Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Healthcare Leaders’ Top Priorities for the Second Half of 2026 with Laura Dyrda

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Healthcare Leaders’ Top Priorities for the Second Half of 2026 with Laura Dyrda · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
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  - revenue cycle performance, and digital health.
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  - This is Scott Becker with the Beckers Health
• 1:01
  - Care Podcast.
• 1:03
  - I'm thrilled today to visit with editor in
• 1:05
  - chief, Laura Dierda, who's just brilliant and fantastic.
• 1:09
  - Laura joins us regularly to share some of
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  - the key stories that she's watching in health
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  - care. Laura, let me tee it up and
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  - ask you to take it away.
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  - What are a couple of the top stories
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  - that you're watching currently?
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  - Well, thank you so much, Scott. And, yeah,
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  - you know, again, it's just a lot going
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  - on in health care, and it's been exciting
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  - to cover so much of it. Recently, we
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  - asked dozens of health care leaders, primarily CEOs
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  - and CFOs,
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  - and those who are speaking at our CEO
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  - CFO roundtable in November about their top priorities
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  - heading into the second half of twenty twenty
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  - six, and their answers,
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  - were interesting. They had a few key themes
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  - that were, woven throughout them. And I think
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  - the first one wasn't really surprising. It's been
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  - something that we've heard a bit, but access
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  - to care was a dominant theme and, notably,
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  - though that they had kind of shifted the
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  - framing of how they were looking at access
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  - to care. It's not just
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  - by adding slots or or time, but, really,
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  - these leaders are attacking the friction across the
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  - patient journey so that they're able to
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  - really figure out ways to more efficiently and
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  - effectively
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  - have consumer driven scheduling,
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  - tiered acute care appointments through the EHR, second
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  - level triage that's diverting patients from the ED
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  - as well as after hour virtual
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  - primary care visits, and some are even moving
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  - towards more of a twenty four seven coverage
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  - access for people. So,
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  - a lot of these leaders explicitly tied
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  - access to market share as well as referral
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  - capture, and they're recognizing that the demand isn't
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  - really a constraint.
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  - It's the operational throughput that is holding them
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  - up. And so they're looking for ways and
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  - partners to help them figure out how to
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  - more efficiently move patients through, answer patients, close
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  - those gaps in accessibility to care, and then
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  - on the discharge side, make sure they've got
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  - availability of post acute spots, hospital at home
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  - capacity, and more. So that was a big
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  - one. And then secondly, we saw finance leaders
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  - talk a lot about,
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  - you know, whether they're big health systems or
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  - safety net hospitals. They're looking at margin recovery
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  - against some of the 2027
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  - reimbursement
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  - cliff cuts that are are really upcoming next
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  - year. That's essential for them as they're planning
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  - for the next couple of years. And in
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  - the near term, their work is looking at
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  - how operating margin recovery,
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  - after
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  - soft first half volumes and acuity, cost containment,
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  - and waste reduction
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  - have already started to be put in motion,
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  - but now they need to look at more
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  - of, you know, what's gonna make a big
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  - difference for them in the future. They're anticipating,
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  - the government reimbursement cuts from CMS and other
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  - pressure points, including three forty b disruption,
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  - as well as,
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  - some flat research funding for academic institutions
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  - and make capital adjustments to other Medicaid and
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  - more. So, you know, when they're thinking about
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  - all of these things, CFOs and finance leaders
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  - are trying to decide how they wanna move
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  - forward, what technology will help them most, and
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  - what is just a shiny object, and then
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  - trying to figure out what they can do,
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  - within the organization,
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  - to really uplift
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  - and and create a a transformational
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  - strategy that will allow them more financial stability
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  - in the future.
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  - And I I think, finally, one of the
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  - big things that we heard from several of
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  - the leaders is that they have to have
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  - more of a active strategy and policy and
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  - advocacy
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  - across their,
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  - state and and federal legislators.
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  - They have to actively be out there,
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  - more so than in the past in order
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  - to tell their stories and really advocate for
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  - the positions that are most advantageous.
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  - I think some have even mentioned in their
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  - responses,
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  - an idea that, you know, getting back to
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  - a a place in some ways where the
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  - public is hostile towards hospital health system leaders
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  - and executives and physicians and very much kind
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  - of a a position where, you know, being
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  - able to tell the story of what's actually
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  - happening within their hospital, how they're helping the
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  - communities, and,
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  - you know, where where the funds go is
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  - so important right now, with a lot of
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  - confusion in that space in the general public.
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  - So leaders aren't just bracing for these headwinds.
