Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Rethinking Healthcare Staffing for Growth and Margin with Ingenovis Health CEO Ben Mirtes

Transcript

Rethinking Healthcare Staffing for Growth and Margin with Ingenovis Health CEO Ben Mirtes · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:00
  - Hello, everyone. This is Erica Spicer Mason with
• 0:02
  - Becker's Healthcare.
• 0:04
  - Thank you so much for tuning in to
• 0:05
  - the Becker's Healthcare podcast series.
• 0:08
  - Today, we're going to walk through how to
• 0:09
  - align workforce and margin and how organizations
• 0:12
  - are doing this by rethinking their approach to
• 0:15
  - health care staffing.
• 0:17
  - Ben Mertes, the CEO of Ingenivis Health, is
• 0:20
  - going to break it down for us. But
• 0:22
  - first, a little bit about Ben. He brings
• 0:24
  - a finance driven, operationally grounded perspective to one
• 0:28
  - of health care's most pressing challenges,
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  - building a resilient, high performing workforce.
• 0:33
  - And after serving as Ingenivis'
• 0:36
  - CFO and stepping into the CEO role in
• 0:39
  - late twenty twenty four, Ben quickly focused on
• 0:41
  - driving growth through leadership alignment, system optimization,
• 0:45
  - and disciplined execution.
• 0:47
  - With a background spanning corporate strategy and finance
• 0:50
  - across health care and consulting, he's known for
• 0:52
  - pairing performance rigor with a people first mindset
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  - to better support health care's clinical workforce in
• 0:58
  - an evolving landscape.
• 1:00
  - So without further ado, I'd like to welcome
• 1:02
  - Ben.
• 1:03
  - Ben, thank you so much for joining us
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  - and for making time for Becker's today. And
• 1:06
  - so where I wanted to start the conversation
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  - today is really just kind of doing some
• 1:11
  - level setting around the pressure that hospital leaders
• 1:14
  - are under right now.
• 1:16
  - We know that they have this imperative to
• 1:17
  - protect margins while still growing access and capacity
• 1:21
  - at the same time. So it's a tall
• 1:23
  - order. And I... I'd like to know from
• 1:25
  - you how you think CEOs and CFOs should
• 1:28
  - think differently about the workforce with all that
• 1:31
  - in mind. You know, not just as a
• 1:32
  - cost line, but as a lever for throughput,
• 1:34
  - revenue protection, strategic growth. Would you mind sharing
• 1:37
  - your thoughts there?
• 1:39
  - Well, you're absolutely right. Workforce
• 1:42
  - is not a mere cost line. It is
• 1:44
  - the engine
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  - for economical reasons,
• 1:47
  - but more importantly, for care.
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  - And when we partner with hospital leaders to
• 1:52
  - address how utilizing
• 1:54
  - the right clinicians
• 1:55
  - at the right time in the right departments
• 1:58
  - and using data driven decision making,
• 2:01
  - the resulting outcomes that we've supported with our
• 2:04
  - clients
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  - have driven retention,
• 2:07
  - improved profit margins,
• 2:08
  - but more importantly,
• 2:10
  - better patient experiences
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  - and also reducing potential liabilities.
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  - It's important to remember though that it has
• 2:17
  - to be a total workforce approach.
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  - You have to be thinking about evaluating temp
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  - and perm.
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  - Physicians, nurses,
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  - allied professionals,
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  - leveraging all of your system wide data
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  - to match the rise in patient acuity and
• 2:32
  - census
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  - and to capture, you know, new populations as
• 2:35
  - well.
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  - An interesting aspect of where we are today
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  - though
• 2:40
  - that has to be considered when solving rising
• 2:42
  - demand or spikes in demand
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  - is the increasing FTE costs
• 2:47
  - and the stabilization
• 2:48
  - of contingent labor costs at the same time
• 2:51
  - which now gives hospitals a real opportunity to
• 2:54
  - lean in with contract labor that when you
• 2:57
  - consider it fully loaded for travel nurse and
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  - allied staff
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  - is actually running
• 3:03
  - anywhere from five to 9%
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  - cheaper than perm staff
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  - which makes a variable cost differential
• 3:09
  - that much more palatable.
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  - Again though, I would reiterate that this really
• 3:14
  - comes down to how we as Ingenivis partner.
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  - We don't just look to fill roles in
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  - the transactional
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  - relationship model
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  - that has historically defined healthcare staffing.
