October 15, 2025 • 8 mins
In this episode, Scott Becker speaks with Laura Dyrda, Vice President and Editor-in-Chief at Becker’s Healthcare, about the key issues healthcare leaders are watching. Laura shares insights on workforce challenges, demographic and financial pressures, and the growing role of technology and AI, all leading up to discussions at the upcoming Becker’s CEO + CFO Roundtable.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This is Scott Becker
with the Beckers HealthCare podcast.
I am thrilled today to be joined by
Laura Dierda. Laura is the editor in chief
at Beckers HealthCare and absolutely remarkable leader. Laura
joins us regularly to talk about what are
the top stories that she's watching in health
care. Laura, why don't I tee it up
and ask you to take it away? What
are a few of the key stories that
you're watching currently?
(00:21):
Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Scott. And
I think, you know, of course, always a
lot going on in health care right now.
And one of the big things that we've
been preparing for is our thirteenth annual CEO
plus CFO roundtable
in Chicago coming up November.
And so in preparation for that, we reached
out to several of the CEOs, CFO,
COO, and other c suite speakers who are
(00:42):
planning to be there at the event and
ask them, what's the most underappreciated
trend in health care today? So we were
really trying to dig deep into some of
the things that they're thinking about but aren't
necessarily frontline news or the type of, stories
that come up all the time within the
newspaper that we're seeing a ton, thinking about
policy, thinking about, you know, AI and all
(01:02):
of those other kinds of things. And so
the answers that were revealed to us were
relatively striking. I think the biggest forces
that they see reshaping health care today aren't
necessarily those that are flashier headline grabbing, but
also some of the deeper structural and profoundly
human trends. So many of the CEOs pointed
out that workforce is still a defining issue
for them. They're seeing staffing shortages, burnout,
(01:24):
safety concerns that aren't really temporary crises, but
long term strategic risks for them. So the
executives told us that they're still focusing on
retention, making sure they've got well-being as a
core part of their strategy and central to
their operational strategy as well.
And in their view, this strength of the
workforce will increasingly determine the strength of the
(01:45):
whole organization itself.
CFOs also emphasize the financial and demographic pressures
that are building beneath the surface.
As millions of Americans age into Medicare every
year, hospitals are seeing a growing demand for
complex chronic care as well as reimbursement
continuing to tighten. A lot of these,
these folks are aging to Medicare. They might
(02:06):
be selecting Medicare Advantage Plans, which has its
own set of challenges. And, you know, I've
heard from several CFOs that they're looking at
ways to continue to work with those types
of plans even as health,
plans and commercial plans are trying to figure
out exactly whether they're gonna stay the course
with them or exactly what they're going to
do. So, that's been a really interesting conversation
(02:26):
and point of debate that will, I'm sure,
come up during our sessions at the CEO
and CFO roundtable.
But they said these demographic shifts more than
any singular regulation or technology
are testing the resilience of their health systems
and and likely will for the decade ahead.
Both of the CEOs and CFO
speakers that we connected with are also talking
(02:47):
about the fast pace of change, from new
payment models to the site neutral payment rates,
payer consolidation,
and digital transformation.
Health care is really evolving faster than ever,
so leaders are describing this challenge of steering
their organizations through uncertainty, balancing some of those
realities while preparing for the future that's constantly
moving. And especially looking at in the past,
(03:08):
there's been a lot of,
focus on strategy when they're trying to be
risk adverse, wanting to make sure they can
double, triple down on investments, not waste a
single thing.
But now they they need to
refocus that mindset and understanding
there might be,
times when they are investing in new partnership
technology or building something from within that becomes
(03:28):
outdated quickly or more quickly than in the
past, and that's an okay thing. So I
I think a lot of leaders across the
organizations
are trying to grapple with that and understand,
what that means for how they're making decisions
and thinking about the future. And then finally,
when it does come to technology and AI,
they're generating a lot of excitement,
(03:49):
but executives also reminded us that the real
transformation comes down to that leadership, comes down
to change that mindset and perspective, aligning people,
from their system in order to use innovation
as a tool, not really a distraction or
a shiny object, but how can they really
elevate their workforce and elevate their approach,
teaching AI literacy and,
(04:09):
coming into a space where they're feeling comfortable
and confident with the technology and the data
and all the tools that they have in
order to move into a future where they
can really be enabled to do incredible things,
expand access to care even despite all of
these shortages. So,
incredible things,
expand access to care even despite all of
these shortages. So, that was kind of a
lot of what we heard from those executive
leaders, and I can imagine that will come
into the discussions at the COC of a
(04:30):
roundtable in November.
Laura, that's truly an amazing summary.
When I read the headlines and talk to
people, your thoughts about the workforce and what
you're hearing seem to be exactly resonating with
what we're seeing out there.
I know I saw this morning that Kaiser
Permanente, the largest not for profit system, has
a huge strike going on, that'll include tens
(04:51):
of thousands of workers.
We've had 81 systems or so cutting jobs
this year,
and and and more and more challenges between
leadership and staff is trying to figure out
how to staff things and and make the
numbers all work and everything else. Couldn't agree
with you more on your summary, Laura.
