Career Pathways, Excellence and Tech in Senior Living | Guest Drew Flores

Host Matt Mauthe welcomes Drew Flores to discuss Drew’s career journey and what it reveals about diverse career paths in senior living for young professionals.  

Drew shares how he entered the Healthcare Administration program at UW–Eau Claire, completed a residency with Illuminus and briefly served in campus leadership roles, including Executive Director, and later transitioned into information analytics.  

He explains his current work supporting organizational systems, compliance, quality measures, and process improvement, including Lean Six Sigma and Illuminus’ focus on Baldrige Performance Excellence. They explore how Lean and Baldrige can improve workflows, staff engagement, and resident outcomes, and discuss the growing role of AI in care delivery alongside cybersecurity considerations. 

Drew also reflects on industry trends, leadership retention challenges, and how Illuminus can better attract and support emerging talent. 

NOTE: Since this recording, Drew Flores has been promoted from Information Systems Analyst to Vice President of Quality and Risk Management as part of a multi-year organizational succession plan. 

00:00 Welcome 
00:38 Meet Drew Flores 
01:02 Career Path at Illuminus 
02:20 Why Healthcare Administration 
03:50 Choosing UW-Eau Claire 
04:22 Residency Site Decision 
05:41 Life Plan Campus Benefits 
06:36 Class Outcomes and Careers 
08:22 Information Analyst Explained 
10:08 Lean Six Sigma Training 
10:41 Baldrige Journey Restart 
12:47 What Baldrige Means 
14:29 Lean Meets Baldrige 
15:24 Illuminus Adoption Story 
16:33 Staff Buy-In Challenges 
18:36 Frontline-Led Improvement 
20:44 AI In Healthcare Workflows 
23:54 Managing AI Risks 
24:45 Generations and Technology 
27:08 Future of Long-Term Care 
29:24 Growing Young Professionals 
30:32 Attracting and Retaining Talent 
31:46 Advice for Students 
32:48 Healthcare Vision Ahead 
34:00 Closing Thanks

Learn more about Illuminus at https://www.illuminus.us/

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the Illuminators, Changemakers and Senior Living, the podcast that explores the past, present, and future of senior living through the eyes of those who are transforming it from the inside out. I'm your host, Matt Mothe, Chief Executive Officer of Illuminist, a faith-based not-for-profit that aims to transform senior care for the better. Join me as I seek to reimagine the aging experience through an ongoing dialogue where together we'll shed light on current issues and shine a light on a brighter tomorrow. Welcome back. Today I'm joined by Drew Flores, information analyst with Illuminus. Thank you for joining us, Drew. I've been looking forward to this and want to really talk about your experience, how you got into healthcare, what your roles have been here at Illuminus, and kind of talk about what you see as the future as it relates to healthcare and young professionals getting into the field.

SPEAKER_00 0:59

Yeah. So yeah, thank you, madam. I'm happy to be here. You know, I started with Illuminus back in 2020. Um I went through the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire Healthcare Administration program. And so I joined in 2020 with Illuminus going through my residency. I did a year-long internship with Illuminus. And after I graduated, there's opportunities here at Illuminus. So I was I was hired on after graduation, which I was very blessed to have that opportunity. I worked as an assistant administrator up at one of our locations with Illuminus for about three days, and then an opportunity arose to be an executive director down in the Janesville area. Yep. So I spent some time down there. I was a young professional, 22 years old, and it came with a huge learning curve. It forced me to grow up very, very quickly, and it was a great learning opportunity. I did that for a little over a year. I was making some personal life choices. I was moving to a different area. The commute was a little too long for me. And so I had to make a decision to step back from that role. I wanted to stay with Illuminous. I I love what Illuminous was doing, what Illuminous is about. And I joined as an information analyst in 2022. Um and so I've been in this role for about three years and I've loved it ever since.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

So I want to let's peel the onion back a little bit. I want to get into so you're you're a bluegill just like I am. I am. We both went to UWO Claire and majored in healthcare administration. So I'm curious just to get an understanding from you of what drew you into healthcare. Did you go to the university as a declared healthcare administration student?

