In this episode of the MGMA Week in Review podcast, hosts Daniel Williams and Colleen Luckett cover key healthcare headlines, from the ongoing shortage of medical assistants and tips to close staffing gaps, to the leadership lessons in crisis response and fallout from the Change Healthcare cyberattack. They also share findings on nurse retention from McKinsey’s latest survey and close with a nod to National Nurses Week.
00:49 Introduction and Hosts
01:36 MGMA Stat Poll Results (MGMA Stat)
05:08 Healthcare Leadership in Crisis (Physicians Practice)
09:12 HHS Restructuring and Interoperability (MedCity News)
11:30 United Health Cyber Attack Fallout (New York Times)
15:16 National Nurses Week and Leadership (Health Leaders Media)
17:29 Conclusion and Farewell
Additional Resources:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Daniel Williams (00:55):
Well, hi, everyone. Welcome to the MGMA
Weekend Review podcast. I'm oneof your hosts today, Daniel
Williams. I'm a senior editor atMGMA and host of the MGMA
Podcast Network. And we'rejoined by cohost Colleen
Luckett, an editor and writerhere at MGMA.
And we're really excited aboutthe week in review podcast where
(01:17):
we bring you the latest healthcare industry news, sometimes
some policy updates, always someexpert insights, and just
stories that Colleen and I runacross that we really find
interesting or inspiring. So,Colleen, what is happening in,
your world?
Colleen Luckett (01:37):
Well, I'm gonna switch it up a little and start
out with some stat poll results,some MGMA stat poll. So
according to our poll this week,it was May 6, nearly half of
you, 47%, said that MAs arestill the hardest role to fill,
beating out nurses at 15%,billers at 10%, and coders at
(01:59):
9%, and other staff was 18%. Andthis challenge isn't new. In the
past year, over 40% of practiceshired alternative staff to cover
MA gaps, and more than a thirdhad to budget extra for cost of
living and merit increases. Sowhy is it that MA the MA job
market is so tight?
(02:19):
Well, partly, it's competition.Hospitals have been raising
nurse pay for years, outpacingindependent practices, and even
the consumer price index. ButMAs remain in hot demand with
the Bureau of Labor Statisticsprojections showing a 15% growth
rate through 02/1933, addingnearly a 20,000 openings per
(02:40):
year. That's compared to a 6%growth rate for nurses and 9%
for medical records specialists.So our article this week also
digs into how practices areresponding.
So starting recruitment muchearlier, sometimes two months or
more in advance, prioritizingrevenue critical roles like
nurses and billers overadministrative hires, expanding
(03:03):
candidate pools, for example,EMTs or less experienced workers
and offering in house training,offering tuition assistance or
flex time to help MAs becomenurses, building a long term
talent pipeline, and crosstraining coders and billers to
cover backup tasks when gapshappen. On the tech side,
automation and AI are helping,but they're not quite a magic
(03:26):
fix. Coders are shifting frombasic entry work to quality
control. Billers billers arefocusing on claim denials and
patient support, and virtualscribes are freeing up
physicians. But smallerpractices often can't afford
large scale automation, so thehuman element is still critical.
Looking ahead, we may see morecreative staffing models, for
(03:48):
example, tiered teams using moreMAs or LPNs, or cross trained
multi role staff. Think MA frontslash front desk coordinator or
nurse slash care manager. Thebottom line is automation is
helping, but the hiringchallenges aren't going away
anytime soon, and practices willneed to stay flexible and
(04:08):
innovative. For the fullbreakdown, smart strategies, and
expert insights, check out thename of the article is why
medical assistants are stilltougher to hire today than
nurses, coders, and othermedical practice staff, and
that's at mgma.com/mgma-stat. Orin our show notes, we'll add a
link as usual.
(04:30):
And as always, if you want tohelp shape future MGMA
resources, please sign up forMGMA STAT by
Daniel Williams (04:53):
MGMA texting 233550. Those polls come to your
phone weekly by text. Okay,Daniel. Over to you. Alright.
