Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / The Next Era of Primary Care: AI, Affordability, and Independent Practice with Shawn Martin

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The Next Era of Primary Care: AI, Affordability, and Independent Practice with Shawn Martin · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - There's a small circle of people who truly
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  - understand what it takes to lead a health
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  - system right now. The decisions are enormous.
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  - The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
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  - of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
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  - That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
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  - And it's why the most effective c suite
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  - leaders are deliberate about where they go to
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  - pressure test their thinking.
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  - Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable
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  - brings together more than 1,500
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  - executive level attendees
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  - and nearly 400 speakers for four days built
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  - around growth, financial sustainability,
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  - workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
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  - have easy answers.
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  - Join us November second through the fifth in
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  - Chicago.
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  - For the agenda and event details,
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  - visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  - and click on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
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  - This is Laura Dirdo with the Becker's Healthcare
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  - podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  - Sean Martin, executive vice president and chief executive
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  - officer at the American Academy of Family Physicians.
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  - Sean, it's a pleasure to have you on
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  - the podcast today. Laura, thank you so much
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  - for the invitation. I'm looking forward to it.
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  - Absolutely. Now I'm excited for our conversation. I
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  - know there's a lot of great work that
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  - you're doing, with the academy, and, certainly, we'll
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  - be excited to learn more about some of
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  - the,
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  - initiatives that you're working on and successes you're
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  - seeing as well as your focus for the
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  - next few years. But before we dig in,
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  - can you tell us just a little bit
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  - more about yourself and your background?
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  - Sure. So I'm a native of Oklahoma. Grew
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  - up in rural Oklahoma. And,
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  - after my education, I went to the graduate
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  - school in New Hampshire and,
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  - made my way to Washington DC, and I
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  - really have spent most of my career working
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  - for physician organizations.
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  - I was a senior vice president at the
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  - AFP, largely working on payment and workforce policies,
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  - before I became CEO on 03/11/2020
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  - and,
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  - navigated the organization through the COVID pandemic and
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  - then,
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  - have been really honored to lead the work,
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  - that we've been doing moving forward, since then.
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  - Absolutely. What what a fascinating time to to
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  - take the leadership role of the organization, and
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  - I can imagine,
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  - you know, a a lot of stories coming
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  - through that time. But, you know, in in
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  - the, interest of of focusing it on where
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  - we're at today, could you give us a
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  - state of the union for,
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  - AFP? What has gone well this year, and
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  - what do you focus on for the rest
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  - of twenty twenty six?
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  - Sure. Well, we, I thought the World Cup
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  - went great. That's not really what you asked
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  - me about, but I thought that was a
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  - high bar mark for something that high watermark
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  - for something that went well.
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  - For us, I think I think we're really
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  - pleased right now with the expansion
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  - of primary care delivery models, particularly those that
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  - are focused on independent practices. I think we
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  - have been concerned for a while about the
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  - pendulum swing as hospitals and health systems
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  - began to rethink their
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  - primary care strategies, but we're seeing a lot
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  - of really solid investment in primary care, particularly
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  - independent community based models.
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  - And I think at the tip of that
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  - spear is really direct primary care and direct
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  - contracting,
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  - which is creating a lot of opportunity for
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  - my members,
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  - to create,
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  - new approaches to caring for communities
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  - that are, you know, really aligned with the
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  - core values of family medicine.
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  - We continue to be heavily focused on affordability.
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  - I think the affordability issue is the defining
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  - debate of the next
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  - six months to three years.
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  - I think it will,
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  - similar to 2008, emerge as a major issue
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  - in the presidential election in a couple years.
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  - And I I think like most organizations and
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  - most CEOs, I'm spending a lot of time
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  - thinking about that.
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  - Got it. That makes a lot of sense.
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  - You know, it is really helpful to understand
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  - all of the different dynamics going on in
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  - the health care space today.
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  - So, you know, truly, truly interesting.
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  - I'm curious as you're looking at, moving forward,
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  - thinking about the independent practice, thinking about everything
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  - else that,
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  - is coming down the pipe. What are some
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  - of the big headwinds that you're have your
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  - eye on and are preparing for?
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  - Yeah. I think there are three major ones
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  - that I would share with you. I think
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  - one is this,
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  - kinda AI battle that's taking place in the
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  - coding space where,
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  - downcoding
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  - by payers and,
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  - you know, my members and others on the
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  - kind of care delivery side using AI to
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  - maximize
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  - documentation
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  - and coding. And,
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  - I think it's just creating a lot of
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  - tension, and,
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  - I don't know that it's great. You know,
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  - I I think it's just an economic headwind
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  - that's really putting a lot of pressure, downward
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  - pressure
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  - on particularly smaller practices, but I I think
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  - that concerns me. The other one for us
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  - in the physician space is just the policies
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  - around student loans.
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  - It's it's creating a lot of financial headwinds
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  - for medical students, residents,
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  - new to practice physicians. There's a lot of
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  - uncertainty about what is actually happening in the
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  - policy space and regulatory space,
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  - what it's gonna look like moving forward, and
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  - how these physicians are going to,
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  - you know, plan one to manage their debt,
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  - but also two to, you know, create a
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  - a financial pathway forward for them and their
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  - families. And then the third one, again, I'll
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  - come back to it. I think the the
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  - economic headwind of just affordability of everything,
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  - but affordability
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  - inside health care
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  - is much bigger than I think we realize,
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  - and I think it's going to start to
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  - become a really loud
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  - national conversation,
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  - more something it already is.
