Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Cautious Optimism and Innovation Shaping Healthcare’s Future with Laura Dyrda

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Cautious Optimism and Innovation Shaping Healthcare’s Future with Laura Dyrda · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare
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  podcast.
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  I'm thrilled today to be joined by Laura
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  Dirda.
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  Laura is the leader of the editorial team
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  at Becker's Healthcare, editor in chief, and she
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  joins us regularly to talk to us about
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  issues and and topics,
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  stories that she's watching in health care. Laura,
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  let let me ask you to to take
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  it away. What are a couple of the
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  biggest stories that you're watching currently in health
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  care?
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  Well, thank you so much, Scott. And, you
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  know, there's so much happening in the health
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  care space. It's it's really fascinating to see
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  how leaders are moving through. And one of
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  the things we did recently, we've got 900
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  speakers that are coming to our annual meeting
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  in April. And so we asked all of
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  them, whether they think the future of health
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  care is bright or dark. And, you know,
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  almost universally, the health system executives said that
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  they think the future is bright, but it
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  wasn't always without a catch. For a lot
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  of those major health systems that CEOs, CFOs,
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  clinical leaders, and community hospital leaders as well
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  talked about,
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  more having a dominant theme of cautious optimism.
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  So nobody really called the future dark outright
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  despite several challenges looking at reimbursement, looking at
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  staffing,
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  thinking through, you know, what supply costs are
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  gonna be and how they can continue to,
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  reinvent what they're doing at the health system
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  level and incorporate technology in a smart way.
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  So a lot of them use words like
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  opportunity or or malleable when they were talking
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  about the future and really feel like there
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  are opportunities to do some great things, but
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  but did, you know, very much,
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  hedge their bets on. They have to make
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  the right decisions today in order for the
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  future to be bright, and they're very much
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  so is a a future where it could
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  be a lot darker if if they don't
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  make the right decisions today. So I think
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  the first thing that we heard a lot
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  about, from these leaders was about AI and
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  technology.
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  It was the single most cited source of
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  hope,
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  which is a fascinating turn of events from
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  a couple years ago. But the numbers, you
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  know, are also backing that up from some
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  of the data that we have seen from
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  organizations like the AMA who reported that physician
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  use of AI tools jumped about 38 from
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  38%
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  in 2023
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  to 66%
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  in 2024, which is about a 78%
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  increase in a single year and has continued
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  to increase since. I I know most hospitals
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  and systems now are either incorporating
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  ambient AI and technology into note taking or
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  have plans to do so, and it it
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  really truly is something that's making a big
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  difference across health systems.
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  The journal of the American Medical Informatics Association
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  also found that ambient AI documentation
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  was the only use case where every health
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  system that they surveyed in their particular report
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  had already adopted it and really felt like
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  it was giving time back to the clinicians
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  and showing a return on investment
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  rather than, you know, just being,
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  a a huge financial investment. So that was
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  the first big shift that we're seeing, and
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  I know now organizations' systems are trying to
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  go past that and figure out what their
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  next, journey is gonna be with AI, trying
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  to figure out how they can use agents
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  more effectively in operations and and be more
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  predictive in clinical support. So it's fascinating to
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  see that, and and I I think technology
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  will be a big part of kind of,
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  like, the second big theme that emerged was
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  really a redesign of how health care is
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  delivered.
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  So a lot of those executives and leaders
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  said they feel like the the future could
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  be bright as long as they are actually
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  transforming and using the technology, using that,
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  information,
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  and using the tools they have available to
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  actually change the workflow flows and change how
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  their organization thinks about care delivery,
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  to go from hospital centric and to treat
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  it when it's broken model into more of
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  a proactive community based,
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  in in hub and spoke or or outpatient
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  and virtual care model where where they're providing
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  a lot of different entry points to health
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  care, but really being more convenient for their
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  patient population and working with them more on
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  on, you know, wellness and keeping control of
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  their symptoms versus being,
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  more reactive health systems. So some health systems
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  are already reporting dramatic results, including Maine Health,
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  which said it had a ninety percent reduction
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  in sixty day readmissions
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  after contacting patients with community connecting patients with
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  community health workers and really using technology to
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  more smartly manage that care. So, again, that's
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  been really fascinating to see and something that
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  we'll continue to keep an eye on.
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  No. And that and that's fantastic. So it
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  it it's nice to hear from cautious optimism
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  from our health system leaders. That that's really
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  fantastic.
