Building the Allied Health Workforce of the Future with Van Ton-Quinlivan

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- Hello, everyone. Welcome to Becker's Healthcare podcast. I'm - Scott King. Thrilled today to be joined by - a very special guest.

Once again, it's Von - Toan Quinnliven, - CEO of Futero Health. Von, how are you? - Thanks so much for joining us. - Delighted to be here again, Scott.

- You know, we have a we have a - lot to talk about in in health care - and and all the work you've done. But - first, I was just wondering if you could - please tell us a little about your, - career background and your journey in health care. - My expertise is workforce development, and that spans - the private sector, the public sector, - and now the the nonprofit sector, CEO of - Futura Health. So back in, when I was - at the private sector working with a organization - of 20,000 men and women, I brought that - to from having no opinion in workforce development - to becoming a nationally recognized industry best practice, - was appointed by the governor to, - drive the workforce mission of the largest system - of higher education, which is the California Community - Colleges.

- And there, I was invited - by Kaiser Permanente - and its partners to help them grow the - next generation - of the health care workforce, specifically the allied - health workforce. - And so, - that's that brings me to my current role - as CEO of a national nonprofit, - Fintura Health. Appreciate you sharing that background info - there, - Von. And and, you know, Keiser, as you - kinda mentioned, Keiser Permanente asked you to launch - Fertura Health in 2020, - you know, and that's, you know, as we - all remember, that's right as the pandemic was - exposing just how fragile the health care workforce - really was.

- What was that moment like for you, and - what made you say yes - to a mission that had never been done - before at at that scale? - Well, Kaiser Permanente - indeed launched us, in service of the whole - industry. - As, Troy Clark, the, CEO of new New - Mexico, - Hospital say o Association - says, - the pandemic didn't create the workforce crisis. It - just exposed a deficit that was already there.

- So as you know, - you know, 75% - of facilities already reported a shortage in allied - health workers. - Even with the adjustments that will happen with - HR one this year, next year, and in - in the short term, you know, we are - facing the aging of America. So I I - always refer to three numbers, like - twelve, seven, four. - You know, back around fifty years ago, we - had roughly 11.

7 - working age adults for every person 65. - That number has gone down to four as - our, - population 65 - has increased, and soon enough, it will be - only four, - in the workforce. And so as we know, - as the population ages, the need for more - care and more caregiving - will increase. - And so we will always - be looking at a workforce issue, - even though there's short term disruptions from HR - one.

- I know Futuro Health has helped nearly 12,000 - adults - earn their credentials to enter the healthcare workforce, - which is a huge accomplishment, - obviously, Von. - This is a remarkable number, but what's - what's the story behind that number? Who are - these people and - what does getting a - debt free allied health credential actually change in - someone's life? - Yes, Scott.

And 2,000 of those 12,000 actually - came from health professional shortages area. - 90% of our, - our our, - completers, - come from multiple cultural backgrounds with 46% - bringing linguistic diversity. - And, you know, many - providers have begun establishing high school pipelines, but - today, given the shrinking population in our high - schools, it's just not sufficient it's important - and not just sufficient. - So when you ask about who are these - people, - I think of the stories of Margaret Oh, - for example.

- She was a security worker in the hospital - in her thirties, began taking care of her - mother who had cancer, - and started thinking, well, I actually enjoyed the - being in service of others. - Should I consider going into direct care. And - so she saw a Futura Health flyers - in, - in the hallway of her hospital, and she - became a phlebotomist debt free, - through the work that we do, or Justice - who had become laid off in one of - these down cycles - and - what was wanting to become a nurse, was - working at a ramen noodle shop trying to - save up money.

His aunt told him about - Futuro Health. His aunt works at at a - hospital, - and he became a medical assistant through us - debt free and actually has been promoted several - times - and continues to be interested in nursing. - Or Yoshiko who had stopped out of the - workforce to raid her raise her, - her daughter. She has a bachelor's degree, speaks - another language.

- And in returning to the workforce, - she took up the patient care representative, - program at Futura Health, and she was able - to go in, - and really do well on a panel interview - that, - of five individuals at a hospital, including two - physicians, and she landed the the offer. So - these are the stories of adults - who seek to be in service of others, - And thanks to the programming and the sponsorship - of of of our partners, they're able to - come out debt free with a credential and - qualification to begin their first or next career - in health care.

- Yeah. Appreciate you sharing those specific examples. That's, - you know, a really detailed - example of how people's lives were were able - to change through the program. So appreciate that, - Von.

