Laura Dyrda on Healthcare Leadership, Workforce Strain and the Future of AI
In this episode, Laura Dyrda, Vice President, Editor-in-Chief, Becker's Healthcare, discusses the leadership strategies health systems need to navigate workforce strain, burnout and talent development. She also explores the opportunities and risks surrounding AI adoption, including governance, reskilling and using technology to improve decision-making and care delivery.
- The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system
- leaders right now is not a short list.
- Growth in a consolidating market, sustainable margins in
- a reimbursement environment that rarely moves in your
- favor,
- a tech investment cycle that demands both urgency
- and discipline,
- and a workforce story that is still being
- written.
- Eker's fourteenth annual CEO CFO roundtable brings together
- more than 1,500 executive level attendees and nearly
- 400 speakers across four days of sessions that
- are designed to help c suite leaders benchmark,
- pressure test, and sharpen their priorities.
- Not in the abstract, but against the real
- decisions they'll face heading into the next year.
- It's the kind of event you leave with
- a clear sense of where you stand and
- what comes next.
- So join us November second through the fifth
- at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago,
- and come ready to do the hard thinking.
- Register on our events page at beckershospitalreview.com
- by clicking on the events tab in the
- upper right.
- This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare
- podcast.
- Thrilled today to visit with Laura Dirda. Laura
- is the editor in chief of Becker's Healthcare
- and literally as good a professionals any ever
- had a chance to work with. The very
- best. We're gonna talk to Laura about health
- care in a second,
- but what not all of the audience knows
- is that Laura Dirda is a huge Chicago
- white sox fan
- who are having an unthinkable
- renaissance. It's not that it's going that great,
- but after three one hundred lost seasons in
- a row,
- they're now above water and I think first
- or second in their division.
- And I wanted to get a couple seconds.
- And I know for our health care loyalist,
- this might be off track,
- but Laura's brilliant and a huge fan, and
- I loved her opinions.
- Before we get into health care, Laura,
- give me a couple thoughts on the White
- Sox renaissance
- and what this looks like, how they're doing
- currently,
- and a little bit there.
- Yeah. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Scott.
- And, yes, to your point, I think looking
- at where the White Sox are today,
- 68 wins, 63 losses, so above 500, which
- we'll definitely take after multiple 100 lost seasons.
- So that turnaround for sure is an exciting,
- thing to see within the clubhouse. I I
- think,
- in some ways, very relevant to health care
- when you're looking at different teams and and
- how,
- you wanna turn around, whether it's the culture,
- performance,
- and really make sure that everybody is growing
- in the same direction and and working towards
- the same goals. And so I think one
- of the things that really stands out to
- me, especially looking at this season for the
- White Sox, is,
- you know, they traded away a lot of
- their big name talent who had been underperforming
- and and brought in,
- new,
- I guess, players and and many young players
- as well as a few that, you know,
- were,
- not performing well in other teams and were
- able to bring them together in one clubhouse
- and,
- creates a type of culture that really, you
- know, is,
- high on work ethic and and also, you
- know, a group of people who really enjoy
- being together. And so I think that's one
- of the things that's been so fun about
- watching this White Sox team is there's not
- a ton of big names or or flashy
- plays. But at the end of the day,
- you can see how much fun everybody is
- having. And, truly, the the team, cares about
- each other and wants to do well and
- wants to win. And so it's been fun
- to be at the ballpark and watch the
- team every single day, and then the manager
- too will Venable,
- being able to,
- really truly kinda just talk through the simple
- things that they're trying to do, really cut
- through a lot of the noise and and
- and really focus in on the things that
- are gonna make the biggest difference,
- has been really refreshing. Taking accountability
- for the issues that they've had on the
- field and then being able to address them
- and see those changes and,
- watch the performance follow has been really exciting.
- So I think that's that's some of the
- biggest things that might takeaways for the season.
- It it let me tie this to health
- care for a second because I think one
- of the things you mentioned
- that is so evident. About a year or
- two ago, they went out and hired somebody
- who's a really well regarded
- manager, Will Venable.
- And I thought Will Venable
- was heading into an impossible situation
- just how bad the white sex has been
- the last several years.
- Talk for a second about the importance of
- leadership because I think that transitions so well
- into everything else, into health care and everything
- else.
- Talk a little bit about that, about the
- importance of leadership
- and, you know, can
- how much does a leader make a difference
- whether in business, in a health system, a
- surgery center,
- a physician leader, or a manager of a
- baseball team? How important is leadership?
- Leadership is incredibly important. I think, you know,
- there are,
- many different ways to approach leadership, and and
- teams need different things at different times. But
- at the end of the day, you know,
- one of the biggest,
- mantras that we hear isn't gonna be surprising
- to any leader, but it's so, so critical,
- and that's the ability to effectively communicate
- your message,
- you know, whether it's in
- Spanish or English for for a lot of
- the teams or or now, Japanese as well
- for the white sox. And then looking at
- how you're getting your message across, how you
- can really connect with the people on your
- team. And I think that's something
- that isn't always easy, but at the same
- time,
- that person to person human connection is something
- that is so critical within the health care
- space and within really any team that's trying
- to accomplish a big goal. And so I
- think that's one of the things that has
- really come out in the last, especially, season
- or two is, you know, looking at Will
- Venable as a leader is somebody who really
- was able to connect person to person who
- has been well respected by the players who
- he's worked with and and,
- truly somebody that they want to, do well
- for and wanna play for every single day.