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  Tell us, Laura, what other stories are you
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  watching closely? And and I'd love to hear
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  the the uptake of technology
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  so critical to sort of triaging the health
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  system so we get the more complicated things
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  to,
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  to the to the place where they have
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  to go to so that we could triage
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  so much through
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  technology and and other
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  methods. So so fantastic.
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  What else are you watching closely?
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  Yeah. Definitely. So we're continuing to watch kind
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  of a financial situation for a lot of,
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  hospitals and systems. Obviously, we're seeing some of
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  the larger systems pull away and and and,
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  you know,
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  be able to increase their margins. I know,
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  some regional systems as well as well have
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  been able to have some,
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  important margin increases. But, you know, for rural
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  health care, we're looking out and seeing continued,
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  strain and challenges. I think overall,
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  you know, the start to the 2020,
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  six has been,
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  you know, a little bit more stable and
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  not overall seeing a huge growth. And so
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  especially for rural health systems and safety net
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  hospitals and providers, we're looking out and and,
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  trying to find the the places where innovation
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  is happening, a lot of partnerships, and,
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  truly, you know, more of a,
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  space where they're they're trying to figure out
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  how to keep services, what services they need
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  to,
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  continue to double down on, and how they
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  can use some of their rural health transformation
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  program funding,
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  to bring in more specialists, more talent, as
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  well as, think through the future. So I
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  I know we've launched our rural health care
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  leadership summit, which will be in June. And
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  and we're excited to bring a lot of
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  those leaders together to talk about, you know,
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  how they
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  are transforming rural health care, what they're doing
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  to, you know, keep the doors open today,
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  but then also plan for the future and
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  and some of the skill sets and,
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  you know, ways that the leaders are evolving,
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  to actually add services
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  instead of, contract them. So, that's been really
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  interesting to have a lot of those conversations
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  and think through how, you know, organizations are,
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  using their funding appropriately and and where the
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  best opportunities are gonna be for rural health
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  care in the future.
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  Thank you very, very much.
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  Laura, anything else that you're watching
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  currently closely?
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  Yes. So a couple other quick items I
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  wanted to note. I I think, like,
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  you know, right after the pandemic, there was
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  a a big explosion,
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  especially of,
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  health systems kind of trying to figure out
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  where they're gonna invest in virtual technologies
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  and what's the innovation platform's gonna look like
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  in in those things. And then over the
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  last year, that's quite a bit, but we're
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  seeing some of those investments come back. And
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  I'll say in the last week, we've seen,
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  Mayo Clinic join the investor group in a
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  525,000,000
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  series g funding for,
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  Whoop, which is the wearables technology company. The
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  firm is valued at $10,100,000,000
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  and has over 2,500,000
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  members globally
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  and continues to hire for new roles, etcetera.
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  And so they're seeing a lot of growth.
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  And Mayo Clinic, it seems like has, you
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  know, invested there,
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  I'm sure in part to,
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  bring the technology into what they're doing. A
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  huge,
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  you know, Mayo Clinic platform has a bunch
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  of data, information, technology, how they really,
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  move through that space with other health systems
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  that they work with, and then, being able
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  to have that clinical data too I know
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  is so helpful and critical for patients
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  who are going through
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  a variety of, their health care journey, whether
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  it's wellness journey or whether they're managing chronic
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  diseases and illness and those kinds of things.
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  And so to see that kind of investment
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  is fascinating.
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  And then the digital,
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  venture arm of, Vonsecuir's
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  Mercy Health, which is called Accrete Health Partners,
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  also reported leading a $7,000,000
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  series a funding,
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  or investment in workforce startup, Dfinity.
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  The company offers vendor neutral staffing platform for
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  hospitals and health systems.
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  And in bones of Koros Mercy Health, which
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  is a 48 hospital system, signed on to
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  become a strategic partner,
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  to better manage the temporary workforce and develop
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  a data driven labor strategy,
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  for the system. So in that case, that
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  partnership is really built upon how both sides
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  can benefit each other, and I am sure
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  we'll continue to,
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  see some growth in those types of ventures
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  as well.
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  Literally fantastic.
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  Thank you, Laura. Laura, it's always great to
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  visit with you. I know we'll see you
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  shortly at the annual meeting.
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  I know that meeting is oversold.
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  900 speakers, thousands and thousands of attendees.
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  Can't wait to get to visit with you
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  there and and take the pulse of the
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  health care industry. Thank you so much for
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  joining us. Absolutely. Thank you, Scott.