Thank you so much for that,Colleen. Yeah. That is really
interesting, and I love the MGMAstat each week, and I get it on
my phone, everyone. Please signup for that. It's a great way to
find out what's going on and tobe part of that conversation and
have your voice heard.
So let's go into story numbertwo. This piece comes from
Physicians Practice. It waspublished on May sixth of twenty
(05:13):
twenty five this year, and it'stitled Lead Through Crisis with
Confidence, a health careleader's playbook for resilience
and reputation. It was writtenby Amy Zimke in APR. So in this
article, Zimke opens byacknowledging that crises are no
longer rare disruptions butdefining features of modern
(05:36):
leadership.
Health care executives todayface multiple overlapping
challenges among those labordisruptions, patient safety
incidents, cybersecuritybreaches, public misinformation,
AI driven disinformation, andshifting regulatory demands,
just to name a few of them. Sowe are operating in an era many
(06:01):
call a perma crisis where thenext challenge is never far
behind. So in the article, theauthor emphasizes that proactive
crisis readiness is essential.It's not about reacting when a
crisis hits, but being preparedin advance. This involves
protecting your organization'shard earned reputation, ensuring
(06:25):
continuity of care, andpreserving stakeholder trust.
ZIMKey advises leaders toidentify their top five
reputational risks, alignleadership on response efforts,
and preapproved messagingtemplates that reflect
organizational values. So whatare we talking about here? Well,
(06:48):
first up, trust is a recurringtheme. Zinke points out that
trust must be earned before acrisis occurs. It's about
consistent actions that alignwith stated values.
She cites a recent study where86% of executives believe their
employees trust them, but onlysixty seven percent of employees
(07:11):
agree that is a disconnect. Sothere's a significant trust gap
that can be detrimental during acrisis. So next thing, updating
crisis plans is also crucial.Many organizations created or
updated their crisis plansduring the COVID nineteen
pandemic, but the riskenvironment has changed
(07:35):
dramatically since then. AIgenerated misinformation,
cybersecurity threats, and laboractions required dynamic,
accessible, and well rehearsedplans.
ZIMKEY recommends incorporatingAI risks into scenarios,
reviewing plans annually, andconducting biannual drills with
(07:56):
leadership teams. Next up,continuity of care. Healthcare
doesn't stop during a crisis.Leaders must ensure that care
quality remains high, staffwell-being is protected, and
patients receive timelyinformation. This requires
strong infrastructure, crossfunctional response teams, and
(08:20):
clear communication channels.
Finally, Zemke underscores therole of organizational culture
in crisis response. A resilientculture built on trust and
values can be the ultimatedefense against crises. Leaders
should model calm, missionaligned behavior, and foster
(08:40):
psychological safety withintheir teams. That's a lot of
information there. So insummary, Zimke's article is a
valuable resource for healthcare leaders.
It's not just about having aplan, but about cultivating a
culture and infrastructure thatcan withstand and adapt to
continuous challenges. For thoseinterested, you can read the
(09:03):
full article, and we'll providea link in the episode show
notes. So with that said,Colleen, I'll turn it back over
to you.
Colleen Luckett (09:12):
Well, if you thought the scariest part of
health care in 2025 was facingdown all those crises Daniel
just mentioned coming at you atonce. Surprise. It might
actually be US health and humanservices. In an article by Katie
Adams published May 6 in MedCity News titled, what does
HHS's restructuring mean forinteroperability in health care?
(09:35):
Health care leaders are soundingthe alarm over the Trump
administration's overhaul ofHHS.
Twenty state attorneys generalhave already sued warning that
the agency shakeup and layoffsare unconstitutional and
dangerous for public health.Experts like Jason experts like
Jason Prestenario, CEO ofParticle Health, say this chaos
(09:56):
is putting the future of datasharing and interoperability,
think Tefka and the Cures Act,at serious risk. Prestenario
points out that withoutenforcement on issues like
information blocking, thepromises of interoperability
will fall flat. Particle Healthitself has waited nearly a year
for HHS to act on a complaintthat EHR giant, Epic, blocked
(10:20):
thousands of providers fromaccessing patient data, a
failure that affected over twohundred twenty five thousand
patients. Prestonario evenshared a personal moment of
system failure.
