Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1412801
111 111 PRACTICE MANAGEMENT THOUGHT LEADERSHIP It's really clear we're facing significant challenges to combat future pandemics, address chronic disease and strengthen healthcare outcomes for underserved communities. e pandemic has really shone a bright light on these challenges. We've learned that we have to reimagine our healthcare system. e way we've been providing healthcare in this country hasn't been working. I think we've learned we need all healthcare providers practicing at the top of their education and training without any regulatory restrictions. We know that liing regulatory restrictions does improve healthcare access. We know that when healthcare providers, health systems, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and policymakers all come together, we can accomplish anything. Take the development of the COVID-19 vaccine. We had a public-private partnership sup- porting the effort, and we miraculously came to the vaccine in such a short period of time. If we can do that to battle COVID-19, we really should be able to do that for any disease or disorder. Q: If you fast forward 10 years, what do you hope the NP profession looks like or has achieved? ST: e most important thing is full practice authority for nurse prac- titioners in all 50 states. More than three-quarters of nurse practi- tioners are trained in primary care. Today, about half of U.S. states grant patients full and direct access to nurse practitioners providing care, allowing nurse practitioners to practice at the top of their ed- ucation and training without any regulatory restrictions. But in the remaining states, they are just lagging behind on outdated licensure laws, making nurse practitioners be tied to a specific physician to be able to practice. ey are required to sign collaborative practice agreements that really do nothing to improve healthcare access or outcomes. ere is no evidence to support that those collaborative practice agreements are even necessary to provide healthcare. ose are really outdated practice laws that we need to modernize. Certainly I would also expect nurse practitioners to continue to advo- cate for policies and laws that improve patient access and outcomes. at's something that is so important to us as we look at our holistic approach to providing patient care. At the end of the day, once we have a healthier community — by using a community-based model, reimagining public health and utilizing all of our healthcare providers — we'll have a healthier country. Q: Many hospitals are grappling with serious nursing work- force shortages right now. What actions are needed to rem- edy this issue, whether on a hospital or national level? ST: Within hospitals, credentialing nurse practitioners for admission privileges to improve access for patients is critical. Again, utilizing nurse practitioners to the top of their education and training is also important. ere are some hospital-based clinics that are using nurse practitioners almost as assistants to physicians. ey're really not uti- lizing them to their full potential. When we talk about the financial impact, you could have other healthcare providers who are already employed providing care. Because we know that outcomes from nurse practitioner-provided care are equal to physician outcomes. So utilizing nurse practitioners to the top of their education, training and national certification would be ideal. Q: What was your proudest accomplishment as AANP's president? ST: You know, I've had so many. e thing I'm probably most proud of is the resiliency of nurse practitioners in this country really step- ping up to the plate to be on the front lines and fight COVID-19 head on. Whether they were in hospitals and clinics or in their community volunteering for testing, 60 percent of nurse practitioners were active- ly testing and treating patients in their practices this year. Now on the front lines of providing the vaccine, we've had so many nurse prac- titioners doing home visits to vaccinate people, drive-thru vaccine clinics, etc. e resiliency of the profession is just amazing. Certainly at AANP we worked hard to provide education and support to our nurse practitioner colleagues around the country, but at the end of the day I'm most proud of them. Q: Any other thoughts you'd like to share? ST: It's so important that we address healthcare disparities in this country. Certainly the nurse practitioner profession is doubling down on our awareness of cultural issues, and we are advocating for our patients, and we realize the challenges they face. Hopefully as we fin- ish the remainder of this year and look toward next year, we can all come together as a healthcare community and country to really make a change in access to healthcare. n Intermountain CEO's secret to building an innovative exec team By Laura Dyrda M arc Harrison, MD, CEO of Intermountain Health- care in Salt Lake City, joined the Becker's Health- care podcast to talk about healthcare delivery transformation and building an innovative organization. Below is an excerpt from the conversation. Question: What is the mindset of building great teams and leaders? Dr. Marc Harrison: Charles Sorenson, MD, [president and CEO emeritus at Intermountain and founding director of the Intermountain Healthcare Leadership Institute] talks about principled leadership. He says it's really easy to find folks who can rebalance sheets and create plans for trans- formation. The question is whether these folks are motivat- ed by the right things, and do they know how to get along with one another. I hope we're modeling our team after those tenets Charles laid out. I believe I am. The things I look for in terms of high skill levels and intellect are ta- ble stakes, but the things I really prize are an ability to execute and grit, and maybe most importantly, an ability to get along together. I was at a talk just before the pandemic really heated up, and three of my executives were up on a stage, and I was watching them, and they were asked about how Intermountain has been able to innovate and evolve so quickly. I really believe our transformation is about as pro- found as any legacy health system anywhere. One of the executives answered that the key to this is that the executive team loves each other. I had never really heard it framed that way, but when I think about it, these people respect each other and work well with each oth- er. There is no drama. They are competitive, but they're competitive for the organization and not for themselves. n