WEBVTT - Transforming Patient Care in Underserved Areas

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<v Speaker 1>These is Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Messer and Tim

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<v Speaker 1>Steneveek on Bloomberg Radio.

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<v Speaker 2>So you know, everybody, Various parts of the US labor

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<v Speaker 2>force continue to flex their mess muscles over pay, benefits

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<v Speaker 2>and working conditions. Hollywood writers, they came to an agreement

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<v Speaker 2>this week. You got the UAW workers we talked about

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<v Speaker 2>this earlier still on strike, and then also this week's

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<v Speaker 2>CBS Health facing resumption of walkouts this week by pharmacists

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<v Speaker 2>in Kansas City, Missouri, which they are specifically protesting working

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<v Speaker 2>conditions in their drug stores and also some other locations.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, healthcare workers in general continue to feel stresses coming

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<v Speaker 3>out of the pandemic. It's something Our next guest has

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<v Speaker 3>talked with us quite a bit about her firm too,

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<v Speaker 3>helping to connect those in the healthcare space with facilities,

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<v Speaker 3>including in underserved areas. With what she's doing, we welcome

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<v Speaker 3>back doctor Ymana Buzaid co founder and CEO at Incredible Health.

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<v Speaker 3>It's a career marketplace for connecting hospitals to nursing talent.

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<v Speaker 3>She joins us once again on Zoom from Austin, Texas.

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<v Speaker 3>Doctor Abuzie, good to have you back with us. How

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<v Speaker 3>are you good.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm doing well. Thank you so much for having me.

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<v Speaker 3>It's been quite a while since we've spoken with you.

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<v Speaker 3>Just give us an update on, you know, before we

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<v Speaker 3>get to what you're doing when it comes to safety

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<v Speaker 3>net hospitals in load of moderate income areas, talk to

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<v Speaker 3>us just about what you're seeing across the landscape right

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<v Speaker 3>now when it comes to medical professionals and you know

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<v Speaker 3>the numbers.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, absolutely. I mean what we're seeing is hospital financials

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<v Speaker 1>are starting to improve. Their margins are starting to improve

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<v Speaker 1>because you know, reimbursement rates are increasing as well as

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<v Speaker 1>you know, hospitals are getting a better handle on their

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<v Speaker 1>labor expenses. However, we continue to see an ongoing labor

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<v Speaker 1>shortage for nurses and other clinical workers. Our demands as

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<v Speaker 1>a country and our population is aging, so our demand

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<v Speaker 1>on the healthcare system continues to increase, and the supply

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<v Speaker 1>of workers is not kept up with that demand.

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<v Speaker 2>All right, So I always think about, like how do

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<v Speaker 2>we get to a better place, And especially I think about,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, there might be enough workers in some of

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<v Speaker 2>the big cities or even that may be stressed, but

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<v Speaker 2>I do wonder about the underserved communities or the load

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<v Speaker 2>to moderate income communities. And I know you guys have

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<v Speaker 2>done some work on it. What are you finding?

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, absolutely so. About twenty five percent of the hospital

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<v Speaker 1>partners that we work with have facilities that are located

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<v Speaker 1>in low to moderate income communities. Some of these hospitals

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<v Speaker 1>are safety net hospitals, so they're caring for a disproportionate

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<v Speaker 1>number of uninsured or Medicaid patients. And so what we're

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<v Speaker 1>seeing there is that there's actually quite a lot of

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<v Speaker 1>interest from the nursing community to move and relocate to

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<v Speaker 1>permanent jobs in these communities. You know, nursing is a

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<v Speaker 1>profession that's a bit of a calling as well, where

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<v Speaker 1>they really want to help help a community and deliver care.

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<v Speaker 1>And so twenty seven percent of the hires that we've

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<v Speaker 1>seen on our platform over the last twelve months have

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<v Speaker 1>taken a job, a permanent job at a facility in

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<v Speaker 1>a low and moderate income community. Wow.

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<v Speaker 3>So talk to us a little bit about you know,

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<v Speaker 3>why these areas have such a hard time attracting and

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<v Speaker 3>retaining talent. I mean, is it because you know I

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<v Speaker 3>talked to doctors. Actually, you know my friends who are doctors,

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<v Speaker 3>and they tell me they could make more money if

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<v Speaker 3>they went to one of these underserved areas, that's right.

