Adrienne Moore, Senior Vice President of Finance at Banner Health

Summary

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Becker’s Healthcare Podcast: Adrienne Moore, Senior Vice President of Finance at Banner Health

Release Date: December 2, 2025
Host: Alan Condon
Guest: Adrienne Moore, SVP of Finance, Banner Health

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Alan Condon interviews Adrienne Moore, Senior Vice President of Finance at Banner Health, a nonprofit integrated health system based in Phoenix, Arizona. Their discussion centers on the current financial trends shaping the healthcare industry, with a focus on regulatory changes, Medicaid funding, challenges and opportunities in rural health, Banner’s strategic investments in workforce and innovation (especially AI), and the health system’s long-term growth outlook.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Adrienne Moore’s Role and Banner Health at a Glance

• Adrienne oversees operational finance for hospitals/ambulatory divisions and corporate functions like forecasting, budgeting, and cost accounting.
• Banner Health operates in six states, running over 33 acute care hospitals and more than 500 locations.
• As an integrated delivery network, Banner provides both "care and coverage" (00:33-01:14).

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2. Top Financial Trends of 2025-2026

Regulatory Environment and Medicaid Cuts

• Banner is tracking over 100 regulatory items affecting providers, patients, and members, with Medicaid funding being the most pressing (01:42).
• There's acute anxiety about cuts to Medicaid and ACA (Affordable Care Act) subsidies, which “will impact care and coverage on a national scale” (01:49).
• “The most vulnerable populations are going to take the most significant cuts… The numbers… the CBO has done a report in May projecting 13.7 million people would lose coverage… more recent numbers bring that down to just about 10 million. But still, those are just staggering numbers.” (02:17-03:12)
• Concerns include:
  • Increase in the uninsured
  • Deferred care and crowded EDs
  • Declines in chronic care management
  • Health impacts beyond vulnerable populations

Proactive System Preparation

• Banner, like other systems, is waiting for legislative clarity but investing strategically to offset downstream effects of coverage losses (04:25).

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3. The $50 Billion Rural Health Fund: Challenges & Potential

• The federal fund is viewed as a potential mitigator for rural health challenges especially across Banner’s six states (04:25-05:00).
• Workforce emerges as the top challenge, particularly for rural providers. Adrienne stresses that nonprofit providers like Banner reinvest revenues into the community (05:25).
• Smart use of the fund could include:
  • Tech investments as “workforce extenders” (telehealth, AI, equipment)
  • Alignment between urban and rural centers for seamless care delivery
  • Non-clinical investments, e.g., housing and education to attract/retain staff (06:07-07:18)
• Notable quote:

  “We don’t have enough care providers in this country to serve the population today. So there’s always a need for us to create more workforce through education, opening up additional GME slots and nursing programs. And really I don’t think there’s a role in healthcare that doesn’t need additional investments in education.” (06:55)

Urban-Rural Partnerships

• Urban centers as specialty "hubs," supporting rural facilities via telemedicine and transfer protocols (07:48).

  “Specialty recruitment is easier in urban centers… urban centers can act as a hub and spoke center to provide specialty access through telemedicine and also transfer services…” (07:49-08:22)

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4. Banner Health’s Excitement for the Future

Workforce Development

• Banner trains 80% of Arizona’s nurses and over 1,600 physicians annually.
• Committed to sustained workforce investment, surpassing traditional funding (08:58).

  “Right now we train 80% of the nurses in Arizona and more than 1600 physicians every year. We have invested above and beyond what our traditional funding sources cover and we are committed to ensuring a workforce for our communities.” (08:59-09:20)

Innovation and the Role of AI

• Banner is experiencing a “confluence of events” of “headwinds and innovation… an opportunity to transform healthcare.”
• Banner is actively investing in AI as a workforce multiplier with a bifurcated strategy:
  • Leveraging established partners for ambient clinical listening (reducing documentation burden).
  • Building proprietary generative AI platforms for business processes.
• AI considered both a workforce supplement and a growth catalyst (10:14-11:09).

  “Our strategy is bifurcated… leveraging established partners for things like ambient listening that can reduce clinical burden… also selectively developing AI with the right partners where we don’t already see an established leader in the space and we see a need that we can meet.” (10:16-10:40)
  “We see it as a workforce multiplier because we’re an industry that’s really dependent on people and that isn’t going to change.” (11:03)

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5. Growth Strategy: Market Expansion & Sustainable Investment

• Banner is in rapidly growing markets and “will have to continue to invest in growth to support those communities.”
• Growth is planned “across the entire care continuum,” leveraging their IDN status for care and coverage.
• A focus on sustainable, long-term investments to support these ambitions (11:42-12:16).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Medicaid and ACA Cuts:

  “To see 10 million people lose coverage by 2034 is very concerning.”
  (Adrienne Moore, 02:55)

• On Workforce Investment:

  “We train 80% of the nurses in Arizona and more than 1600 physicians every year.”
  (Adrienne Moore, 09:00)

• On AI as a Workforce Multiplier:

