Laura Beeth, VP for Workforce Partnerships at Fairview Health Services: Tips for Reaching Untapped Labor Pools

EP70 WorkforceRx Podcast Laura Beeth

In the struggle to fill ongoing gaps in healthcare staffing, the days of waiting for people to apply for openings are over, says human resources veteran Laura Beeth. “We’re going out deeply into the communities, especially communities with high social determinants of health, and really working partnerships to help them move into healthcare careers,” says the vice president for Workforce Partnerships at Fairview Health Services, which is the second largest private employer in Minnesota. Beeth tells Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan that hiring officials need to start meeting people where they are at in their careers instead of passing them over if they don’t meet all of the specific qualifications. “There is space for everyone. Let’s figure out if it’s a perfect match. If not, let’s find out what they can do in our organization. That’s the kind of flexible mindset we need.” This conversation is loaded with useful strategies and insights on leveraging learn-and-earn programs, re-credentialing new Americans with healthcare backgrounds, reducing employee education costs, building employee loyalty and diversifying your workforce. Tune in for a valuable dose of hard-earned wisdom from the woman known as ‘the godmother of healthcare workforce development.’

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Rachel Korberg, Families and Workers Fund:  A Once In A Generation Chance To Advance Economic Mobility

EP69 WorkforceRx Podcast Rachel Korberg

According to recent reports from the University of Massachusetts and the US Department of Energy, the Biden administration’s historic investments in infrastructure and combatting climate change are already having an impact on the job market and will continue to do so with some economists forecasting the creation of millions of jobs over the next decade in those sectors. Harnessing these investments to boost economic mobility is a key focus of our WorkforceRx guest, Rachel Korberg, executive director and co-founder of the Families and Workers Fund, a coalition of philanthropies led by the Ford Foundation and Schmidt Futures. “We’re all working together with the idea that this is a really once in a generation opening to advance economic mobility for all,” she tells Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan. The goal is ambitious: to create upwardly mobile careers for one million people who are typically locked out of such opportunities by investing in models for training and retention, creating strategic partnerships and helping employers and government with the resources needed for “high road” training. The Fund has also created a formal role for frontline workers to make sure their perspective is on an equal footing with the Funder Advisory Board. “They’ve shaped millions of dollars in our grant making. For me, it really represents how I think philanthropy should be done.” Join us for a fascinating look at an innovative collective impact model and be sure to stay tuned to learn about three things the Fund looks for when reviewing grant proposals.

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Parvati Dev, CEO of SimTabs: When to Use Virtual Simulation in Healthcare Training

EP68 WorkforceRx Podcast Parvati Dev

The use of simulation in healthcare training used to be confined to actors posing as patients and the use of medical mannequins. But the options have grown far beyond that to include 3D virtual reality, augmented reality, and game-based learning, among other approaches. On this episode of WorkforceRx, we’re going to get an overview of the space with one of its leading experts, Dr. Parvati Dev, CEO of SimTabs. Dr. Dev has four decades of experience developing tech solutions for life sciences education in industry and academia, including groundbreaking work at Stanford University. While she’s seen many useful applications for virtual simulation in healthcare training, focusing on critical tasks where failure can happen – for instance a tricky part of a surgery – is at the top of the list. “You can practice just that segment of that procedure. They don’t need to do the whole procedure again and again. That kind of high stakes training is not happening as often as it probably should,” she tells Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan. In this enlightening conversation, Dr. Dev offers advice on how to decide when simulation is the right tool, shares her views on the extent to which simulation can replace in-person clinical training, and offers a vision for how, with the help of AI, an ecosystem of training tools can be created to move the industry to a higher level of impact.

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Carissa Moffat Miller, CEO of the Council of Chief State School Officers: Imagining a Modernized K-12 System

EP67 WorkforceRx Carissa Moffat Miller

While there’s little that matches the excitement a new school year brings, it’s tempered somewhat this year by the need to continue recovering from the many disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Learning loss, declining enrollments and increases in behavioral problems are just a few of the issues that education leaders are grappling with. Our WorkforceRx guest, Carissa Moffat Miller, is in the thick of efforts to help school system leaders find potential solutions as CEO of the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). “This disruption has created an opportunity for us to think about things differently, and for state chiefs to change the ecosystem of school,” she tells Futuro Health CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan. There are some new programmatic options to consider in doing that thanks to $190 billion in federal funding that allowed states to experiment with different approaches to tutoring, after school programs and digital learning, among other initiatives. One of CCSSO’s key roles, Moffat Miller says, is sharing examples of what worked coming out of that process and highlighting best practices on a continuing basis. And while keeping a close eye on recovery, her members are also looking forward as reflected in the new report Imagining More: How State Education Agencies Can Modernize the K-12 System. “The chiefs see their role as setting conditions and clearing a path for districts who are ready to take the next step.” Tune in to hear examples of what’s working across the country to improve K-12 education and what role employers can play in supporting state education goals.

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Tanya Harris, Aspen Institute Health Innovators Fellowship: Fostering Collaboration to Improve Healthcare

EP66 WorkforceRx Podcast Tanya Harris

“Healthcare is just so large and complex and expensive. We’ve got to find better ways to reach across political divides, ideological disagreements and narrow, sector-based perspectives,” says Tanya Harris, who runs the Health Innovators Fellowship at the Aspen Institute which is designed to do just that. The program provides a diverse group of mid-career professionals with the opportunity to do the kind of connecting and thinking that’s not possible in the rush of daily life. “They’re away from family, they’re away from work and they’re in this big space so they can think differently. People take bigger bets in their own professional journey than they might have otherwise,” she explains to Futuro Heath CEO Van Ton-Quinlivan. Examples include fellows coming together to tackle subjects as wide-ranging as adolescent mental health, supply chain innovation and health equity. One current fellow is a fire chief trying to meet the challenge of overwhelmed hospital emergency rooms. “It’s a really impressive group of folks that have been in, and continue to be in, this fellowship, and the possibilities are really endless.” This engaging conversation is a great opportunity to learn about efforts to foster greater coordination in the U.S. healthcare system and the importance of aligning incentives to achieve better outcomes.

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