When his newborn son was rushedto the ER with jaundice, a nurse
had to take a photo of labresults from his phone because
the data couldn't transferelectronically. Yes. In 2025,
(10:42):
we're still doing healthcare bysmartphone camera, it looks
like. While Epic defends itsactions by citing patient
privacy concerns, critics arguethat without penalties,
healthcare organizations havelittle reason to comply with
data sharing rules, leavingpatients at risk and providers
in the dark. So for the fullstory and insights on how these
changes could set public healthefforts back by decades, as I
(11:06):
say in the article, check outKatie Adams' article in Med City
News.
What does HHS's restructuringmean for interoperability in the
health care? Or, of course,we'll put it in the show notes.
Okay, Danielle. Back to you.
Daniel Williams (11:18):
Alright. Colleen and I did it again. We
went big picture. We didn't planthis out. Colleen had a very big
picture story with HHS.
I've got one withUnitedHealthcare. So The New
York Times published an articleon 05/05/2025 written by Reed
Appleson and Nicole Perlroth.It's titled UnitedHealth cyber
(11:40):
attack fallout, loans, lawsuits,and lingering disruptions. You
know, in 2024, there was a huge,huge issue there. It was back in
February 2024 when UnitedHealthGroup's subsidiary Change
Healthcare was hit with amassive cyber attack.
(12:00):
We are talking one of thelargest disruptions to The US
health care system in recentmemory. The ripple effect still
beyond more than a year later.We're seeing things happening
with hospitals, pharmacies,private practices, and patients.
So what's happened? Essentially,a ransomware group took down
(12:21):
major parts of ChangeHealthcare's digital
infrastructure.
Change handles the processing ofroughly one out of every three
patient records in The US. Sowhen they went dark, it threw a
wrench into billing,prescription processing, and
prior authorizations across thecountry. It wasn't just a
glitch. It was a grinding haltfor thousands of providers and
(12:45):
payers To try to plug thefinancial gaps caused by these
outages, UnitedHealth stepped inwith emergency loans, offering
loans, offering funds toproviders who couldn't get
reimbursed because systems wereoffline. But here's the thing.
Not everyone's thrilled abouthow this has played out. Some
(13:05):
smaller practices said the loansdidn't go far enough. Others
were confused or frustrated bythe repayment terms, worried it
could put them in a deeperfinancial hole later on. There's
been a lot of tension betweenthe need for immediate relief
and the long term consequencesof taking that help. In the
(13:26):
legal side, it's heating up.
Multiple lawsuits have beenfiled accusing UnitedHealth and
Change Healthcare of failing totake proper cybersecurity
precautions. Some of theallegations say the systems were
vulnerable. Others said that redflags were ignored and that when
the breach happened,communication was slow and
(13:47):
unclear. Plaintiffs say thiswasn't just a cyberattack. It
was a failure of leadership andoversight.
So the federal government isalso on the case now both and
speaking of HHS, both theDepartment of Health and Human
Services and the FBI areinvestigating, trying to get a
(14:08):
handle on just how much data wascompromised and whether HIPAA
and other federal regulationswere violated. If that weren't
enough, there's now a growingconversation about how health
care, one of the most sensitiveand targeted industries, can
better protect itself goingforward. Some experts are
calling for minimumcybersecurity standards,
(14:30):
especially for major vendorsthat touch so many parts of the
system. So big picture, thisincident is reshaping how we
think about digital security andhealth care. It's not just about
patching systems anymore.
It's about building inresilience, communication
protocols, and disaster plansfor a world where these kinds of
(14:53):
attacks are only becoming morefrequent? Again, I will put a
direct link in the episode shownotes to this full story, and we
will be continuing to cover thisparticular story and others like
it that impact all of ourprivate practices and
independent practices out there.So with that said, Colleen, I'll
(15:13):
turn it back over to you.