And, you know, another interesting stat - is allied workers make up 65% - of the healthcare workforce, - yet they rarely get the spotlight that physicians - and nurses do. Why do you think that - gap - in attention exists and what's the cost of - ignoring it? - Well, certainly, the cost of ignoring important roles - like, - rad techs and surg techs and respiratory techs - would be delays in diagnosis - for and patient care, worse patient outcomes, reduce - access to services or raw lost revenues.

- And then, of course, there's there's workforce burnout - by all their peers. - But I think the root cause of, like, - why do we not know some of these - great allied health roles is that it just - doesn't roll off the tongue. If you think - about, - a dinner over the table where a family - may be discussing career options, they may know - about doctors and nurses, - but, certainly, a medical sonographer, - a phlebotomist, you know, these are not words - that roll off, your tongue when you're over - over the dinner table.

- So I I think there's, like, two categories - that that, - providers should pay attention to. Of course, there's - the high value but low volume roles, like - the surgical tech and respiratory - tech and rad tech, - that I've I've mentioned. But there are also - high volume kind of bread and butter roles - that - are in all organizations - at some some volume, like medical assistant, nursing - assistant, pharmacy tech, phlebotomist, - oh, patient care techs. And I love ER - techs, for example.

That that one is trained. - We are not only trained them with our - human touch health care essential skills curriculum, but - they have to acquire the - EKG certificates, the EMT certificate, the phlebotomy certificate. - Each one often is offered at a different - education institution. And so being able to streamline - that process so that adult can get - credentials and qualifications they need, come out debt - free, land their first job in it in, - in, health care.

You know, we're removing a - lot of the barriers that, are unnecessary - in the way of adults really moving into - health care and, - growing that workforce. - Yeah. Yeah. And with sticking with those jobs - in health care that you're mentioning, a lot - of workforce programs struggle because they train people - for jobs that don't exist or don't pay - well.

How did you build employer alignment into - Ferturo - Health's DNA from the start, and - why does that change the outcome? - You know, Scott, employers think that when they - have these shortages - or these gaps, that they have to solve - all the problems themselves. Well, they may choose - to build a medical school, choose to build, - you know, a nursing school. But especially in - the 65% of roles that are allied health, - I really encourage them to think about workforce - development as a team sport - and, not an individual sport.

And the role - that employers need - to lean in on is is about defining - what they need in terms of their specifications. - Like, I need this, language set or I - need in this geography, and I need this - kind of credential. - And - then to to also, - be in the role of providing the clinicals - as well as the hiring. And then others - can kick in to be able to, - to be able to build that talent pool, - that grow that talent pool, - locally.

Yes. It is an investment - in terms of the employers and both Kaiser - and Sutter who've worked with us. What they've - done is tapped into their community benefits dollars - to be able to generate and grow from - a talent puddle to a talent pool, especially - in all the geographies located by their facility. - So it's it's a win win win because - it's a win for the operations because they - get the talent that they need.

It's a - win for the community because they gain access - to good jobs, - and it's a win, especially if you're a - nonprofit provider because you can demonstrate the community - benefits to your regulators. So, - highly encouraged thinking about workforce development, especially for - the allied health roles as a team sport, - not an individual sport. - Exactly. And and like you're saying, if it's - done correctly, if it's done properly, there's wins - across the board there.

I wanna ask you, - Yvonne, about another interesting statistics that Becker's found, - and that's by 2040, - the ratio of working age adults to seniors - drops from seven to one to 4.4 to - one. When you look at that number, how - urgent does the workforce problem feel and - are health systems moving fast? - It's not just the, health systems that need - to move fast, but, of course, if you're - the family, - the family member - who needs the care, it's urgent, - immediately.

- Right? And everyone, every community needs to have - their fair share of these allied health workers. - I will also note that, you know, one - having a partnership with one college is, - it's very difficult for one institution to solve - all of these occupations that you you will - need. - And - so what we have approached it is in - building a whole ecosystem of education providers.

We - have a method for sourcing - and vetting - education providers and contracting with them in a - way that they get paid when as a - learner progresses. So we have 42 education providers - with a 115 - campuses, - 15 occupations - that are in demand, and we could you - know, everywhere where there's a sponsor for the - scholarships, - we are able to go in into these - geographies and - work with the the employers as well as, - to support the adults - who are who who seek to come into - the health care workforce.

- So what what we it will be all - hands on deck to be able to compete - for the talent across all the different industry - sectors, - sectors, - especially given the aging of our nation and - how we have to bring everybody from the - sidelines into the care workforce. - I know Futuro just had a a huge - announcement. You just announced - a $1,000,000 - commitment from JPMorgan Chase to launch a national - healthcare workforce resilience initiative. - What does that signal about how corporate America - is starting to think about healthcare workforce as - an economic issue, - not just as a healthcare one?