SPEAKER_00 2:29

I did, yeah. And and I think healthcare isn't a um isn't a career path that a lot of young professionals think of right away. I think they just kind of naturally fall into it almost by accident in some cases. A lot of my friends who went through the HCAD program or healthcare administration program started off in nursing school and didn't like it, so they went to HCAD. Uh, I think I was the exception growing up. My family has a pretty long history of being in the healthcare field.

SPEAKER_01 2:55

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

Um we have doctors in my family, nurses. Um, my father was in health insurance. And so when I was in high school, I went and did a lot of job shadows. And I also realized at a relatively young age that I don't like blood. So I wanted to find some way to still be in the healthcare field, but not be necessarily with the people hands-on or the president's hand on. So I couldn't.

SPEAKER_01 3:16

So did you initially think you wanted to go into nursing?

SPEAKER_00 3:19

For a little bit, yeah. I I did a job shadow at one of the clinics in the Appleton area where I grew up, and I realized very quickly it wasn't for me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

I've experienced that firsthand.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Yeah, I know. Cutting your hands. I know. Yeah. Uh one of the most embarrassing days of my life at Illuminus. But, you know, I wanted to find a way that I could blend the two together. And so I did some job shadows with some clinics on the acute care side, post-acute care side in high school, and I loved it. So I came into Eau Claire pre-declared healthcare administration.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

And did you go to Eau Claire because of the program?

SPEAKER_00 3:53

Yes. Yeah. Due in part to that, my sister also went there for nursing school. So I've spent some time at Eau Claire. I love the area. And I also did some research and I found that Eau Claire was one of the top schools in the Midwest and in the country for healthcare administration.

SPEAKER_01 4:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Um, they were one of 25 at that point that offered a paid internship or residency. Yeah. That was um that was appetizing to me. And so I decided to go there for that.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Okay. And did you finish in four years?

SPEAKER_00 4:20

I did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Okay. And so when you're as part of the as part of that program, you have to determine, okay, where do I want to do my residency? How many different locations did you interview with? I I went to five.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

I went to three up in the Appleton area, like I said, where I grew up. Yeah. Went to one out in in Milwaukee. And then I went to one of our Luminous sites in Watertown.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:41

And at the end of the day, it really came down to my relationship with my preceptor. Yeah. Um, how well was I going to be able to work with them? I'd be with them for 40, 50 hours a week.

SPEAKER_01 4:51

Right.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

And also I I love the size of Illuminus and the campus that I was at. And I know that it would offer a lot of opportunity while I was in my residency and afterwards. And it really that really came to fruition during my residency, my long internship. I was able to travel to our different campuses, right? Um, see new buildings, see different settings of of care. And, you know, throughout that process, you have a packet, you know, you have to go through rotations as you're learning. And so Illuminus was able to offer every single thing within that packet. And Illuminus has a long-standing history with Eau Claire. And so there were other students at that point or people at Illuminus that have been through the program. Uh, so they know those packets better than I did at that point, and they were able to kind of hold my hand and walk me through that process. And it was a great experience, and I'm happy that I ended up there.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

And so when you were looking at residency sites, you ultimately chose Illuminus. Did the fact that uh the campus you were at that was a life plan did it did that factor into it that you get experience in assisted living, memory care, skilled nursing?

SPEAKER_00 5:55

Absolutely. Yeah, and I think as a 20, 21-year-old, you don't necessarily know that you want to go into just skilled nursing. Um so I think going to that campus really allowed me to get insight to the different care settings and help me make a better informed decision on where I wanted to go. Um, it was also nice then because during that part of my rotation, I didn't have to travel to a different campus. It was all at the same location. Yeah. And also I was able to live on campus there too. They offered on-campus housing, which was very nice. Had its pros and cons. Yeah. Sometimes I would get called at midnight to go handle situation, but it's part of the experience. And um, as an executive director or administrator, those are the things that you have to deal with every single day.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

How many students graduated in your class?