Colleen Luckett (15:16):
Alright. Well, I don't know if you knew this,
Daniel, but it is NationalNurses Week this week. So, yeah,
we'd be remiss if we didn't wrapup today's podcast with a story
that cuts to the heart of whynurses stay or walk away. Let's
be honest. You can shower nurseswith pizza parties and balloon
bouquets, but if the leadershipstinks, no amount of cake is
(15:37):
going to keep them.
John Comments, news editor forHealth Leaders, reported in his
May 6 article. It's called, HeyCNOs, Want to Keep Your Nurses?
Invest in Middle Management. Hetalks about that if hospitals
really want to stop frontlinenurse turnover, the key isn't
more gift cards. It's, as hesays in the title, investing in
(15:59):
middle management.
So here's what the 2025 McKinseynursing poll survey reveals.
Fewer nurses overall arethinking about quitting, but of
the 20% still considering it,41% blame poor leadership
support. Second only to thosesimply looking for a better job.
Also, strong nurse managersboost retention, improve patient
(16:19):
safety, and strengthen teamculture, And hospitals could
save a jaw dropping $700,000,000a year just by reducing nurse
turnover through strongermanager support. But here's the
twist.
While 60% of nurses say goodmanagers improve their job
satisfaction, more than halfhave no interest in stepping
(16:40):
into leadership roles, thanks tored tape, high stress, and
overwhelming workloads. Sowhat's the fix? Well, here's
some advice. Redesign nursemanager roles and tap assistant
managers to help shoulder theload, offer hybrid work options
where possible, upskill andmentor future leaders with both
technical and interpersonaltraining, and lastly, bring in
(17:02):
AI and automation to cut downthe tedious admin work so
managers can actually lead. Asone expert put it, without
leadership support and a clearsuccession pipeline, hospitals
are just rearranging deck chairson the Titanic.
For the full story, of course,we'll add the link to the show
notes for you to check that out.And I'll finish off by saying
happy National Nurses Week,everyone. Treat them well,
(17:24):
managers, so they treat us well.And that does it for me today,
Danielle.
Daniel Williams (17:29):
Alright. And that does it for this episode.
So wanna thank you so mucheveryone for being listeners to
the MGMA week in review podcast.And please, wherever you get
your podcast, please subscribeto the MGMA podcast network.
You're gonna find links in theshow notes to today's full
stories as well as additionalresources for medical practice
(17:50):
leaders.
Thank you again for listening,and we'll see you next time.
Colleen Luckett (17:55):
Thanks, everyone. See you next time.
Well, hi, everyone. Welcome to the MGMA
Weekend Review podcast. I'm oneof your hosts today, Daniel
Williams. I'm a senior editor atMGMA and host of the MGMA
Podcast Network. And we'rejoined by cohost Colleen
Luckett, an editor and writerhere at MGMA.
And we're really excited aboutthe week in review podcast where
(01:17):
we bring you the latest healthcare industry news, sometimes
some policy updates, always someexpert insights, and just
stories that Colleen and I runacross that we really find
interesting or inspiring. So,Colleen, what is happening in,
your world?
Colleen Luckett (01:37):
Well, I'm gonna switch it up a little and start
out with some stat poll results,some MGMA stat poll. So
according to our poll this week,it was May 6, nearly half of
you, 47%, said that MAs arestill the hardest role to fill,
beating out nurses at 15%,billers at 10%, and coders at
(01:59):
9%, and other staff was 18%. Andthis challenge isn't new. In the
past year, over 40% of practiceshired alternative staff to cover
MA gaps, and more than a thirdhad to budget extra for cost of
living and merit increases. Sowhy is it that MA the MA job
market is so tight?
(02:19):
Well, partly, it's competition.Hospitals have been raising
nurse pay for years, outpacingindependent practices, and even
the consumer price index. ButMAs remain in hot demand with
the Bureau of Labor Statisticsprojections showing a 15% growth
rate through 02/1933, addingnearly a 20,000 openings per
(02:40):
year. That's compared to a 6%growth rate for nurses and 9%
for medical records specialists.So our article this week also
digs into how practices areresponding.