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  - Got it. I I think that makes a
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  - lot of sense. And, you know, to your
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  - point,
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  - the financial aspects of health care certainly
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  - are ones that,
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  - you know, are a challenging discussion have been
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  - so, so necessary when you think about not
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  - only
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  - the health of, provider organizations, but also, you
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  - know, what the affordability for health care will
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  - be.
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  - So when you look at the work that
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  - you do, you know, with the
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  - academy as well as, with legislators in Washington
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  - DC, what are,
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  - you know, is the tenure, I guess, of
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  - the discussions there? Are you seeing movement in
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  - the right direction when you connect with lawmakers
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  - and policymakers,
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  - or,
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  - is it still kind of an uphill battle?
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  - No. I mean, I think we're in a
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  - good it's always an uphill battle.
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  - But I think we're, you know, in a
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  - good position. There's a there's a lot of
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  - recognition of the value
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  - of comprehensive and continuous primary care right now.
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  - I think we see a lot of investment
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  - of intellectual capital into making it better.
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  - I think we actually see regulatory
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  - movement. I thought
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  - the Medicare physician fee schedule, while it has
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  - some challenges, was a real signal,
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  - a directional signal of greater investment in primary
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  - care, both from a financial perspective, but also
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  - just,
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  - from a foundational perspective of making sure people
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  - have access to comprehensive and continuous primary care.
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  - So I I think, Laura, we we see
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  - positive signs.
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  - Positive signs have to be built,
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  - into, you know, positive policies, but I I
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  - think we are,
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  - optimistic about our ability to, to do that.
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  - That makes a lot of sense. And, you
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  - know, thank you so much for digging a
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  - little bit deeper there. Now when you look
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  - over the next two to three years or
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  - so, where are some of the best opportunities
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  - to grow? What do you see, if you
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  - look a little bit into your crystal ball?
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  - Yeah. I I love this question. I I
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  - think we're at,
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  - you know, family medicine and primary care have
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  - really had three renaissance errors, and I I
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  - think we are, you know, looking at kind
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  - of that fourth one.
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  - I think comprehensive,
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  - continuous,
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  - AI supported family medicine and primary care models,
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  - have a moment in front of them. And
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  - and I think this concept of,
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  - you know, like super primary care or the
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  - super generalist as Bob Walker likes to call
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  - it,
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  - is not unrealistic.
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  - And and I think
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  - because of their capabilities
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  - and and the the depth and breadth of
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  - services that family physicians can provide in all
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  - kinds of settings,
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  - I think there's a moment for family medicine
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  - to really grow in meaningful ways. And,
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  - because they can be deployed to any care
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  - setting, hospitals, communities, community health centers, independent practices,
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  - they are unique in their ability to meet
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  - the needs of
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  - individuals, families, and communities, and I think we're
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  - really eager to build that case and build
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  - support systems around them.
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  - I love that. You know, so such important,
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  - reminders and ways to really,
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  - think through what's gonna be most beneficial for
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  - the patients and how to, leverage the technology
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  - that is available,
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  - to, you know, make some of those things
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  - that were in the past, you know, a
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  - dream into reality.
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  - Now from your perspective, when you think about
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  - leadership,
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  - who is a leader that you admire really
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  - from any industry and why?
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  - I I I struggled here. I'm not really
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  - admiring him right now, but I am spending
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  - a lot of time reading Adam Grant.
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  - And I've I'm actually have gone back and
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  - reread his book Originals, and part of it
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  - is is consistent with the conversation we're having,
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  - Laura. I think he does a really interesting
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  - job of framing up
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  - how to look at old problems with new
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  - solutions, and
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  - that's kinda where my headspace is right now.
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  - I I don't think these problems are new
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  - to us. I think they've been around in
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  - various forms for decades, and,
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  - we have,
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  - you know, taken
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  - modest approaches to fixing them. But I I
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  - think Adam does just a brilliant job of
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  - talking about,
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  - you know, how to take disruptive views that
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  - hold problems and really
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  - create new opportunities or new industries or new
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  - products. And when I think about family medicine
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  - and primary care, I'm thinking about how do
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  - we disrupt and create a new version of
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  - primary care or family medicine,
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  - to meet the problems of today and tomorrow.
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  - And so I I'm really enjoying rereading that
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  - book, and, I admire him as a writer,
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  - but I don't know that I admire him,
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  - you know, in the way you're asking the
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  - question. But that's where I'm spending my time.
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  - Yeah. I know. I mean, I think that's
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  - very helpful and and certainly a great context
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  - when you look at, you know, where the
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  - industry's at today and where an innovation can
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  - come from. I think most leaders would agree,
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  - you know, a lot of the the issues
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  - they're going through are variations on a theme
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  - or things that, have plagued health care for
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  - a long time. And and so I love
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  - that idea of being able to, identify some
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  - of that and then the leaders who can,
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  - think differently about it and disrupt in the
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  - health justice.
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  - Sean, thank you so much for joining us
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  - on the podcast today. This has been a
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  - ton of fun, a really great conversation,
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  - and I look forward to talking to you
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  - again soon. That sounds great. Thank you, Laura.