Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Laura Dyrda on Healthcare Leadership, Workforce Strain and the Future of AI

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Laura Dyrda on Healthcare Leadership, Workforce Strain and the Future of AI · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system
• 0:04
  - leaders right now is not a short list.
• 0:07
  - Growth in a consolidating market, sustainable margins in
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  - a reimbursement environment that rarely moves in your
• 0:12
  - favor,
• 0:12
  - a tech investment cycle that demands both urgency
• 0:15
  - and discipline,
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  - and a workforce story that is still being
• 0:19
  - written.
• 0:20
  - Eker's fourteenth annual CEO CFO roundtable brings together
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  - more than 1,500 executive level attendees and nearly
• 0:27
  - 400 speakers across four days of sessions that
• 0:30
  - are designed to help c suite leaders benchmark,
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  - pressure test, and sharpen their priorities.
• 0:35
  - Not in the abstract, but against the real
• 0:37
  - decisions they'll face heading into the next year.
• 0:39
  - It's the kind of event you leave with
• 0:40
  - a clear sense of where you stand and
• 0:42
  - 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 Becker's Healthcare
• 1:01
  - podcast.
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  - Thrilled today to visit with Laura Dirda. Laura
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  - is the editor in chief of Becker's Healthcare
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  - and literally as good a professionals any ever
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  - had a chance to work with. The very
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  - best. We're gonna talk to Laura about health
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  - care in a second,
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  - but what not all of the audience knows
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  - is that Laura Dirda is a huge Chicago
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  - white sox fan
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  - who are having an unthinkable
• 1:25
  - renaissance. It's not that it's going that great,
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  - but after three one hundred lost seasons in
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  - a row,
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  - they're now above water and I think first
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  - or second in their division.
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  - And I wanted to get a couple seconds.
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  - And I know for our health care loyalist,
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  - this might be off track,
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  - but Laura's brilliant and a huge fan, and
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  - I loved her opinions.
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  - Before we get into health care, Laura,
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  - give me a couple thoughts on the White
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  - Sox renaissance
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  - and what this looks like, how they're doing
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  - currently,
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  - and a little bit there.
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  - Yeah. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Scott.
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  - And, yes, to your point, I think looking
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  - at where the White Sox are today,
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  - 68 wins, 63 losses, so above 500, which
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  - we'll definitely take after multiple 100 lost seasons.
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  - So that turnaround for sure is an exciting,
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  - thing to see within the clubhouse. I I
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  - think,
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  - in some ways, very relevant to health care
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  - when you're looking at different teams and and
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  - how,
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  - you wanna turn around, whether it's the culture,
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  - performance,
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  - and really make sure that everybody is growing
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  - in the same direction and and working towards
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  - the same goals. And so I think one
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  - of the things that really stands out to
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  - me, especially looking at this season for the
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  - White Sox, is,
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  - you know, they traded away a lot of
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  - their big name talent who had been underperforming
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  - and and brought in,
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  - new,
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  - I guess, players and and many young players
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  - as well as a few that, you know,
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  - were,
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  - not performing well in other teams and were
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  - able to bring them together in one clubhouse
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  - and,
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  - creates a type of culture that really, you
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  - know, is,
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  - high on work ethic and and also, you
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  - know, a group of people who really enjoy
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  - being together. And so I think that's one
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  - of the things that's been so fun about
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  - watching this White Sox team is there's not
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  - a ton of big names or or flashy
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  - plays. But at the end of the day,
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  - you can see how much fun everybody is
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  - having. And, truly, the the team, cares about
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  - each other and wants to do well and
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  - wants to win. And so it's been fun
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  - to be at the ballpark and watch the
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  - team every single day, and then the manager
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  - too will Venable,
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  - being able to,
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  - really truly kinda just talk through the simple
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  - things that they're trying to do, really cut
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  - through a lot of the noise and and
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  - and really focus in on the things that
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  - are gonna make the biggest difference,
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  - has been really refreshing. Taking accountability
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  - for the issues that they've had on the
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  - field and then being able to address them
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  - and see those changes and,
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  - watch the performance follow has been really exciting.
