Health systems have faced a workforce shortage for years and now many CEOs are taking a more active approach to solving the problem. Through partnerships with local universities and organizations, they’re developing training programs and pipeline recruitment initiatives to kickstart their future pool of candidates for the most needed roles.
Atlantic City, N.J.-based AtlantiCare is one of those systems. The executive leadership team recently developed their Vision 2030, with one of the key initiatives being a partnership with Philadelphia-based Drexel University College of Medicine to build their own medical school. They’re in the process of defining the details, including funding sources and curriculum.
“It’s not just physicians. It’s nurses and public health workers; it’s social workers, respiratory therapists, medical assistants, and rad techs. We’re really building out a comprehensive suite of education components along with Drexel, which is the largest private medical school in the country, and also has branch campuses in two other locations,” said Michael Charlton, president and CEO of AtlantiCare, during an interview with the “Becker’s Healthcare Podcast.”
The health system is also working with Stockton University in Galloway Township, N.J., which has a strong nursing program as well as public health and social work programs, to develop the school.
“We look at it as an opportunity to really control our own destiny,” said Mr. Charlton.
Atlantic City is known as a resort town and can be attractive for healthcare professionals as a place to grow their careers, not just receive an education.
“If we can keep those individuals in the community in the system, we solve a very difficult challenge that all systems face in healthcare as well as solve the economic and social challenges that our area potentially has,” he said. “Its uplifting in not just the education, but it’s an uplift in socioeconomic status. That’s really been a big strategy for us.”
Growth isn’t limited to the health system’s workforce. On the business side, Mr. Charlton sees a big opportunity for AtlantiCare to change the paradigm for payer relationships. Mr. Charlton is working with insurance companies, including those with Medicare Advantage plans, to disrupt the conversations that have been “very consistent” throughout the years.
“We get in the room. There’s a bunch of niceties. We try to separate the facts from the noise, but the reality is the structure remains the same,” he said. “What we’re talking to all of our payers about is a new paradigm. It’s a new level of trust; trust that the system will do the right thing in providing clinically appropriate care in the lowest cost settings.”
His team is also making sure there is a strong process to handle denials, and work with payers to minimize denials as much as possible.
“It’s really trying to change the paradigm of the conversation, and that’s proving to be difficult,” he said. “But I think at the end of the day, it’s the right conversation for all health systems to partake in because it’s not sustainable right now. At the end of the day, I know that this country and people feel that healthcare is incredibly expensive and unaffordable. But the reality is the systems are price takers; we’re not price makers.”