SPEAKER_00 6:39

Um, it was one of the larger classes that the UW E'Claire HCAD program has had. I think we are mid-60s.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Okay. And do you know roughly how many of those students are still in long-term care?

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Long-term care, I think still quite a few. I don't know exactly offhand now uh how many are actually in an executive director or administrator role. I'd say I could probably count them on two hands. Yeah, it hasn't been highly successful in that way with staying in those types of roles.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

S some are in there, but a lot are in and other healthcare-related roles.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Yep. There's a lot of people in my cohort that are still in HR recruiting, yeah. Or people like myself that are more in an analyst or informatics roles. So and that's the great thing about the program is that it it tees you up for different opportunities. It's not a fast track to be an administrator.

SPEAKER_01 7:29

And when you were going through the program, did you have any preconceived ideas of what you wanted in your career?

SPEAKER_00 7:35

You know, I I wanted to be part of an organization that offered opportunity and that really supported their staff. And and I wanted to it's tough to say. I think at that point in my life, I wanted to be an administrator. I wanted to be an executive director. And throughout my year-long process down in Janesville, um, I realized maybe that's just not for me. And that's okay, right? I think things change.

SPEAKER_01 7:57

Well, and that's the benefit of the residency. You get to figure out what you what you really want to do.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

Yeah, yep, absolutely. And I think myself and every other student that kind of came through the same cohort as me entered at a very difficult time, right? Uh we were all doing our residencies in June of 2020. And so in the height of COVID. Right. And so did that bar some people from wanting to continue? Perhaps, yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 8:21

Yeah. So in your let's just I want to talk a little bit about the roles you've had within Illuminus, because you uh you got through your your um UW Eau Claire experience, or you got your undergrad in healthcare administration, you did your residency at an Illuminus campus, and then from there we talked, you went on to to uh be an administrator of one of at one of the Illuminus campuses. Then you so let let's keep kind of working through. You had the opportunity then to go into an information analyst role. Just share with us what that role all entails. What is an information analyst?

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Yeah, that's a great question. And sometimes I feel like that answer changes every day. It's kind of like what is the flavor of the day? But at a high level, we uh manage all of our systems or the majority of our systems from our electronic health record to our learning management system to our organizational intranet. That's helpful in the sense that we don't have to reach out to these third-party vendors to help us with internal configuration or issues. Um we have a team that is centralized that can help with that. We also do policy and procedure, general regulatory compliance when surveys in one of our buildings. We're usually one of the first people that we that our communities tap on to help with questions or pulling information. We also have a very strong focus on our five-star publicly reported data, our quality measures, survey outcomes, and our PBJ or staffing measures. So we keep a pretty acutely or acute eye on those measures. Um we also do lean process improvement projects. No, those tend to kind of come in waves. Um, but whenever there's a process improvement project, um, one of us in the quality and risk management department is typically facilitating or participating on that project.

SPEAKER_01 10:08

And you're you're a are you a you're a lean six sigma trained professional?

SPEAKER_00 10:15

Yeah. Back in April of 2024, we had a gentleman from a company that specializes in lean six sigma training certification come to Illuminus and actually host it myself and 10 other colleagues. Yeah. And all of us got our yellow belt in Lean Six Sigma.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

And then most recently, you've also been working through the Baldridge process. Can you talk a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_00 10:40

Yes, absolutely. And so maybe before I get into it, I'll kind of back up maybe about two years ago. So myself and two other colleagues, and Liz Menzer, she's the executive director at the Wisconsin Center for Performance Excellence, sat down here at our corporate office in Fitchburg just to re-reignite our Baldridge journey. Um, over the past 10, 12 years, Illuminous has started or picked it up and then started to work through the Baldridge journey, and then COVID hit, and so you had to put it on the back burner. So we wanted to reignite that process. And so we sat down with Liz and we talked about where do we start? This is where we're at, where do we go from here? Um, and so through that we had lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt Training. Last year, I also went through and became a Baldridge examiner that was coordinated through the WCPE program. And then I also joined something called LEAP or Leading Excellence and Achievement Program. Um, and that's where the Wisconsin Center, Minnesota Center, and the Iowa Center of Performance Excellence bring different young professional or just professionals in general from different sectors. So you'll have healthcare, manufacturing, education, all to one location five times throughout the year, and you just learn about Baldridge. Um every session you learn about a different category, or seven categories, and then at the end of that, you work on a capstone project. And so I chose to do an organizational profile for Illuminous. And so that is really at a high level, what is Luminous about in a snapshot?