- Health care is, as as I mentioned, Nick, - health care everybody needs their proportion of health - care workers in the backyard. And, also, - the advantage of health care is that there's - so many good jobs and so many good - careers that is supported to our communities if - we can grow talent, local talent, - from our communities. - And it's it's, wonderful when our workforces can - reflect the communities that we serve. And especially - in health care, - trust starts with having - the workforce - reflect the communities, - because that that's often at the root of, - whether that there's relationship building that they can - enable better care.

So, you know, as I - mentioned, you know, Sutter used their community bed - benefits dollars to underwrite the creation of 300 - medical assistance - within their primary and secondary service area. - Kaiser - began to rebuild the pharmacy tech pipelines to - ensure that their pipeline could reflect the communities - being served. - And Ochsner Health, for example, - they not only did the the pre hire - work, but they also did the post hire - work to retain these individuals.

They improved first - year, eighteen month persistence - for medical assistance from 55% - to over, - ninety four percent by combining, - some added career development, financial support, and personalized - coaching to help these employees persist. - So the work begins before, - the hiring to cultivate the talent pool, and - the work is also ongoing to ensure that, - there's persistence, - and retention - post hire. - Wanna go back to geography. You know, I - know you just touched on it.

You've talked - about building community based workforce systems rather than - top down ones. What does that actually look - like on the ground, and why does geography - matter so much - with solving this problem? - Yes, Scott. Geography matters in, very different ways.

- So, for example, in rural communities, oftentimes, it - is it lacks capacity in terms of institutions - available to train - and in all different occupations. - Right? So the, - the good news is that the health care - providers tend to be more collaborative - than competitive when it comes to talent. And - so maybe there's collective effort to provide clinicals, - right, to rotate - the the the learner around so that they - can get what they need to finish the - program and their credential.

- But usually what's lacking is there's not - the education, - the ray of education - options, - that is needed in to fully grow the - needed allied health workforce roles. Well, in urban - area, for example, the competition is way more - intense, maybe, in between education institutions because there's - more of them and they're more geographically, - in proximity to each other and competing for - enrollment. And so the strategy - for employers is less about education, - capacity.

It's more about how do you distinguish - yourself as the employer - choice for the - the students, the learners that are coming out, - and they may have multiple options, not just - you, but for others. - So depending on the geographies, - you may have a different strategy. But in - both situations, you will still need to invest - as an as a provider. - And and where you gain the best advantage, - the most - loyal workers who can stay with you is - is both when you upscale a staff who - is already working with you - and grow them from within.

And then the - second is is really if you can, - work with communities and especially provide clinicals in - advance of hiring, - there's teams there tends to be a lot - of loyalty to stay longer because they know - you had given them an opportunity much earlier, - than than just the job application process. - So unlocking opportunity really gets you loyalty. And - if you if you look across the other - industries, you'll notice, like, UPS, Amazon, Starbucks, who - never used to do this type of work, - have all rolled out - worker training programs and workforce development pro programs - because it's not no, no longer for just - the high potentials in your company, - as a worker retention - or workforce - attraction strategy.

Again, we're looking at a workforce - a population that, you know, an adult worker - population that has options between different industry sectors, - and we want health care to be the - most attractive. - Yeah. Even even companies outside of health care, - everyone has to kind of adapt to upscale - their workers. Absolutely.

I think it's a great - detailed point you made there, Von. And the - last thing I I wanted to ask you, - Von, - you know, if Futuro Health hits its full - potential - over the next decade, what does The US - health care workforce look like - differently? - And what - and what would it mean for the 75,000,000 - Americans living in health professional shortage areas today? - Well, ultimately, Scott, it's all about good outcomes - and good care for the patients, and I - would want, you know, all the geographies to - have their fair share of allied health workers.

- And the hardest is about bringing different parts - of a provider's organization together to put in - place this win win win workforce development strategy. - It's asking - the community benefit side of the house to - unlock - the funding, - the operations side to unlock, - the clinicals and the and the hiring, and - then - asking HR to augment what they do by - working with partners like Fertura Health, but others - as well, who have shown that this type - of workforce development can actually - grow the talent pool, a trusted talent pool - from the community - and from within - other than leaving it to chance.

- So, you know, the all three combination, - it has been proven in many other areas - as well in health care that it can - be done. - It just needs an executive sponsor and a - budget. - And, hopefully, your listeners, - that are interested will catalyze the work within - their own organization. - I think they will.

And, Von, thanks so - much for joining us on the podcast. It - was a great conversation. I look forward to - working with you again soon. It's a pleasure.

- Thank you very much.