← Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Medicaid Changes, AI in Healthcare, and Leading with Genuine Relationships with Jason Raidbard
00:17:07
Loading summary
Transcript16 lines
- [00:00]
A
This is Scott Becker with the Becker Healthcare Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by a brilliant leader from the University of Chicago Medicine. University of Chicago is one of the great systems in the country. Great academic medical center, plus a fantastic research institution and great provider of services to the greater Chicago community. An incredible, incredible system. We're joined today by Jason Raybar. Jason is one of the best leaders I know. Jason, so thrilled to have you with us today. Can you take a moment to introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about what you're most focused on currently?
- [00:35]
B
Sure. Jason Raidbard, I'm the executive administrator with the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Chicago. As far as trends that I'm looking at more of just on a broader scale and I just happened to go to a conference recently in Phoenix. You know, for me, I'm interested in when the big beautiful bill finally takes its effect. The rule changes. Not just the stricter work requirements, but not just the funding restrictions, I guess the whole kit and caboodle, but also some of the administrative burden. Because usually with Medicaid patients, we're usually renewing them once a year at the state level and now the new requirement is going to be twice a year in some instances. So that's going to be very different than it was before. And the impact of the requirements and that how that will affect all patients as far as staying on the program and their eligibility, I think secondary to that because it's a hot topic AI. I've had a chance to interact with different AI systems calling different companies healthcare, non healthcare, and you'd be surprised how realistic some of those responses can be. So it'll just be interesting to see how that will affect care coordination in the future as well as the prior authorization and denial process. Will that get better or will it get worse? So those are some of the trends that I'm kind of looking at right now.
- [02:00]
A
Thank you. And what do you see there in terms of eligibility and people losing coverage? How are you starting to see what could happen there? And then also just the constant ongoing challenges between systems and payers, denials getting approved and so forth. What are some of the things you're expecting?
- [02:18]
B
So I think when we're talking about the new Medicaid rules or soon to be new Medicaid rules, I think you're going to see the shift of burden back to health systems. You're going to see an increase in self funded care, which basically means in other words, sometimes the term is called no pay, where patients present without Insurance, I think from a population health standpoint, that will take a negative hit because there will be patients that will not have the means or the funds or shy away from coming to care, and then they will resort to emergency care when needed, which will create a different burden for emergency rooms. I don't think it's something we've seen for some time. And I think that will impact those health systems that are smaller, those that rely on government funding. You know, I think some of my counterparts that work in rural hospitals, I think of health systems that may be still independent, health systems that just don't have larger margins, those will get tougher, it will be more difficult. I think there'll be some systems that will weather the storm. I'm hoping at some point that there may be some conversations in Washington that might see the negative effects and maybe back off. But, you know, that's to be determined. As far as your other question about the relationship between health systems and payers, I mean, in a utopian world, I could see AI impacting in a positive way, denials and prior authorizations. I can also see in a more health care perspective, seeing it taking a greater leap into further denying authorizations or even payment. And you know, insurance companies, I've worked in health systems my whole life, so I'm a little biased. But insurance companies tend to be very risk averse, sometimes with their issuance of authorizations and sometimes they'll take liberties and denials and. And I guess the question is, will they take more liberties now with AI or will there be quote, unquote, AI mistakes that kind of COVID up what we've seen in the past where care coordinators at insurance companies would outright deny things based on their own internal protocols and standards. And we've all heard stories or seen stories or seen publications on that. I'm hopeful that it will get better. I don't know if it'll get better. And I think that's the really test of time. How will it affect it? I think the tool could be used quite well and really help with population health and patient care. But only time will tell as we see more cases come through, you know, 100%.
- [04:55]
A
And talk, Jason, for a moment. What advice do you give to emerging leaders? Because you're just a pristinely good leader and terrific person. How do you advise emerging leaders that you're working with to think about leadership, to think about their own personal growth, their professional growth?
