Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / AI, Relocation, and the Future of Talent Acquisition with Jeff Ellman and Michael Krasman
Transcript
- 0:02- There's a version of AI in health care
- 0:03- that lives mostly in press releases,
- 0:06- pilot programs, partnership announcements,
- 0:08- theoretical use cases.
- 0:10- And then there's the version that lives in
- 0:12- the work, the CIO trying to get a
- 0:15- model into production
- 0:16- without breaking a dozen workflows,
- 0:18- the revenue cycle leader weighing automation against accuracy,
- 0:22- the CISO who knows that every new integration
- 0:26- attack service.
- 0:27- Becker's eleventh annual IT and revenue cycle conference
- 0:31- is built for the people doing that work.
- 0:33- More than 2,500
- 0:35- executive level attendees,
- 0:37- 600 plus speakers,
- 0:38- and four days of sessions designed around the
- 0:41- real operational questions
- 0:43- behind AI, cybersecurity,
- 0:45- revenue cycle performance, and digital health.
- 0:48- Join us September 14 through the seventeenth.
- 0:51- For the agenda and event details, visit beckershospitalreview.com
- 0:55- and click on the events tab in the
- 0:57- upper right.
- 0:59- This is Scott Becker with a special episode
- 1:02- of the Becker Business and Becker's Healthcare podcast.
- 1:05- I'm thrilled today to be joined by two
- 1:08- brilliant entrepreneurs,
- 1:09- who are the founders of a company called
- 1:11- Urban Bound. They work a lot with health
- 1:14- systems, brilliant people.
- 1:17- Jeff and and Michael, let me ask you
- 1:18- each to take a moment to introduce yourself,
- 1:21- then we'll talk about the core of what
- 1:22- you do, how it's evolving, where you're most
- 1:25- focused, and a lot more.
- 1:27- Jeff and Michael, can I ask the two
- 1:28- of you to introduce yourselves and tell us
- 1:30- a little bit about your backgrounds? Thank you,
- 1:32- Scott. My name is Jeff Hellman. I'm one
- 1:34- of the cofounders of UrbanBound. Michael, you wanna
- 1:35- introduce yourself? Yeah. I'm Michael Krasman. I'm the
- 1:37- other cofounder here at Urban Bound.
- 1:40- Tell us what Urban Bound does.
- 1:42- Sure. So I'm gonna go back to actually
- 1:44- Scott, I had a chance to read your
- 1:45- your recent book, Building Great Businesses. And in
- 1:48- that book, you actually talk about
- 1:49- turning problems into opportunities.
- 1:52- So Michael and I, have owned several companies
- 1:54- together. One of the companies we own was
- 1:56- a recruitment
- 1:57- organization where we saw
- 1:59- all of our clients that had a lot
- 2:00- of out of market hires
- 2:02- were typically dropping the ball when someone had
- 2:04- to move for that job. And when we
- 2:05- looked at health care, we saw that most
- 2:07- health care systems today, when they have to
- 2:09- recruit talent and that talent was not in
- 2:11- their own backyard,
- 2:12- typically, they treat relocation
- 2:14- as, like, here's some money. Here's a lump
- 2:16- sum of money or reimbursement for your relocation,
- 2:19- and they leave everything to chance.
- 2:21- So our goal was to look at this
- 2:22- health care industry and say, how do we
- 2:24- actually improve the odds of attracting talent and
- 2:26- finding ways to lower cost, improve operational efficiencies,
- 2:30- and create a joyful experience
- 2:32- to help win this war for talent?
- 2:34- Michael, you wanna add some color to that?