So starting recruitment muchearlier, sometimes two months or
more in advance, prioritizingrevenue critical roles like
nurses and billers overadministrative hires, expanding
(03:03):
candidate pools, for example,EMTs or less experienced workers
and offering in house training,offering tuition assistance or
flex time to help MAs becomenurses, building a long term
talent pipeline, and crosstraining coders and billers to
cover backup tasks when gapshappen. On the tech side,
automation and AI are helping,but they're not quite a magic
(03:26):
fix. Coders are shifting frombasic entry work to quality
control. Billers billers arefocusing on claim denials and
patient support, and virtualscribes are freeing up
physicians. But smallerpractices often can't afford
large scale automation, so thehuman element is still critical.
Looking ahead, we may see morecreative staffing models, for
(03:48):
example, tiered teams using moreMAs or LPNs, or cross trained
multi role staff. Think MA frontslash front desk coordinator or
nurse slash care manager. Thebottom line is automation is
helping, but the hiringchallenges aren't going away
anytime soon, and practices willneed to stay flexible and
(04:08):
innovative. For the fullbreakdown, smart strategies, and
expert insights, check out thename of the article is why
medical assistants are stilltougher to hire today than
nurses, coders, and othermedical practice staff, and
that's at mgma.com/mgma-stat. Orin our show notes, we'll add a
link as usual.
(04:30):
And as always, if you want tohelp shape future MGMA
resources, please sign up forMGMA STAT by
Daniel Williams (04:53):
MGMA texting 233550. Those polls come to your
phone weekly by text. Okay,Daniel. Over to you. Alright.
Thank you so much for that,Colleen. Yeah. That is really
interesting, and I love the MGMAstat each week, and I get it on
my phone, everyone. Please signup for that. It's a great way to
find out what's going on and tobe part of that conversation and
have your voice heard.
So let's go into story numbertwo. This piece comes from
Physicians Practice. It waspublished on May sixth of twenty
(05:13):
twenty five this year, and it'stitled Lead Through Crisis with
Confidence, a health careleader's playbook for resilience
and reputation. It was writtenby Amy Zimke in APR. So in this
article, Zimke opens byacknowledging that crises are no
longer rare disruptions butdefining features of modern
(05:36):
leadership.
Health care executives todayface multiple overlapping
challenges among those labordisruptions, patient safety
incidents, cybersecuritybreaches, public misinformation,
AI driven disinformation, andshifting regulatory demands,
just to name a few of them. Sowe are operating in an era many
(06:01):
call a perma crisis where thenext challenge is never far
behind. So in the article, theauthor emphasizes that proactive
crisis readiness is essential.It's not about reacting when a
crisis hits, but being preparedin advance. This involves
protecting your organization'shard earned reputation, ensuring
(06:25):
continuity of care, andpreserving stakeholder trust.
ZIMKey advises leaders toidentify their top five
reputational risks, alignleadership on response efforts,
and preapproved messagingtemplates that reflect
organizational values. So whatare we talking about here? Well,
(06:48):
first up, trust is a recurringtheme. Zinke points out that
trust must be earned before acrisis occurs. It's about
consistent actions that alignwith stated values.
She cites a recent study where86% of executives believe their
employees trust them, but onlysixty seven percent of employees
(07:11):
agree that is a disconnect. Sothere's a significant trust gap
that can be detrimental during acrisis. So next thing, updating
crisis plans is also crucial.Many organizations created or
updated their crisis plansduring the COVID nineteen
pandemic, but the riskenvironment has changed
(07:35):
dramatically since then. AIgenerated misinformation,
cybersecurity threats, and laboractions required dynamic,
accessible, and well rehearsedplans.
ZIMKEY recommends incorporatingAI risks into scenarios,
reviewing plans annually, andconducting biannual drills with
(07:56):
leadership teams. Next up,continuity of care. Healthcare
doesn't stop during a crisis.Leaders must ensure that care
quality remains high, staffwell-being is protected, and
patients receive timelyinformation. This requires
strong infrastructure, crossfunctional response teams, and
(08:20):
clear communication channels.
