MGMA Week in Review: Chatbot Adoption, Stress Awareness Month, and Pharmaceutical Tariffs
Download MP3Well, hi, everyone. I'm Daniel Williams, senior editor at MGMA and host of the MGMA Podcast Network. We are back with another MGMA Week Review podcast along with our cohost Colleen Luckett, who's an editor and writer here at MGMA. And just as a note, if you're new to MGMA's Week in Review, in each episode, we bring you the latest health care industry news, some, occasionally, some policy updates, lots of expert insights, and sometimes we find just some really good stories we wanna share with y'all and things that can keep medical practice leaders informed and inspired. So let's get into this week's episode.
Daniel Williams:First of all, Colleen, it's so good to see you this week. How are things going?
Colleen Luckett:Yeah. Good to see you too. Thanks, Daniel. It's it's going well. You know, nothing really new this week.
Daniel Williams:We're Awesome.
Colleen Luckett:You know, we're doing lots of transforming and at MGMA, and it looks like really good stuff. So we're all a little busy lately, but, yeah, it's all good.
Daniel Williams:Nice. What what did you got for us this week? What do you wanna kick us off with?
Colleen Luckett:Yeah. Let's kick this off with some MGMA stat poll results. First up. So if your front desk staff is one patient call away from staging a rebellion, it might be time to bring in some backup of the artificial intelligence kind. But results from our poll this week revealed that only 19% of medical group practices are using chatbots or virtual assistants for patient communication.
Colleen Luckett:That means 81% of you still aren't taking advantage of this fast growing tech, even as patients are using AI tools everywhere else in their lives from banking to takeout orders. Meanwhile, the global healthcare chatbot market has already hit $1,000,000,000 this year and is expected to grow tenfold over the next decade. So what exactly can chatbots and virtual assistants do? A lot more than just answer FAQs. Today's AI tools can send appointment reminders and reduce no shows, handle 20 fourseven appointment scheduling and registration, provide basic clinic info like hours, directions, and policies, triage symptoms and suggest next steps, assist with medication refills and billing questions, offer multilingual support to reduce access disparities.
Colleen Luckett:For example, Weill Cornell Medicine reported a 47% increase in digital bookings after launching an AI chatbot. But to really deliver value, chatbot tools need deep integration with EHR and practice management systems. That means the bot can not only read patient data, but also write back into your system, booking appointments, checking insurance, and logging outcomes all in real time. Practices should track metrics like no show rates, call volume, patient satisfaction, same day scheduling, and even revenue changes to measure ROI. And while bigger systems might see the largest returns, smaller practices can benefit too, especially with vendors offering scalable pricing.
Colleen Luckett:Want to see one in action? Head over to mgma.com and try our ask AI assistant to navigate MGMA resources. And check out the latest issue of MGMA Connection magazine to see how Garnet Health is using AI to automate preregistration and improve follow-up. We'll add a link to the latest issue in the show notes. Well, bottom line, AI chatbots aren't just a shiny tech toy.
Colleen Luckett:They're becoming essential members of the care team. And as practices look for ways to streamline operations, reduce burnout, and boost revenue, more are realizing it's time to stop playing phone tag and start chatting smarter. You can read the full article at m g m a dot com slash m g m a hyphen stat. And as always, if you want to help shape future MGMA resources, sign up for MGMA stat by texting stat, s t a t, two three three five five zero. Okay.
Colleen Luckett:Daniel, over to you.
Daniel Williams:Alright. Thanks for that update, Colleen. And interestingly enough, I have a sort of health care IT story as well. So some of you may have heard the interview recently with Julia Rosen. She's MGMA's new senior vice president of IT and recently had a really cool opportunity to welcome her into our studio.
Daniel Williams:And we got to sit down and and talk through the health care IT landscape, what's changing, what's challenging, and what all of it means for MGMA members. We also spent some time getting to know the human side of Julia. There's some interesting stuff here at the end of this story, which I can't wait to share with y'all. So we do have a full podcast and a feature article linked in the show notes. They're both found on MGMA.com, and the podcast you can find wherever you listen to your podcast.
Daniel Williams:So I want to share this with you about Julia. She her path into health care IT isn't your typical tech origin story. She told me, I thought I wanted to work in the nonprofit world and even interned for a nonprofit in New York during college, but she found herself drawn to the advocacy side focused on women in business. And then she pivoted, which led her to Epic Systems and eventually to tech leadership roles at Centura Health and Parahealth. As she put it, that sorta was the turning point for me in terms of turning from some sort of the more liberal arts part of my education background to more of the business part.
Daniel Williams:One of the most memorable moments from the interview was Julia describing her role in helping stand up Colorado's COVID mass vaccination sites. Working with Centura Health and COVID Check Colorado, she helped create a digital infrastructure for scheduling and call support. And as she says, it was just a great example of how quickly you can stand up something when the need is really there and when those partnerships work really well together. We also talked about approaching tech today, and she had this advice. Identify a real business problem that you're trying to solve with technology and that's relevant to you, then work to solve that problem versus looking at all the major tech trends out there and then just trying to fit that into your practice, and that makes perfect sense.