- 2:36- Yeah. And, you know, Jeff and I have
- 2:38- been working together for, jeez, over twenty five
- 2:40- years at this point. And so we're, you
- 2:42- know, obsessed with this intersection of where HR
- 2:45- and technology can really come together to really
- 2:48- improve
- 2:49- overall operations for our clients, these, you know,
- 2:52- these large health care systems, and of course,
- 2:54- these relocating families. So that's really what UrbanBound's
- 2:57- all about. That's what we're focused on day
- 2:58- in day out. Yeah. And the goal is
- 3:00- really to to bring the entire experience, like,
- 3:02- into one platform
- 3:03- so the health care systems can create, like,
- 3:05- a more consistency, more transparency,
- 3:08- give our recruitment leaders the opportunity to see
- 3:09- exactly where every candidate is in the journey
- 3:11- throughout their move. And then we want our
- 3:13- clients
- 3:14- to be able to fill these critical roles
- 3:15- at a faster pace,
- 3:17- making sure every relocate employee feels supported from
- 3:19- the moment they accept that job offer. Because
- 3:21- too often, once again, relocation
- 3:23- is simply left a chance and and should
- 3:25- not be a gamble when it's taking nine
- 3:26- months to fill that key role, and then
- 3:28- we just hope you show up to on
- 3:29- day one for your start date.
- 3:31- Talk about that. So all of us have
- 3:33- had that nightmare where we hire somebody, and
- 3:35- two days before they're supposed to start, they
- 3:37- they decide that they're not taking the job
- 3:39- or they've you you've seen, you've sort of
- 3:41- watched. They're not taking all those steps to
- 3:43- move to the community that you need, particularly
- 3:46- in the physician or nursing area,
- 3:48- where systems are very much
- 3:50- invested in having the people come and start,
- 3:53- and it's critical.
- 3:54- Talk about how you fit into that and
- 3:57- how you got started with sort of this
- 3:58- type of service and business.
- 4:01- Yeah. First of all, there's a there's a
- 4:02- big gap, you know. So without without UrbanBound,
- 4:05- if you look at the health care system
- 4:06- and why they're surprised when someone doesn't show
- 4:08- up to work on day one or whatever
- 4:09- it might be, is because if the moment
- 4:11- an offer is accepted
- 4:13- to the moment someone actually show up to
- 4:14- work and perform the job, there's this gap
- 4:16- in time where too often it it's just
- 4:19- every everything's left to chance. So if there's
- 4:21- great software that's managing the entire process,
- 4:24- the recruiter can actually log in and say,
- 4:25- okay. Where is this physician? Where is this
- 4:27- executive
- 4:28- at in this journey? Oh, I can see
- 4:30- that, you know, they've already been connected with
- 4:32- a a local van line. They've found temporary
- 4:34- housing. They booked their final travel. Looks like
- 4:36- they're exploring neighborhoods within the platform to be
- 4:38- able to find the right place to live.
- 4:40- So there's no surprises when you're leveraging software
- 4:42- because you get all the early indications that
- 4:44- someone's highly engaged or someone who's not engaged.
- 4:47- But great software also starts before the actual
- 4:49- relocation. When we talk about the surprises,
- 4:52- it's all the way back to the very
- 4:53- initial interviews. So the best health care systems
- 4:55- today, when they have an out of market
- 4:57- candidate and they know that he or she
- 4:59- will have to actually relocate to take the
- 5:00- job,
- 5:01- they actually wanna be able to begin to
- 5:03- sell them on the community, not just the
- 5:04- job itself.
- 5:05- So Urban on our software actually has an
- 5:07- entire component
- 5:08- where a candidate can come in and begin
- 5:10- to research about what would it be like
- 5:12- for myself or my family to move here?
- 5:14- You know, what what neighborhoods should we what
- 5:16- would we wanna live in? My child is
- 5:18- really into soccer or basketball. What what what
- 5:21- league should they consider joining? So everything about
- 5:23- the community is to get someone excited to
- 5:25- next step of the process before they actually
- 5:27- come on-site to interview and then eventually
- 5:29- accept the job and have to relocate themselves
- 5:31- and their family to the to the area.
- 5:34- Amazing. And I know that you work with
- 5:35- some great systems.
- 5:37- Talk about why this has been so important
- 5:39- to systems in sort of closing that loop
- 5:42- with recruitment and, quite frankly, retention it and
- 5:45- getting people on board and on board in
- 5:47- a way that they're happy with.
- 5:49- Yeah. So, you know, as as I'm sure
- 5:52- all of your listeners are well aware, there's,
- 5:53- you know, a lot of very, very, very
- 5:56- problematic
- 5:57- trends that have been happening in in health
- 5:59- care, particularly around the labor shortage and the
- 6:01- need to really be cost effective.
