MGMA Week in Review: Healthcare Staffing Issues, Crisis Leadership, and Cybersecurity in Healthcare
Download MP3Well, hi, everyone. Welcome to the MGMA Weekend Review podcast. I'm one of your hosts today, Daniel Williams. I'm a senior editor at MGMA and host of the MGMA Podcast Network. And we're joined by cohost Colleen Luckett, an editor and writer here at MGMA.
Daniel Williams:And we're really excited about the week in review podcast where we bring you the latest health care industry news, sometimes some policy updates, always some expert insights, and just stories that Colleen and I run across that we really find interesting or inspiring. So, Colleen, what is happening in, your world?
Colleen Luckett:Well, I'm gonna switch it up a little and start out with some stat poll results, some MGMA stat poll. So according to our poll this week, it was May 6, nearly half of you, 47%, said that MAs are still the hardest role to fill, beating out nurses at 15%, billers at 10%, and coders at 9%, and other staff was 18%. And this challenge isn't new. In the past year, over 40% of practices hired alternative staff to cover MA gaps, and more than a third had to budget extra for cost of living and merit increases. So why is it that MA the MA job market is so tight?
Colleen Luckett:Well, partly, it's competition. Hospitals have been raising nurse pay for years, outpacing independent practices, and even the consumer price index. But MAs remain in hot demand with the Bureau of Labor Statistics projections showing a 15% growth rate through 02/1933, adding nearly a 20,000 openings per year. That's compared to a 6% growth rate for nurses and 9% for medical records specialists. So our article this week also digs into how practices are responding.
Colleen Luckett:So starting recruitment much earlier, sometimes two months or more in advance, prioritizing revenue critical roles like nurses and billers over administrative hires, expanding candidate pools, for example, EMTs or less experienced workers and offering in house training, offering tuition assistance or flex time to help MAs become nurses, building a long term talent pipeline, and cross training coders and billers to cover backup tasks when gaps happen. On the tech side, automation and AI are helping, but they're not quite a magic fix. Coders are shifting from basic entry work to quality control. Billers billers are focusing on claim denials and patient support, and virtual scribes are freeing up physicians. But smaller practices often can't afford large scale automation, so the human element is still critical.
Colleen Luckett:Looking ahead, we may see more creative staffing models, for example, tiered teams using more MAs or LPNs, or cross trained multi role staff. Think MA front slash front desk coordinator or nurse slash care manager. The bottom line is automation is helping, but the hiring challenges aren't going away anytime soon, and practices will need to stay flexible and innovative. For the full breakdown, smart strategies, and expert insights, check out the name of the article is why medical assistants are still tougher to hire today than nurses, coders, and other medical practice staff, and that's at mgma.com/mgma-stat. Or in our show notes, we'll add a link as usual.
Colleen Luckett:And as always, if you want to help shape future MGMA resources, please sign up for MGMA STAT by
Daniel Williams:MGMA texting 233550. Those polls come to your phone weekly by text. Okay, Daniel. Over to you. Alright.
Daniel Williams:Thank you so much for that, Colleen. Yeah. That is really interesting, and I love the MGMA stat each week, and I get it on my phone, everyone. Please sign up for that. It's a great way to find out what's going on and to be part of that conversation and have your voice heard.
Daniel Williams:So let's go into story number two. This piece comes from Physicians Practice. It was published on May sixth of twenty twenty five this year, and it's titled Lead Through Crisis with Confidence, a health care leader's playbook for resilience and reputation. It was written by Amy Zimke in APR. So in this article, Zimke opens by acknowledging that crises are no longer rare disruptions but defining features of modern leadership.
Daniel Williams:Health care executives today face multiple overlapping challenges among those labor disruptions, patient safety incidents, cybersecurity breaches, public misinformation, AI driven disinformation, and shifting regulatory demands, just to name a few of them. So we are operating in an era many call a perma crisis where the next challenge is never far behind. So in the article, the author emphasizes that proactive crisis readiness is essential. It's not about reacting when a crisis hits, but being prepared in advance. This involves protecting your organization's hard earned reputation, ensuring continuity of care, and preserving stakeholder trust.
