Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Rural Healthcare Leadership, Workforce Strategy, and Access Innovation with Kyle Kramer

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Rural Healthcare Leadership, Workforce Strategy, and Access Innovation with Kyle Kramer · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  - At Insight Global Health, we are dedicated to
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  - helping you and improving health care for everyone.
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  - the problems that we face in health care.
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  - We're not just promising you results, we are
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  - delivering them. Visit us at insightglobal.com.
• 0:26
  - This is Haley Recker with the Becker's Healthcare
• 0:28
  - podcast. And today, we are recording live at
• 0:30
  - the Becker's twenty twenty six annual meeting.
• 0:33
  - Right now, I am joined by Kyle Kramer,
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  - CEO of DayKimbell Health. Kyle, thank you so
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  - much for joining me today. It's an absolute
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  - pleasure. Thanks for having me. Now to start,
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  - could you briefly introduce yourself, your role, and
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  - the scope of your organization?
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  - Sure. My name is Kyle Kramer. As as
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  - you mentioned, I am the CEO for Day
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  - Kimbell Health, which is a rural health
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  - system in Northeast Connecticut. We're comprised of 104
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  - beds, 22 bassinets,
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  - and we have four ambulatory sites across our
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  - region. We are the only health care provider
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  - in Northeast Connecticut,
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  - and we are as far north and east
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  - in Connecticut as you can possibly go without
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  - being in Massachusetts
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  - or Rhode Island. So we serve an interesting
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  - rural geography
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  - that is challenged by transportation
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  - access
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  - as well as a a very small population.
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  - Thank you so much for that introduction.
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  - Now to begin our conversation,
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  - in a year marked by rapid change, what
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  - recent decision or pivot required the most leadership
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  - conviction from you, particularly when it came to
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  - aligning people, resources, or capabilities?
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  - So as a rural health care provider, obviously,
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  - we have unique challenges
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  - and challenges that actually are very different from
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  - what our urban counterparts face. In small geographies,
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  - we obviously serve
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  - a smaller community. And in a rural geography
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  - in particular, we serve a population that actually
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  - is committed
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  - to jobs that are farm based, ranch based,
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  - small businesses that make it even more difficult
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  - for them to
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  - leave their place of business or their farms
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  - to pursue health care. So
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  - things like the rural transformation
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  - fund, which was a part of HR one,
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  - become a big deal for us because it
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  - gives us the opportunity
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  - to
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  - hopefully, and potentially introduce additional resources to the
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  - market, stabilize our workforce,
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  - in particular, our provider workforce because in rural
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  - areas, it's also
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  - a lot harder to recruit physicians and nurses
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  - into those types of geographies.
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  - And when we consider that most of our
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  - medical training programs and nursing schools are in
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  - urban environments,
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  - the candidates that are coming out of, those
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  - training programs have generally not been exposed to
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  - what it's like in a rural geography. So
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  - that adds to the the challenge, but it
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  - also amplifies the opportunity that we have through
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  - things like the rural transformation fund.
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  - And how does that challenge your assumptions, and
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  - what did it change about your approach to
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  - decision making?
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  - So, obviously, as a rural health care provider,
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  - we we do a lot of the same
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  - things that our urban counterparts do in terms
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  - of providing
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  - life saving, stabilizing care,
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  - but we also have to be much more
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  - nimble and much more population focused in terms
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  - of the types of services that we develop,
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  - advance, and deliver.
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  - We've got to be
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  - very keen on population health management from the
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  - standpoint of specific specialties that we know an
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  - aging population might need more of. Or if
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  - we're looking at introducing a new program
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  - that might involve different types of procedural capabilities,
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  - we've gotta make sure that we have enough
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  - volume opportunity to maintain competency.
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  - And where we don't, we have to look
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  - for extension of programs through partnerships with larger
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  - organizations.
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  - And when you think about the forces reshaping
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  - health care right now, where do you believe
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  - leaders need to be more decisive, especially when
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  - balancing speed, risk, and having the right teams
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  - in place?