  “AI can augment our workforce. We see it as a workforce multiplier because we’re an industry that’s really dependent on people and that isn’t going to change.”
  (Adrienne Moore, 11:03)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:33 – Adrienne Moore introduces Banner Health's scope and her role
• 01:42 – Top regulatory trends: Medicaid & ACA cuts
• 04:25 – System preparation for funding changes
• 05:25 – Potential impact and opportunity with the Rural Health Fund
• 07:48 – Bridging urban and rural healthcare through innovation
• 08:58 – Workforce and training investments
• 10:14 – Banner’s innovation focus and AI strategy
• 11:42 – Long-term growth: markets, care continuum, sustainable investments

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Conclusion

This episode offers a clear-eyed account of the challenges and opportunities facing large health systems like Banner Health amid regulatory upheaval and industry transformation. Adrienne Moore’s insights spotlight the dual imperatives of adapting to funding cuts while proactively investing in the workforce, technology, and market growth. The ongoing commitment to innovation—particularly through workforce development and AI—is painted as both a necessity and an opportunity for meaningful, long-term transformation in healthcare delivery.

Transcript

[A]

This is Alan Condon with the Beckers CFO and Revenue Cycle Podcast. And today I'm delighted to be joined by Adrian Murr, Senior Vice President of Finance for Banner Health. It's a nonprofit integrated health system headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, operates, I believe, 33 acute care hospitals across multiple states. Adrian, a real pleasure to have you on the podcast with us again today. For those of our listeners who might be as well acquainted with you or the work that you do at Banner Health, and we'd love to hear a little bit more about your role and your experience at the health system.

[B]

Thank you for having me. So happy to be here. I am, as you mentioned, the senior vice president of Finance at Banner Health. I cover some of our operational finance areas, all of the hospitals and ambulatory divisions, as well as our corporate finance functions for forecasting, budgeting, cost accounting. I get involved in a lot, so really well acquainted with our organization and its trajectory. Banner is in six states and has more than 500 locations. As you mentioned, we are an integrated delivery network, so we provide both care and coverage in the communities we serve.

[A]

Fantastic. So excited to have a financial executive from such an esteemed fantastic health system like Banner on the line. And Adrian, excited to dive right in. So like you said, you kind of oversee quite a bit in your role. You've been a Banner for quite some time. If you could narrow it down, I guess currently at the moment, as we approach the end of 2025, looking ahead to 2026, what are kind of two or three key trends that you're paying most closest attention to in your role today and why?

[B]

That's a great question. I will say that we're tracking more than 100 items right now with the changes coming out of Washington. We're tracking many impacts related to healthcare providers, patients and members in that regulatory space. And I'd say the item we're most concerned about right now is changes to Medicaid funding that will impact care and coverage on a national scale. That includes changes to the ACA funds as well. We're seeing that the most vulnerable populations are going to take the most significant cuts and the most likely outcome of that will be increases in uninsured patients who will defer care, utilize more emergency departments for things like primary care, and the long term health effects of that are particularly concerning. We may see declines in appropriate chronic care management. Really concerned about what this means for the population in this country, in our markets, especially in those vulnerable populations, but I'm sure the impacts will bleed into other populations as well. The numbers that we're seeing from this, the CBO has done a report in May projecting 13.7 million people that would lose coverage. We're seeing more recent numbers bringing that down to just about 10 million. But still, those are just staggering numbers. To see 10 million people lose coverage by 2034 is very concerning.

[A]

Yeah. So I think that's, to your point, the trend that finance leaders like yourself really paying closest attention to at the current timing, it doesn't seem like there's much respite, unfortunately, in terms of what we see on Capitol Hill. We know there's still a lot up in the air. We're waiting for a December vote potentially, to see what does happen with the ACA subsidies. But to your point, projecting 10 million people losing health care coverage over a certain amount of time in the coming years, more complex patients, deferred care, more crowded emergency departments that will, no doubt, to your point, Adrian, bleed into not just the most vulnerable patients, but really patient populations across the board. So I guess more my question there to you and to your system, how are you preparing for some of these downstream effects? No doubt we have some significant Medicaid cuts signed into law that are coming down the line in 2026, 2027. The ACA subsidies adds a whole nother layer of complexity to that kind of how are you modeling for next year? How are you preparing looks to kind of get any sort of insight into how Banner as a health system is really looking next year in light of some of those challenges coming down the pipeline.