- 6:04- And we watch those trends very closely and
- 6:05- we're thinking of ways that we can really
- 6:07- help our clients
- 6:09- ultimately achieve their goals, fill the important roles
- 6:12- that are gonna deliver, you know, all of
- 6:13- that important
- 6:15- value to all of the people that rely
- 6:17- on those health systems. And so what we're
- 6:19- doing is trying to really help people cast
- 6:21- the widest net possible so that they can
- 6:23- really find the talent that they're looking for.
- 6:25- And
- 6:26- looking beyond your backyard is no longer really
- 6:28- just an option. It's really a critical part
- 6:31- of how you're going to go out and
- 6:32- find that talent. I think recent data point
- 6:35- I saw, not that long ago was that
- 6:37- they're expecting a shortage of about a 120,000
- 6:40- physicians or more by 2030.
- 6:42- And that's a problem, obviously, we have to
- 6:44- we have to all
- 6:45- be concerned about. And that's really what what
- 6:48- we're focused on every day is making it
- 6:50- easier for health care systems to find that
- 6:52- talent and make it appealing for those physicians,
- 6:56- nurses, and their families to wanna make that
- 6:59- leap to go where they're needed ultimately.
- 7:02- Michael, I added that too. Another trend that
- 7:03- we're seeing right now is is the
- 7:05- the pressure
- 7:07- to contain costs within health care has significantly
- 7:09- increased in the last few years.
- 7:11- Yet so many health care systems, when they
- 7:13- do relocate talent, they just throw money at
- 7:16- the problem. You know, here's $20,000.
- 7:18- You'll get it in your first paycheck. You
- 7:20- front out the money. You figure out what
- 7:22- vendors to use, and it leads to a
- 7:24- lot of uncertainty and risk.
- 7:26- So there are low hanging fruit opportunities to
- 7:28- contain costs if done properly.
- 7:30- So a trend that we're seeing in health
- 7:32- care is most health care systems have moved
- 7:34- away
- 7:35- from just giving money, whether it's a sign
- 7:37- on bonus or a lump sum or reimbursement
- 7:39- for relocation.
- 7:40- And they moved to what are called managed
- 7:42- budgets.
- 7:42- So, Scott, take that same, you know, $20,000
- 7:45- that is being given to relocate as a
- 7:46- stipend and move that over to, like, the
- 7:48- Urban platform, and you have up to $20,000
- 7:52- to spend as a managed budget. And in
- 7:54- there is all about, you know, choice and
- 7:56- flexibility and support where I can look at
- 7:57- a menu of services that my family and
- 7:59- myself need to move to Cleveland, and I
- 8:02- can begin to actually book vetted suppliers for
- 8:04- my household goods, you know, for my short
- 8:06- term housing, shipping my car, whatever it might
- 8:08- be. And why this is saving money is
- 8:10- because whatever is not spent against that managed
- 8:12- budget goes back that health care system as
- 8:15- cost savings. And what's so interesting at Irvine,
- 8:17- this trend is that we're seeing is that
- 8:18- 94%
- 8:20- of all the management moves that we have
- 8:22- coming underneath that budget and the average savings
- 8:24- is just short of $3,000
- 8:26- per move. So for a system that's hiring
- 8:28- and relocating hundreds of people or sometimes some
- 8:30- of our clients are thousands, it's millions of
- 8:33- dollars in low hanging fruit cost savings opportunities.
- 8:35- Ian's
- 8:37- improves the experience of the recruited person too,
- 8:40- I I take.
- 8:41- Absolutely.
- 8:43- Thank you. And and, Michael, talk about as
- 8:45- you move to the second part of 2026,
- 8:48- what are you most focused on and excited
- 8:50- about with Urban Bound and and and where
- 8:53- are you most focused and excited?
- 8:55- Yeah. So, you know, it's a topic that,
- 8:58- of course, many, many companies are are are
- 9:00- thinking about right now, but we are really,
- 9:03- really excited about the power that AI unlocks
- 9:06- in this mission that we have to help
- 9:08- these health care partners fill their open roles
- 9:10- and ultimately deliver more and more wow experiences
- 9:14- to help attract that critical talent.
