Dr. Maria Ryan on Cutting Healthcare Costs and Improving Health Through Education

Summary

Becker’s Healthcare Podcast Summary Episode: Dr. Maria Ryan on Cutting Healthcare Costs and Improving Health Through Education
Release Date: July 31, 2025

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Introduction

In this insightful episode of the Becker’s Healthcare Podcast, host Scott Becker welcomes Dr. Maria Ryan, a seasoned healthcare leader with over three decades of experience. Dr. Ryan delves into her extensive background, current focus areas, and presents a comprehensive plan aimed at reforming the U.S. healthcare system by reducing costs and enhancing public health through education.

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Dr. Maria Ryan’s Background

Dr. Ryan begins by outlining her professional journey:

“I spent 30 plus years in healthcare, starting as a clinician, a registered nurse, working my way up as an independent provider, a board-certified nurse practitioner...”
— Maria Ryan [00:26]

Her dual passion for patient care and leadership led her to obtain a PhD in healthcare administration, ultimately becoming an award-winning CEO. Despite her successes, Dr. Ryan expresses a persistent drive to effect more substantial changes in the healthcare landscape.

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Identifying the Core Issues in Healthcare Costs

Dr. Ryan presents a critical analysis of where healthcare funds are predominantly allocated, highlighting several key areas where costs could be curtailed:

1. Regulatory Burden:

   • Small rural hospitals contend with up to 629 regulations, contributing an additional $1,500 to $2,000 to patient bills upon admission.
   • She emphasizes the inefficiency of existing regulations that fail to directly enhance patient safety, leading to increased operational costs.

2. Beginning of Life Expenses:

   • The cost of neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) care for premature babies balloons to approximately $26 billion annually, primarily funded by Medicaid.
   • Preventable factors such as inadequate prenatal care and the rising incidence of drug-addicted infants exacerbate these costs.

3. End of Life Care:

   • Approximately one-fourth of Medicare dollars are expended in the final year of seniors' lives.
   • Dr. Ryan questions the necessity of expensive tests and treatments that may not substantially improve the quality of life for terminal patients.

4. Fraud and Chronic Diseases:

   • Significant resources are lost to Medicare and Medicaid fraud.
   • Chronic diseases, notably obesity and diabetes, remain a substantial and preventable financial burden on the healthcare system.

“As soon as someone gets admitted to any hospital, any size hospital, automatically their bill is $1,500 to $2,000… because that's what it costs to pay staff to deal with these regulations.”
— Maria Ryan [00:45]

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Dr. Ryan’s Vision: Healthcare Reform Bending the Curve

To address these challenges, Dr. Ryan introduces her comprehensive plan titled "Healthcare Reform Bending the Curve," which she initially presented at a Becker’s conference several years prior. The cornerstone of her strategy is preventative care through enhanced education.

Integrating Health Initiatives into Traditional Education

Dr. Ryan proposes a multifaceted approach that intertwines traditional academic subjects with robust health education:

• Curriculum Enhancement:

  • Incorporate reading of nutrition labels, physical exercise, and comprehensive health education into the standard curriculum.

• Physical Activity:

  • Reinstate a full 60-minute exercise period within the school day to combat the sedentary lifestyles of modern youth.
  • Flexibility is allowed for students already engaged in sports, ensuring inclusivity and adaptability.

• Nutrition:

  • Provide farm-to-table breakfasts and lunches devoid of processed foods, emphasizing colorful and vegetable-rich meals.
  • Eliminate the need for income-based applications for free lunches to prevent stigma among students.

“We're going to feed breakfast and lunch, farm to table, no processed foods, very colorful, lots of vegetables.”
— Maria Ryan [08:15]

Aiming for Long-Term Impact

Dr. Ryan believes that by instilling healthy habits early on, the nation can significantly reduce future healthcare costs associated with chronic diseases and other preventable conditions.

“If we could put this plan together and pay for it by saving money on the other, other leg of beginning of life, end of life and those chronic diseases, we can pay for it.”
— Maria Ryan [09:45]

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Compelling Statistics Supporting the Plan

To substantiate her proposal, Dr. Ryan shares alarming statistics that underscore the urgency of her plan:

• Low Physical Activity:
  $117 billion in annual healthcare costs are attributed to insufficient physical activity.

• Obesity-Related Costs:
  $147 billion is spent yearly on healthcare for obesity.

• Dietary Concerns:
  9 out of 10 Americans consume excessive amounts of sodium and sugar.

• Physical Inactivity in Youth:
  4 out of 5 high school students do not engage in adequate physical activity.