Daniel Williams:ZIMKey advises leaders to identify their top five reputational risks, align leadership on response efforts, and preapproved messaging templates that reflect organizational values. So what are we talking about here? Well, first up, trust is a recurring theme. Zinke points out that trust must be earned before a crisis occurs. It's about consistent actions that align with stated values.
Daniel Williams:She cites a recent study where 86% of executives believe their employees trust them, but only sixty seven percent of employees agree that is a disconnect. So there's a significant trust gap that can be detrimental during a crisis. So next thing, updating crisis plans is also crucial. Many organizations created or updated their crisis plans during the COVID nineteen pandemic, but the risk environment has changed dramatically since then. AI generated misinformation, cybersecurity threats, and labor actions required dynamic, accessible, and well rehearsed plans.
Daniel Williams:ZIMKEY recommends incorporating AI risks into scenarios, reviewing plans annually, and conducting biannual drills with leadership teams. Next up, continuity of care. Healthcare doesn't stop during a crisis. Leaders must ensure that care quality remains high, staff well-being is protected, and patients receive timely information. This requires strong infrastructure, cross functional response teams, and clear communication channels.
Daniel Williams:Finally, Zemke underscores the role of organizational culture in crisis response. A resilient culture built on trust and values can be the ultimate defense against crises. Leaders should model calm, mission aligned behavior, and foster psychological safety within their teams. That's a lot of information there. So in summary, Zimke's article is a valuable resource for health care leaders.
Daniel Williams:It's not just about having a plan, but about cultivating a culture and infrastructure that can withstand and adapt to continuous challenges. For those interested, you can read the full article, and we'll provide a link in the episode show notes. So with that said, Colleen, I'll turn it back over to you.
Colleen Luckett:Well, if you thought the scariest part of health care in 2025 was facing down all those crises Daniel just mentioned coming at you at once. Surprise. It might actually be US health and human services. In an article by Katie Adams published May 6 in Med City News titled, what does HHS's restructuring mean for interoperability in health care? Health care leaders are sounding the alarm over the Trump administration's overhaul of HHS.
Colleen Luckett:Twenty state attorneys general have already sued warning that the agency shakeup and layoffs are unconstitutional and dangerous for public health. Experts like Jason experts like Jason Prestenario, CEO of Particle Health, say this chaos is putting the future of data sharing and interoperability, think Tefka and the Cures Act, at serious risk. Prestenario points out that without enforcement on issues like information blocking, the promises of interoperability will fall flat. Particle Health itself has waited nearly a year for HHS to act on a complaint that EHR giant, Epic, blocked thousands of providers from accessing patient data, a failure that affected over two hundred twenty five thousand patients. Prestonario even shared a personal moment of system failure.
Colleen Luckett:When his newborn son was rushed to the ER with jaundice, a nurse had to take a photo of lab results from his phone because the data couldn't transfer electronically. Yes. In 2025, we're still doing healthcare by smartphone camera, it looks like. While Epic defends its actions by citing patient privacy concerns, critics argue that without penalties, healthcare organizations have little reason to comply with data sharing rules, leaving patients at risk and providers in the dark. So for the full story and insights on how these changes could set public health efforts back by decades, as I say in the article, check out Katie Adams' article in Med City News.
Colleen Luckett:What does HHS's restructuring mean for interoperability in the health care? Or, of course, we'll put it in the show notes. Okay, Danielle. Back to you.
Daniel Williams:Alright. Colleen and I did it again. We went big picture. We didn't plan this out. Colleen had a very big picture story with HHS.
Daniel Williams:I've got one with UnitedHealthcare. So The New York Times published an article on 05/05/2025 written by Reed Appleson and Nicole Perlroth. It's titled UnitedHealth cyber attack fallout, loans, lawsuits, and lingering disruptions. You know, in 2024, there was a huge, huge issue there. It was back in February 2024 when UnitedHealth Group's subsidiary Change Healthcare was hit with a massive cyber attack.
Daniel Williams:We are talking one of the largest disruptions to The US health care system in recent memory. The ripple effect still beyond more than a year later. We're seeing things happening with hospitals, pharmacies, private practices, and patients. So what's happened? Essentially, a ransomware group took down major parts of Change Healthcare's digital infrastructure.