- [05:10]
B
So I just did a webinar I let out on a webinar with AAMC a couple weeks ago. And it was basically a webinar for academic institutions and leaders in those institutions about the growing changes that the landscape changes in healthcare. And that certainly affects mentorship and networking. And that was one of the focal pieces of my discussion. And one of the most important things that I couldn't impress upon that group, and then when I speak to early careerists, is don't look at mentorship and seeking it out or networking too, as transactional only. It is still important to build the relationship. You, as a mentee, might want to be mentored, and that's fine. And I have plenty of people that I formally and informally mentor through professional organizations. But it is important to have a genuine conversation. You can certainly echo what you're needing help with. But I can't tell you the positive relationships that come about when a mentee takes that mentorship relationship to the level of I want to build a lifelong relationship of some kind and acquaintanceship, sometimes it turns into a friendship. I've had that happen before, and I think that's important because it leads to a genuineness. And then when you are a mentor, if you see that genuineness, you will want to help that individual more. Everybody knows going into the relationship there's going to be some transaction, but I think if you solely focus on it, the relationship will fizzle out quite quickly, and I think it'll flourish a lot better. And I think you're standing in the community. You know, health care is small. Whether we're talking about health care in Chicago, in Illinois, or, you know, in regions in the country or throughout the country, people talk and people know each other. And if they hear good things and they see that you are very genuine in your approach, it's no different than having an executive leader in an organization being very genuine in their rounding approach when they visit different departments, it's the same principle. So that's one of the things we talked about a couple weeks ago at this webinar. One of the things I do talk about in general when it comes to both mentorship and networking.
- [07:20]
A
So talk about that for a second, because I think that point is so important. So many people look at things as a quid pro quo of some sort. And I'm a big believer in this concept of this book that I read years ago called the Go Giver. You know, give, you involve yourself, you help, and karma works that things tend to work, and it all kinds of works out without looking for that quid pro quo. Talk about that mindset you have, because I think you are right on. And I Actually love the way that you handle yourself and what you handle yourself over the last decade. So. So it's not a new concept of watching you, but talk. Why not? Always looking for the quid pro quo. And I know myself, if I do somebody a favor six times and never get reciprocation in any way, shape or form, at some point and somebody's always asked for something, we. At some point, of course, you know, there's only so much good karma to go around. But the flip side is overly looking for that quid pro quo is a horrible way to go through life and a horrible way to lead, isn't it?
- [08:16]
B
Oh, it definitely is. It definitely is. You know, for me, mentorship at this point in my career, I've now been in healthcare about 23 years now. I look at networking and mentorship in giving back because so many people gave to me, I would not be here today. And Scott, that includes yourself by the way. So please pat yourself on the back because there have been people throughout my time that have been willing to give me a chance to speak on a subject, talk on a subject, be able to just sit down and listen to maybe concerns I have or advice that I may need, or give me a chance to get an interview in a position. And accessing those platforms doesn't happen instantaneously. It's built on relationships. People need to know that you're who you are, you're legitimate, you're sincere. And I think if you lead with that genuineness, if you lead with curiosity and you lead with kind of those principles, it just not only shows you have a high eq, but it will help you from the karma standpoint. From my perspective, I think giving back the way that I have, whether it's, you know, leadership roles and professional organizations outside my regular day to day work, or even volunteering with the boys and girl Scouts down where I live and doing, you know, food pantries and things of that nature. It's just something that I feel everyone should do to the capability that they can. Not everybody has certain amounts of time, but I do try and mentor a handful of people in a given time period as a way to give back. Of course, course there's other charitable ways to give back and I think that's important and I think it is a key piece to growing as a leader. If you miss that part of that leadership journey, you have really missed a big part of why you're in that role.
- [10:06]
A
Thank you. There's a couple things that I want to tee off on first is, or discuss Further first is this concept with young leaders who are evolving relationships, evolving business, and starting to public speak
- [10:21]
B
and
- [10:21]
A
to be interviewed and to be on platforms or to talk with people, whatever it might be. Each young person has to realize that that's an evolution. You're going to get better and better and you have to be willing to do it even earlier in your career when you might feel like you're not ready, because unfortunately, that's how you're going to learn to get ready and be more and more polished and better at what you do and whatever you do. And it's same thing with any skills. When you're, when you're first learning, you're going to have to be willing to not be your very best. You're going to try hard, you're going to prepare well, but you're not going to be as polished as you are 10 years later or five years later, after, or have, after done it several times. And I think that's right on. But I love that concept of developing relationships. Everything's about relationships. And I always say relationships and competence. You got to be both. You got to be likable and build relationships and good at what you do and constantly work to be getting better at both.
