Episodes

  • Healthcare Strategy with Cole Lyons | E. 109

    Healthcare Strategy with Cole Lyons | E. 109
    Apr 24 2024
    Strategic planning is vital to successful healthcare management. President & Co-Founder of The American Healthcare Journal, Cole Lyons, explains his goal of fostering a community of education to Jim Cagliostro. Episode Introduction Cole explains why transfer of knowledge is a key goal of the Journal, why healthcare strategy can be described as moving from checkers to chess and emphasizes the importance of thinking before you speak. He also explains the importance of competition in healthcare and identifies humility as an essential leadership trait. Show Topics Redefining healthcare strategy A strategic alternative for nonprofits Breaking down silos in healthcare Join Cole’s community on LinkedIn Applying economic theories to healthcare strategy Leadership tip: why humility matters 05:36 Redefining healthcare strategy Cole explained why thinking about the impact of your actions matters. ‘’For me, it's kind of thinking before I speak. I think that's the best way that I've come up with how to explain it. In operations, day-to-day, things are quite hectic, especially at high volume clinics. And you have to make very quickly, fairly educated decisions based on standard operating procedures. But sometimes that doesn't always lead us down the best path. So part of that is creating standard operating procedures that allow you time to think about how it impacts things long-term. So, thinking before you speak for me means instead of just saying what I need to say in the moment, I think about what I say, how it will impact the person hearing it, how it'll impact my image. And if you apply that kind of thinking before acting approach to your actions in the operations space, it means taking a step back and looking at the competitive landscape in your industry, looking at the competitive landscape in your institution, different departments competing for funding, different departments competing for exposure, and looking at how even small actions in the operations world will impact that.’’ 08:12 A strategic alternative for nonprofits Cole said the Journal aims to foster improvement and education in strategic thinking for nonprofit institutions. ‘’… the problem right now is VC-backed healthcare firms, those that are backed by venture capital. They have a high concentration of MBAs who have really good strategic insights. So don't get me wrong, and we can always go into this anytime, but there's a problem with a lot of the strategy theories out there in general that are taught to MBA graduates because it's based on economic theories that don't always play out in the real world. But still when they make decisions, it is much more strategic than in nonprofit healthcare. And so, one of the issues is that I'm not a fan of government-run healthcare, which is a little contrarian. I'm just not particularly a fan of it. I think that free market healthcare is good, nonprofit institutions are my favorite. I love nonprofit institutions. I think that that's the best form of delivering healthcare. But they don't act very strategically, especially compared to VC-backed or for-profit healthcare, which employ all these MBAs, they recruit MBAs from the top schools, they can pay them. …I'm not saying that they're any less educated, they're just educated differently. They have MHAs, they have MPAs, a lot of them have MDs, and they are educated in a very different way. So the journal's purpose is how can we foster this community of improvement and education in strategic thinking for these people who are educated in a much more practical way? An MHA isn’t sitting in their office thinking and going into philosophy a lot of times. A lot of times they're figuring out, how can we solve this problem? How can we deal with this emergency situation?’’ 13:36 Breaking down silos in healthcare Cole said administrative fellowships can help to develop a well-rounded approach. ‘’One of the ways that this is going to work out really well, and a lot of programs are doing this, is through administrative fellowships. I actually have a lot of different things that we're involved with with that, trying to get fellowship certified, trying to get fellowships publicized a lot because administrative fellowships have to rotate through every department in the organization usually. They know all the leaders. And so when they go and work in operations, they are very well-rounded. They have a much better strategic vision of the organization. They know clinicians, they know the house staff, they know the janitors, they know everybody. A lot of times they know the people who are on construction teams building the building. And so that gives them a huge, well-rounded approach that's also going to massively improve strategy. So yeah, the majority of organizations are still struggling. They're siloed or they don't even have really a strategy team, but there is a good trend for improvement I think on the way...