Anything else that's top of mind for you
that you're watching currently?
(05:11):
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So kind of along those
lines, we're keeping a really close eye on,
obviously, the workforce trends that you mentioned as
well as, you know, hospital consolidation,
thinking about
now that, you know, we've got the one
big beautiful
hospitals and health systems are looking into the
future, seeing how it will impact their operations
and trying to make sure they've got the
(05:33):
right strategy going forward. So,
you know, we have seen mergers and acquisition
activity pick up for the third quarter, and
Kaufman Hall recently released a report,
really detailing the those details for the third
quarter and expectations for that that continued consolidation
in the future.
They found that there were 15 deals
in the third quarter,
(05:55):
nearly double from the second quarter and
saw the year's first two mega mergers,
which were deals that helped drive, transacted revenue
for the quarter
to $8,900,000,000,
which is a six fold increase from the
previous quarter.
So it's just been really interesting to see
that uptick, and now, you know, hospitals and
health systems feeling like they can move forward
(06:16):
and understand what they need, both from
the acquired as well as the acquirer.
It was fascinating to see that all of
the acquirers in the quarter were nonprofit organizations,
including three academic systems and two government owned,
entities. And so, you know, it's just fascinating
that those nonprofits are the ones taking the
lead, trying to grow, and and making those,
(06:39):
transactions
while most of the sellers were also nonprofits,
but there were four for profits that sold
hospitals, to the nonprofit entities. So it's interesting
to see that as well as, you know,
understand that if the current pace holds and,
you know, we don't see the big surprises
or or nuance or certainties unfold,
We really expect that those mergers, more activity
(07:02):
to continue into 2026.
We're seeing some of the large
organizations
really,
looking at and and becoming more specific on
our targets to perhaps,
focus on other regional health systems and in
ways that they can grow at a more
meaningful clip. So,
just keeping an eye on that, and we'll
definitely
(07:22):
understand everything that comes with those types of
consolidation,
mergers, transactions.
You know, it it's a big challenge, but
also an opportunity for,
organizations to share resources and and figure out
how they can build the right infrastructure
to, again, come back to the more technology
enablement,
more shared resources around staffing and services,
(07:44):
to really come into, you know, the next
several years.
Yeah. No. Just absolutely fascinating. I mean, so
many different issues circling around, and and a
lot of it comes back to team building
and how you look at it and making
sure you could take care of patients
with the people you have and take care
of things that need to be done with
the people that you have. It's a fascinating
summary of issues that are out there and
(08:06):
and so many moving parts, but so much
comes back to labor and people still. Laura,
I wanna thank you for joining us today
on the Becker's Health Care podcast.
Talkable leader, Laura Dierdott. Thank you so much
for joining us.
Thank you so much, Scott. It's always a
pleasure.
This is Scott Becker
with the Beckers HealthCare podcast.
I am thrilled today to be joined by
Laura Dierda. Laura is the editor in chief
at Beckers HealthCare and absolutely remarkable leader. Laura
joins us regularly to talk about what are
the top stories that she's watching in health
care. Laura, why don't I tee it up
and ask you to take it away? What
are a few of the key stories that
you're watching currently?
(00:21):
Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Scott. And
I think, you know, of course, always a
lot going on in health care right now.
And one of the big things that we've
been preparing for is our thirteenth annual CEO
plus CFO roundtable
in Chicago coming up November.
And so in preparation for that, we reached
out to several of the CEOs, CFO,
COO, and other c suite speakers who are
(00:42):
planning to be there at the event and
ask them, what's the most underappreciated
trend in health care today? So we were
really trying to dig deep into some of
the things that they're thinking about but aren't
necessarily frontline news or the type of, stories
that come up all the time within the
newspaper that we're seeing a ton, thinking about
policy, thinking about, you know, AI and all
(01:02):
of those other kinds of things. And so
the answers that were revealed to us were
relatively striking. I think the biggest forces
that they see reshaping health care today aren't
necessarily those that are flashier headline grabbing, but
also some of the deeper structural and profoundly
human trends. So many of the CEOs pointed
out that workforce is still a defining issue
for them. They're seeing staffing shortages, burnout,
(01:24):
safety concerns that aren't really temporary crises, but
long term strategic risks for them. So the
executives told us that they're still focusing on
retention, making sure they've got well-being as a
core part of their strategy and central to
their operational strategy as well.
And in their view, this strength of the
workforce will increasingly determine the strength of the
(01:45):
whole organization itself.
CFOs also emphasize the financial and demographic pressures
that are building beneath the surface.
As millions of Americans age into Medicare every
year, hospitals are seeing a growing demand for
complex chronic care as well as reimbursement
continuing to tighten. A lot of these,
these folks are aging to Medicare. They might
(02:06):
be selecting Medicare Advantage Plans, which has its
own set of challenges. And, you know, I've
heard from several CFOs that they're looking at
ways to continue to work with those types
of plans even as health,
plans and commercial plans are trying to figure
out exactly whether they're gonna stay the course
with them or exactly what they're going to
do. So, that's been a really interesting conversation
(02:26):
and point of debate that will, I'm sure,
come up during our sessions at the CEO
and CFO roundtable.