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

Um and it took me about four months to get through that, and it was really reliant on uh the feedback of our executive leadership team, the feedback of our campuses. And I think it was a great exercise because Illuminous is relatively new as a whole organization. And so it was a great way to learn about Illuminus. And I found it actually a little bit more difficult than I thought. You know, when if someone off the street were to come up to me and ask me, hey Drew, what does Illuminous do? I could tell them something, but actually sitting down and putting it on paper was more challenging than I thought.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

And can you just share for us what Baldridge is?

SPEAKER_00 12:50

Yeah, sure. Um, so it's a performance excellence framework. Um, it's a series of about 300 questions, and it's guided to, or it's supposed to help guide organizations to continuous excellence. It's not a prescriptor framework. It doesn't tell you exactly what you have to do, but it just turns your gears a little bit to make you think a different way. It's very reliant on having a system mindset or having a system framework. So, how does your leadership team interact with your workforce and your metrics and data? Every single thing at an organization is connected in one way or another, whether it's a solid line or a dotted line. And it really focuses on what is key at your organization. I think many times organizations focus on everything as a whole. Right. And if you focus on everything, then you're really not paying attention to anything. Right. Not everything can be important. So once you're able to pare down or drill down into what is key for your organization, uh, that's when you can start to apply that philosophy of focus. Um when you start to focus on things, intrinsically they will get better and better. And so that's that's really what it is. And there's a couple different steps kind of through the Baldridge journey. Now there's no solid roadmap to it, there's no clear roadmap. But the first step that we took is writing that organizational profile. Um, you can then submit this as an application to the Wisconsin Center for Performance Excellence, and they will give you feedback on it. Um, and that's just geared to then come back to the table, sit and have more discussion, and then make some organizational changes.

SPEAKER_01 14:29

And just talk a little bit for us about the value or what you see as the value of engaging in lean process management and the Baldridge criteria.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

Yeah. Yeah, and I think Baldridge and Lean, they interact with one another. I think that you can use lean as a tool to impact your Baldridge journey. But I think that both offer a lot of benefits to the organization. You know, using lean, it's really a tool or methodology to reduce waste and to have continuous improvement. And our organization and any organization is not perfect. Processes need to be looked at over time. Things change, organizational organizations change. And so lean is just having that continuous improvement mindset. Baldridge is how does that mindset interact with the rest of the organization and really just kind of tying it all together?

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Share with me or share with us how Illuminus began to utilize the Lean principles as as well as the Baldridge. Is this something that you brought to the organization, or is this something that the organization said, listen, this is really important to us and to the people that we serve, and and therefore we want to uh encourage you and support you on this journey?

SPEAKER_00 15:46

Yeah, it is something that Illuminous approached me with. Um, Illuminus has been practicing lean for a very, very long time. Um they've integrated it into a lot of their projects and performance improvement projects. And so my boss and my team, Illuminus, came to me and said, uh, we want you to really expand your knowledge on lean and Baldridge. And that's why we met sat down with Wisconsin Center for Performance Excellence and and went through all the different opportunities that they could provide to us. And you know, throughout the years, as I've been practicing Lean and working throughout the Baldridge framework, there's a direct correlation to these methodologies and improved resident outcomes, reduced costs, just more efficiencies in general. So it's a very proven practice.

SPEAKER_01 16:32

Yeah. And I know through these projects, the Lean projects or even the Baldurge, there's a lot of staff involved throughout the different campuses. What has been their reaction to the organization participating in Lean and Baldridge?

