WorkforceRx Live Book Launch: Free the Data

Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO of Futuro Health and host of the show, is also author of the best-selling book, WorkforceRx: Agile and Inclusive Strategies for Employers, Educators and Workers in Unsettled Times. In this episode, Van welcomes leading workforce and economic development experts to discuss the strategies and insights from Chapters Nine and Ten that resonated most with them. Check out their lively discussion about freeing and sharing data within an organization to guide improvements; building infrastructure to help gig workers thrive; the role of labor unions in scaling solutions to workforce challenges; adopting a shared ownership model to overcome inequality in income and assets, and much more from this powerful new playbook for the future of work.
Joining Van are: Omid Pourzanjani, Superintendent and President of San Joaquin Delta College; Anthony Dalton, Vice President & Chief Data Scientist at Futuro Health; Kathy Booth, Project Director at WESTED; Ann Volk, Senior Director at Alvarez & Marsal; Sara Skvirsky, Research Director at the Institute for the Future; Dave Regan, President of SEIU-UHW; Howard Brodsky, CEO of CCA Global and Lenny Mendonca, Former Chief Economic and Business Advisor for the State of California.

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Dr. Imelda Dacones, President of Washington Optum Care: The 3 “Rs” of Improving the Patient and Provider Experience in Healthcare

What do all of the changes in healthcare wrought by the pandemic mean for the future healthcare workforce? On today’s episode of WorkforceRx, Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan draws out thoughtful answers from someone with a broad and deep view of the healthcare system. Dr. Imelda Dacones has been confronted with all of these changes — many of which were brewing before the pandemic — over decades as a physician and senior leader at large healthcare organizations in Oregon and Washington. She’s also a nationally recognized leader in healthcare delivery innovation, addressing social determinants of health, and the health impacts of climate change, among other issues. Her prescription for change? Reimagine the healthcare team, reengineer the patient visit, and reinvigorate providers. “We need to reinvent care altogether for the patients we serve but also for ourselves as providers, because there just are not going to be enough nurses, doctors and medical assistants coming into the future.” Don’t miss this comprehensive look at the challenges and opportunities in healthcare from integrating with community organizations to leveraging home care to keeping up with shifting skillsets. Find out, too, about the Quadruple Aim and how the healthcare industry can work to reduce its waste footprint in light of climate change.

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Dr. Adaeze Enekwechi, Operating Partner at Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe: Private Equity and the Healthcare Workforce

“I did not ever think of private equity as a career option for me,” admits Dr. Adaeze Enekwechi, and not only because she saw it as a male-dominated profession. The former head of health at the Office of Management and Budget under President Obama and Ph.D. in health management expected to make a difference through public policy. But as an Operating Partner at Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe, she’s having an impact from a different perch. “We look at assets or companies to build that would make a meaningful contribution in whatever specific healthcare ecosystem we’re interested in investing in,” she tells Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan. “Our philosophy is not to just put money towards something and collect. We’re looking for opportunities to build something meaningful.” One current example is finding solutions to the nursing shortage and the painful budget crunch hospitals are enduring to pay for traveling staff. Investing in contingency staffing companies would earn a return, she says, but does nothing to solve the problem. A more useful target, she says, is leveraging technology to optimize the existing workforce. Adaeze shares examples of other issues she’s looking at through a private equity lens including racial inequities in care, social determinants of health, and what the training needs are as more care is being provided in the home. Check out this thoughtful episode of WorkforceRx in which you’ll also find out why this nationally respected healthcare leader thinks retail giants like Walmart and CVS should be applauded, and which two healthcare issues you should keep a close eye on in the coming months.

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Dr. Jeff Strohl, Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce: Is Education Still the Great Equalizer?

“While we believe that education is a great equalizer, in fact, it is not. There are structural inequalities in place that hold back the most talented low-income and minority youth,” says Dr. Jeff Strohl, whose research at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce focuses on equity and socio-economic differentials in outcomes. And that’s not all he has to share with Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan on the subject of equity in education, training and the labor market as you’ll hear in this revealing episode of WorkforceRx. Improving race and gender inequities, he says, requires more investments in school-based counseling and doing a better job at “expectational formation” in underrepresented communities. “Young people need better examples about what the workplace looks like so people can find an interest in different fields because if you didn’t grow up in a science-based home, why would you be interested in STEM?” Strohl pinpoints other steps to create a stronger, more inclusive workforce including more agility by higher education in meeting employer needs, putting training on a level playing field with education, enhancing work-based learning opportunities, addressing inherent biases in higher education and improving transparency in the short-term credential space. Don’t miss this chance to hear the deeply-informed perspective of a key resource for stakeholders and policymakers alike.

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WorkforceRx Live Book Launch: Leveling the Slope of Unconscious Bias

Van Ton-Quinlivan, CEO of Futuro Health and host of the show, is also author of the new best-selling book, WorkforceRx: Agile and Inclusive Strategies for Employers, Educators and Workers in Unsettled Times. In this episode, Van welcomes leading workforce and economic development experts to discuss the strategies and insights from Chapters Seven and Eight that resonated most with them. Check out their lively discussion about how to stop pitting diversity against workforce quality; integrating recruitment, screening and training; making upskilling the new norm; taking a “credential-as-you-go” approach and much more from this powerful new playbook for the future of work. 

Joining Van are: Holly Zanville, Co-Director of Program on Skills, Credentials and Workforce Policy at the George Washington Institute of Public Policy; John Brauer, Executive Director for Workforce & Economic Development at the California Labor Federation; Shannon Lucas and Tracey Lovejoy, Co-Chief Executive Officers of Catalyst Constellation; Paul Granillo, President & CEO, Inland Empire Economic Partnership; Linda Wah, Trustee, Pasadena City College; Gustavo Herrera, CEO of Arts for LA.

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