Healthcare News of Note: 4 in 5 healthcare leaders received credible job offers in early 2023; what kept most of them from jumping ship?

• Culture and compensation were the top factors influencing healthcare leaders to stay in their current positions, according to a survey of more than 650 leaders from manager-level through C-level.
• Sixty-seven percent of primary care physicians surveyed have not yet tried an AI scribe solution, which uses speech recognition and natural language processing to capture and transcribe conversations between a physician and a patient during clinical encounters.
• Positive perceptions of seven of the nine U.S. healthcare system aspects offered for review in a Gallop poll were “sharply lower” in 2023 than in 2010, the last time the poll was conducted.

Over the past few weeks, I have found these recent industry news stories that should be of interest to healthcare finance professionals.

1. Culture and compensation were the top reasons why most healthcare leaders did not of accept ‘viable’ job offers in early 2023

Although four of five healthcare leaders received viable job offers in the past six months, “the good news is that 62% of leaders did not pursue the overture, although a significant 17% did,” according to the 2024 “Healthcare Leadership Trends Report” by AMN Healthcare.

Factors influencing leader retention

Culture and compensation were the top two factors that influenced healthcare leaders to stay in their current positions, according to the survey conducted between June 27 and July 21 of more than 650 healthcare leaders representing positions from manager through C-level.

“Culture, compensation, and colleagues have occupied the leading responses for several years,” wrote the report authors. “These ‘three Cs’ remind leaders that creating a positive, thriving organizational culture is far more than a ‘nice to have.’”

The factors fostering retention, according to healthcare leaders who were approached with a job offer in early 2023, are:

• Organizational culture – 45%
• Compensation package – 41%
• Colleagues – 34%
• Career potential – 22%
• Management – 17%
• Flexible scheduling – 16%
• Option for remote work – 14%
• Other – 10%

“The urgency to attend to retention is underscored by evidence [of] leaders being approached to leave,” wrote the report authors, adding, “Among those who expressed dissatisfaction with their job, 37% pursued the competitive opportunity.

“Additional vulnerability was seen at the [vice president] level with 29% of that cohort having pursued it. This offer activity poses risks of heightened turnover rates, which are already significant.”

2. Top factors in adoption of AI scribe tools by physicians

A “lack of confidence in accuracy and lack of integration or access through existing tools, along with no time to research options” are the key obstacles to adoption of medical AI scribe tools among physicians surveyed, according to a Dec. 13 news release by Elation Health.

Of 229 physicians surveyed, only 30% are using AI scribe tools, indicating “many clinicians are still dipping their toes in the world of AI,” according to an Elation infographic on the topic.

Sixty-seven percent of primary care physicians surveyed “have not yet tried an AI scribe solution,” which uses speech recognition and natural language processing to capture and transcribe conversations between a physician and a patient during clinical encounters, according to the release. Physicians are also “looking to EHR [electronic health record] vendors to guide them to the best option that integrates with their system.”

Perceived benefits of finally adopting an AI scribe solution include:

• Reduced documentation burden (93%)
• Improved job satisfaction (89%)
• Higher-quality documentation (83%)  

HFMA AI insight

HFMA offers original AI-related content, including:

• The October 2023 hfm magazine cover story “How AI is about to change healthcare,” which looks at how AI will transform the way healthcare executives do their jobs.
• The Voices in Healthcare Finance podcast episode “Humans are essential to your AI strategy,” hosted by Erika Grotto. In this episode, Arun Shastri of ZS Associates discusses uses for AI in healthcare as well as the limitations of technology when a human isn’t involved.
• The October hfm column “It’s time to stop dragging our feet on generative AI,” by HFMA National Chair Dennis E. Dahlen, FHFMA, MBA, CPA.

3. Nurses receive top rating for providing care, says an end-of-2023 Gallup poll

Of nine specific aspects of the U.S. healthcare system, “nurses receive the best rating by far, with 82% of [Americans] saying they provide ‘excellent or good medical care,’” according to a Dec. 18 article by Gallup. The poll was conducted Nov. 1 to Nov. 21.

Physicians were ranked second in providing excellent or good medical care.

Positive perceptions are ‘sharply lower’ for most

However, the news isn’t all good, according to the authors, who noted that positive perceptions of seven of the nine healthcare system aspects offered for review were “sharply lower” in 2023 than in 2010, which was the last time Gallup conducted this poll.

“The exceptions are walk-in clinics — whose rating is roughly the same as 2010 — and nurses, who are six percentage points lower than in 2010,” wrote the authors.

“By contrast, the percentage of Americans saying pharmaceutical companies provide excellent or good service is 21 points lower today. Likewise, assessments are now lower for physicians (-15 points), hospitals (-14 points), hospital emergency rooms (-13 points), health insurance companies (-11 points) and nursing homes (-8 points).”

Excellent/good ratings

In the 2023 poll, Americans were asked to assess “the medical care or medical services” using the ratings excellent/good, only fair or poor. Here’s how each aspect ranked in the excellent/good category:

• Nurses – 82%
• Physicians – 69%
• Hospitals – 58%
• Walk-in/urgent care clinics – 56%
• Telemedicine or virtual doctor visits – 52%
• Hospital EDs – 47%
• Pharmaceutical or drug companies – 33%
• Health insurance companies – 31%
• Nursing homes – 25%

The importance of ‘human touch and healing’

“Of all the difficulties and headwinds in U.S. healthcare right now, one that doesn’t get nearly enough attention is time,” said Andrew Donahue, director of healthcare finance policy with HFMA, about the poll results.

“What’s interesting about the Gallup results is how individual performance or the percent of ‘excellent/good’ appears to be correlated with meaningful human interaction,” Donahue added. “For instance, fewer Americans directly experience the poor performers: nursing homes, health insurance companies or pharmaceutical and drug companies. Or when they do experience the middle tier — hospital emergency rooms, virtual offices and walk-in clinics — the encounter may be more personal, but the face-to-face connection is still fleeting. According to Gallup, perception of quality and excellence in healthcare is highest among hospitals, which I assume includes any interactions with myriad clinical and non-clinical staff, physicians and — unsurprisingly — nurses at the top.

“It is unlikely a coincidence that the higher-performing healthcare players spend the most time one-on-one with patients. As these results indicate, with scores sliding across the board, the consequences of ongoing staffing shortages and the ‘labor-demic’ extend far beyond the realm of finance and reach into the heart of medicine: human touch and healing.”

HFMA bonus content

• Read the Winter issue of hfm magazine, including the cover story “Igniting revenue cycle’s superpower: Patient advocacy,” by Jeni Williams. This article features Larami Oliver, who took over revenue cycle operations for Heart and Vascular Care in Cumming, Georgia, and implemented a proactive approach. Additional original content includes the feature “Payer scorecards hold promise for promoting an enhanced payer-provider equilibrium,” by Eric C. Reese, PhD, hfm managing editor, and the From the Chair column “It’s time to look at what’s working — and what isn’t — in reducing care costs,” by HFMA National Chair Dennis E. Dahlen, FHFMA, MBA, CPA.
• Read “2024 outlook: Hospitals can expect a steadier year financially, but key questions loom,” by Nick Hut, senior editor.
• Browse the “2024 Physician Fee Schedule Specialty Impact Tables,” which has been posted on the Regulatory and Accounting Resources page.