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  - What we've built is a platform
• 3:27
  - that has always been focused on critical and
• 3:31
  - crisis fulfillment and
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  - that means that we've worked alongside our clients
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  - leadership teams to design customizable,
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  - flexible
• 3:39
  - and also data driven workforce models
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  - that
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  - match patient demand,
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  - help improve throughput,
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  - reduce liabilities,
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  - and also
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  - unlock new revenue and profit opportunities for our
• 3:52
  - clients as well.
• 3:53
  - Fantastic. Well, I just wanna thank you for
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  - the great overview. And
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  - I know in one of your last points,
• 4:01
  - you were kind of emphasizing this idea of
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  - the importance of partnerships
• 4:06
  - in health care staffing. So I I do
• 4:08
  - wanna take our conversation there next.
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  - But kind of from the lens of
• 4:13
  - how we're seeing that many leaders are are
• 4:15
  - looking at retention as becoming more of an
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  - retention as becoming more of an important factor
• 4:19
  - compared to recruitment.
• 4:21
  - So I'm curious to know what that shift
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  - means for how health systems should partner with
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  - a talent solution partner to support both those
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  - immediate needs and also the longer the longer
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  - term workforce stability?
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  - Yes. And I'm glad you mentioned this because
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  - we cannot talk about strategic
• 4:37
  - workforce design for health systems and not talk
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  - about retention.
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  - It is the number one workforce issue facing
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  - hospitals.
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  - And in fact, I was just speaking with
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  - a local health care executive
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  - here in Cincinnati about this very issue.
• 4:52
  - The impact of these retention issues are widespread
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  - though. Financially,
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  - it can cost upwards of $60,000
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  - to replace a nurse
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  - according to NSI
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  - and a physician can be multiples of that.
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  - Unfortunately,
• 5:06
  - in 2025,
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  - we reversed a couple years of turnover improvement
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  - and now it's actually costing the average hospital
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  - over $5,000,000
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  - each year
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  - just because of this turnover.
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  - But the impact goes far beyond the financials.
• 5:22
  - It impacts care. It impacts employee morale from
• 5:26
  - suboptimal staffing levels. And and in the worst
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  - case,
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  - we're now seeing rising patient violence
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  - that in many cases we are hearing is
• 5:35
  - because of some of these suboptimal staffing levels.
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  - And so what do we do
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  - to stem these losses?
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  - You know, they're... And they're driven from earlier
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  - retirements,
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  - burnout.
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  - And and now we're actually seeing that
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  - approximately a third of the newly graduated nurses
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  - are leaving the profession altogether within two years
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  - of entering the workforce. So we're not even
• 5:59
  - able to fix it with those new nurses
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  - who are entering the workforce and and graduating,
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  - from the nursing programs.
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  - And so
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  - for us,
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  - it's all about how do we co develop
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  - and design models with our hospital clients
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  - that create stability
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  - by strategically using all of their labor. We
• 6:19
  - like to think of it from both a
• 6:22
  - perm and a temp perspective
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  - to absorb demand spikes
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  - so staff are not pushed beyond their limits.
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  - And that directly reduces burnout and keeps those
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  - experienced clinicians at the bedside where they're needed
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  - most.
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  - And so
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  - how have we actually done this with some
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  - of our clients?
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  - One example where we've actually designed a program
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  - that allows our travel nurses and our travel
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  - allied professionals
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  - to extend once.
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  - But then after that,
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  - they either need to join the hospital system
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  - permanently
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  - or they have to find another travel role
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  - with another hospital system.
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  - And that partnership
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  - and the way that we've designed that program
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  - has resulted in hundreds
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  - of temp to perm placements,
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  - which has supported the overall health system stability.
• 7:12
  - But this isn't just a priority for nursing.
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  - One of our brands, Vital Solution, is another
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  - terrific example of how flexible work scheduling can
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  - improve retention with doctors.
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  - And in this case, in the rural healthcare
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  - setting,
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  - where physicians are needed now more than ever.
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  - And and with our vital solution program, they
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  - can deploy
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  - for a two week on two week off
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  - model that works for getting these very talented
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  - physicians
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  - into some of the more remote areas
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  - where they are literally
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  - healthcare deserts.
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  - And so I would say finally though, it's
• 7:50
  - it's important to remember that retention of clinicians,
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  - we're not just doing this, you know, for
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  - the hospitals,
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  - but we're doing it for the communities.