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    26 mins
  • Ideas Worth Pursuing | E. 108

    Ideas Worth Pursuing | E. 108
    Apr 17 2024
    Tech startups are predicted to disrupt US healthcare in 2024. Scott Nelson, co-founder, and CEO of venture backed FastWave Medical, offers his strategies for success in innovation with Jim Cagliostro. Episode Introduction Scott reveals the two signs that an idea has potential, why market trumps everything in innovation, and why leaders should focus on eliminating pain points for their end users. He also advises innovators to connect with potential strategic acquirers at an early stage and explains why leaders of startups shouldn’t put all their eggs in the venture capital basket. Show Topics Two signs of a good idea Market ultimately trumps everything in innovation Engage with potential strategic acquirers at an early stage Finding investment in your community Flipping the script: eliminating pain points Effective ways to raise capital Leaders of startups don’t have to be the CEO 05:49 Two signs of a good idea Scott said there are two things for leaders to consider in innovation. ‘’I guess to answer your question in a little bit more long-winded way, I would say if you've got an idea that you can't seem to shake a little bit… It's sticky and you find yourself maybe waking up at night thinking about it or you thought about it and then two weeks ago you're still thinking about it, maybe a month goes on, you're still thinking about it, that's usually a good signal. Maybe there's something there, but the most important point from my perspective is before you go too far, before you get too latched onto this idea, you really need to think about two things primarily. One, does it solve a real glaring problem? Is it a painkiller? I remember interviewing Dan Hawkins way back in the day. He was actually the founder of Shockwave, the company I mentioned previously, was very early at Intuitive Surgical, was the founder of Avail Medsystems, et cetera, serial entrepreneur. And he phrased, this was back in, I think 2016 or 17, but he mentioned finding a painkiller, not aspirin, not Tylenol, but a real painkiller, something that really causes a lot of pain, whether that's from a cost perspective, whether that's from a workflow perspective, but something that's like, there's a lot of friction there. That's what your idea hopefully solves for, a real painkiller. And then secondarily, if you think you're onto something that solves that real pain point, secondarily, you need to think about this as early in the process as possible. Who's going to pay for it?’’ 09:03 Market ultimately trumps everything in innovation Scott explained why market is the #1 factor for potential entrepreneurs. ‘’I sort of fundamentally believe that market ultimately trumps everything else, right? Now, don't get me wrong, you could have a great product and a great team, but if it doesn't serve a huge market, you're going to have to think about other ways to fund that, right? Maybe it's a product that you can invest your own money in. Maybe it's a product that you can get to market quite quickly and use revenue and profits to support the company's growth, etc. But the reality is you need a big market to serve in order to give you optionality to capitalize and fund your idea or fund the company moving forward. So I do kind of think market trumps everything, because again, you could be working on a great product, have an awesome team, but if the market just doesn't support it, it's likely not going to have a lot of substance there. On the flip side, you could have an awesome market and maybe a decent product and a decent team, but it's probably going to do fairly well because the market supports that need. So, long story short, there's a couple of different ways to think about it. They're all important. ‘’ 12:38 Engage with potential strategic acquirers at an early stage ‘’Obviously you need to be careful and cognizant about not disclosing too much, but the imperative is really to start engaging early on with those, what you perceive as potential strategic acquirers, really under the guise of just an introduction. You're not trying to sell them anything. It's a dating process. You're trying to get to know them, inform them of what you're building, what you're working on, so at least have a high-level idea. And as you continue to make progress against your idea and against your milestones, keep them informed. Not just them, but hopefully potential investors, people that... stakeholders within your community. You want to be communicating the progress that you're making against the idea or the product that you're building. So I can come full circle on your question. I just think it's really sometimes underappreciated, and it's actually a tip that I picked up on from Duke Rohlen, he's the founder of Ajax Health, serial entrepreneurs, had multiple exits under his belt, but he mentioned this, in an interview maybe close to 10 years ago now that I had with him. That was one of the things ...