Daniel Williams:Also, Julia talked about the documentation burden that weighs heavily on medical professionals. She says a huge complaint of people in all aspects of the medical practice is, I spend too much time in documentation. And she said when it comes to how MGMA can help, she's clear about her priorities. She said that is priority number one to create a seamless user experience for our members so they can take the best advantage of our products and services. And we both shared a small chuckle.
Daniel Williams:I'm sure if anybody's ever gone out to MGMA's website, it may have been a challenge, and we apologize for that, but Julia has that as priority number one. And this is the story I wanted to share with y'all. Before we wrapped up, Julia shared a story that completely kind of it got my attention because I'm of a certain age group that I grew up with Sesame Street. And she said she grew up in New York City. In her grandmother's apartment building, had a very unique neighbor, someone named Carol Spinney.
Daniel Williams:You might go, who is Carol Spinney? Well, Carol Spinney was the puppeteer behind both Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. And Julia said she would run into, Carol in the elevator, and he would talk to me in his big bird voice. So she said that was a pretty exciting moment from her childhood and wanted to share that with y'all so you could get to know our new senior VP of IT a little bit better, Julia Rosen. And, hey, who in the Sesame Street fan these days?
Daniel Williams:I don't know. But, Colleen, I have to ask before we switch to the next story. Do you have a favorite Muppet?
Colleen Luckett:Well, first, that was a great story that Julia shared. I had not heard that. That's amazing. I was a big fan of Sesame Street after after school every day when I was little, and I have to say, Muppet, though, like, I guess miss Piggy. Yeah.
Colleen Luckett:We're talking about Muppet. Yeah. I love miss Piggy. She's a great female, you know, strong female role model.
Daniel Williams:That's right.
Colleen Luckett:Growing up, and all of her her hair are, like, know, really. But, Sesame Street, I really liked, Snuffleup, I guess, because of the eyelashes because I was that shallow as a little girl, I guess. But, no, I just love Snuffleup because it's just such a cool character. So Yeah. How about you?
Colleen Luckett:What's your who's your favorite?
Daniel Williams:Well, I just I like the banter of them. So I go old school and, Bert and Ernie, you know, just the way they would interact with each other and kind of
Colleen Luckett:Classic.
Daniel Williams:I mean, they were like the odd couple, you know, kind of pairing. And so they would always you could tell they really cared about each other, but they could get under each other's skin as well. So I always thought
Colleen Luckett:they We can all relate. Yeah.
Daniel Williams:For sure. What's our next story?
Colleen Luckett:Yeah. And I was just gonna say, Julia is she's super cool, and I'm so excited. She's joined us and, to see what she's going to come up with for our teams. So you know it's bad when your generic meds start showing brand name energy because thanks to new tariffs, they just might. In her April 9 piece for Health Care Dive, Kristen Jensen reports that Trump is planning a major tariff on pharmaceuticals targeting drugs manufactured abroad, particularly in China and India.
Colleen Luckett:While details are still scarce, global pharmaceutical stocks dropped fast, and the health care sector is bracing for price hikes. For smaller medical groups, this isn't just DC drama, though. It's a real operational risk. Generic meds like antibiotics and chronic condition treatments could become significantly more expensive, squeezing supply budgets and complicating your revenue cycle strategy. So what can you do now?
Colleen Luckett:Audit your supply chain to see where you might be exposed to tariff impacted drugs. Get in touch with your group purchasing organizations or vendor reps to discuss alternate sourcing or contract updates. Build drug pricing volatility into your 2025 financial planning and forecasting, and definitely get ahead of patient concerns with clear proactive communication about potential medication changes or cost shifts. And of course, we here at MGMA, we've got your back. We've got member resources that can help you track cost trends and improve your operational flexibility in these turbulent times.
Colleen Luckett:So check out our data dive financials and operations data report. It's packed with supply cost benchmarks, staffing efficiency data, and RCM metrics that can help you assess how prepared your practices for these price shocks. And you can also sign up to watch our upcoming webinars next week. It's called navigating hidden costs in your practice. It's on Tuesday, April 15.
Colleen Luckett:And tune in for practical strategies to uncover inefficiencies, reduce documentation burdens, and adopt smaller payment models, all aimed at protecting your margins and boosting financial stability this year and to help you make room for the cost of these tariffs perhaps. So pharma tariffs might be beyond your control, but protecting your margins, patient trust, and operational stability, that's where you can lead with confidence. And as always, we'll drop the links for this article, the data dive report, and where to register for our navigating hidden costs webinar coming up next week in the show notes. Alright. Back to you, Daniel.
Daniel Williams:Alright. Thank you for that. Now since it's April, April, everyone, is stress awareness month. So I wanted to slow things down for a moment and talk about something we all feel whether we admit it or not, and that is stress. Not just the kind that shows up in packed schedules and inboxes, but the kind that follows you home, sits with you at dinner, and occasionally wakes you up at 3AM.