- And so I think that's something, you know,
- you can have, again, many different leadership styles.
- But even if you're not the loudest person
- or or somebody who's gonna be the most
- dynamic,
- outwardly,
- if you've got those right relationships in place
- and,
- you can feel like the team trusts you
- and understands you and and you trust them
- to do their jobs too, I think it's
- something that really goes a long way when
- you're trying to build a team and a
- culture that's gonna be able to,
- be nimble no matter what's thrown at you
- and,
- truly can have that right investment within the
- players and within the team,
- to make a difference as you're going forward.
- And when things change, it'll then be a
- challenge, but also a huge opportunity to grow
- and develop and and become even stronger.
- Thank you very, very much. And and and
- talk for a second, Laura.
- We've talked about leadership. So I think that
- leadership aspect and it's been incredibly evident with
- the white sox. They've done so
- much with so little and made the players
- feel empowered, and that's a a rule or
- a truth for leadership in any sector.
- Transition over and talk about one of the
- health care stories that you're following currently
- that's having impact on health systems.
- Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So one of the things
- that I'm working on right now, that we're
- we're still working through, but,
- and haven't published yet, but it kind of
- the themes really ring true to this discussion
- today. And as we had asked, several of
- our CEO and CFO
- roundtable speakers
- to comment on some of the biggest, and
- most dangerous trends that they're seeing out in
- the world right now and what they're thinking
- about as being the most dangerous trend going
- forward. And, you know, the clearest theme running
- through a good number of the responses was
- looking at workforce strain. It's still thinking about
- burnout, loss of experienced clinicians,
- and retirement or attrition, and then compounded by
- growing reliance on, in some ways, agency or
- locum staff again instead of the long term
- and invested teams. And so I think a
- lot of leaders are really trying to figure
- out the right way that they can bring
- on strong teams, grow new leaders, and grow
- their talent pipelines. I know so many organizations
- are forming relationships with different institutions or colleges
- developing
- different, continuing education programs so that their teams
- and,
- current staff and employees can upscale
- and and really finding,
- ways that they can have a sustainable,
- pipeline into them, especially if they're rural community
- hospitals or in non urban spaces. I think
- that has been even more critical and elevated
- in a variety of different ways. And so
- I I I think that was kind of
- the biggest thing that stood out to me
- when I was looking at those trends is
- it wasn't something huge, new, or flashy. But
- at the end of the day,
- you know, finding new solutions to that problem
- has been really interesting to hear from so
- many different executives and leaders as they're looking
- toward the future and trying to plan more
- upstream than they have in the past.
- And then the second term that really emerged
- is looking at artificial intelligence. Some of the
- leaders see a lot of hype around AI
- and and saw that as a danger, while
- others warned against adopting it without governance or
- emotional and ethical guardrails.
- And while others were, again, more worried about
- underinvesting
- and,
- not getting the right human judgment training and
- reskilling needed to make sure their teams are
- ready for tomorrow.
- So organizations are kind of across the board.
- A lot happening with AI in different worries.
- But at the same time, many of them
- did see upside to incorporating it in the
- right way and thinking through it. They just
- are, uncertain about whether their execution is gonna
- be correct and and know that they want
- to make sure their teams are thinking about
- it correctly, doing it correctly, and bringing the
- right results into their organization.
- I think executives are very much trying to
- use this technology to bridge silos, making sure
- that their data is accurate and as clean
- as possible and then
- using it to make better decisions as they're
- trying to figure out how to move patients
- through their health care system more efficiently and
- effectively.
- Thank you. It it is fascinating. Right? The
- the amount that,
- the changes are going on
- in
- use of artificial intelligence in the cascading use
- cases and how some systems are really finding
- ways to embrace it
- and others are struggling with it. And and
- also the concept of how much different
- room people have and how they're approaching it
- is just fascinating.
- Absolutely. It's it's incredible to see and think
- about. And I know more AI now is
- going into the clinical space and clinical realm
- when you're thinking about how using ambient technology,
- of course, number one. But then number two,
- more and more accessible is the precision medicine,
- the data around how you can make decisions,
- and then what AI can actually do within
- the clinical space, paired with humans and and
- just really,
- some incredible stuff going on, incredible work, but
- also, you know, a lot to think about
- and make sure that we have correct because
- the stakes are so high in the clinical
- space.
- Fantastic.
- Laura, I wanna thank you for joining us
- today. You are fantastic, and continue good luck
- to health care AI and to the White
- Sox. Thank you so much for joining us.
- Thank you, Scott. I appreciate it.