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  - So I would say that if
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  - if we really boil it all down, one
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  - of the most crucial elements of health care
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  - leadership today is
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  - ensuring that we keep the main thing the
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  - main thing, and that's focusing on the population
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  - and the patients that we serve. The decisions
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  - that we're making right now
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  - obviously have to serve the community,
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  - engage
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  - people where they are in their own lives
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  - and in their own health care journeys, and
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  - we've gotta make sure that we have the
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  - ability to specifically meet those needs while providing
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  - a level of service access that that they
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  - can actually engage with and afford.
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  - In rural health care, we really think about
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  - three primary tenants, and that's access,
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  - equitability of distribution,
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  - and affordability.
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  - And all of those are things that we've
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  - gotta be able to move on a dime
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  - with.
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  - And if we don't, obviously, we have the
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  - potential that patients fall through gaps. Outcomes aren't
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  - where they should be, and patients obviously have
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  - them the opportunity or the potential for
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  - having disease amplification and becoming even more acute,
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  - which leads to a higher level of cost.
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  - And as uncertainty has become the norm, what
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  - leadership habit or mindset has been most critical
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  - in keeping your organization and your people moving
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  - forward?
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  - So I would say that
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  - uncertainty
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  - or change or evolution have always been a
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  - part of health care. So I don't know
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  - that it's really different today than it has
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  - been. I think what is of paramount importance
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  - is that we have a lot more people
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  - who are paying attention to outcomes. They're paying
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  - attention
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  - to wellness in ways that heretofore,
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  - they have not. We have more people with
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  - more access to information at their fingertips
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  - with websites, with other types of data portals.
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  - And because of that, we've got to work
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  - very diligently to stay two or three steps
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  - ahead,
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  - always focused on delivering an experience that any
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  - one of us would want to receive if
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  - we were a patient,
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  - but being specific enough to meet the needs
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  - of the population that we're serving.
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  - To wrap up our conversation today, how are
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  - shifting workforce
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  - expectations around flexibility, purpose, and mobility influencing
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  - how you design roles, schedules, or care teams
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  - today?
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  - That's a very interesting question, and I think
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  - there's a couple of ways to think about
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  - it. In
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  - urban environments where you have more academic or
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  - large medical center type facilities
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  - and you have higher populations,
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  - it's a little bit easier to design workforce
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  - because you have a lot of people to
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  - draw from. In a rural geography where we
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  - deal with a smaller population to begin with,
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  - it already
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  - creates a challenge for us from a recruitment
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  - standpoint.
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  - But when we think about workforce shortages, we
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  - think about the fact that our nursing
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  - cohort is is getting older, and we have
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  - more and more of those
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  - very experienced, highly skilled,
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  - long standing employees retiring.
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  - We've gotta think about how we structure jobs
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  - differently, how we structure
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  - recruitment packages and opportunities in a way that's
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  - more attractive to a younger workforce
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  - that's a bit more nimble, a lot more
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  - dynamic, and doesn't necessarily
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  - want to
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  - to be in the same type of a
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  - situation that a lot of their
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  - their more experienced colleagues are. They they want
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  - flexibility in schedules. They want to be present
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  - for their children's
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  - soccer game or their t ball game or
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  - their school player, whatever the case may be.
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  - We've gotta meet those
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  - potential or existing employees where they are in
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  - life. We've gotta structure their roles in ways
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  - that give them some of that flexibility.
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  - And we've also gotta create incentives
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  - for continued growth and development that keep them
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  - engaged, keep them wanting to be a part
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  - of the organization.
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  - And that always has been a challenge. It
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  - will continue to be a challenge, but I
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  - think with the younger generation being a little
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  - bit more me focused,
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  - not necessarily
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  - like some of their more experienced colleagues, those
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  - challenges become even more intense.
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  - And that's obviously part of what
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  - keeps us awake at night on some levels,
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  - but it's also what keeps those of us
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  - who've been around a while maybe a little
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  - bit younger.
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  - And that's also kind of fun, and that's
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  - where, you know, that's where the sweet spot
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  - really exists.
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  - Absolutely.
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  - Well, that's it for today's conversation. I really
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  - enjoyed our time today, Kyle. Thank you so
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  - much for joining me. Again, we are live
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  - at the Becker's twenty twenty six annual meeting.
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  - Thank you. It's such a pleasure. Thank you
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  - so much.