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  - So I think that's that's some of the
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  - biggest things that might takeaways for the season.
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  - It it let me tie this to health
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  - care for a second because I think one
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  - of the things you mentioned
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  - that is so evident. About a year or
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  - two ago, they went out and hired somebody
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  - who's a really well regarded
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  - manager, Will Venable.
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  - And I thought Will Venable
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  - was heading into an impossible situation
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  - just how bad the white sex has been
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  - the last several years.
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  - Talk for a second about the importance of
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  - leadership because I think that transitions so well
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  - into everything else, into health care and everything
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  - else.
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  - Talk a little bit about that, about the
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  - importance of leadership
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  - and, you know, can
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  - how much does a leader make a difference
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  - whether in business, in a health system, a
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  - surgery center,
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  - a physician leader, or a manager of a
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  - baseball team? How important is leadership?
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  - Leadership is incredibly important. I think, you know,
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  - there are,
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  - many different ways to approach leadership, and and
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  - teams need different things at different times. But
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  - at the end of the day, you know,
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  - one of the biggest,
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  - mantras that we hear isn't gonna be surprising
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  - to any leader, but it's so, so critical,
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  - and that's the ability to effectively communicate
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  - your message,
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  - you know, whether it's in
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  - Spanish or English for for a lot of
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  - the teams or or now, Japanese as well
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  - for the white sox. And then looking at
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  - how you're getting your message across, how you
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  - can really connect with the people on your
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  - team. And I think that's something
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  - that isn't always easy, but at the same
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  - time,
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  - that person to person human connection is something
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  - that is so critical within the health care
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  - space and within really any team that's trying
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  - to accomplish a big goal. And so I
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  - think that's one of the things that has
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  - really come out in the last, especially, season
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  - or two is, you know, looking at Will
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  - Venable as a leader is somebody who really
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  - was able to connect person to person who
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  - has been well respected by the players who
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  - he's worked with and and,
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  - truly somebody that they want to, do well
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  - for and wanna play for every single day.
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  - And so I think that's something, you know,
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  - you can have, again, many different leadership styles.
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  - But even if you're not the loudest person
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  - or or somebody who's gonna be the most
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  - dynamic,
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  - outwardly,
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  - if you've got those right relationships in place
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  - and,
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  - you can feel like the team trusts you
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  - and understands you and and you trust them
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  - to do their jobs too, I think it's
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  - something that really goes a long way when
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  - you're trying to build a team and a
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  - culture that's gonna be able to,
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  - be nimble no matter what's thrown at you
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  - and,
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  - truly can have that right investment within the
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  - players and within the team,
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  - to make a difference as you're going forward.
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  - And when things change, it'll then be a
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  - challenge, but also a huge opportunity to grow
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  - and develop and and become even stronger.
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  - Thank you very, very much. And and and
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  - talk for a second, Laura.
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  - We've talked about leadership. So I think that
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  - leadership aspect and it's been incredibly evident with
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  - the white sox. They've done so
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  - much with so little and made the players
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  - feel empowered, and that's a a rule or
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  - a truth for leadership in any sector.
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  - Transition over and talk about one of the
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  - health care stories that you're following currently
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  - that's having impact on health systems.