Daniel Williams:I am totally telling my life story here, but, yeah, that kind of stress. So this month, mindful leader pulled together a roundup of research from several major organizations, Deloitte, Oxford's Well-being Research Center, Headspace, and NAMI, which is the National Alliance Owned Mental Illness. And the findings paint a powerful picture of where we are right now, especially when it comes to stress, happiness, and mental health in the workplace. So let's start with Deloitte and their research. They found that nearly half of employees report feeling stressed on a regular basis, and one in three say they don't feel supported by their employer.
Daniel Williams:But here's the twist. The companies that do address that stress proactively through flexibility, open dialogue, and support systems are actually more resilient and competitive. So what we're seeing is that caring about mental health isn't just a nice to have. It's a business advantage. Then there's Oxford's Well-being Research Center.
Daniel Williams:It dug into what actually makes people happy across nations. Their answer, social connection. Deep, meaningful relationships at work and at home were the top indicators of happiness, even more than income or job title. So while stress may be unavoidable, isolation doesn't have to be. And that's something we can all take to heart, especially in health care where the weight of caregiving can sometimes leave you feeling alone.
Daniel Williams:And then there's Headspace. They added more to the mix with their 2024 workforce attitudes toward mental health report. They found that only 14 of employees used employer provided mental health benefits, not because they weren't needed, but because people didn't feel safe or comfortable using them. Think about that. The support might be there on paper, but the culture around culture around mental health still has a long way to go.
Daniel Williams:And NAMI backed that up, highlighting that burnout and anxiety remained widespread with employees craving more empathy and transparency from leadership. Now here's the paradox. Even with all this stress, many employees report feeling happy at work. That might sound contradictory, but it's not. People can feel stretched thin and still find joy when their work aligns with purpose, when they're part of a supportive team, and when they feel seen and valued.
Daniel Williams:That's the key. It's not about eliminating stress altogether. It's about creating a space where people can talk about it, manage it, and not feel like they're carrying it alone. So this stress awareness month, maybe take a minute to ask yourself, how am I doing really? What's one area where I could ask for support or offer it to someone else?
Daniel Williams:And how can we create workplaces where stress is acknowledged but not ignored? Now before we go to our last story, I wanted to share something personal. Here at MGMA, we're coming up on the five year anniversary of something we call Mindful Monday. It's a simple program we started back in May of twenty twenty right in the middle of the lockdown. Every Monday morning at 8AM mountain time where we are in Denver, a group of us gathers for just fifteen minutes to slow down, breathe, and check-in with ourselves through mindfulness or a short meditation.
Daniel Williams:And over these five years, it's become something really meaningful, a way to start the week with intention and bring a little more awareness and self awareness into our work and our lives. If that sounds like something you'd like to bring to your team or if you're an MGMA member and would like to see Mindful Monday or something like that as a member benefit, shoot me a note at DWilliams@MGMA.com. I'd love to hear from you. Alright, Colleen. What's next?
Colleen Luckett:Well, you know, I love your mindful Monday meditations, but for a while now, I've been mindfully sleeping right through them. I wake up just in time to feel calm adjacent. That's still progress. Right?
Daniel Williams:There you go.
Colleen Luckett:Well, speaking of calm and connection, let's talk about something we don't always make time for in health care, the relationship between doctors and patients. In her April 9 article for Med City News titled Rekindling the Doctor Patient Relationship, Ashley Turner Dolce explores how this vital connection is fraying under pressure and what can be done to mend it. Citing a study from the Journal of General Internal Medicine, she points out that primary care providers would need an average of twenty six point seven hours a day to deliver both high quality care and keep up with administrative demands. Spoiler alert: that's not mathematically possible. And it's leading to staggering burnout rates.
Colleen Luckett:Forty nine percent of physicians report feeling burned out, while forty seven percent of patients say their providers appear overburdened. But this isn't a one-sided issue. The article also highlights the patient Many people come into appointments without the tools, language, or confidence to effectively advocate for themselves Only eight percent of adults for instance are receiving all the preventive services recommended for long term health. So what's the fix? Well, according to Turner Dolce, we need a holistic approach, one that includes better communication models, creative engagement tactics, and stronger collaboration between health plans, third party support services, and clinical teams.
Colleen Luckett:Turner Dolce calls out promising solutions like language specific health literacy efforts and even food delivery programs that improve engagement with vulnerable populations. When implemented well, these efforts can boost adherence, increase preventive screenings, and help her build that elusive trust between doctors and patients. The takeaway? You can implement all the AI chatbots in the world, but if patients don't feel heard and providers feel like they're drowning, the tech won't fix what's broken. Sometimes what we need most is a better conversation and maybe a little outside help to get it started.
Colleen Luckett:Okay, Daniel. That's it for me today.
Daniel Williams:Well, thank you, and that's gonna do it for this episode of MGMA Week in Review. So if you liked what you heard, be sure to follow and subscribe to the MGMA Podcast Network wherever you get your podcast. And you'll find links in the show notes to today's full stories as well as additional resources for medical practice leaders. As always, thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time.
Colleen Luckett:Thanks, everyone. See you later.