But they said these demographic shifts more than
any singular regulation or technology
are testing the resilience of their health systems
and and likely will for the decade ahead.
Both of the CEOs and CFO
speakers that we connected with are also talking
(02:47):
about the fast pace of change, from new
payment models to the site neutral payment rates,
payer consolidation,
and digital transformation.
Health care is really evolving faster than ever,
so leaders are describing this challenge of steering
their organizations through uncertainty, balancing some of those
realities while preparing for the future that's constantly
moving. And especially looking at in the past,
(03:08):
there's been a lot of,
focus on strategy when they're trying to be
risk adverse, wanting to make sure they can
double, triple down on investments, not waste a
single thing.
But now they they need to
refocus that mindset and understanding
there might be,
times when they are investing in new partnership
technology or building something from within that becomes
(03:28):
outdated quickly or more quickly than in the
past, and that's an okay thing. So I
I think a lot of leaders across the
organizations
are trying to grapple with that and understand,
what that means for how they're making decisions
and thinking about the future. And then finally,
when it does come to technology and AI,
they're generating a lot of excitement,
(03:49):
but executives also reminded us that the real
transformation comes down to that leadership, comes down
to change that mindset and perspective, aligning people,
from their system in order to use innovation
as a tool, not really a distraction or
a shiny object, but how can they really
elevate their workforce and elevate their approach,
teaching AI literacy and,
(04:09):
coming into a space where they're feeling comfortable
and confident with the technology and the data
and all the tools that they have in
order to move into a future where they
can really be enabled to do incredible things,
expand access to care even despite all of
these shortages. So,
incredible things,
expand access to care even despite all of
these shortages. So, that was kind of a
lot of what we heard from those executive
leaders, and I can imagine that will come
into the discussions at the COC of a
(04:30):
roundtable in November.
Laura, that's truly an amazing summary.
When I read the headlines and talk to
people, your thoughts about the workforce and what
you're hearing seem to be exactly resonating with
what we're seeing out there.
I know I saw this morning that Kaiser
Permanente, the largest not for profit system, has
a huge strike going on, that'll include tens
(04:51):
of thousands of workers.
We've had 81 systems or so cutting jobs
this year,
and and and more and more challenges between
leadership and staff is trying to figure out
how to staff things and and make the
numbers all work and everything else. Couldn't agree
with you more on your summary, Laura.
Anything else that's top of mind for you
that you're watching currently?
(05:11):
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So kind of along those
lines, we're keeping a really close eye on,
obviously, the workforce trends that you mentioned as
well as, you know, hospital consolidation,
thinking about
now that, you know, we've got the one
big beautiful
hospitals and health systems are looking into the
future, seeing how it will impact their operations
and trying to make sure they've got the
(05:33):
right strategy going forward. So,
you know, we have seen mergers and acquisition
activity pick up for the third quarter, and
Kaufman Hall recently released a report,
really detailing the those details for the third
quarter and expectations for that that continued consolidation
in the future.
They found that there were 15 deals
in the third quarter,
(05:55):
nearly double from the second quarter and
saw the year's first two mega mergers,
which were deals that helped drive, transacted revenue
for the quarter
to $8,900,000,000,
which is a six fold increase from the
previous quarter.
So it's just been really interesting to see
that uptick, and now, you know, hospitals and
health systems feeling like they can move forward
(06:16):
and understand what they need, both from
the acquired as well as the acquirer.
It was fascinating to see that all of
the acquirers in the quarter were nonprofit organizations,
including three academic systems and two government owned,
entities. And so, you know, it's just fascinating
that those nonprofits are the ones taking the
lead, trying to grow, and and making those,
(06:39):
transactions
while most of the sellers were also nonprofits,
but there were four for profits that sold
hospitals, to the nonprofit entities. So it's interesting
to see that as well as, you know,
understand that if the current pace holds and,
you know, we don't see the big surprises
or or nuance or certainties unfold,
We really expect that those mergers, more activity
(07:02):
to continue into 2026.
We're seeing some of the large
organizations
really,
looking at and and becoming more specific on
our targets to perhaps,
focus on other regional health systems and in
ways that they can grow at a more
meaningful clip. So,
just keeping an eye on that, and we'll
definitely
(07:22):
understand everything that comes with those types of
consolidation,
mergers, transactions.
You know, it it's a big challenge, but
also an opportunity for,
organizations to share resources and and figure out
how they can build the right infrastructure
to, again, come back to the more technology
enablement,
more shared resources around staffing and services,
(07:44):
to really come into, you know, the next
several years.
Yeah. No. Just absolutely fascinating. I mean, so
many different issues circling around, and and a
lot of it comes back to team building
and how you look at it and making
sure you could take care of patients
with the people you have and take care
of things that need to be done with
the people that you have. It's a fascinating
summary of issues that are out there and
(08:06):
and so many moving parts, but so much
comes back to labor and people still. Laura,
I wanna thank you for joining us today
on the Becker's Health Care podcast.
Talkable leader, Laura Dierdott. Thank you so much
for joining us.
Thank you so much, Scott. It's always a
pleasure.
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