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I often say that my mission is to recenter the patient-clinician relationship as the heart of healthcare. What do I mean by that? I want clinicians to be able to focus more of their time on caring for and interacting with patients. And I want hospitals and other healthcare systems to have more resources to invest in the delivery of the highest-quality care. ‍ Too many barriers are getting in the way of this critical relationship. Here are three of the biggest barriers and how

It’s a gut punch to people living in rural communities when their local hospital closes. It’s also painful to me personally. As someone who grew up in a rural community in Nebraska, I’m intimately familiar with how important these hospitals are to the health of rural residents and to the vitality of the community. What pains me even more is that I know of a way these hospitals can help themselves — if only they were more aware of the opportunity and how to seize it. ‍ The Sco

Can artificial intelligence be a prescription for what ails U.S. healthcare? Yes — AI has tremendous potential for relieving the healthcare system’s administrative costs and burdens. But AI should also come with a warning label for hospital and healthcare system administrators: If you apply AI before ensuring that a sound process and automation protocol is in place, it may lead to unwanted outcomes. It could even cause more harm than good. ‍ The Promise and Perils of AI in

Why should healthcare providers automate their prior authorization (PA) process, and why should insurers and policy makers take actions to substantially reduce how often PA is required? ‍ Because it’s medically necessary. It’s necessary for providers, who spend roughly 13 hours per physician each week on PA tasks such as navigating insurance requirements, submitting forms, appealing denials, and participating in peer-to-peer reviews with health plan representatives. PA redu

A few years ago, talking with a friend of mine in the healthcare field, I shared my vision for slashing the administrative burdens plaguing healthcare providers in this country — solutions that do not depend on insurance company reform or government action. I talked about the difference that hospitals and other healthcare systems could make for themselves, their clinicians, and their patients if they only knew what to do. ‍ Frankly, he thought I was chasing a lost cause. “T

Americans' trust in healthcare providers and medical doctors has eroded over time. The level of trust has decreased by 14 percentage points since 2021, to its lowest number since the mid-1990s, according to annual Gallup survey results released this year. While I found this alarming, I was not surprised. And I have some good news: As health care administrators, we can help restore the trust Americans once had. The Impact on Healthcare I'm most concerned about the decline in