“$117 billion in annual health care costs are related to low physical activity. $147 billion a year is spent on health care for obesity…”
— Maria Ryan [09:30]

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Next Steps and Implementation

Dr. Ryan outlines her strategic approach to implementing the "Bending the Curve" plan:

1. Engagement with Educators:

   • Initiate conversations with traditional educators to integrate health initiatives into the existing curriculum.

2. Collaboration with Federal Agencies:

   • Seek grants from the federal government to fund pilot studies and expand the school day to accommodate additional health programs.

3. Long-Term Commitment:

   • Monitor and evaluate the impact of the program within selected school systems over a span of five to ten years to ensure effectiveness and scalability.

“My next mission is to meet with Robert Kennedy… we would need extra help and extra expertise in some of these healthcare initiatives in classical education.”
— Maria Ryan [11:01]

Dr. Ryan remains optimistic that her plan will not only reduce healthcare expenditures but also cultivate a healthier, more active population.

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Conclusion

In summary, Dr. Maria Ryan presents a visionary plan that tackles the exorbitant costs of the U.S. healthcare system by addressing root causes through education and preventative measures. Her approach emphasizes the profound impact that early intervention and lifestyle education can have on long-term health outcomes and financial sustainability.

For those interested in learning more about Dr. Ryan’s initiatives or seeking to collaborate, she directs listeners to her website at DrMariaRyan.net, where she is available for engagements and further discussions.

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“I am convinced we are going to make a difference in health care outcomes plus decreasing the cost of health care...”
— Maria Ryan [10:50]

“What I've been trying to do is talk to educators first...”
— Maria Ryan [11:10]

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Connect with Dr. Maria Ryan:
Website: www.DrMariaRyan.net
For speaking engagements and further information.

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This detailed summary captures the essence of Dr. Maria Ryan’s discussion on the Becker’s Healthcare Podcast, providing valuable insights into her strategic approach to healthcare reform through education.

Transcript

[Scott Becker]

This is Scott Becker with the Becker Healthcare Podcast. We're thrilled today to be joined by a tremendous healthcare leader, CEO and executive. We're joined today by Maria Ryan. And Maria is going to bring her up to date on where she's most focused today. A little bit about her background trend she's watching, and a lot more. Maria, can you take a moment and tell us a bit about yourself and your career?

[Maria Ryan]