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Yeah, I think that we get some mixed reactions. Um I think that we have a couple, not a couple, a lot of individuals at Illuminus who have been through this many, many times. But as you start to get newer staff who maybe haven't been introduced to Baldridge or Lean, their reaction is they have more questions and than answers, to be honest. You know, um, how does value stream mapping something actually make a difference in my day-to-day work? And so as we start to go through that process, then you can see the light bulb go off. Yeah. Oh, this actually makes a lot of sense. I I think with Baldridge specifically, it's kind of like the big bad B-word. Um not a lot of people understand it. Um and it tends to, at a very high level, seem very complex. But once you really start to understand it more, it becomes very, very simple. Um, and so I think the more that we can do as an organization to bring people into lean process improvement projects, understanding Baldridge, that'll just start to create a culture of that continuous improvement.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

Yeah, I know what I've seen over the years of doing this is when staff start to engage and start to see what it's really all about and then what the end product is and how it can impact their workflows, they get pretty excited about it.

SPEAKER_00 17:59

Yeah, it's kind of fun, right? You get to see your process at it as it exists at the beginning of the project and then get to reflect on it at the end and see that the change has been massive.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and the years that I've been doing it, it's been it's been a lot of fun because you can take really complex issues that staff identify and where they come to you and say, Listen, I'm really struggling with my workload or these processes, and work alongside them to make adjustments and at the end of the day improve the lives of the staff member, which is ultimately going to improve the lives of the people we serve, is pretty cool.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

Yeah. And I think that's really key is don't make these decisions at a high level, right? You want to get the feedback of the staff, get the feedback of the residents to drive that change. Yeah. And to your point, there are a lot of people part of these projects. And we tried to have a cross-functional team. Maybe if you're not even directly involved in the process, we still want you to be involved. Right. Because you might have just a different perspective on things, which can spark creative ideas. Um, and so making sure that you you get their feedback and then you also follow that plan do study adjust cycle, right? You implement the new change, you study it, you get feedback, right? You make adjustments based on that feedback, and you go back to the cycle.

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Yeah. I think that's the other one of the other fun things I see is this this really comes from our frontline caregivers identifying issues. It's not from their manager saying, hey, this is what we need to do. It's it's our frontline staff saying, Hey, these are the issues that I have, and we're going to fix this together, which I think helps with employee engagement. Yep. And you get to see it all the time working with the different work teams.

SPEAKER_00 19:39

Yeah, yep. It's a lot of fun. And I'll find a lot of times after community listening sessions, I'll get a phone call or an email from an executive director saying, Hey, I just got a ton of feedback yesterday from my staff. Can we sit down and talk more about this? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

And so what's what's people's general when you get feedback like that, just share with us what people's feelings are about the process.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

About the lean process? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:03

Or just the feedback that you're getting.

SPEAKER_00 20:05

Yeah. Yeah. I I think um when people can actually see results, the feedback has always been positive. And I think that people expect change to happen quickly. And that's not what lean is about. It's not supposed to happen overnight. So sometimes the feedback is, gosh, I wish this was happening quicker. Yeah. But at the end of the day, at the end of the project, you can reflect on it and say it was worth our time. We made a positive impact. And so I think we've done a great job of building up that culture of continuous improvement and using the lean tools and methodology. Um, and so the feedback at a large scale has been very positive.

SPEAKER_01 20:43

Good. So, Drew, our organization is starting to kind of play around with different AI tools and starting to understand or trying to understand how we can utilize AI. I'm interested in your views on kind of where that's going. What impact do you think it's going to have on Illuminus and in the patients that we serve?

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Yeah, I think it's going to have a rather large impact on us. And we're already seeing it, I'd say, at a smaller scale right now with our organization. And before I get into that, I'd like to just first say it's really once you can break down the uncomfortable mindset with AI. I think a lot of people see AI as a replacement for thought.