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  - If we don't find a solution to improve
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  - retention,
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  - the tidal wave of baby boomers who need
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  - care and countless others
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  - won't receive it at the level that they
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  - deserve. And that's that's why we at Ingenivis
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  - are so passionate
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  - about solving this.
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  - Well, Ben, the the passion really comes through,
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  - and I appreciate all of the compelling figures
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  - that you highlighted too from the cost of
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  - nurse turnover to how it affects systems bottom
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  - line and operations more broadly, and really this
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  - imperative to to do something about this and
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  - to enable health systems to essentially work with
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  - what they already have.
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  - And so I appreciate everything that you just
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  - shared with listeners. And you touched on the
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  - idea of geography,
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  - in some of your final remarks. And I
• 8:46
  - kinda wanna go down a related path there.
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  - So we are seeing care shift
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  - outside of the traditional four walls of the
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  - hospital. We're seeing it shift toward ambulatory settings,
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  - virtual care settings, and also other consumer driven
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  - models.
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  - So as that shift is happening, how do
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  - workforce needs change
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  - there as well? And how can a staffing
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  - partner help those health systems stay ahead of
• 9:10
  - demand instead of constantly reacting to shortages?
• 9:14
  - Yeah. Well, you're right.
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  - Care is shifting to these lower cost settings
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  - for variety of reasons.
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  - Much of that is good for both the
• 9:23
  - patients and the clinicians.
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  - And speaking directly for the clinicians,
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  - both nurses and physicians, what we know is
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  - that these settings are oftentimes more desirable
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  - for their predictable schedules,
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  - their relatively favorable environments compared to some of
• 9:40
  - the demands
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  - that the workforce does,
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  - you know, does face in the acute care
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  - health system.
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  - In fact, BLS data last year showed
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  - that there were 34,000
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  - job gains in ambulatory
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  - care alone.
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  - This shift is also creating real gaps in
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  - the acute settings where hospitals are losing some
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  - of their most experienced clinicians
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  - to the ambulatory care environments.
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  - And so those acute setting hospitals often require
• 10:12
  - higher experience levels which makes the loss even
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  - more concerning. This shift of a predictable patient
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  - population
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  - to ambulatory
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  - means that hospitals now have to actually manage
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  - more volatility.
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  - But this is where we step in to
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  - help hospital systems
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  - maintain the depth and the quality of the
• 10:33
  - talent they need.
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  - So whether it's high acuity or an outpatient
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  - setting, what we do is help ensure that
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  - the experience
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  - is consistently
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  - high quality
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  - from our clinicians.
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  - And this helps strengthen the care provided and
• 10:50
  - the resulting
• 10:51
  - hospital reputation as well.
• 10:53
  - Yeah. Yeah. Ben, thank you. And, you know,
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  - as you were talking about what that
• 10:59
  - holistic plan for the workforce looks like, I...
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  - It made me think of how data
• 11:05
  - is becoming such a bigger part of that
• 11:07
  - for many health systems across the country.
• 11:09
  - These organizations have way more access to workforce,
• 11:13
  - labor market,
• 11:14
  - operational data than they did maybe even just
• 11:17
  - a few years ago.
• 11:18
  - So I'd love to know what insights you're
• 11:20
  - seeing prove most valuable in helping leaders make
• 11:23
  - smarter decisions around
• 11:25
  - contingent labor or capacity planning or even financial
• 11:28
  - performance?
• 11:30
  - Well, you're right, of course. Many of today's
• 11:33
  - hospitals, I would say, almost all of today's
• 11:35
  - hospitals
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  - are utilizing data like they never have before
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  - across their enterprise to inform decisions
• 11:43
  - all across the board.
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  - Part of which allows them to better understand
• 11:47
  - their staffing needs.
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  - Now
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  - our most successful clients are the ones
• 11:52
  - that actually share that data, come to us
• 11:55
  - to partner with us to help analyze, strategize,
• 11:59
  - and and of course, you know, we iterate
• 12:01
  - along the way
• 12:02
  - to help come up with solutions that
• 12:05
  - can increase revenue, improve quality scores, enhance the
• 12:09
  - patient experience.
• 12:10
  - And we have a real world example of
• 12:12
  - this with a Midwestern client where we impacted
• 12:15
  - all of these factors.
• 12:17
  - So for example,
• 12:19
  - we developed a workforce strategy through a mix
• 12:22
  - of contract labor and perm labor
• 12:24
  - that would increase revenue across some of their
• 12:27
  - key service lines like surgery
• 12:29
  - by nearly 10%.