Daniel Williams:Change handles the processing of roughly one out of every three patient records in The US. So when they went dark, it threw a wrench into billing, prescription processing, and prior authorizations across the country. It wasn't just a glitch. It was a grinding halt for thousands of providers and payers To try to plug the financial gaps caused by these outages, UnitedHealth stepped in with emergency loans, offering loans, offering funds to providers who couldn't get reimbursed because systems were offline. But here's the thing.
Daniel Williams:Not everyone's thrilled about how this has played out. Some smaller practices said the loans didn't go far enough. Others were confused or frustrated by the repayment terms, worried it could put them in a deeper financial hole later on. There's been a lot of tension between the need for immediate relief and the long term consequences of taking that help. In the legal side, it's heating up.
Daniel Williams:Multiple lawsuits have been filed accusing UnitedHealth and Change Healthcare of failing to take proper cybersecurity precautions. Some of the allegations say the systems were vulnerable. Others said that red flags were ignored and that when the breach happened, communication was slow and unclear. Plaintiffs say this wasn't just a cyberattack. It was a failure of leadership and oversight.
Daniel Williams:So the federal government is also on the case now both and speaking of HHS, both the Department of Health and Human Services and the FBI are investigating, trying to get a handle on just how much data was compromised and whether HIPAA and other federal regulations were violated. If that weren't enough, there's now a growing conversation about how health care, one of the most sensitive and targeted industries, can better protect itself going forward. Some experts are calling for minimum cybersecurity standards, especially for major vendors that touch so many parts of the system. So big picture, this incident is reshaping how we think about digital security and health care. It's not just about patching systems anymore.
Daniel Williams:It's about building in resilience, communication protocols, and disaster plans for a world where these kinds of attacks are only becoming more frequent? Again, I will put a direct link in the episode show notes to this full story, and we will be continuing to cover this particular story and others like it that impact all of our private practices and independent practices out there. So with that said, Colleen, I'll turn it back over to you.
Colleen Luckett:Alright. Well, I don't know if you knew this, Daniel, but it is National Nurses Week this week. So, yeah, we'd be remiss if we didn't wrap up today's podcast with a story that cuts to the heart of why nurses stay or walk away. Let's be honest. You can shower nurses with pizza parties and balloon bouquets, but if the leadership stinks, no amount of cake is going to keep them.
Colleen Luckett:John Comments, news editor for Health Leaders, reported in his May 6 article. It's called, Hey CNOs, Want to Keep Your Nurses? Invest in Middle Management. He talks about that if hospitals really want to stop frontline nurse turnover, the key isn't more gift cards. It's, as he says in the title, investing in middle management.
Colleen Luckett:So here's what the 2025 McKinsey nursing poll survey reveals. Fewer nurses overall are thinking about quitting, but of the 20% still considering it, 41% blame poor leadership support. Second only to those simply looking for a better job. Also, strong nurse managers boost retention, improve patient safety, and strengthen team culture, And hospitals could save a jaw dropping $700,000,000 a year just by reducing nurse turnover through stronger manager support. But here's the twist.
Colleen Luckett:While 60% of nurses say good managers improve their job satisfaction, more than half have no interest in stepping into leadership roles, thanks to red tape, high stress, and overwhelming workloads. So what's the fix? Well, here's some advice. Redesign nurse manager roles and tap assistant managers to help shoulder the load, offer hybrid work options where possible, upskill and mentor future leaders with both technical and interpersonal training, and lastly, bring in AI and automation to cut down the tedious admin work so managers can actually lead. As one expert put it, without leadership support and a clear succession pipeline, hospitals are just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
Colleen Luckett:For the full story, of course, we'll add the link to the show notes for you to check that out. And I'll finish off by saying happy National Nurses Week, everyone. Treat them well, managers, so they treat us well. And that does it for me today, Danielle.
Daniel Williams:Alright. And that does it for this episode. So wanna thank you so much everyone for being listeners to the MGMA week in review podcast. And please, wherever you get your podcast, please subscribe to the MGMA podcast network. You're gonna find links in the show notes to today's full stories as well as additional resources for medical practice leaders.
Daniel Williams:Thank you again for listening, and we'll see you next time.
Colleen Luckett:Thanks, everyone. See you next time.
