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Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Leading Through Uncertainty in Healthcare: Insights from Laura Dyrda
00:15:32
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- [00:01]
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Exciting things are happening at Beckers Healthcare Stay ahead of industry trends with the new Beckers CFO plus Revenue Cycle Podcast your go to source for insights from top healthcare finance leaders. Tune in wherever you get your podcasts and don't miss the 10th annual Health IT Digital Health RCM Conference happening September 30 to October 3, 2025 in Chicago. Join thousands of executives, engage with industry leaders and explore the future of healthcare innov. Learn more about our upcoming events@beckershospitalreview.com See you there.
- [00:38]
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This is Scott Becker with the Becker Healthcare Podcast. I am thrilled today to be joined by Laura Dearda. Laura leads the editorial team at Becker's Healthcare. She is literally an amazing, amazing leader in so many ways. I'm the biggest fan of hers. We're going to talk to her today about a leadership subject, something a little bit different than we usually talk to her about. Usually we talk about what are the few key stories she's watching currently and sort of taking off on a subject that's near and dear to her heart. We're going to talk about when things are challenging and how leadership looks at rebounding and looking at the future when they're challenging. This topic is particularly appropriate because health systems are looking at some daunting cuts in Medicaid and patient censuses, or not necessarily patient censuses but but patients that might be able to pay for services as under the one big beautiful bill, there's a reduction of people covered by Medicaid and there's less subsidies for the accountable Affordable Care act. And that's potentially less paying patients when you're in a daunting situation. And you know, I'm going to ask Laura how she hears leaders thinking about this and handling it while they're in a daunting situation. To bring this back to Laura, what people don't know about Laura Daredev is aside from being an incredible leader and person and journalist, she also is an avid White Sox fan and I'll tie these two together for our audience. The White Sox last year set the absolute record in modern times for the number of losses in a season. All time records like 122 losses, some insane amount out of 162 games. That's really being in a daunting, daunting position this year we still got a couple months left. They've exceeded that total. They're not going to do great this year, but the guess is a lot. 56 to 58 wins compared to 40 or 42 last year. So it's a sizable move in the right direction. They brought in new leadership, took a different view of this. Hopefully hope that leader will stay, but so the white Texas started to move in the right direction after a daunting time. Also subsidies a couple years ago when some big systems were losing billions. Now they're very concerned about the one big beautiful bill and a lot of other things. Laura, how do health systems deal with this in this time of sort of stress on systems and being in a challenging place? How do you turn around from that? How do you manage yourself through that?
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Absolutely. That's such a great question, Scott. I think there's not one perfect answer, but I am hearing several themes emerging from the conversations I'm having with leaders today, whether it's seasoned veterans who have been nimble and been able to steer their organizations through many challenges over the last five to ten years or so, as well as new leaders who are coming into the CEO or president role for the first time and trying to grasp and understand what's going to be beneficial and make the most sense to lead their organizations into success for the future. And you know, to cap off your White Sox analogy here, I think we just exceeded our win total from last year and getting 42 wins a few days ago. So it's just been fascinating to see how that organization has brought in a new leader, some new talent, young talent, and really focused on the fundamentals in order to turn things around in Chicago. And hopefully they will continue to build within their core of young talent as well as a few key leaders who have stuck around, veterans who understand what it takes to be great and can continue to be those types of leaders who exhibit greatness every day but understand how they can prepare as well for the future. I think from the health system perspective, what we're hearing a lot right now from CEOs, presidents, CFOs, and others in the C suite is very much the importance of really thinking through what their strategic plans are going to be, what is going to change their strategic plans. It's becoming harder once again to think into the future, to plan three to five years out similarly to what they were facing in the pandemic, needing to even just look weeks and months into the future to try to figure out what's going to make their organizations nimble, how they can respond to the fast changes within the landscape, and then really, truly set their organizations on a course for success. I think first and foremost, those who feel like they've got a strong vision, a strong mission that their teams can rally around, that their physicians, clinicians as well as team in general really feel strongly and passionate about their mission and vision. For an organization that's not only providing care for the community, that that's serving the underserved, that is providing the best possible workplace for them. Also includes that kind of core mission of now being technology driven, technology enhanced, having everyone on board with seeing the very real and stark realities of what's happening in healthcare today, the challenges that C suites are facing to some degree and then understanding the decisions that they're making in real time. I think one of the huge, huge lessons that we learned during the pandemic is that communication and the ability to communicate with the front lines is critical. The ability to go out and connect with those folks who are providing care at all levels and then having the, you know, communication back to them, getting feedback to understand what they're undergoing and hear from them, but then to then rally and volley back the final decisions and the why behind whatever decision they're making is really critical. Especially if you're looking at team cuts, if you're looking at potential layoffs and then trying to figure out, you know, how you're making some of these painful decisions for the organization that are going to be tough to go through in the short term, but you know, in the long term, set the hospital or system up for success in being able to, you know, continue to deliver care. I think that's an extremely important and delicate message and takes the right type of leader to deliver that and go through, you know, the right steps in order to bring the organization along with them. Think it's critical as well for just the whole team to see how much the CEO, the president, the entire C suite cares about the community and cares about their broader teams. I don't think there's a single leader that would say that they don't struggle with the decisions they're making on a daily basis, that they don't care for their teams on a personal level, but being able to display that being present and really connecting with the team, whether it's through town halls, video messages or some of those one on one, just connecting points for lunch, coffee, being on the front lines and pulling people aside for quick conversations can really go a long way to help the teams feel ownership and understand what is happening in healthcare right now and be part of the solution. Quite honestly, I think that there's so much goodwill to be engendered from healthcare people. Focused field is definitely a space where there's a lot of compassion, a lot of strong feelings about how people can really truly grow and succeed. These hospitals and systems are the backbone and cornerstone of their communities. The people who are working on the front lines, many of them have been in the communities for years, grew up there, and are just really proud of the services being provided from these hospital systems. And so leaning into what that means on the community level, how you can really connect with those who are passionate about delivering care and then foster that passion. And I think that's really, really important to tap into for leaders. I think, especially when you're looking at, you know, the current times, needing to be nimble, needing to be flexible, needing to really prepare for a variety of different realities over the next six months, 12 months, several years even, you know, it's challenging. It's hard for change to happen quickly. And so winning the hearts and minds of the team is critical right now. And the leaders that are doing that the best are focused on transparency, they're focused on communication, and they can really storytell at a high level so that their teams can understand the decisions that are being made. They can understand the really tough position that hospital and health system leaders are in right now and do whatever they can in to support the mission of the organization.