• 12:31
  - We also determined how we could utilize their
• 12:34
  - labor to improve their quality based penalties and
• 12:37
  - that had an impact of over $2,000,000
• 12:41
  - on their bottom line.
• 12:43
  - And then we also looked at their patient
• 12:45
  - backlog issues.
• 12:46
  - This hospital system was actually having,
• 12:50
  - patient backlog where it it actually took them
• 12:53
  - two to three months
• 12:55
  - to be seen by a provider in many
• 12:56
  - cases.
• 12:57
  - And in working with them, we developed a
• 13:00
  - strategy that would reduce that to two weeks
• 13:02
  - or less.
• 13:03
  - So the outcomes can be tremendous,
• 13:06
  - obviously, for the hospital, but also for the
• 13:09
  - clinicians and most importantly,
• 13:11
  - for the patients.
• 13:13
  - Yeah.
• 13:14
  - Another great example, Ben. Thank you so much
• 13:16
  - for sharing.
• 13:18
  - Before I let you go today, I I
• 13:19
  - wanna get a sense of how you're looking
• 13:21
  - ahead at the next year or so.
• 13:24
  - When you're working with leaders,
• 13:26
  - say they're doing their planning for the next
• 13:28
  - twelve to eighteen months,
• 13:30
  - what do you advise that they do right
• 13:33
  - now to build a more resilient and a
• 13:35
  - financially aligned workforce strategy?
• 13:38
  - And where do you see the biggest opportunity
• 13:40
  - to get ahead rather than just react?
• 13:42
  - Well, Well, I think the most important takeaway
• 13:44
  - is this.
• 13:45
  - Health systems don't just need a vendor, they
• 13:48
  - need a true partner.
• 13:50
  - Someone who is gonna bring them transparency.
• 13:53
  - Someone who understands their staffing model at a
• 13:56
  - deep level and helps ensure that they have
• 13:58
  - the right clinician
• 14:00
  - in the right place
• 14:01
  - at the right time and at the right
• 14:03
  - cost.
• 14:04
  - Too often we see health systems
• 14:06
  - who buy technology
• 14:09
  - but do not prioritize the processes and the
• 14:12
  - management systems
• 14:13
  - that unlock revenue growth, cost savings,
• 14:16
  - and help avoid
• 14:17
  - liabilities.
• 14:19
  - So when a solution oriented partnership is done
• 14:22
  - well, the impact is significant across all of
• 14:25
  - these factors and as you just heard me
• 14:28
  - say, it can translate into millions of dollars
• 14:31
  - of profitability.
• 14:33
  - Now our role is to help health systems
• 14:36
  - move beyond reactive staffing
• 14:38
  - and instead build a more flexible
• 14:41
  - forward looking
• 14:42
  - workforce strategy. And so we do that through
• 14:45
  - the clinical expertise
• 14:47
  - and the agility that they need today
• 14:50
  - while also thinking about and supporting
• 14:53
  - some of their longer term growth,
• 14:55
  - and most importantly,
• 14:57
  - community goals. And I have to say that
• 15:00
  - being a part of the solution,
• 15:02
  - one that bridges the gap, brings experienced healthcare
• 15:06
  - professionals
• 15:07
  - where they're needed,
• 15:09
  - is personally very meaningful.
• 15:11
  - So I'm just... I'm grateful to the health
• 15:13
  - systems that put their trust in us and
• 15:16
  - the amazing doctors, nurses, and allied professionals who
• 15:19
  - travel with us. So lots of opportunity ahead,
• 15:21
  - and thank you so much for having me
• 15:23
  - today.
• 15:24
  - Well, Ben, it's been great learning about...
• 15:27
  - More about you and your work and also
• 15:29
  - the partnership approach that Ingenivis takes
• 15:33
  - and really the outcomes that you've seen as
• 15:35
  - a result among your own partner base. So
• 15:38
  - wanna thank you again for for joining Becker's
• 15:41
  - and making time to share your greatest insights
• 15:44
  - with our audience today. And we'd also like
• 15:46
  - to thank our podcast sponsor for today in
• 15:48
  - Genovese Health.
• 15:50
  - Listeners, be sure to tune into more podcasts
• 15:52
  - from Becker's by visiting our podcast page at
• 15:55
  - beckershospitalreview.com.