[B]

So I think Banners is probably no different than the other health systems in the country that we are both waiting to see what the final changes look like. And we're being thoughtful stewards, just making sure we're putting our investments in the right places to prepare to take care of these patients the best we can as their coverage changes. I will say that we're following a second item pretty closely that has the potential to mitigate some of these changes, and that is the $50 billion rural fund that may be an opportunity for us to transform at least the rural components of healthcare in the country. So the six states that Banner is in have identified some key themes, and I think these themes probably broadly carry across the country. Workforce has emerged at the top of the list for all of the states that we're in. We're really concerned creating a sustainable workforce for our communities and in particular our rural communities. It's really critical that the healthcare providers are prioritized in this funding process, not for profit providers like Banner. Are reinvesting revenue directly into improvements in our communities in the form of capital technology and direct patient care, which I think creates a flywheel for ongoing improvements for profit companies may extract profits for their shareholders and dilute the long term benefits of this funding. So we're hoping that good decisions are made about how this fund is used as it's created. There's some other areas that would be really smart investments in this fund to look at technology investments that can be workforce extenders, things like telehealth, but also emerging technologies, AI and even some physical technologies in devices and equipment that are emerging. And then there's an opportunity for us to really align urban and rural centers to provide coverage out in those rural communities. I would say, you know, one final thought there is that we don't need to just create infrastructure within the health system, but there's a need for housing and education as well. These communities have trouble attracting and retaining healthcare workforce in part due to housing limitations. And then we don't have enough care providers in this country to serve the population today. So there's always a need for us to create more workforce through education, opening up additional GME slots and nursing programs. And really I don't think there's a role in healthcare that doesn't need additional investments in education.

[A]

Yeah, it's just interesting. I'd say I've heard kind of mixed reviews somewhat so far from the $50 billion Rural Health Fund opportunity. To your point, a lot of key areas that you'll be focused on in terms of the workforce technology investment. Adrian, I'm wondering if you could maybe just expand or dive one bit deeper into banner potentially that opportunity that you had mentioned to align urban and rural centres providing care in some of those more rural communities that you mentioned.

[B]

Yes. So specialty recruitment is easier in urban centers and a lot of our specialty services are concentrated in big metropolitan areas. Those urban centers can act as a hub and spoke center to provide specialty access through telemedicine and also transfer services for things that just can't be done in the rural communities due to the limitations of programming in those hospitals and in those clinic footprints. So creating partnerships between urban and rural communities to provide that continuum of care and coverage is an important transformation that should come out of this rural fund.

[A]

Yeah, no interest in certainly looking ahead to next year as to what comes out specifically in relation to rural healthcare. To your point, Adrian, we talked a little bit about kind of some of the challenges. That's no doubt a big opportunity in terms of rural healthcare. When you think about the future of of Banner Health or healthcare more broadly. Is there anything that you're particularly excited about as Senior Vice President of Finance?

[B]

So, yes, I'll come back to Workforce for a moment. One of the things I am excited about is our investment in workforce. Right now we train 80% of the nurses in Arizona and more than 1600 physicians every year. We have invested above and beyond what our traditional funding sources cover and we are committed to ensuring a workforce for our communities. I'm excited to see us continue growing and investing in workforce. The second thing is innovation. So this is a really exciting time where Banner is embracing innovation, but it happens to be a time where there are also a lot of headwinds for healthcare. We have this confluence of events right now with headwinds and innovation. That is an opportunity to transform healthcare. In five years, the way we deliver healthcare will look different than it does today. And we're really open to that change, which is both energizing and invigorating.

[A]

Yeah. And I think to narrow it down into innovation, there's so many different areas that I know Banner is focusing on. Is there one specific area in innovation that you're particularly like to highlight here, whether it be from the workforce perspective, digital access to care. What are you kind of really keeping a close eye on for 2026?

[B]

So we have a lot of focus on our AI strategy and I think you'll find that as common right now. But our strategy is bifurcated. So we're leveraging established partners for things like ambient listening that can reduce clinical burden. And we're also selectively developing AI with the right partners where we don't already see an established leader in the space and we see a need that we can meet. A couple of AI things that we're specifically excited about. We've incorporated a generative AI assistive capability into our business areas with a self contained, Banner wise AI platform. And then we're also looking at how AI can augment our workforce. We see it as a workforce multiplier because we're an industry that's really dependent on people and that isn't going to change. So we're looking for ways that AI can supplement our workforce.

[A]

Fantastic. No, I really appreciate kind of diving one bit deeper and kind of hearing some of the key areas of AI that you're focusing on there. I guess that no doubt is one key area of growth, like you'd mentioned, in terms of growing the workforce. Investing, digital investing in AI. Adrian, anything else that you'd like to highlight when you think about the next 12, the next 24 months or so. How is Banner really thinking about growth again? Is it more brick and mortar? Investing capital? Digital? Expanding outpatient? No doubt, all of the above. But I'd kind of love to hone in on one particular area that you'd like to highlight here.

[B]

So we're really fortunate to be in markets that are growing and we'll have to continue to invest in growth to support those communities. We do have ambitious growth goals over the next 10 years focused on our unique position as an IDN to deliver both care and coverage in our growing markets. I think we'll see growth across the entire care continuum, including our health plan, and we'll continue to make sustainable investments that support our growth strategies. This is an important time for, for us to make sustainable health care choices.

[A]

Fantastic. I think, no doubt, always so greatly appreciate the work that you, that your team at Banner do. Such an exciting health system, no doubt a challenge in time, but certainly a lot of growth opportunities, a lot of exciting things coming down the pipeline, like you've mentioned, in terms of the workforce, in terms of AI, in terms of expanding across those six states. Adrian, it's such a pleasure to connect with you. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us on the Becker's podcast and look forward to connecting with you again down the line.

[B]

Thank you.