- 9:16- So, you know, we
- 9:18- we're we're using AI exclusively across our company
- 9:21- in many, many, many different ways. But as
- 9:24- far as our our delivery of value to
- 9:26- the relocating, you know, families as well as
- 9:30- our health care partners, you you know, the
- 9:32- recruiters, etcetera. There's just so much
- 9:35- of an unlock that AI brings to the
- 9:37- table. Jeff and I, as we mentioned earlier,
- 9:39- have been working together for a very long
- 9:41- time, so we pretty much saw the, you
- 9:43- know, the evolution of the commercialization of the
- 9:46- Internet. We we built our businesses through the
- 9:48- mobile revolution, and
- 9:51- frankly AI is bigger than both of them
- 9:53- combined in many different ways. You move it
- 9:55- gives you so much capability that you just
- 9:57- really didn't have, you know, just three, four
- 10:00- years ago.
- 10:02- And how will AI impact both
- 10:04- search and recruitment
- 10:06- as well as this this final mile, this
- 10:09- onboarding of people and getting them located in
- 10:11- their communities?
- 10:12- How is AI gonna have an impact?
- 10:14- Where do you see AI having an impact
- 10:15- there?
- 10:17- Yeah. I think there's a number of different
- 10:18- places. I mean, from the recruiting
- 10:20- side specifically,
- 10:22- you know, there's
- 10:23- the ability to just be much more
- 10:26- laser focused and targeted on finding the right
- 10:29- candidates for different roles,
- 10:32- allowing
- 10:33- AI to do a much more efficient job
- 10:36- of filtering through, you know, hundreds or thousands
- 10:39- of
- 10:40- potential candidates,
- 10:42- doing the right targeted marketing to bring those
- 10:44- individuals to the table to talk about a
- 10:46- potential opportunity.
- 10:48- And then even, you know, we're seeing
- 10:50- companies out there that are doing all kinds
- 10:52- of amazing things with, you know, doing that
- 10:55- initial screening so that you can eliminate individuals
- 10:57- that aren't the right fit for that role
- 10:59- or channel them into other roles that might
- 11:01- be a better fit, all while the recruiter
- 11:03- is basically able to spend their time on
- 11:06- those that are the highest likelihood
- 11:08- to convert.
- 11:10- So I think from the recruiting side and
- 11:12- the sourcing side, there's
- 11:14- some incredible opportunities that I think a lot
- 11:16- of companies are already starting to take advantage
- 11:18- of to make their output even better than
- 11:22- before.
- 11:22- From an onboarding perspective, there's a a number
- 11:25- of different places that we are already starting
- 11:27- to deliver AI to our,
- 11:30- existing, you know, relocating
- 11:31- employees, the physicians, the nurses, etcetera.
- 11:34- Think about content, for example. Jeff mentioned earlier,
- 11:37- we want our clients to be able to
- 11:39- start leveraging
- 11:40- the data and the information that we have
- 11:43- as early on as that first interaction. So,
- 11:46- you know, I'm somebody who's thinking about this
- 11:48- role. I know I'm gonna have to relocate
- 11:50- with my family. I wanna start understanding what
- 11:52- is my life going to look like when
- 11:55- I decide to make the move and, you
- 11:57- know, relocate to a different location, whether it's
- 12:00- Chicago, anywhere. You know? That's where we're we're
- 12:02- based, for example. You know? I can start
- 12:05- getting information delivered to me based on my
- 12:07- specific needs. So as our platform learns more
- 12:10- about your situation, do you have kids? Do
- 12:13- you have pets?
- 12:14- What type of, you know, neighborhood you currently
- 12:17- live in? Are there things about your neighborhood
- 12:19- that you'd like to see the same kind
- 12:20- of elements in a future, you know, neighborhood
- 12:22- or city that you move to, etcetera.
