AMGA, Practicing Excellence team up to tackle workforce strain with ‘human development’

A “war for talent” is pushing medical groups and health systems to focus as much on retention and team culture as recruitment. That workforce pressure is the backdrop for a new partnership between the American Medical Group Association (AMGA) and Practicing Excellence, which will give AMGA member organizations access to an artificial intelligence-powered, app-based human development platform aimed at strengthening patient communication, team collaboration and leadership effectiveness. The collaboration is designed to support physicians, advanced practice providers, nurses and other care team members with role-specific, bite-sized skill development that aligns individual growth with organizational priorities, including safety culture and high-reliability efforts.

In an interview with Physicians Practice, AMGA President and CEO Jerry Penso, M.D., MBA, connects workforce shortages to broader strains on finances and access, while Practicing Excellence founder Stephen Beeson, M.D., describes how continuous development can help teams thrive in high-demand environments.

Physicians Practice: Today we’re talking about a strategic partnership you’ve got going. I’ll open it up: What does this entail?

Jerry Penso, M.D., MBA, president and CEO of AMGA: First of all, thank you for having us on today. If you ask AMGA members — and these are medical groups and health systems across the country — what’s top on their list, what are the top issues they’re facing, their challenges? Their No. 1, 2 and 3 are finances, access and workforce. And it’s no accident they’re all interrelated, and probably the root is the workforce issue.

Having an engaged, inspired workforce really helps organizations begin to tackle those challenges. In fact, it’s imperative. Right now, our members are saying their workforce is one of their prime issues, and there’s a war for talent. There aren’t enough primary care physicians, anesthesiologists, radiologists or other physicians — let alone nonprofessionals — to handle the volume and the demand coming into their systems.

So what they need to do, and what the imperative is, is create an environment, a culture, where clinicians want to practice, stay and help the organization deliver great care, and really provide the type of environment where clinicians will want to stay their entire career. So that’s the imperative of why now. Why is AMGA interested in this issue? Because our members are interested, and this is important to them right now. And I’ll let Steve highlight a little bit more on why that is so important to our members.

Stephen Beeson, M.D., founder of Practicing Excellence: Yeah, thanks, Jerry — and thank you, Keith, for having me on. I’m a family medicine physician, born and raised in San Diego, and I’ve spent much of my career in the exam room managing a large patient panel. The 2.0 version of my life has been the application of human development to really allow clinical care teams to soar and to create, as Jerry said, conditions where people say, “Man, I love coming to work.” Yeah, we work hard, but, man, we’re really taking amazing care of patients. We’re deeply collaborative with each other, and working within teams is really revitalizing. And our leaders are doing the things that help us feel seen, heard, appreciated, included, communicated with, cared about — that we matter here.

We believe, and there’s very good evidence, that a human development strategy can allow those behaviors and experiences to manifest. And as Jerry said, the top three issues of finance, access and workforce are all accessible through a really continuous human development strategy. When I founded the company Practicing Excellence, that was the contribution we wanted to be able to make in health care.

I’ve known Jerry for a number of years, and we’ve done some good work together. So we thought we’d bring human development and the amazing convening organization of AMGA, which does such amazing work. We’ve already got 30 partners within AMGA as it is, so we’re excited about the partnership and what the future holds.