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    28 mins
  • Managing Purchased Services Contracts | E. 107

    Managing Purchased Services Contracts | E. 107
    Apr 10 2024
    Purchased services is often the most overlooked expense in healthcare yet offers opportunities for cost savings. Brian Bartel shares his best practices for effective contract management, with Jim Cagliostro. Episode Introduction Brian explains the unique challenges of purchased services, why a centralized contract repository is the first step to successful purchased services management, and why hospitals should never allow contracts to auto-renew. He also explains why ‘’red flags’’ aren’t always necessarily malicious and why it’s vital to question the line-item details of your purchased services invoices. Show Topics Purchased services present a unique challenge in healthcare #1 tip: Create a centralized contract repository Review your contracts on a minimum annual basis Don’t assume all red flags are malicious The hidden cost savings in your line-item details Be inquisitive, be patient, be strategic – and build relationships 06:35 Purchased services present a unique challenge in healthcare Brian explained the difference between supplies and purchased services. ‘’…When you're talking about supplies, it's pretty easy. You've got a specific item number, you've got your power set, your requisitions, everything is very orderly. So things are coming in, you can track it, you've got the data behind it, there's a contract with that line item pricing. And then when you get confirmations back, usually people are using some form of EDI, which makes it relatively easy, and you can track that. Item A is item A, item B is item B. Purchased services is different because it typically is not on a PO. Again, I've worked places where it is, but that comes with its own challenges. It's very department specific, so you've got usually a department manager or leader that's kind of running that point with it. We don't have as much interaction on the supply chain side of this either. Communication is usually kind of sparse between supply chain and a purchased service provider as compared to a typical supply vendor. And again, the data is just, it's more difficult. When you start looking at how things are being invoiced because there's no PO line, it gets very challenging to try to figure out, "Okay, what's actually happening with this spend?" Typically, an invoice will come in, the department manager signs off on it, it gets paid, and that's it. So a lot of opportunity there.’’ 08:30 #1 tip: Create a centralized contract repository Brian said a centralized contract repository was the essential first step to successful purchased services management. ‘’I think that at square one, I think the biggest thing you can do is if your organization or your hospital, your ASC, your clinic, whatever it is, if you don't have a centralized contract repository, that's step one. Again, stepping into certain roles in my past, you've got contracts that might be down in admin. You've got department managers that have signature execution authority and they've got them in their files, and then you realize three years later that there's been this contract that nobody's really paying attention to because it's just a paper copy. Really I think that that's the biggest thing for me is getting your hands around it. Number one, you've just got to have that centralized repository. Again, that doesn't mean that you need to use software. Software obviously makes things easier. I'm a big proponent of that. But again, even just saying, "All right, nobody can sign contracts except for," whether it be your CEO, your CFO. "Send all these down and we're going to put them in a file cabinet." At least then you can go and try to find where those contractual documents are.’’ 10:07 Review your contracts on a minimum annual basis Brian said it’s important not to let contracts auto-renew. ‘’It’s always good to have that check-in annually, even if it’s just pulling the contract, making sure when does this contract terminate? That’s the other thing about automated systems through contract software is that you can set those flags. “Hey, something’s coming up 180 days later.” Again, with things that are just auto-renewing, that’s an issue too. If you miss that window to terminate something that you do want to go out to bid for, or maybe it’s a contract that you don’t need anymore. And I’ve seen, you’ve probably seen it too, 180 day out clause, some of these things. So if you miss that, that’s going to be a problem. As far as reviewing, it depends too on the type of service. Some of them are much more important, and so having a quarterly business review or a semiannual business review is important, and that gives the vendor time to come and showcase what it is that they’re doing too, because at the end of the day, sometimes these people are coming in, they’re doing great work, but nobody really knows except for that department or specific area that they’re there too. ...
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    21 mins
  • Supplier Relationship Management | E. 106

    Supplier Relationship Management | E. 106
    Mar 27 2024
    Flourishing supplier relationships can transform healthcare organizations. Samer Haddad, shares his experience of building and navigating successful partnerships with Jim Cagliostro. Episode Introduction Samer explains why trust is the foundation of all successful supplier relationships, the importance of human-to-human connection and why a partnership sometimes means giving your partner the benefit of the doubt. He also outlines the key to a successful exit strategy (plan, plan, and plan) and why solid leadership means treating others as you want to be treated, and leaving your ego at the door. Show Topics Supplier relationship management isn’t just a keyword Trust is the foundation of successful relationships Managing multiple suppliers is about more than spend ‘’Partnership is a partnership’’ Managing a successful exit strategy Leadership tip: keeping your ego out of the way 04:33 Supplier relationship management isn’t just a keyword Samer explained how the impact of Covid revealed the importance of strong supplier relationships. ‘’When the world went into COVID and all the crises that came after that, in terms of shortages and everything, I can make a pretty easy judgment that there was a big differentiator between companies who made it and who maybe struggled mainly was supplier relationship management. Because when the real challenge came to the world, companies that invested in relations, companies that had deepened their relationships, especially with the significant suppliers to their production or to their