- 12:24- All of a sudden, content can start to
- 12:26- become delivered
- 12:28- in real time completely configured to your specific
- 12:31- situation. So no longer do you have to
- 12:34- build a very static web app that, you
- 12:36- know, kind of channels people through content,
- 12:39- the way you really had to, you know,
- 12:41- four or five years ago. Now you can
- 12:43- actually deliver information dynamically,
- 12:46- and that dynamic
- 12:47- information is so
- 12:49- tailored to that individual that it's really a
- 12:52- magical experience when that happens.
- 12:54- We're also looking at ways to predict what
- 12:56- the next thing you might need to do
- 12:58- and actually help you take action on that.
- 13:00- I think that's something that a lot of
- 13:01- people when they start to really understand
- 13:04- what AI can deliver that, you know, if
- 13:07- if if you've used, you know, ChatGPT
- 13:09- or, you know, Claude or or any of
- 13:11- the different, you know,
- 13:13- AIs that are, you know, commonly available to
- 13:15- consumers, let's say, right now. And, you know,
- 13:17- you you you prompt it for something, and
- 13:19- then at the end, it says, hey. Would
- 13:21- you like me to take this next step
- 13:22- for you?
- 13:23- That experience
- 13:25- of having software that is literally responding to
- 13:28- the path you're going down and predicting the
- 13:30- next thing you might wanna do and then
- 13:31- actually taking that action,
- 13:33- it really is an incredible feeling and an
- 13:35- experience, and we're looking to deliver more and
- 13:37- more of that magic to the individuals as
- 13:39- they're relocating to distress this situation for them.
- 13:43- Let me ask you the tough question, Jeff
- 13:45- and Michael. And, you know, this may be
- 13:48- lost on some people, but, apparently, one of
- 13:50- you is a Michigan State guy. One's a
- 13:52- University of Michigan graduate.
- 13:54- How much tension does that cause, or is
- 13:56- that okay? You guys have managed to do
- 13:57- that for several ventures, several entrepreneurial efforts.
- 14:00- Scott, this is not a recipe for success
- 14:02- to to goodbye to goodbye to a Spartan
- 14:05- Wolverine, but we found a way to make
- 14:06- it work over twenty five years. And also,
- 14:08- I happen to marry Wolverine, so I'm just
- 14:09- getting used to it. It it it is
- 14:11- what it is. You have to admit for
- 14:13- punishment. It it it really is true, and
- 14:16- and we won't go any further on it.
- 14:17- I understand.
- 14:18- But, Jeff, tell us where you're most excited.
- 14:21- You got the AI evolution.
- 14:22- You guys are busy as heck with hospitals
- 14:24- and health systems. Business is growing great.
- 14:27- What what are you most excited about as
- 14:29- we head into this next last half of
- 14:31- the year and next year? Yeah. I mean,
- 14:32- there's there's a few things that probably jump
- 14:34- out at me. So I I'm so excited
- 14:35- to see
- 14:36- the impact we're having on health care systems,
- 14:38- the feedback we're getting from our customers.
- 14:40- Not only receive them a tremendous amount of
- 14:42- money, but we're helping them attract talent and
- 14:44- retain that talent.
- 14:45- I'm constantly looking at Google and reading reviews,
- 14:47- what people are saying about the experience with
- 14:49- our platform. And, now the fact that 95%
- 14:52- of anyone who's ever touched our software rates
- 14:53- it is excellent.
- 14:55- So that pushes us to be great every
- 14:56- single day. And, it's something that when we
- 14:58- go to bed at night, that's what we're
- 14:59- waking up for the next morning to do.
- 15:01- It's like, how do we build software that
- 15:02- creates this joyful
- 15:04- experience leveraging
- 15:06- top notch software and a proven process for
- 15:08- all?
- 15:09- You're both incredibly good people.
- 15:12- Take a second on what advice you would
- 15:14- give to emerging entrepreneurs.
- 15:16- You've been through several efforts, a lot of
- 15:18- success,
- 15:20- really grounded,
- 15:21- intelligent
- 15:22- entrepreneurs,
- 15:23- good people.
- 15:25- Jeff or Michael, give us a start on
- 15:27- what advice would you give to, you know,
- 15:29- emerging entrepreneurs and leaders?