- [11:21]
B
Yeah, I, I 100 agree. I couldn't agree more. I think, you know, one of the things that I, I do have early careerists that they'll approach me and I've had one young man come to me recently that, that was looking to move his career up and another one wanted more speaking opportunities. And I, I said to both of them, I said, well, to the one that wanted the speaking opportunities, I said, have you attended said conferences to meet the conference organizers? Have you met the people that run the conferences, not just on, on a macro level that are, they're dealing maybe with pursuing vendors and bringing them into the vendor hall for the events. But have you met the event producers? Have you gotten to know them? Have you gone to even the conferences? Because I think if you make your presence known, it's, it's, it's a chance encounter. If you don't make that chance encounter, if you don't network and make that connection, if you're not a proven individual, if you're not a proven brand, or you don't get that introduction from someone that may have, you know, some weight in, in a specific industry, in this case healthcare, chances are you're not going to get that opportunity. And you know, to your point, as far as the evolution of growth and getting better, yes, you know, I tell People all the time. If someone invites you to speak and they're not going to pay you, but it's your first chance, take it, because it may turn into over time where people will pay you a stipend or an actual fee if that's what you're seeking. For me, I do it because it's fun. For me, the payment's not significant. I just enjoy doing it. I enjoy the networking and the opportunity to learn. And so I think for me, going in with the mentality of this is just something that's fun. It's a way to give back, and it's a way to get better at my craft, I think, led to more opportunities for myself. And I try and share that knowledge with others, especially early careerists. And I think, you know, to that end, people sometimes earlier in their career don't realize the preparation that's involved both in being mentored, the networking aspects and things like speaking engagements, podcasts, webinars. And I think that's important that you realize that, no, you are going to be rusty at first, not very good compared to yourself five or ten years from now. I can look at myself when I first started coming to Becker's conferences, and I can be objective four or five years later and say, yeah, I've grown in this area. I can also still say I need to improve on this and this and that, and that's important, too.
- [13:50]
A
But I would echo that. I mean, the difference in my speaking skills from when I started to do it to later are much different. And sometimes I'm not always on, sometimes a good, sometimes I'm bad. The difference in how polished you are from several years ago is remarkable. And it's really growth and practice and doing it and just being more comfortable in doing it. And so I would say to any young careers, anybody building a career, if you're looking to speak, you're looking to meet, you're looking to network, you just have to be willing to reach out, because many times people are looking for people and they're willing to help. And, you know, there's. There's often lots of different opportunities for people to speak and to practice and start to learn and grow. So we love that. Jason, I'm going to ask you one more question. What are you most focused on and excited about this year? Where are you most focused and excited?
- [14:41]
B
So I think there's two things more. On a smaller level, department level, we've done some great strides in expanding our glaucoma services, which there was a time where our glaucoma services were thin and we are one of the premier healthcare institutions in the region, specifically in the south side of Chicago in the Hyde park neighborhood. For those in your audience that aren't familiar. And glaucoma is very prevalent in the neighborhood that we serve. We have a predominantly African American immediate neighborhood and glaucoma very much affects that community. And so for myself and my chair, Dr. Herr Prasad, we've worked very hard to expand those services to meet the needs in the community. And so that's something I think for us programmatically we were really proud of. And so we do have three full time glaucoma providers and they are fantastic. Two of them just joined us this year, one's been with us for a year. Each of them are fantastic, I think on a larger scale from the health system perspective. And it probably would need another podcast just to talk about the details. But the University of Chicago, along with the health system, the Pritzker School of medicine has Elevate 2035, which is in a broad brush sense, the strategy that will drive what we will do as a system. Those three entities together to provide better education, provide better care, provide better research. And those things are more important than they ever have been before amidst a lot of the policy changes and cuts at the D.C. level. And I think a lot of this was in motion even before that. And I think we have some excellent leaders where I work that have some very good vision of what they want the system to look like, how interconnected they want it to be, and, and some of the opportunities that we have to expand, not just our offerings, but our brand in general and, and how we can help others.
- [16:43]
A
Jason, I love what the University of Chicago does. I love what you're doing on the glaucoma front. I think that is just so fantastic. It is really a pleasure to get to visit with you really over the last decade and to watch your growth professionally. It's just fantastic. Jason Raybark, thank you so much for joining us today on the Beckers Healthcare podcast. Makes my day. Thank you very, very much.
- [17:03]
B
Thanks Scott.