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  - They're they're really figuring out how they can,
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  - advocate for, you know,
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  - more positive outcomes and changes to HR one
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  - and some of the Medicaid work
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  - requirements coming next year and be more proactive
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  - in enrolling members and educating
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  - people in their communities about what coverage changes
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  - will mean. And then on the payer side,
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  - they're looking to figure out how they can
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  - work better through Medicare Advantage, and and prompt
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  - pay legislation,
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  - prior authorization form, and and back end denials
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  - were also mentioned,
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  - by multiple folks as we were trying to
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  - talk through the things that are their
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  - biggest, focus areas when they think about advocacy
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  - and,
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  - some of the things that they're trying to
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  - do at the state and national level.
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  - Thank you very, very much.
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  - When you talk to leaders,
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  - how much are they talking about the overhang
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  - out there from Medicaid
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  - changes and so forth
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  - versus
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  - any places for optimism that they're excited about?
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  - What do you hear from leaders as you
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  - talk to them day to day?
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  - Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, I think, obviously,
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  - you know, the Medicaid changes touch almost,
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  - every hospital and health system in one way,
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  - shape, or form, and, you know, really without
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  - a 100% knowing how it's gonna go, there's
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  - a lot of,
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  - anxiety around that and trying to fortify,
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  - you know, what is gonna make the most
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  - sense once those changes do occur. However, I
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  - think there is
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  - a good amount of I mean, for the
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  - future, I think, you know, when you're looking
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  - at health care, the transformation is happening at
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  - a rapid pace. I think there's more openness
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  - to collaboration
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  - and figuring out how to,
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  - solve some of these challenges in a meaningful
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  - way,
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  - in in really positioning health care as
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  - a a strong industry that needs to be
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  - supported. And so I I think a lot
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  - of the leaders that we talk to are
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  - excited that they have,
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  - AI capabilities. They're excited that they finally have
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  - the power behind them and the data to
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  - make smarter choices and actually get better results
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  - and better care from their patients and really
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  - stay more connected within their communities and do
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  - the things that, you know, in the past
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  - were really just thought of as an ideal
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  - but could never do it because they didn't
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  - have the right tools behind them. So I
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  - think, you know, the way that that is
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  - changing is exciting for them. And I I
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  - think also just the ability to kind of,
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  - you know, strip away some of the noise
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  - and and really focus in on the communities
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  - that they're serving,
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  - in their workforce too. I I think, you
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  - know, a lot of challenges and uncertainty also
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  - breeds innovation in
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  - a collaborative
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  - sense within
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  - the
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  - caregiver teams and in the broader hospital health
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  - system teams that they can form,
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  - and shape a culture that's gonna be strong
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  - and really built towards a more resilient future.
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  - And so I think there's a lot of,
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  - excitement around that and excitement for, you know,
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  - what the future holds and and being able
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  - to
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  - more quickly develop,
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  - therapies and treatments and and really be a
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  - better stewards of health care for the community.
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  - But it just does take some of the
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  - the thinking through a strategic planning on the
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  - financial side to make sure it'll all work.
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  - No. Truly
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  - fascinating. And you talked about team building and
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  - culture and keeping teams together, and so important
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  - is people deal and digest different changes and
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  - concerns
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  - that you keep your core team together and
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  - moving forward and trying to navigate through this.
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  - Is isn't that sorta correct?
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  - Yeah. Absolutely. And, you know, what we hear
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  - from, the people that do it best and
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  - those who are consistently
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  - you know, I have a chance, of course,
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  - to speak with the CEOs, but I also
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  - speak and, interview
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  - all other c suite members, VPs, directors, people
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  - from across organizations. And
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  - those,
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  - leaders who are consistently mentioned without prompting as
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  - being great leaders,
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  - and really, you know, have teams that are
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  - excited to come to work every day because
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  - of the visions that they lay out and
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  - the the strong commitment to
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  - care in the community. Those folks are really
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  - just
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  - very much so, you know, going back to
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  - the basics of,
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  - transparent communication, very directly talking through the whys
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  - of any changes and what it'll benefit the
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  - communities as well as how it can positively
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  - impact their own organizations for the future. There
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  - are people who are actually
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  - positive about where health care is headed and
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  - and the possibilities, but also very frank about
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  - the realities of today when they have to,
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  - talk through, you know, some challenging decisions. So,
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  - I do think that is a big part
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  - of it. And I also think, you know,
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  - the visibility,
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  - across the board of leaders who are working
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  - side by side and and really building a
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  - strong pipeline,
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  - of leadership and have that innovation and ability
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  - to kind of grow within their organization as
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  - a core tenant are are people who typically,
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  - you know, are building the best cultures, it
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  - looks like.
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  - No. I love that. Laura, it's always great
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  - to visit with you. Thank you so much
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  - for joining us today on the Becker's Healthcare
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  - podcast. You're a fantastic leader, and thank you
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  - so much for taking the time with us
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  - today. Just fantastic.
• 10:01
  - Thank you, Scott. I appreciate it.