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:25

Which in reality, it should be a tool to inspire thought, inspire creative thought. So I think once you can get past that, AI doesn't seem as overwhelming or scary to some people. Now, in some of our systems today, we do have AI integrated with it. Whether we know it or not, it it does exist in our health electronic health record. When you are uploading notes or doing chart reviews, there's AI in the background that's helping you do that. And so I think creating some more awareness to our frontline staff that it's already kind of happening. Yeah. To help kind of break down some of those barriers. Now, I I think as we look ahead into the future, AI is going to be ingrained in a large, large scale scale way with our healthcare system. We've explored some remote patient monitoring, which can alert you if um someone is having a health health event or if they are more likely to have a fall within the next three days. There's ways that you can, and I'm actually seeing this when I go to my healthcare provider out in the community, they're doing automated dictation when you sit down and talk. So they're no longer sitting at a computer typing everything. It's just having a conversation and all of that is being dictated and uploaded into your chart. So there's some real life applications that we're going to see. And I think that for our frontline staff, we just need to do a really good job of demonstrating how AI is not replacing your job, it's actually helping you to helping you to do it easier. And so I think that's going to be a large hurdle for some people, but I think us as leaders, young leaders, kind of taking some of that charge perhaps, but demonstrating to our staff that it's it's going to be an exciting, new, maybe scary, but thing that's going to help you in the long run.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think the awareness, you talked about the awareness. I think that is critical because I think it's impacting our lives in all kinds of ways that we just don't even think about yet.

SPEAKER_00 23:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:22

Um, but even when I think about the um vital sign trees and automatically uploading into our electronic medical record and the fact that it can flag nurses to say, hey, we've got these vital signs outside of this parameter. You should take a look at that. That's pretty amazing technology.

SPEAKER_00 23:41

Yeah, it absolutely is. And and like I said, it's not replacing the nurse, but it's just giving the nurse another way to do the right thing. And I think in the long run, it's only going to improve resident outcomes. Now, I think that we do have to be somewhat cognizant of maybe the potential risks with AI and just enhanced technology. I think that Illuminus has done a good job of preparing for that time. And I don't think we're quite there yet. I think we have good systems in place to help us, but just having good acceptable use policies for AI and having good technical administrative safeguards around the use of it. Because at the end of the day, that information can be pulled and extracted or extracted out of your organization. Right. Um, and so I think cybersecurity has to be top of mind for us. Um, and I know that we are working very closely with our partners to make sure that our our IT infrastructure is secure and safe at all times. So it's going to be very interesting over the next five to ten years. Yeah. We're going to see some massive change in our healthcare system. I'm excited about it. I know that our older workforce, there's some hesitation around it, though.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

Yeah. So let's talk about that. I mean, one of the things that I think makes our organization so incredible is we have today working in our organization individuals from really four different generations. And you and I are a generation apart. And so I did not grow up in an environment with all of the TikToks of the world and Instagram and and um and some of the the newer technologies, but you have. And uh, and so if you can just share with us kind of from your vantage point, what does your generation bring to illuminance that that previous generations didn't when it comes to a lot of this technology we're talking about?

SPEAKER_00 25:25

Yeah, absolutely. I think that my generation and the generation before me coming up into the professional world is just going to bring a different comfort level with technology and maybe having a more openness to accept and acceptance to using it in the professional life. There are still some nurses and providers out there that want to sign all their orders or do everything on paper, and that is just at this point in time inefficient.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

And so as we grow up and grow into professionals, I think that there's going to be a shift with using technology and also just doing things more efficient by using technology.

SPEAKER_01 26:04

I find working with your generation a lot of fun and inspirational because I always look at my role as one where I've got to be a lifelong learner and constantly learning new things and not having grown up with all of the digital technologies right at my fingertips, uh, like your generation has. For me, it's fun just to observe and then to be able to try to replicate that and say, okay, what can I bring into my world that'll make my job easier and will help our organization progress and be more of a forward-looking organization?

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Yeah, I think it's going to help Illuminus be at the forefront, the cutting edge of technology. And I'll use an example, even using technology that isn't specifically for healthcare. Um, Meta just came out with a new pair of glasses that in real time I can sit here and it'll trans translate on my glasses what you're saying to me. So I think about our bilingual or residents who whose English is not their first language, right? Having the opportunity to sit there and understand what they're saying, it's going to just transfer healthcare as a whole.