Finally, Zemke underscores therole of organizational culture
in crisis response. A resilientculture built on trust and
values can be the ultimatedefense against crises. Leaders
should model calm, missionaligned behavior, and foster
(08:40):
psychological safety withintheir teams. That's a lot of
information there. So insummary, Zimke's article is a
valuable resource for healthcare leaders.
It's not just about having aplan, but about cultivating a
culture and infrastructure thatcan withstand and adapt to
continuous challenges. For thoseinterested, you can read the
(09:03):
full article, and we'll providea link in the episode show
notes. So with that said,Colleen, I'll turn it back over
to you.
Colleen Luckett (09:12):
Well, if you thought the scariest part of
health care in 2025 was facingdown all those crises Daniel
just mentioned coming at you atonce. Surprise. It might
actually be US health and humanservices. In an article by Katie
Adams published May 6 in MedCity News titled, what does
HHS's restructuring mean forinteroperability in health care?
(09:35):
Health care leaders are soundingthe alarm over the Trump
administration's overhaul ofHHS.
Twenty state attorneys generalhave already sued warning that
the agency shakeup and layoffsare unconstitutional and
dangerous for public health.Experts like Jason experts like
Jason Prestenario, CEO ofParticle Health, say this chaos
(09:56):
is putting the future of datasharing and interoperability,
think Tefka and the Cures Act,at serious risk. Prestenario
points out that withoutenforcement on issues like
information blocking, thepromises of interoperability
will fall flat. Particle Healthitself has waited nearly a year
for HHS to act on a complaintthat EHR giant, Epic, blocked
(10:20):
thousands of providers fromaccessing patient data, a
failure that affected over twohundred twenty five thousand
patients. Prestonario evenshared a personal moment of
system failure.
When his newborn son was rushedto the ER with jaundice, a nurse
had to take a photo of labresults from his phone because
the data couldn't transferelectronically. Yes. In 2025,
(10:42):
we're still doing healthcare bysmartphone camera, it looks
like. While Epic defends itsactions by citing patient
privacy concerns, critics arguethat without penalties,
healthcare organizations havelittle reason to comply with
data sharing rules, leavingpatients at risk and providers
in the dark. So for the fullstory and insights on how these
changes could set public healthefforts back by decades, as I
(11:06):
say in the article, check outKatie Adams' article in Med City
News.
What does HHS's restructuringmean for interoperability in the
health care? Or, of course,we'll put it in the show notes.
Okay, Danielle. Back to you.
Daniel Williams (11:18):
Alright. Colleen and I did it again. We
went big picture. We didn't planthis out. Colleen had a very big
picture story with HHS.
I've got one withUnitedHealthcare. So The New
York Times published an articleon 05/05/2025 written by Reed
Appleson and Nicole Perlroth.It's titled UnitedHealth cyber
(11:40):
attack fallout, loans, lawsuits,and lingering disruptions. You
know, in 2024, there was a huge,huge issue there. It was back in
February 2024 when UnitedHealthGroup's subsidiary Change
Healthcare was hit with amassive cyber attack.
(12:00):
We are talking one of thelargest disruptions to The US
health care system in recentmemory. The ripple effect still
beyond more than a year later.We're seeing things happening
with hospitals, pharmacies,private practices, and patients.
So what's happened? Essentially,a ransomware group took down
(12:21):
major parts of ChangeHealthcare's digital
infrastructure.
Change handles the processing ofroughly one out of every three
patient records in The US. Sowhen they went dark, it threw a
wrench into billing,prescription processing, and
prior authorizations across thecountry. It wasn't just a
glitch. It was a grinding haltfor thousands of providers and
(12:45):
payers To try to plug thefinancial gaps caused by these
outages, UnitedHealth stepped inwith emergency loans, offering
loans, offering funds toproviders who couldn't get
reimbursed because systems wereoffline. But here's the thing.
Not everyone's thrilled abouthow this has played out. Some
(13:05):
smaller practices said the loansdidn't go far enough. Others
were confused or frustrated bythe repayment terms, worried it
could put them in a deeperfinancial hole later on. There's
been a lot of tension betweenthe need for immediate relief
and the long term consequencesof taking that help. In the
(13:26):
legal side, it's heating up.
