The ASHHRA Podcast
The ASHHRA Podcast is the definitive audio briefing for healthcare HR leaders navigating what’s next.
Hosted by Bo Brabo and Luke Carignan, this weekly podcast explores the forces reshaping the healthcare workforce, from talent shortages and leadership burnout to data-driven HR strategy, labor relations, and policy shifts that impact care delivery.
Each episode features candid conversations with CHROs, senior executives, and industry change-makers who are solving real problems inside hospitals and health systems right now. No theory, no fluff, just practical insight from leaders in the arena.
Listeners gain clarity on complex workforce challenges, early signals on emerging trends, and grounded perspectives that help bridge strategy and people operations. Whether you lead HR for a health system, support workforce strategy, or influence organizational culture, this podcast equips you to make better decisions with confidence.
New episodes drop weekly, with timely news updates, deep-dive conversations, and forward-looking insights designed for healthcare HR leaders preparing for 2026 and beyond.
The ASHHRA Podcast
#218 - Breakthrough Proven AI Strategies Save Healthcare
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Strike Over, Margins Up & AI Saving Lives at Advocate Health
The final Monday News Drop of Q1 2026. Luke Carignan and ASHHRA Executive Director Jeremy Sadlier close out the quarter with three stories that are actually moving in a positive direction — and one significant asterisk on each of them.
🤝 Kaiser Strike Is Over — Now the Hard Part Starts 31,000 UNAC/UHCP nurses and healthcare professionals at Kaiser Permanente have ratified a new contract, ending the largest open-ended healthcare work stoppage in US history. The union secured historic wage increases, ironclad patient safety protections, mandatory staffing minimums, and strict limits on floating. The contract is signed. But HR leaders are not done. HR Action: Do not walk in like it is business as usual. Returning staff worked next to managers who hired agency travelers across their picket lines for two months. Expect friction between union members and management. Expect agency staff who crossed picket lines still on units. Expect post-strike turnover within 90 days if you do not address it now. Cancel your meetings, be on the units, and give staff a safe place to vent.
📊 Travel Agency Costs Have Plummeted — Capture the Momentum Q1 2026 AHA and AMN Healthcare data shows hospital reliance on external contract labor has dropped to a five-year low, essentially returning to 2019 levels. Health systems are winning by building internal gig models — app-based float pools where nurses pick up shifts directly from their phones at premium rates. HR Action: Pull your Q1 contract labor spend. Show your C-suite the savings and pitch a pilot internal scheduling app. If you make picking up a shift as easy as ordering from Uber, your staffing shortages will follow.
🤖 Advocate Health Just Called 15,000 Patients at Once Advocate Health used AI to contact 15,000 hypertension patients in 12 days. Result: 1,200 patients confirmed normal blood pressure, 274 with abnormal readings connected to care immediately, and 400 more flagged for non-hypertension issues. That is nearly 700 people directed toward care who may not have been found otherwise — saving an estimated 1,250 hours of clinical staff time. HR Action: Stop framing AI only as an efficiency play. Ask where AI can drive better outcomes for your people and your patients, not just savings.
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