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<v Speaker 1>So the challenge with load and moderate income with facilities

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<v Speaker 1>and load and moderate income communities is that they have

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<v Speaker 1>even more of a challenge or attracting talent compared to

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<v Speaker 1>you know, hospitals in more affluent areas. Part of that

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<v Speaker 1>is just like, you know, there's fewer healthcare workers who

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<v Speaker 1>want to work in those communities, and then also oftentimes

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<v Speaker 1>they are more financially constrained, right, so what you can

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<v Speaker 1>do as a clinician in these communities can be limited,

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<v Speaker 1>but regardless, they're supporting you know, millions of Americans. And

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<v Speaker 1>so the message here is that it's just important to

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<v Speaker 1>understand that there are healthcare workers out there, There are

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<v Speaker 1>nurses out there that are more than willing to relocate

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<v Speaker 1>to facilities and load and moderate income communities. The challenge

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<v Speaker 1>has been is that they're not aware of these opportunities,

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<v Speaker 1>and so we need to just continue increasing the awareness

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<v Speaker 1>of some of these roles and some of the benefits

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<v Speaker 1>of working in these communities too.

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<v Speaker 3>Well.

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<v Speaker 2>That's really interesting and it's fascinating to see kind of

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<v Speaker 2>the movement or the willingness to move, if you will,

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<v Speaker 2>and I'm assuming on your platform, that's one way of

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<v Speaker 2>kind of raising the awareness right and letting nurses know

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<v Speaker 2>that there are other places where they can go to

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<v Speaker 2>help out, or other healthcare professionals to help out.

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<v Speaker 1>That's exactly right. When a nurse rates his or her

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<v Speaker 1>profile on incredible Health, they're entering their preferences and their experiences,

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<v Speaker 1>including their location preferences, and so we're able to present,

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<v Speaker 1>you know, opportunities that match what it is that they're

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<v Speaker 1>looking for. And so for the twenty seven percent of

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<v Speaker 1>nurses that have relocated for their permanent role in a

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<v Speaker 1>low moderate income community, they just they didn't know, they

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<v Speaker 1>were not aware before that these opportunities were there.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, often when you've come on, we've talked about,

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<v Speaker 2>you know, the stresses in terms of healthcare workers, certainly

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<v Speaker 2>what they felt during the pandemic coming out of the pandemic,

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<v Speaker 2>but we've also talked about these shortages of health care professionals.

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<v Speaker 2>Is it getting better? Are we seeing more people come

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<v Speaker 2>in to this space or do you continue to see

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<v Speaker 2>pretty significant shortages generally speaking.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah. So, Look, the good news is, look, over the

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<v Speaker 1>last five to ten years, we have certainly increased the

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<v Speaker 1>number of healthcare workers in the US. The challenges that

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<v Speaker 1>increase is not kept up with the demand from the patients,

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<v Speaker 1>right because our population is aging, right, and so until

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<v Speaker 1>we have that, disparity is still quite huge, and until

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<v Speaker 1>that gets closed, we're going to continue to have labor

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<v Speaker 1>shortages across the country.

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<v Speaker 3>What needs to happen earlier sort of in the life

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<v Speaker 3>cycle of somebody who becomes a healthcare professional, for people

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<v Speaker 3>to be encouraged to do it for the pipeline to

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<v Speaker 3>get bigger.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, So the great thing is there is a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of interest from Americans to join nursing and other clinical professions. However,

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<v Speaker 1>we have some important ballnecks that we need to solve. So,

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<v Speaker 1>for example, our nursing schools can handle any more capacity

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<v Speaker 1>and aren't able to train more Americans to be nurses

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<v Speaker 1>because they're limited on factory for example. Another ball on

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<v Speaker 1>neck is the training of nurses. So increasingly now we're

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<v Speaker 1>seeing more and more health systems offer training programs for nurses.

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<v Speaker 1>And then the third issues that we have retirement happening.

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<v Speaker 1>So this is an aging workforce and increasingly we are

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<v Speaker 1>health systems are switching are shifting to hiring nurses that

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<v Speaker 1>are earlier and earlier in their careers because they know

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<v Speaker 1>they have twenty five percent of nurses that are expected

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<v Speaker 1>to retire in the next four to five years.

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<v Speaker 2>You know, I'm always surprised too when you talk to

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<v Speaker 2>me about kind of what's the average salary for a nurse.