- [09:32]
B
Thank you very, very much. And a lot of it is when things are challenging. How do you keep a clear, calm composure while you're going through a challenging time? How do you think about that? Because obviously when the White Sox lost 122 games last year, wherever the number was, trying to keep a level head and some positivity will bring urgency to improvement. How do you sort of mix those different emotions and managerial stances when you're scared and struggling but need to keep relatively positive face? What's the any common wisdom there?
- [09:59]
A
Oh, absolutely. Well, I know the fans of the White Sox were not calm and collected about the situation, but the management team, the executive team, as well as the players had to be in order to keep coming back and working towards change. I think it's extremely challenging for leaders to figure out how to manage their emotions and part of that is understanding their own well being. I think having that level head, having that ability to speak directly to their team members in a measured and strong way so that they're engendering confidence in no matter what happens on the outside, the internal organization is always going to do what's best for patients is always going to be bolting back to whatever their mission is. I think is critical. I think that really helps people on the front lines kind of temper any stress or any anxiety around what could happen even during Challenging times. And so looking at that emotional management while also being very real and clear about, you know, the challenges they're going through, takes a lot of effort and quite honestly, it takes a lot of discipline from leadership teams. I think. You know, I've heard a lot of leaders talk about just how much they're trying to manage those expectations from the team, how much they really want to, you know, point the organization in the right direction. They have to think long term, they can't think short term. Because if you're looking at things in a short term perspective, if, if you're looking at some of the big stressors that are coming over the next six months to two years with the Medicaid cuts, with other changes coming, all the pipes with tariffs and expenses and everything else, it becomes overwhelming. It becomes more of putting out fires than it does leading a strategic organization. And so what I'm hearing from C suite leaders is they have to think more broadly. They have to look long term. Of course, they need their teams, they need their managers and leaders to have strong solutions, be prepared for whatever changes or curveballs might be thrown their way and start thinking now about, you know, changes we know will happen over the next two years with Medicaid and with other funding cuts in trying to find different interesting solutions to those problems as well. And when they're able to bring themselves out of that day to day, the stress, the kind of constant moving and shifting of, you know, what, what are the new challenges? What's now affecting their organizations or the bottom line to think more globally and think more big picture. They can actually see some of the different and unique and innovative partnerships that could be solutions to some of their problems. They're able to look at technology in a more meaningful way as well and see, okay, here's the spaces where it makes sense to invest in technology that can support our teams and long term we can pivot away from some of those things that adding risk into the organization or adding additional stress and really become more of a hospital or system of the future that's organized in a way that cuts some of the red tape and really, truly does weed out the inefficiencies, the ineffectiveness and you know, the people management of it and really supporting their teams in a strong way with, as I mentioned, just some of those creative partnerships within healthcare and without some with the communities, some with large companies or retailers piloting different programs and then looking to spaces where they're able to find solutions that are outside of anything we've ever done before. I think Healthcare is certainly in a transformative time. And so we all have heard the saying, what worked before won't necessarily get you to where you want to be. And I think that's never been truer than it is right now in healthcare. In thinking big picture like that too, it actually will help leaders see things in a positive light, see kind of light at the end of the tunnel, and feel more optimistic about the future because when they're constantly putting out fires that add so much stress and so much anxiety. And so in trying to balance the near term with the short term, they're of course going to have to live sometimes in that space where they're helping their teams kind of make that transition when they're responding really, truly to those prizes that come up on a regular and daily basis. But ultimately, you know, having and building an organization where, you know, leaders across the company and across the hospital or system really know what they're pulling out of and understand their true north so that they can make decisions, you know, that will really fortify, I guess, the organization as much as possible against any kind of real severe, insignificant financial issues and team issues and that kind of thing. It really makes a big difference for how they're perceived as well as how they're able to be strong leaders for the future.
- [15:10]
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Laura, thank you so much for joining us on the Beckers Healthcare podcast. So many people facing these challenges of being in sort of either a good spot or a bad spot, but neither way looking at daunting challenges and trying to figure out a way forward. So, Laura, an important discussion. Thank you for joining us. Thank you. On the Becker Self Care podcast, you're always exceptional. Thank you very much.
- [15:28]
A
Thanks, Scott. I appreciate it.