Multiple lawsuits have beenfiled accusing UnitedHealth and
Change Healthcare of failing totake proper cybersecurity
precautions. Some of theallegations say the systems were
vulnerable. Others said that redflags were ignored and that when
the breach happened,communication was slow and
(13:47):
unclear. Plaintiffs say thiswasn't just a cyberattack. It
was a failure of leadership andoversight.
So the federal government isalso on the case now both and
speaking of HHS, both theDepartment of Health and Human
Services and the FBI areinvestigating, trying to get a
(14:08):
handle on just how much data wascompromised and whether HIPAA
and other federal regulationswere violated. If that weren't
enough, there's now a growingconversation about how health
care, one of the most sensitiveand targeted industries, can
better protect itself goingforward. Some experts are
calling for minimumcybersecurity standards,
(14:30):
especially for major vendorsthat touch so many parts of the
system. So big picture, thisincident is reshaping how we
think about digital security andhealth care. It's not just about
patching systems anymore.
It's about building inresilience, communication
protocols, and disaster plansfor a world where these kinds of
(14:53):
attacks are only becoming morefrequent? Again, I will put a
direct link in the episode shownotes to this full story, and we
will be continuing to cover thisparticular story and others like
it that impact all of ourprivate practices and
independent practices out there.So with that said, Colleen, I'll
(15:13):
turn it back over to you.
Colleen Luckett (15:16):
Alright. Well, I don't know if you knew this,
Daniel, but it is NationalNurses Week this week. So, yeah,
we'd be remiss if we didn't wrapup today's podcast with a story
that cuts to the heart of whynurses stay or walk away. Let's
be honest. You can shower nurseswith pizza parties and balloon
bouquets, but if the leadershipstinks, no amount of cake is
(15:37):
going to keep them.
John Comments, news editor forHealth Leaders, reported in his
May 6 article. It's called, HeyCNOs, Want to Keep Your Nurses?
Invest in Middle Management. Hetalks about that if hospitals
really want to stop frontlinenurse turnover, the key isn't
more gift cards. It's, as hesays in the title, investing in
(15:59):
middle management.
So here's what the 2025 McKinseynursing poll survey reveals.
Fewer nurses overall arethinking about quitting, but of
the 20% still considering it,41% blame poor leadership
support. Second only to thosesimply looking for a better job.
Also, strong nurse managersboost retention, improve patient
(16:19):
safety, and strengthen teamculture, And hospitals could
save a jaw dropping $700,000,000a year just by reducing nurse
turnover through strongermanager support. But here's the
twist.
While 60% of nurses say goodmanagers improve their job
satisfaction, more than halfhave no interest in stepping
(16:40):
into leadership roles, thanks tored tape, high stress, and
overwhelming workloads. Sowhat's the fix? Well, here's
some advice. Redesign nursemanager roles and tap assistant
managers to help shoulder theload, offer hybrid work options
where possible, upskill andmentor future leaders with both
technical and interpersonaltraining, and lastly, bring in
(17:02):
AI and automation to cut downthe tedious admin work so
managers can actually lead. Asone expert put it, without
leadership support and a clearsuccession pipeline, hospitals
are just rearranging deck chairson the Titanic.
For the full story, of course,we'll add the link to the show
notes for you to check that out.And I'll finish off by saying
happy National Nurses Week,everyone. Treat them well,
(17:24):
managers, so they treat us well.And that does it for me today,
Danielle.
Daniel Williams (17:29):
Alright. And that does it for this episode.
So wanna thank you so mucheveryone for being listeners to
the MGMA week in review podcast.And please, wherever you get
your podcast, please subscribeto the MGMA podcast network.
You're gonna find links in theshow notes to today's full
stories as well as additionalresources for medical practice
(17:50):
leaders.
Thank you again for listening,and we'll see you next time.
Colleen Luckett (17:55):
Thanks, everyone. See you next time.
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