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<v Speaker 2>I always think it's kind of informative, and I do

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<v Speaker 2>wonder if there's still if that is on the rise

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<v Speaker 2>to the upside, because are continuing to rise to the

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<v Speaker 2>upside because of the shortages that are out there.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, the national average is that ninety thousand dollars a year,

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<v Speaker 1>and in many states like California, for example, it's well

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<v Speaker 1>over one hundred. It's over one hundred and ten thousand

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<v Speaker 1>as the average salary.

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<v Speaker 3>Is that fair? Is that enough? If it were enough,

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<v Speaker 3>then there would be more more nurses out there, right.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I mean so essentially this is classic supply and demand.

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<v Speaker 1>Because there's been a shortage, we've seen the wage inflation

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<v Speaker 1>continue to increase for this profession.

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<v Speaker 2>So does that mean tim? Tim makes up a good point, like,

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<v Speaker 2>so does that mean it is bringing more people into

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<v Speaker 2>the system who want to be nurses? And I mean,

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<v Speaker 2>obviously you have to go through the training and the education,

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<v Speaker 2>but it is it bringing more people in terms of

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<v Speaker 2>the applicant pool.

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<v Speaker 1>Yeah, the interest in the interest in nursing from Americans

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<v Speaker 1>is very high. You know, when nursing schools have each

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<v Speaker 1>nursing school has weightless of ten, you know, tens of

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<v Speaker 1>thousands of applicants that can't get in because of the

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<v Speaker 1>nursing school.

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<v Speaker 3>Why don't we build another nursing school.

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<v Speaker 2>We've talked about this, the lack of it's nuts.

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<v Speaker 1>It is and it's going to take you know, we

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<v Speaker 1>have some hew systems that are acquiring nursing schools and

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<v Speaker 1>expanding them. We have increasingly more and more funding new

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<v Speaker 1>caulngars to expand number of nursing schools. So the solutions

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<v Speaker 1>are coming, but they're just not fast enough.

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<v Speaker 2>But it's interesting, right tim when you think about like

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<v Speaker 2>inflationary pressures and wage pressures, like this is a dynamic

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<v Speaker 2>beyond that. We need it because there are people who

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<v Speaker 2>need healthcare professionals and nursing professionals, but it is a

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<v Speaker 2>dynamic and economic dynamic that maybe is one of those

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<v Speaker 2>reasons why we talk about persistent inflation.

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<v Speaker 3>Yeah, that's a really good point. And you know, doctor

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<v Speaker 3>abuset I want to just end with you know what

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<v Speaker 3>it all means for you and for the company at

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<v Speaker 3>Incredible Health, Like, what does it mean for your company?

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<v Speaker 1>I mean for us at the end of the day,

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<v Speaker 1>our vision is just is to health healthcare professionals live

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<v Speaker 1>better lives and help them find and do their best work.

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<v Speaker 1>And so by expanding awareness of the opportunities in nursing. Uh,

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<v Speaker 1>That's that's the key role that we want to play.

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<v Speaker 1>And we want to make sure that even low to

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<v Speaker 1>moderate income communities get access to top healthcare talent as.

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<v Speaker 2>Well, right equal access, Doctor emon Abuse, thank you so much.

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<v Speaker 2>Good to hear your voice again and check in with

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<v Speaker 2>your co founder and cee you at Incredible Health. As

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<v Speaker 2>we've reminded you in the past our views and our listeners,

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<v Speaker 2>it's a career marketplace for connecting hospitals to nursing talent,

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<v Speaker 2>so really putting them all together. She of course joining

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<v Speaker 2>us on Zoom.

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<v Speaker 3>It's not funny we thought like that, you know, I mean,

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<v Speaker 3>it's not funny. It's interesting that we thought that the

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<v Speaker 3>pandemic was sort of this one time event that would

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<v Speaker 3>create a shortage when it came to healthcare workers, and

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<v Speaker 3>we're still seeing that persist.

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<v Speaker 2>No, and the thing about nursing schools. I mean, my

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<v Speaker 2>sister's a nurse, and the nursing school she went to

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<v Speaker 2>that was torn down a few years ago. It's kind

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<v Speaker 2>of interesting that, you know, done that. Yeah, well, no,

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<v Speaker 2>exactly