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  - Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So one of the things
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  - that I'm working on right now, that we're
• 7:06
  - we're still working through, but,
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  - and haven't published yet, but it kind of
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  - the themes really ring true to this discussion
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  - today. And as we had asked, several of
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  - our CEO and CFO
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  - roundtable speakers
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  - to comment on some of the biggest, and
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  - most dangerous trends that they're seeing out in
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  - the world right now and what they're thinking
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  - about as being the most dangerous trend going
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  - forward. And, you know, the clearest theme running
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  - through a good number of the responses was
• 7:33
  - looking at workforce strain. It's still thinking about
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  - burnout, loss of experienced clinicians,
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  - and retirement or attrition, and then compounded by
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  - growing reliance on, in some ways, agency or
• 7:44
  - locum staff again instead of the long term
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  - and invested teams. And so I think a
• 7:48
  - lot of leaders are really trying to figure
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  - out the right way that they can bring
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  - on strong teams, grow new leaders, and grow
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  - their talent pipelines. I know so many organizations
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  - are forming relationships with different institutions or colleges
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  - developing
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  - different, continuing education programs so that their teams
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  - and,
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  - current staff and employees can upscale
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  - and and really finding,
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  - ways that they can have a sustainable,
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  - pipeline into them, especially if they're rural community
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  - hospitals or in non urban spaces. I think
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  - that has been even more critical and elevated
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  - in a variety of different ways. And so
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  - I I I think that was kind of
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  - the biggest thing that stood out to me
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  - when I was looking at those trends is
• 8:29
  - it wasn't something huge, new, or flashy. But
• 8:31
  - at the end of the day,
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  - you know, finding new solutions to that problem
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  - has been really interesting to hear from so
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  - many different executives and leaders as they're looking
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  - toward the future and trying to plan more
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  - upstream than they have in the past.
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  - And then the second term that really emerged
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  - is looking at artificial intelligence. Some of the
• 8:47
  - leaders see a lot of hype around AI
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  - and and saw that as a danger, while
• 8:51
  - others warned against adopting it without governance or
• 8:54
  - emotional and ethical guardrails.
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  - And while others were, again, more worried about
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  - underinvesting
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  - and,
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  - not getting the right human judgment training and
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  - reskilling needed to make sure their teams are
• 9:08
  - ready for tomorrow.
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  - So organizations are kind of across the board.
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  - A lot happening with AI in different worries.
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  - But at the same time, many of them
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  - did see upside to incorporating it in the
• 9:19
  - right way and thinking through it. They just
• 9:21
  - are, uncertain about whether their execution is gonna
• 9:24
  - be correct and and know that they want
• 9:26
  - to make sure their teams are thinking about
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  - it correctly, doing it correctly, and bringing the
• 9:30
  - right results into their organization.
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  - I think executives are very much trying to
• 9:35
  - use this technology to bridge silos, making sure
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  - that their data is accurate and as clean
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  - as possible and then
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  - using it to make better decisions as they're
• 9:45
  - trying to figure out how to move patients
• 9:47
  - through their health care system more efficiently and
• 9:49
  - effectively.
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  - Thank you. It it is fascinating. Right? The
• 9:54
  - the amount that,
• 9:55
  - the changes are going on
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  - in
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  - use of artificial intelligence in the cascading use
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  - cases and how some systems are really finding
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  - ways to embrace it
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  - and others are struggling with it. And and
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  - also the concept of how much different
• 10:11
  - room people have and how they're approaching it
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  - is just fascinating.
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  - Absolutely. It's it's incredible to see and think
• 10:18
  - about. And I know more AI now is
• 10:19
  - going into the clinical space and clinical realm
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  - when you're thinking about how using ambient technology,
• 10:25
  - of course, number one. But then number two,
• 10:27
  - more and more accessible is the precision medicine,
• 10:31
  - the data around how you can make decisions,
• 10:33
  - and then what AI can actually do within
• 10:35
  - the clinical space, paired with humans and and
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  - just really,
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  - some incredible stuff going on, incredible work, but
• 10:42
  - also, you know, a lot to think about
• 10:44
  - and make sure that we have correct because
• 10:46
  - the stakes are so high in the clinical
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  - space.
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  - Fantastic.
• 10:51
  - Laura, I wanna thank you for joining us
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  - today. You are fantastic, and continue good luck
• 10:56
  - to health care AI and to the White
• 10:58
  - Sox. Thank you so much for joining us.
• 11:00
  - Thank you, Scott. I appreciate it.