delivery, whatever that is, made a difference. Those were the ones who were able to actually leverage that challenge to their benefit in the market. So they gained market share. The ones who had superficial relations, maybe more towards purely commercial kind of dealings, I think they struggled because, at such a moment, that kind of... I can't call it a human-to-human relation, or personal relation is where things are tested, and when companies need to make decisions, that's always an element. The trust between those organizations is essentially trust between humans that are doing business for years together. So if you just... we learn from the past two to three years it is I think many of my peers in procurement supply chain will vouch to the importance of supplier relationship management in general and not just like a keyword that you use and throw around…’’ 07:09 Trust is the foundation of successful relationships Samer said KPIs can help to measure progress and build trust. ‘’It takes time to build up that trust. So it is very important when we start a relationship that we create the proper agreement because this is why contracts are there. Contracts manage the relationship between parties. And you're establishing basically a baby kind of relation that has no trust yet, and you need to monitor it and start putting in the building blocks of that relation. Usually, in my opinion, that is established by having mutual mechanisms to judging how companies are engaging with each other. That could be the KPIs that you set. And it's not fair only to set a KPI for the supplier that you're establishing a relationship with, especially if you're looking long-term. Some KPIs should be set, maybe not in the contract, not necessarily, but self-imposed as you manage that important relationship that you know about. So you can even monitor internally how you're engaging with that supplier. Now, if you do that kind of fundamental layer of developing that relationship and you start building upon it, with time, trust starts getting improved and starts growing. It's like a baby, and it grows. It becomes an entity.’’ 10:24 Managing multiple suppliers is about more than spend Samer said organizations need to understand how suppliers can impact their business. ‘’…... But let's say what are the top 10 suppliers that basically can make or break your business? Because each business needs to know these kinds of suppliers. What are the suppliers that, if they don't deliver, you're going to have challenges actually delivering to your customer, or it'll affect your quality, or it might basically put you in a different pricing position in the market, which could basically hurt your business? So you need to understand those really well. And what I see as a common mistake is people treat category management as just a function, just an area. Like supplier relationship management. "Oh, you're a procurement person, so you do the procurement, invoicing, all of that. And by the way, you need to just take care of categories. Also, take care of the supplier relationship." It doesn't work. So especially when it's big business, when there's lots of money being moved around, you need people to focus on those suppliers and those categories. So I would recommend that you really understand the suppliers that drive the goals of your business and, at the ...
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    24 mins
  • Waste in the Hospital Supply Chain | E. 105

    Waste in the Hospital Supply Chain | E. 105
    Mar 13 2024
    An estimated 40% of expenditure in the supply chain goes to waste. CEO Luká Yancopoulos explains to Jim Cagliostro how Grapevine Technology aims to put the power back into the hands of hospitals. Episode Introduction Luká explains how Grapevine can help hospitals save up to 80% on a single line item, how even small healthcare businesses spend six figure sums on the supply chain each year, and how to frame the reality of years of overspending to his clients. He also reveals three key ways that hospitals can lower the expense of their vendor management. Show Topics The power of building networks Supplies are a huge expense in healthcare Up to 80% of spend may be waste Connecting the source of supply to the end user Framing harsh truths on expenditure Seeing value every step of the way Leadership tip: deliver solutions to real problems 03:12 The power of building networks Luká said Grapevine can help its clients to save 70-80% on a single line item. ‘’So Grapevine is working to make it very easy to basically manage your existing network. We've got healthcare businesses. They usually come to us, and they've worked with a handful of suppliers over the years. They think of each of these suppliers as their supplier for blank, fill in the blank, and Grapevine rewrites that. We think they're all your suppliers, they're all your network. Every time you add an item to cart from one of them, let's make sure it's the best price and that your other suppliers that you already trust and know don't have the same exact product at a cheaper price. Oftentimes, they do. We've basically redirected spend from one major distributor to another major distributor, saving the customer or the healthcare business 70%-80% on a single line item. The thing like a Becton Dickinson or a BD catheter or infusion pump or something they buy, and they have a bad habit of buying it from the wrong guy. So we basically let them link all their suppliers with the click of a button to a single screen, read in their current offerings, and tell them where to redirect their spend, acting as a traffic cop if needed.’’ 05:14 Supplies are a huge expense in healthcare Luká explained that even small healthcare businesses are spending six figure sums on supplies every year. ‘’Certain medical specialties get hit harder than others. If you're performing surgery, obviously, you're burning through a lot of supplies, you're using anesthesia, you're using all sorts of things that maybe your average urgent care clinic won't need. So we focus on specific specialties that have a high consumption rate of important and expensive technologies, things like oncology, dermatology, surgery, these sorts of things. Even a small healthcare business is spending six, seven figures on medical supplies and pharmaceuticals, like, a customer that comes to mind, a family-owned dermatology practice in upstate New York, and Rochester, New York is spending $200,000 a year pre-Grapevine on medical supplies. So like the instruments and whatnot, they're using sutures and implants and this and that, and then they're spending another million a year on injectables. Things like lidocaine, fillers, and different sorts of things of that realm.’’ 