Well, thank you, Scott, and I'm really honored to be joining you today. Well, I spent 30 plus years in healthcare, starting as a clinician, a registered nurse, working my way up as a independent provider, a board certified nurse practitioner, and all the while I kind of had a dual track. I loved taking care of patients. I was an incredible, and still am diagnostician. And I have always had a great rapport with my patients. But I also liked leadership because I was able to change health care on a bigger scale. So I did go for my PhD in healthcare administration and became a CEO, an award winning CEO. But again, I was frustrated a little bit. I was very proud. Every hospital I've been in, every community, I've left it better than I received it. But I feel through my experience that we can do a lot more. So I put together this plan. I think I even presented it at Becker's many years ago, five to eight years ago, somewhere in there. And Scott, I entitled it Healthcare Reform Bending the Curve. And I don't want to bore your audience with a lot of statistics, but I did dig deep to get background information. And basically how much are we spending on health care? And why is it truly always, you know, for better health? No, I realized we're spending a lot of money on regulations. For instance, a small rural hospital can face up to 629regulations. And we, I worked with the hospital association and we projected that when someone gets admitted to any hospital, any size hospital, automatically their bill is $1,500 to $2,000. Wow. They just stepped in the hospital. How could it already be that high? Because that's what it costs to pay staff to deal with these regulations. Now, I don't mind as a hospital leader, if regulations were to improve safety of a patient. I don't mind that at all. As a matter of fact, I hope that I would come up with those safety measures before the federal government. But a lot of these regulations don't make sense and it cost money of adding non clinical personnel to deal with the regulations. Okay, so we know we're spending a lot of money there. We also know that we're spending A lot of money in the beginning of Life. We know 1 in 10 babies are being born premature in NICU. Care is costing, usually through Medicaid, about $26 billion a year. And that number may be light. And a lot of this is preventable by giving prenatal care. And the other thing unfortunately, Scott, is a lot of these babies are being born addicted. So they're addicted to drugs and they have to, you know, go through detox and they have all kinds of long term effects. So we're spending money on, you know, regulations that don't make sense or spending money that could be preventable on nicu. And then end of life. It is said that a fourth of Medicare dollars are being spent in the last year of our seniors life, life. Sometimes it's needed. I, I do give that, but sometimes it's like, why are we ordering all these expensive tests when it's not going to make a difference to the quality of life this person has left? Okay, so we know this, this has all been in the literature. U.S. health care executives know it, U.S. providers know this. And then fraud is a very, very big number. Medicare and Medicaid fraud. And then there's those chronic diseases which at your summits, your conferences, there's a lot of talk about chronic diseases and what can we do? And certainly Robert Kennedy has talked about the obesity crisis, which leads to metabolic crisis like diabetes, and there's other chronic diseases and many are preventable. So I put my thinking cap on and I said, okay, we have all this knowledge. We, we know it and we're trying to talk about preventative care in primary care when the patient goes and sees their physician, but it's got little impact, unfortunately. So I was trying to think why? Well, once an adult gets into these habits, you know, what we consume, lack of exercise, it's so ingrained, it's really difficult. I know personally I fight with the same 10 to 15 pounds. I'm forever gaining, losing it, and it is a struggle. So I'm thinking, how can we change that where it becomes a different part of their life. Health initiatives. All right, so here's the crazy side of me. I always think of these multiple different things and I'm very much into improving really traditional education for our youth. The United States, we've really fallen in math and sciences. And for such a wealthy, allegedly advanced nation, we're failing in health initiatives and we're failing in our schools. So I combine the two and I put together an education plan that really zeros in on the reading, writing, arithmetic Geography, science, those type core things that kids need to get ahead. And I added health initiatives, reading of nutrition labels, exercising, of course, in my plan, in Utopia plan, I added the school day, I added time to the school day and I added it by adding exercise. Our children are leading in most respects a very sedentary life very differently than you and I grew up. You know, we played all day long in the summertime, we hated to come in. We came in only when the street lights went on. Nowadays they come home from school, they go in their room and they're on their iPad or their smartphone playing games and it's very sedentary. So I wanted to put exercise back in school a full 60 minutes. Sure. Could there be a waiver if you're already on a hockey team or soccer team? Yeah, yeah. If you go to those things, you know, all that could be flexible in this plan, but for the average kid, that exercise, we would make it fun, make it enjoyable, but also burning those calories. And the other thing I added in the plan and how is feeding all kids? You don't have to worry about putting an application in on how much you make because I do worry about the stigma of some children who do get a free lunch, whether other children make fun of them. So I want to take away any stigmas and say, okay, we're going to feed breakfast and lunch, farm to table, no processed foods, very colorful, lots of vegetables. And we're going to add that exercise in, in the afternoon. And we're getting back to traditional education. No social type stuff or whatever is new in the news. We're going to follow really the, the classic educational points. I am convinced if we can do that, if we could put this plan together and pay for it by saving money on the other, other leg of beginning of life, end of life and those chronic diseases, we can pay for it. I'm a realist. It doesn't happen right away. Sometimes you got to spend money to see the outcome. So we would have to, as a nation, put out some money. But I really feel that not only will we bend the financial curve of health care, we're going to do something we've been unable to do and that's truly making a healthier population. I know I talked really, really fast and I just skimmed over this plan, but I just want to tell you some of these numbers. $117 billion in annual health care costs are related to low physical activity. 147 billion a year is spent on health care for obesity. And 9 in 10Americans consume way Too much sodium and sugar. And lastly, four in five students in high school do not get enough physical activity. And I believe actually that slide is wrong. I is 4 and 5 students, regardless of health, high school, excuse me, do not get enough physical activity. So that's what I wanted to tell you about in a nutshell today.

[Scott Becker]

No, thank you. And what could be done about it and where are you most focused on it? Maria, tell us what can be done about it and where are you most focused?

[Maria Ryan]

Well, what I've been trying to do is talk to educators first, like I'll talk to traditional educators first. Then I bungle over to health care. My next mission is to meet with Robert Kennedy. You know, the federal government does give out grants and they do ask for people to do pilot studies. And if I can get a school system, they would probably need some dollars because I'm expanding the the day. So we would need extra help and extra expertise in some of these healthcare initiatives in classical education. And we follow this school system for five to 10 years. I am convinced, Scott, I am convinced we are going to make a difference in health care outcomes plus decreasing the cost of health care, whether by the person themselves or by the federal government.

[Scott Becker]

Maria, tell us where people can learn more about what you're doing and how they could reach you and so forth. If people are interested in following up with on this and learning more about.

[Maria Ryan]

It, I, I would love that. I do have a website which I could be better at keeping up with. But this whole plan, I think I actually filmed it at a Becker's HealthC Care Conference in Chicago. And that's Dr. Dr. Maria ryan.net and there's also a place for people to get in contact with me, hire me for speeches, whatever.

[Scott Becker]

I want to tell you. Dr. Ryan, what a pleasure to get a chance to talk again. Dr. Maria Ryan, what a great pleasure. What great leadership. Good luck in this initiative and thank you so much for joining us today on the Becker's Healthcare podcast. Thank you very, very much.

[Maria Ryan]

You're welcome. Thank you, Scott.