- 15:31- I'll start. You know, I always think about
- 15:33- one of my favorite quotes that I have
- 15:34- actually on my wall here from Albert Einstein,
- 15:36- which is you cannot solve your current problems
- 15:39- with the same thinking you used when you
- 15:40- created them. So I would just encourage
- 15:42- evolving leaders to really
- 15:45- embrace change and learn to think differently.
- 15:48- You know, the the the speed by which
- 15:51- technology is changing, and it's really kind of
- 15:54- rewriting the rules of how one needs to
- 15:57- go about operating their various,
- 15:59- you know, health systems, etcetera, it it's it's
- 16:02- requiring leaders to take a fresh approach
- 16:05- to thinking how they can solve the problems.
- 16:07- We mentioned earlier, you know, there's unfortunately going
- 16:10- to continue to be a labor shortage at
- 16:11- least for the, you know, the near term
- 16:13- and cost challenges like Jeff mentioned
- 16:15- are pronounced in health care. And so thinking
- 16:18- about ways that you can approach those challenges
- 16:22- with a fresh set of eyes
- 16:24- and and bring in new solutions,
- 16:26- I think is is is gonna be mission
- 16:28- critical.
- 16:29- Yeah. And I'll just add to that. And
- 16:31- when we talk about, like, you know, challenges,
- 16:33- every entrepreneur is gonna go through the trough
- 16:35- of sorrow or those challenges. I mean, owning
- 16:37- a relocation software company going through COVID, it
- 16:40- was a chance for most people to be
- 16:41- down and out. Might be like, okay. What
- 16:42- are the opportunities
- 16:44- during this time of change? And that actually
- 16:46- led us more to health care because we
- 16:47- saw our health care clients
- 16:49- were still relocating a tremendous amount of talent
- 16:51- versus maybe other industries.
- 16:53- But also as an entrepreneur,
- 16:54- I look back at my career. You know,
- 16:56- I've been lucky enough to find amazing mentors
- 16:58- and advisors that have helped steer me throughout
- 17:01- key decisions in my life. And it goes
- 17:03- back to something that I read in a
- 17:04- book twenty years ago. Your your network
- 17:07- equals your net worth. And I've been able
- 17:09- to meet amazing people. Scott, you're one of
- 17:11- them I came across in my career. And,
- 17:14- when I meet someone, I wanna make sure
- 17:15- I I get to know them, develop deep
- 17:16- relationships with them, and I truly care about
- 17:18- them, and hopefully have a long term, everlasting,
- 17:20- mutually beneficial
- 17:22- relationship.
- 17:23- Thank you. No. It's it's fantastic to listen
- 17:25- to you say it. It's it's an incredible
- 17:27- ability that you have and and Michael has
- 17:30- to visit with people, make them feel comfortable,
- 17:33- and and and and really,
- 17:36- sincere
- 17:37- groundedness,
- 17:38- versus feeling like at all you're trying to
- 17:40- sell to somebody. You guys both hands look
- 17:42- incredibly well. Michael or Jeff, tell us where
- 17:45- people are going to learn more about Urban
- 17:47- Bound.
- 17:48- Yeah. You can visit us at urbanbound.com.
- 17:50- So that's urban,basinboy,ound.com,
- 17:55- and that has all kinds of information about
- 17:56- our business and how we can help you
- 17:58- out.
- 18:00- Thank you very, very much. And and, Jeff
- 18:02- or Michael, anything you folks want to add,
- 18:04- it's great to visit with you. I love
- 18:06- what you do. I love your success.
- 18:08- Thank you so much for joining us. Anything
- 18:10- else that you wanted to add today?
- 18:12- No. We appreciate the opportunity to be on
- 18:13- the podcast and, look forward to hopefully future
- 18:16- opportunities.
- 18:17- We're looking forward to it. Yeah. We really
- 18:18- appreciate it. Jeff and Michael, thank you so
- 18:20- much for joining us on this combined episode
- 18:22- of the Becker's Healthcare and the Becker Business
- 18:24- pod podcast.
- 18:25- What a pleasure to visit with the both
- 18:27- of you and continued great success in what
- 18:29- you're doing. Fantastic.
- 18:30- Thank you so much. Appreciate it.