Being a hospital CEO or healthcare leader today involves managing acute clinician shortages and an aging population driving up the demand for services.
Rising healthcare costs and declining Medicare reimbursement rates are also contributing to stress and burnout among providers.
The US healthcare system is expensive, inaccessible, and marked by disparities for people of color and disadvantaged groups. Hospital and private practice leaders often find it challenging to navigate these issues. But many find that partnering with Advisory Board can help in developing an effective action plan.
For more than 40 years, Advisory Board has equipped healthcare leaders with resources to shape effective business strategies. Advisory Board partners with a diverse range of organizations, from large healthcare systems to rural community hospitals, locum tenens staffing firms, and corporate retailers.
Daniel Kuzmanovich is a seasoned healthcare strategist, researcher, speaker, and facilitator at Advisory Board.
“Our main focus is truly understanding what’s happening in the healthcare industry,” Kuzmanovich explained. “We provide highly vetted research on the biggest issues keeping healthcare leaders up at night.”
“Our main focus is truly understanding what's happening in the healthcare industry. We provide highly vetted research on the biggest issues keeping healthcare leaders up at night."
Kuzmanovich’s journey with the Advisory Board began with a personal pivot. Initially planning to attend law school, his mother, a hospital administrator, encouraged him to consider healthcare. Initially disregarding her advice, his perspective shifted when his grandmother fell ill.
“I witnessed firsthand how the American healthcare system let my grandmother down,” he recalled. “So, I pivoted from law to healthcare research.”
Despite the quality care his grandmother received from doctors and nurses, the industry’s systemic issues were evident.
“That inspired me to try to help fix the healthcare problems in this country,” Kuzmanovich said.
After college, Kuzmanovich joined Advisory Board as a research associate. Today, he works with a team dedicated to improving patient care, driving progress, and making a difference in healthcare.
Reimagining Healthcare: Transforming Challenges into Opportunities
Advisory Board’s team of more than 200 research experts addresses the major challenges healthcare leaders face, including workforce shortages, regulatory changes, the growing influence of AI, and navigating growth within strict financial constraints, all while enhancing medical services and empowering doctors with new cutting-edge technology.
Advisory Board has 4,500 member organizations and collaborates with most of the 6,000 hospitals and approximately 600 health systems in the United States. Advisory Board also works with pharmaceutical companies, post-acute care providers, and professional organizations like NALTO.
Kuzmanovich explained Advisory Board’s research methodology, emphasizing how their connections with various healthcare organizations enable Advisory Board researchers to create comprehensive data sets based on stakeholder insights.
The organization compiles its findings using three methods.
- Primary research, which involves experts conducting personal interviews or surveys with knowledgeable individuals
- Secondary research, which involves experts comprehensively reviewing and analyzing the available literature on each topic
- “Then there’s the third component,” he said, “the quantitative piece, where we use our data assets and quantitative research team to add another dimension to the research.”
Kuzmanovich explained that Advisory Board surveys its partners annually to identify about 20 topics. They vet each topic and spend several months researching it. To date, Advisory Board has published 45,000 pieces of content.
“Where the rubber meets the road is in the channels we use to make that research available for readers, CEOs, and staffing experts,” Kuzmanovich said.
"Where the rubber meets the road is in the channels we use to make that research available for readers, CEOs, and staffing experts."
Harnessing Advisory Board’s Data
Kuzmanovich delivered the keynote address at the 2024 NALTO/NAPR convention this spring, highlighting the competition for top talent among staffing agencies, private equity firms, and corporations like CVS, Amazon, and Optum. In late September, he will present at NALTO’s annual Fall Fly-In in Austin, Texas.
In his spring address, Kuzmanovich discussed physicians’ dissatisfaction with the healthcare system, noting their desire for better work-life balance due to overwork and bureaucratic tasks. He offered lessons and insights relevant to staffing agencies that assign doctors to locum tenens assignments. He also presented research indicating that improving workflows, reducing administrative tasks, and adopting AI technology could help mitigate the predicted physician shortage.
“We have a host of different channels where people can find our research,” Kuzmanovich said, breaking them down into three specific categories: self-service, in-person, and additional miscellaneous opportunities such as personal development courses.
Self-service content
- Research membership: Provides resources on improving population health, adopting new technology, addressing social determinants of health, and more.
- The Daily Briefing: This daily email newsletter reports on public health emergencies like COVID-19 variants, personal health tips, and strategies to improve healthcare facilities’ ambulatory care services.
- Radio Advisory: The company’s podcast, hosted by Rachel Woods and other industry experts, breaks down important issues such as AI integration, value-based care, and more.
In-person and virtual events
- National conferences: In-person and virtual experiences designed to deliver crucial healthcare information and foster meaningful connections with peers and industry experts.
- Executive roundtable series: Exclusive sessions with healthcare leaders and Advisory Board experts that provide intimate facilitation exercises to address organizational challenges.
- Expert support: Advisory Board experts present advice and actionable guidance through insightful presentations on pertinent issues, facilitated workshops, and strategic retreats designed to overcome obstacles and re-energize stalled projects.
Additional opportunities
- Webinars: Each series covers healthcare trends, delivery changes, and leadership skills for administrators.
- On-demand courses: Expert-led videos designed to break down essential healthcare topics so learners can get a better grasp on the industry.
- Custom research: A way to engage with Advisory Board on different research topics, such as analyzing the cost-benefit of hiring locum tenens physicians versus full-time doctors, conducting surveys, and compiling findings for your stakeholders.
- Sponsorship: Advisory Board also partners with organizations to create content and thought-leadership opportunities which are shared with over 4,500 healthcare organizations, providing brand exposure to healthcare professionals.
- Advisory Board Fellowship: A leadership development program designed to empower rising executives to excel by cultivating skills in a practice ground environment, engaging with industry peers and faculty over 18 months, and boosting collaborative, team-building, and innovative problem-solving capacities.
"While I would never bet against a large organization or a private equity firm with all that capital, they are still not as good at recruiting as the top healthcare staffing organizations."
Advisory Board Tools for Locum Tenens Organizations
Advisory Board examines various aspects of healthcare, including the role of locum tenens staffing agencies and their primary audiences.
“Locum tenens and staffing organizations fundamentally have two customers: the contracting client and the physician, APP, or clinical worker they are trying to place,” Kuzmanovich said.
Advisory Board offers insights for healthcare facilities, emphasizing the importance of locum tenens and staffing agencies in their staffing mix. The firm researches issues such as physician burnout and work-life balance and has recently partnered with NALTO to share content for staffing agencies and locum providers. Collaborating with CEOs and clinicians, Advisory Board develops strategies to help staffing firms compete with private equity and corporate retailers in attracting and retaining top talent.
Kuzmanovich noted the strength of staffing firms, stating, “While I would never bet against a large organization or a private equity firm with all that capital, they are still not as good at recruiting as the top healthcare staffing organizations.”