08:38 Up to 80% of spend may be waste Luká explained why a single supplier can’t offer hospitals the lowest price for every item. ‘’I think that, in some cases, it's as much as 80% of the spend on supply is fruitless and extraneous. As far as what makes up those inefficiencies, there's a number of things. There's a classic idea that I am a strong believer of, that no one person or entity can be the best at everything. So even if you're comparing suppliers of the same business model, these large distributors, we could talk like McKesson, Henry Schein, Medline, the list goes on and on. Every one of those has built supply chains like warehouse fulfillment, shipping teams, customer service, et cetera, tailored around a specific core competency or level of products. So not one of those suppliers is going to be able to offer you the 5,000 SKUs or different item numbers that you need, all of the lowest price. That's naive. The way this world works is helping specialists, people that have specific skill sets, work together to serve a singular end goal.’’ 10:24 Connecting the source of supply to the end user Luká said simplifying the supply chain is key to reducing costs. ‘’I understand that when I'm buying it from a reseller, it needed to get in the hands of the reseller. That means it needed to get shipped there. That is a cost. Costs get built on the customer service, the labor. It all gets built into the price that hospitals are paying. By working with these downstream distribution companies that are, in some cases, 200 years old, you're just taking on additional costs. So if we can disintermediate supply chains when possible, connect source to end user as much as possible. You...
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    27 mins
  • Using AI to Enhance the Hospital Supply Chain | E. 104

    Using AI to Enhance the Hospital Supply Chain | E. 104
    Mar 6 2024
    The US healthcare sector has struggled to put innovations like AI into practice. Mara Cairo explains the advantages of applying machine learning and AI for hospitals to Jim Cagliostro. Episode Introduction Mara explains why the first step towards successfully embracing AI is literacy, the challenges hospitals face in system integration and why AI isn’t intended to replace humanity in patient care. She also illustrates the benefits of AI for healthcare, including predicting patient no-shows, effectively managing inventory, and reducing costs, and explains why successful leadership means getting out of the way. Show Topics Taking the first step towards AI literacy The challenges of AI in healthcare Applying AI across industry sectors Anticipating patient no-shows The impact of AI on cost reduction initiatives Leadership tip: Hire the right people and get out of their way 03:48 Taking the first step towards AI literacy Mara said AI literacy helps to overcome resistance to AI. ‘’Really the most important thing is AI literacy. It's just like learning what AI is, what it isn't, the types of problems it's really great at, the types of problems you shouldn't use it for. On the earlier side of the spectrum, we have lots of training and education really meant to get industry partners, but also the general public. We're working even with K-12 teachers and students now ... to make sure that everyone has that literacy because it's just becoming more and more important to kind of arm yourself with the information because we're being inundated with information and news articles and scary stories. So it starts with literacy, that's the first part, and then kind of evolves from there hopefully.’’ 05:46 The challenges of AI in healthcare Mara said the complex needs of healthcare mean hospitals struggle with system integration. ‘’There are different disciplines. Each maybe has their own labor agreements, regulation and whatnot. So when we think of human resources as a piece of inventory, that gets quite complicated quickly. Another thing, supply level. Inventory levels are complex. We kind of all saw it in COVID. The demand can spike really, really quickly. And you don't necessarily know when that's going to happen, right? So these surges can catch everyone off guard. And maybe traditionally it's been harder to anticipate when these surges might appear. Luckily, maybe machine learning is a tool that can help us with that. Also, just I think the shelf life of different supplies is unique to healthcare. You have to be really, really careful about storage and transportation requirements. And all of that is compounded by distance and transportation costs. Especially in Canada, in the far north, those care locations, they're really dependent on certain supplies, but if there's a road closure or a snowstorm or something, it's further complicated. The inventory supplies and healthcare are potentially life changing, right? So it's just so much more important that that is managed properly. And that complicates things. I think overall, in general, we've just seen that healthcare systems can struggle with system integration.’’ 08:30 Applying AI across industry sectors Mara gave examples of how AI helps with demand forecasting and warehouse management. ‘’Some of the really cool projects we've worked on with our industry partners in the supply chain space, but more in the kind of consumer goods area are things like demand forecasting. So helping them better predict what items they're going to need and when. What's really great again about working with our supply chain partners is they have a ton of data, historical data. And that's really, really important. When we start looking to build machine learning solutions, we often rely heavily on that historical data to be able to make those predictions about the future. So the demand forecasting problem is really ripe for innovation and for machine learning because usually there is a large amount of data and we can start making predictions based off of what's happened in the past about what supplies will be needed and when. Another cool thing we worked on with one of our warehousing companies was pick route optimization. So when you're picking items from an order, what's the most efficient way to pick the items to start fulfilling orders? And then to that even more so is how do you build your warehouse up from nothing? How do you make sure that the space is optimized the best way that it can be so that you're optimizing your pick route, but also so that maybe commonly used supplies aren't blocked in. So we're able to, again, use some really cool machine learning techniques and historical data to help just those ground level initial planning things to make sure that we're setting up these warehouses to be really, really efficient.’’ 10:41 Anticipating patient ‘’no-shows’’ Mara said machine learning can help hospitals...
