During an interactive session at Becker's 12th Annual CEO + CFO Roundtable, Shannon Peterson, Senior Vice President at Medicus Healthcare Solutions, led a panel discussion with health system leaders focused on addressing physician clinical gaps and workforce stabilization.
The panelists included:
- Mason Van Houweling, CEO, University Medical Center of Southern Nevada (Las Vegas)
- Chad Tuttle, Senior Vice President, Clinical Shared Services, Corewell Health (Grand Rapids, Mich.)
- Chuck Sherwin, Regional President, MyMichigan Health (Midland)
- Mohammed Minhaj, MD, Chair of Anesthesia, Endeavor Health (Evanston, Ill.)
Throughout the session, leaders shared their experiences and strategies for overcoming workforce challenges, particularly in radiology and anesthesia. They highlighted the importance of recognizing early signs of workforce instability, the benefits of transitioning from outsourced to employed models, and the critical role of communication and change management in implementing large-scale staffing initiatives. Innovative training programs and partnerships with academic institutions were also raised as key opportunities to mitigate the impact of long-term workforce shortages. Finally, both panelists and session participants underscored the need for strategic planning and execution in maintaining high-quality patient care.
Three key takeaways:
1. Detecting early warning signs of unstable partnerships is essential to operational efficiency and timely patient care.
Despite some improvements in healthcare staffing levels in 2024, shortages in areas like anesthesiology and radiology have worsened. Ms. Peterson noted the myriad factors impacting workforce challenges, including aging staff, burnout and stress, workplace culture, and leadership. Supply and demand mismatch, as well as declining reimbursements, are exacerbating these issues, the panelists agreed.
As health systems pursue workforce stabilization, many are relying on strategic partnerships. Ensuring quality in these partnerships, however, is critical. Mr. Tuttle from Corewell Health described his system's 20-plus-year relationship with an independent radiology group and issues that arose over time with backlogged cases in outpatient centers.
"We weren't looking to disrupt that partnership, but in retrospect, we started to see things like — well, they were more frequently mandating extra shifts. Their providers were talking about not getting the PTO they wanted. There were conversations about their inability to find locums and things that we wouldn't normally look at today," Mr. Tuttle said.
The need for an alternative solution became apparent, Mr. Tuttle explained, which led to a partnership with the Medicus Transition Program to deploy a command center that would help to identify providers to augment the independent group, as well as address needs in revenue cycle, contracting and payer credentialing.
"As of this morning, our list was 2,500 studies and about 95% being read within 24 hours, and our oldest study is back around the three-day mark," Mr. Tuttle said. "We're back in a stabilized state at this point. The radiologist shortage exists, so we're still worried about what's going to happen long term — but we've gotten back to the point where our patients are not suffering as a result of what we continue to navigate on a daily basis."
Panelists noted how effective interim staffing partnerships and external resources can also help to supplement internal capabilities and navigate change.
"Medicus made it so that we could focus on internal change management while they helped us actually manage 40 independent providers, as if they were a group as opposed to 40 individual relationships, which was very beneficial to us," Mr. Tuttle added.
2. Cultivate a collaborative relationship with key service providers, rather than a transactional one
Dr. Minhaj, who oversees anesthesia at six of the eight hospitals at Endeavor Health, described a concerning trend in the field: That many anesthesia departments have a very "transactional" relationship with hospital administration.
"Those transactional relationships usually end up in resentments," he said. "What we really want is a transformational relationship where you have alignment of interests."
Once the demand for anesthesiology surged post-pandemic, Dr. Minhaj said he noticed it was common for one of his hospitals to require providers to work pre- and post-call, which is not typically part of normal anesthesiology practice.
"What ended up occurring was eight individuals resigned and signed a contract with another group before the hospital stepped in and said, 'we're definitely moving toward employment.' And eight out of 20 or so people leaving is a huge hit," Dr. Minhaj said. "Stepping in earlier, having the conversations with the group at large, rather than just one or two leaders who may or may not be aligned with your interests, would have probably benefitted us more."
3. There's rarely a 'perfect' time for big changes and innovation.
In stabilizing the clinical workforce, leaders will inevitably be faced with making big decisions. Here, panelists underscored the importance of deeply understanding contract terms with provider service agreements, giving new leaders the chance to prove themselves and having a back-up plan.
"Don't get yourself into a situation where the contract's going to expire and you don't have a plan in place, because then that plan becomes signing a new contract that's probably going to be way more expensive than the contract you were just in," Mr. Sherwin from MyMichigan Health said.
Leaning into initiatives that are new and flexible — yet carefully crafted — will be essential for troubleshooting current workforce challenges, as well as the projected shortages ahead.
"Our ORs are busier than ever," Mr. Van Houweling from University Medical Center of Southern Nevada said. "We're on time, we're extending hours, we're doing weekends, we're doing procedures that we've never done before at UMC. We've been able to attract some national talent. I think being nimble is key. Execution is the hardest thing in leadership, so I always say, start small, start simple, and then we can get to the complex and comprehensive."