding
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  - to make the trust in,
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  - health care and hospitals and those institutions,
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  - more challenging and and something that executives are
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  - thinking a lot about, trying to make sure
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  - their teams are ready and prepared for that
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  - and can continue to provide the right source
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  - of information and care for their patients, but
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  - also,
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  - rebuilding that trust across the community so that
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  - they can be seen as the place to
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  - turn to instead of anywhere else,
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  - for that information about what's the right kind
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  - of health,
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  - health information and what's they can trust in
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  - order to be healthy communities in the future.
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  - Thank you, Laura. Like, I read your article
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  - this weekend
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  - about the most dangerous trends in health care
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  - today,
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  - which was
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  - interviews,
• 6:22
  - compilations
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  - with about eight to 10
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  - CEOs
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  - of health systems.
• 6:28
  - And what struck out at me so much
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  - was the discussions
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  - that we have so often about just
• 6:34
  - supply and demand and what a challenging spot
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  - we are at supply and demand.
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  - There was also some great comments from Steve
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  - Davis
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  - of Cincinnati Children's Hospital about responsible
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  - use of
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  - AI and how we integrate that into health
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  - care.
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  - Any other themes that stuck out at you,
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  - or was supply and demand
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  - in access sort of the biggest theme that
• 6:58
  - stuck out at you? Yeah. Yeah. I mean,
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  - access stuck out, Todd. It was in almost
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  - every response, and so that wasn't necessarily surprising
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  - given,
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  - the conversations we've been having all year and
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  - and just the pressures that we've seen from
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  - a variety of different spaces. And now looking
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  - ahead to 2027,
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  - some of the changes that will be happening
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  - to, Medicaid
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  - and other policy changes for access to care.
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  - And so I think that's something that's front
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  - and center on their minds. I think the
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  - one thing that,
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  - or or angle of that that I hadn't
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  - anticipated
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  - quite as much is, you know, looking at,
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  - how
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  - AI
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  - is being
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  - thought about now within the health care system.
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  - I think, you know, there had been a
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  - lot of,
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  - different
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  - experiences and approaches over the last couple of
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  - years and
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  - some,
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  - optimism, some pessimism, some,
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  - really kind of challenging,
• 7:51
  - implementations and installations and others that went more
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  - smoothly. And so I think now we're it
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  - sounds like getting to a point where it's
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  - less about
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  - finding the right technology
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  - and and more about
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  - how the the system is, being strategically
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  - thoughtful on the way that they're preparing for
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  - the implementations, the way that they're, bringing technology
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  - into the system. And there's not, again, a
• 8:13
  - one size fits all solution. I I've heard
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  - from big systems and small systems alike that,
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  - are are going all in on, you know,
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  - trying to be more platform based and oriented
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  - in optimizing what they have within their EHRs
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  - and their EHR vendors. And then secondly, others
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  - that really truly feel the better best approach
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  - is,
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  - more of, you know, having the EHR, but
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  - also
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  - finding out what the best innovation is out
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  - there from some of the startups and and
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  - figuring out, you know, still a point solution,
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  - more strategy is something that they're interested and
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  - want to do just because they've got such
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  - a
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  - a a unique and wanna be able to
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  - work with them and customize it in a
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  - way that they can't do it with some
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  - of the larger platforms and don't wanna get
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  - stuck within just one large platform, basically. So
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  - it's it's been an interesting discussion and debate,
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  - but seeing that come through within these responses
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  - and some of the other conversations I've been
• 9:08
  - having is, definitely a testament to the way
• 9:11
  - hospitals and systems are thinking about technology. And,
• 9:14
  - again, you know, not necessarily,
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  - one gold standard response in the moment, but
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  - still a lot of,
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  - different possibilities and potential,
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  - you know, for for how how systems will
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  - think about things and are approaching their technology
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  - strategy in the future.
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  - Thank you very, very much. No. It's so
• 9:32
  - interesting to see what is going on currently
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  - in health care. It's so many different solutions
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  - that are trying to make the most
• 9:39
  - of what capacity is available or could be
• 9:41
  - made available.
• 9:42
  - But beyond trying to optimize capacity,
• 9:45
  - gotta figure out a way to have enough
• 9:47
  - doctors and specialists
• 9:49
  - to actually
• 9:50
  - avoid some of that burnout and and make
• 9:52
  - sure there's actually enough capacity to take care
• 9:55
  - of people. You know, you have the technology
• 9:56
  - people saying it's just a matter of filling
• 9:58
  - capacity right. And I think that's a helpful
• 10:00
  - solution, but we also need to have enough
• 10:03
  - capacity in total
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  - to have doctors be able to take care
• 10:06
  - of sick and challenging patients,
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  - without burning out.
• 10:10
  - Yeah. A 100%. I think the other thing
• 10:12
  - that I've heard from a variety of organizations
• 10:15
  - is they're stepping up their efforts in terms
• 10:17
  - of pipeline and,
• 10:19
  - education even within the community, whether it's supporting
• 10:22
  - continuing education and growth within their staff or
• 10:25
  - or, you know, adults that they wanna funnel
• 10:27
  - into their program or starting off with more
• 10:29
  - high school, middle school programs, even elementary school,
• 10:32
  - trying to get people thinking about the different
• 10:34
  - ways they can be in health care. That's
• 10:36
  - not just,
• 10:37
  - doctors and nurses, but a variety of the
• 10:40
  - clinical support that especially as technology
• 10:43
  - evolves and as the workforce evolves,
• 10:46
  - those types of roles can be really meaningful
• 10:48
  - without needing to go through all of medical
• 10:50
  - school,
• 10:51
  - residencies,
• 10:52
  - fellowships, everything else that takes years and years.
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  - But,
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  - you know, really, those who go do that
• 10:58
  - and invest in that can spend their time
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  - the most effective way possible. And then the
• 11:02
  - support around them,
• 11:03
  - can really help funnel patients through and still
• 11:06
  - get people to the right levels of care.
• 11:07
  - And so I think it's been just really
• 11:09
  - interesting to see,
• 11:10
  - the attack that we've had, from a variety
• 11:13
  - of health systems across the country in terms
• 11:15
  - of building these pipeline programs and support systems
• 11:18
  - for,
• 11:19
  - their overall workforce. So that's been, really interesting
• 11:22
  - and cool to see in a variety of
• 11:23
  - different ways.
• 11:25
  - Completely.
• 11:26
  - I I wanted one. Laura, just fantastic as
• 11:29
  - as always. Fast as these some of these
• 11:31
  - solutions. I was talking to somebody this morning
• 11:33
  - about a technology enabled solution to help screen
• 11:36
  - GI patients to get the right patients to
• 11:38
  - practice earlier. So many of these things. And
• 11:40
  - they go to
• 11:42
  - filling capacity, bringing in the right patients,
• 11:45
  - triaging,
• 11:46
  - and at the same time, we have to
• 11:47
  - move to the next step of having enough
• 11:49
  - capacity too. Laura, what a pleasure to visit
• 11:51
  - with you on the Becker's Healthcare podcast. You
• 11:53
  - are phenomenal. Thank you so much for joining
• 11:55
  - us today. Thank you so much, Scott. I
• 11:57
  - appreciate it.