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    25 mins
  • Data and Research in Healthcare Analytics | E. 103

    Data and Research in Healthcare Analytics | E. 103
    Feb 28 2024
    2024 has been described as a financial ‘’make or break’’ year in healthcare. SpendMend Research Supervisor Zachary Markham explains to Jim Cagliostro why time and data are money for hospitals. Episode Introduction Zach explains why the lack of timely, accurate data can delay recovery of credits, and why most hospitals only have 50% visibility into their spend and accounts payable processes. He also shares why duplicate payments and credit on spend are the top two methods for recovery of costs, and highlights how uncovering dark data saved SpendMend clients $413 million in 2023. Show Topics Data analysis identifies duplicate payments Timely data is vital to maximize cost savings The significant cost savings potential hidden in dark data 3 challenges to gathering hospital data Positivity and communication skills are essential in leadership 02:18 Data analysis identifies duplicate payments Zach provided a ‘’birds eye view’’ of data analysis. ‘’So, when we initially get a client's data in, a hospital's data, we jump right on that data and we go ahead, we search account numbers and vendor contact information for each. So, if it's a larger healthcare system, we'll search for each entity within that healthcare system. We'll search for account numbers for all those, as well as the contact information for vendors. And then, for duplicate payments, that's a large revenue stream for us. So, that starts in the data scrub team. They scrub down the data and identify some good potential duplicate payments. And a duplicate payment is just an invoice that was paid twice for one reason or another. And once the data scrub team is done with that, they'll pass it off to us and we'll go into our client's imaging systems, where they store their invoices and we will pull those invoices and pass it back over to the data scrub team for validation. And I guess the third one here would be just various invoice pull requests for other departments, including the tax team, purchased services, as well as med device, just to name a few. And then, the last one I'll cover here just for the bird's eye view, PHIQ, which is protected health information. So, we've talked about data and it's extremely important to obviously protect our client's data, but it's equally, if not more important, to protect the patient's data as well.’’ 05:24: Timely data is vital to maximize cost savings Zach said hospitals sometimes don’t obtain credits for years if price discrepancies aren’t found quickly. ‘’I'll give you an example from my time as a pricing analyst. So, as a pricing analyst, we would review data price discrepancies that were about one to two years old from present from what they were currently paying, the hospitals were paying. So, we'd go through identify, "You're paying this vendor $20 for this item, when you should be paying $10 for that item," just as an example. And we would get that and working one to two years behind them. I guess the quicker that we would finish our review and then turn that back into the client, they'd be able to mend the price that they're paying, get it back to the contracted or agreed upon price. And also, collect the credits that were outstanding for the time that they were overpaying. So, I guess the sooner you can identify that you're paying at a higher rate than the contracted price for items, the sooner that you can correct it and get credits from the vendors.’’ 07:44: The significant cost savings potential hidden in dark data Zach said hospitals only have 50% visibility into their spend and accounts payable processes. ‘’Dark data is information that is hidden or not visible to a hospital for a variety of reasons. But it comes down to them not having the time, resources, or insights to uncover their own data blind spots. And I like to think of this kind of as a puzzle. So, when a hospital or healthcare system hands over their data to us, they're giving us basically a half put-together puzzle, and it's our job to put together the missing pieces or the other 50%. They only have approximately 50% visibility into their spend and accounts payables processes, and this dark data is essential to uncover, so our clients have a full set of data to make and implement decisions. And then what I always like to say is time and data are money. And then, as far as what hospitals can do about it... So, like I mentioned previously, hospitals are rarely equipped on their own to uncover their own dark data. Again, due to lack of time and resources. And that's where we step in as SpendMend to provide unique services that we do. All of our time and resources are used to uncover hospital's dark data through various tools and good old-fashioned investigating, I guess you could say. And in the past year alone, we've actually delivered $413 million back to our clients. ‘’ 14:23 3 challenges to gathering hospital data Zach said access to imaging ...
