The lines between modern convenience and invasion of privacy are increasingly blurry. Individuals and organizations alike must question the sharing and use of personal data in order to act wisely and ethically in the marketplace.
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By Pamela J. Gallagher
In the face of all we cannot know about AI in these early stages of development and adoption, I see two particular areas that deserve our focus to develop helpful guardrails that will allow us to move forward wisely.
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By Pamela J. Gallagher
The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) is the topic on every healthcare leader’s mind. In many ways, though, AI is old news to those of us in healthcare finance. I can say from experience that once an AI technology comes onto the scene, there is no stopping it. AI is here to stay. The question leaders must grapple with is how to embrace it wisely and with purpose.
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Companies seem to still be determining what respective value remote versus in-person work offer to their organization. Where any given organization lands on this issue depends on a number of factors, and though strong opinions abound, it isn’t an easy question to navigate.
From my vantage point as a financial executive in the healthcare industry, I believe virtual financial services offer tremendous value to organizations—to a point.
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By Pamela J. Gallagher
The modern healthcare industry is dependent on data. The steady improvement of how data is collected and analyzed has allowed us to make great strides in providing quality care and improving the health of our patients. At the same time, the pandemic has highlighted how this dependence on data can lead to “analysis paralysis” that can harm communities' health and well-being.
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By Pamela J. Gallagher
After the tumultuous events of the past several years, I’ve noticed in my conversations with others that there no longer seems to be much middle ground on the issues of our day. Every issue and event seems to be polarizing and comes with a set of assumptions about the character and values of the people on the “other side.” By now, we have seen that this is an exhausting way to live.
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By Pamela J. Gallagher
During a recent conversation with a colleague who used to serve in the military, we discussed the instability of the past several years and how best to find a way forward. I shared that I saw the need for more collaboration as we try to effectively cope with all the changes we’ve experienced. He looked completely shocked by my suggestion! “Why on earth would you want to collaborate?” he asked.
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By Pamela J. Gallagher
When you are hired into a position after someone has left the organization, my advice is this: Don’t speak ill of the departed! You may not find things in good order, or the way you would like to have left them. However, don’t take the low-hanging fruit of blaming your predecessor for every issue that arises, and don’t accept finger-pointing from your new team either. In my decades of experience, there is always more to a situation than meets the eye.
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By Pamela J. Gallagher
In the midst of the Great Resignation, staffing is complete chaos. Across industries, organizations are rushing to fill vacancies so that customer service (and profits) don’t skip a beat. In the urgency of the moment, everyone is looking to hire permanent employees to replace the ones that resigned, but I think businesses would benefit from taking a pause to evaluate their true needs and rethink how they approach hiring.
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By Pamela J. Gallagher
Everywhere I see headlines about “The Great Resignation.” Many are pontificating about why people are leaving jobs or about unemployed individuals’ motivations for choosing to delay looking for a new position. However, I am particularly concerned with the employees who are left behind to pick up the slack as open positions remain unfilled.
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By Pamela J. Gallagher
Healthcare organizations spend tens of millions on sophisticated data collection and storage, yet it is hard to define what data is worth to an organization. What is its true value? This depends entirely on how the organization uses it. If an organization does not understand how to interpret and make use of their current and historical data, they will not optimize the return on this significant investment.
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By Pamela J. Gallagher
The need for strong leadership in the healthcare industry has come into stark relief during the pandemic. Good leaders shined, while organizations whose executives were only equipped to deal with the status quo struggled. COVID-19 has tested the abilities and skills of healthcare leaders. The ones who embraced uncertainty, had built strong teams, and lived by their personal and organizational values before the pandemic have led most effectively during this past year.
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By Pamela J. Gallagher
Hospitals and health systems have spent the past decade responding to patient and government demands for increased price transparency, and the demand only continues. While the healthcare industry has made strides in ensuring patients know the cost of their care up-front, consumer expectations are growing to include that hospitals should be able to explain how their costs are determined.
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By Pamela J. Gallagher
Patients have been begging for affordability for decades, and the healthcare industry’s reluctance to innovate and adapt to patient demands has left a door open for retailers to move into the healthcare business. I believe this will be great for healthcare, but potentially disastrous for health systems.
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By Pamela J. Gallagher
In recent decades, many companies have adopted the maxim, “Do what you do best, and outsource the rest.” From the ability to focus on the core of their business to gaining outside expertise to boosting their quality of service, there are many reasons outsourcing may be appealing to an organization.
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By Pamela J. Gallagher
In 2019, emergency departments (ED) across the U.S. saw an average of 2.1 million patients per week, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Over the past several decades, healthcare organizations have invested large amounts of money, time, and effort to study the trend of ever-increasing numbers of high-utilizers in the ED and discover solutions to slow this growth. Hospitals have offered care navigators, clinics for less emergent issues, and countless other alternatives, but with next to no progress. People, it seems, just wanted to come to the ED.
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By Pamela J. Gallagher
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, more commonly referred to as HIPAA, has been in effect for nearly two decades. In that time, no crisis has challenged the fabric of those regulations like the COVID-19 pandemic.
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By Pamela J. Gallagher
Whether in reports from journalists, briefings from government officials, or socially-distanced conversations with next-door neighbors, “unprecedented” seems to be the word on everyone’s lips these days.
It is certainly true that in the United States, we have not experienced anything quite like the societal, economical, and public health impacts of COVID-19 in our lifetime. However, if we look into the not-too-distant past, we see that today’s events are not entirely unprecedented, and that the past may offer perspective to the healthcare industry as we find a way forward.
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By Pamela J. Gallagher
The spread of COVID-19 has turned the U.S. healthcare industry upside down, and healthcare executives and professionals are having to relearn how to care for patients in the midst of a pandemic. The loss of life and peace of mind are sobering. I also believe that the way we deliver care during the coronavirus can provide healthcare leaders with an opportunity to re-imagine how we care for our patients in a post-pandemic world.
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By Pamela J. Gallagher
There is reluctance in the healthcare industry to adopt new price transparency technology. Some healthcare providers are ignoring it all together, saying they’ll wait and see if anything comes of it.
But this technology isn’t “coming.” It’s already here. With the technology in place and demands for increased affordability coming from consumers and legislators alike, this technology is just one little tilt from being mainstream—and I believe that it can change the healthcare industry for the better.
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