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    23 mins
  • Workforce Development: Building the Next Generation | E. 102

    Workforce Development: Building the Next Generation | E. 102
    Feb 21 2024
    US healthcare is facing a severe shortage of workers at every level. 6.5 million are expected to leave their jobs by 2026. Geoffrey Roche addresses the challenges in building a new workforce with Jim Cagliostro.    Episode Introduction  Geoffrey highlights the impact of the current staffing crisis in healthcare, and why leadership needs to evolve from a transactional to a heart-centered approach. He also explains why delays to access in care can cost hospitals up to $1 million every month, how one community college turned away over 13,600 qualified students from a program, and why every healthcare leader should become a mentor.   Show Topics   The impact of an ongoing workforce crisis A changing approach to healthcare leadership Industry and academia must connect to support the workforce Access to care delays may cost hospitals $1 million every month Delayed care leads to poorer patient outcomes and higher costs Qualified students can’t access vital healthcare programs All healthcare leaders should mentor     02:33 The impact of an ongoing workforce crisis   Geoffrey said the staffing shortage, combined with retention challenges, are impacting access to care.  ‘’… we sit at a huge inflection point. Probably without question the most challenging time in our nation's healthcare workforce is, as we speak today, certainly not that dissimilar from 2023. And when we look at it, we've got a significant supply and demand challenge. We know that there are not enough individuals graduating from college in pretty much every aspect of a healthcare program. We also know that retention still remains a very significant challenge, whether it's a clinical role or a nonclinical role. I think we have to be honest though about the impact that we are all seeing and will continue to face, particularly in the licensed areas of our healthcare system. It doesn't go a day where I talk to somebody and they share an access to care delay, whether it's in imaging, whether it's in lab, whether it's in outpatient or inpatient services. We're certainly at a very, very difficult time.’’   06:00 A changing approach to healthcare leadership Geoffrey said leaders in a multi-generational workforce need to demonstrate empathy and not judge.  ‘’I think leadership as a whole is taught very differently, right? And different points in time, different generations, the way that they have been taught leadership in some ways was command and control, which some would argue is more like transactional. And as we further see, we've got how many different generations, some people say five, some people say six. Whatever the number is, we've got more generations in the workforce than ever. And what we know is that our younger and our future generations have a much different view of leadership than previous ones. And we know that connection, respect, empathy, really this desire to understand that it's not going to just be the status quo, is not going to be the future of leadership when we look at all the different generations. And so it's really incredibly important that we have leaders in healthcare that can relate and understand and demonstrate empathy and not judge. I always say nobody should be judging on generations. I am the first to say I'm a millennial, but that doesn't mean right away go in and talk about, "Well, millennials leave jobs." That has no business in this conversation. What does have is how do we work together to achieve outcomes and results? And ultimately, I think if a leader can find connection with a person and help drive them, mentor them to achieve results, everyone's going to be rowing the oar in the right direction.’’   08:08 Industry and academia must connect to support the workforce Geoffrey explained why collaboration is vital to improve access to care delays.  ‘’….we have significant access to care delays in the healthcare system today where whether you're going for an imaging study, whether you're waiting to get an appointment for whatever it may be, cardiac related, oncology related, we have a really challenging situation where you have a situation where literally I talk to people across the country and they're like, "Well, I was supposed to get this study done, but the person who was going to do the study called out sick and they didn't have somebody else to do it." That's the reality that we sit in today, and we have to really address that. And that's really where that industry and academic connection comes in, where we've got to get strong connections where we're working together to make sure that not only do we have all the right programs to support the workforce, but that industry and academia are also coming together to talk to accrediting bodies, to talk to licensing boards because sometimes what's in place from a licensure end and from an accreditation end is not necessarily helping address these issues. We sit in a time of 2024 where some licensing standards and ...
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    20 mins