SPEAKER_01 27:07

Yeah. So I want to transition a little bit and just get some of your views on where uh the long-term care industry is going and and kind of not only from well from two perspectives. One, just where the industry is going, but also where the healthcare administrator profession, where you see that going into the future.

SPEAKER_00 27:28

So I'll start with maybe the healthcare administrator taking a look at look ahead at that. I think we're in a very interesting period of time right now, and I I think that COVID created a lot of um complications with not only nursing home administrators, but directors of nursing and just people kind of in a leadership role. In general, enrollment across the United States and universities is down. Um, healthcare administration enrollment is down. So, how can we attract younger professionals to come into the healthcare sector in a leadership role? So I think we really have to be vigilant with supporting our young professionals coming into a nursing or healthcare administration role just to make sure that we can hang on to them, right? And throughout COVID, there was 300% turnover in those roles. So what can we do to change that mindset and really retain those staff? Now, in terms of healthcare, I think it's going to be very interesting. We're under a lot of pressure from our regulators. And so I think that over the next five to ten years, that pressure is only going to be more so. Um, especially with our assisted living, we are seeing a trend that people, residents are getting more acute. And so an assisted living is looking a little bit more similar now to a skilled nursing, not quite yet from a regulation standpoint that will be coming, but just from the acuity of our residents. So we need to really make sure that we are doing a great job of training our staff to care for those people. Uh, I think we're also seeing a bit of a shift from the consumer of wanting to age in place at stay at home. So, how can our home health hospice organization help support them? So I think we're seeing just a little bit of a shift there. And so we're going to see people wanting to stay at home and age and die at home, um, which I think is great, right? We want to support people however we can, but we're gonna have to change kind of our portfolio that way a little bit too.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

Yeah. What um what do you think Illuminus does really well in supporting its young professionals?

SPEAKER_00 29:30

Yeah, and I'll take myself as an example, offering them opportunities to learn and grow. And Illuminous is an organization, a rather large organization, at least in the Midwest, that has a lot of opportunities. And we have a great mindset of we would rather have you move to a different position than lose you in general. So as I was going through my transition, I worked with my Illuminus team and they offered many opportunities, and I was able to kind of go through the interview process and figure out which one would make sense for me. Now, with that, there also is room, well, there is room to move horizontally and vertically. And I think that's a great thing for young professionals. I'm an advocate of really starting from the bottom and working up. Other young professionals might just want to start at the top and keep going up from there. Yeah. So I think Illuminus does offer those opportunities, but also just more opportunities to learn in your current role and get better at it. One of the things I think is great is that there is a network at Illuminus of other young professionals and older professionals who want to teach the young ones.

SPEAKER_01 30:32

And on the on the flip side of that, what can Illuminus do better to both attract and retain young professionals?

SPEAKER_00 30:40

Yeah, I think it all just comes out to or comes down to community awareness. Um, right now, you know, Illuminus went through a marketing branding transition a couple years ago. Um, and so how many people right now know the Illuminus name? Can't quite say for sure. But I think we can do a better job at that starting at a younger age. People in high school are heavily influenced on their parents and what they see on television and social media. So I think there's an opportunity there. And I think that making known that Illuminous offers careers outside of just healthcare administration. When you go through the program, it feels like being an administrator is your is the only job that you can get you can have going throughout that program. And it's not. I'm a perfect example of it.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

There is many, many other opportunities out there, whether you want to work in HR, information, informatics, um, you want to work in payroll, you can. So I think uh we just need to do a better job of attracting them that way too.

SPEAKER_01 31:45

For individuals who are in high school and they're contemplating a career in healthcare administration, what advice would you have for them?

SPEAKER_00 31:52

Yeah, I would say um get out there and learn about it. You know, when I was in high school, I did four different job shadows at four different, four different providers. And that's when I realized kind of what I wanted to do. And I encourage them to do the same thing. Give your local clinic a call and see if they will set up a four-hour-long job shadow. Talk to the people in an actual healthcare setting. I I encouraged them to take a job in uh an assisted living or a skilled nursing facility and try it. I think that's one of the best things that I did in college was I I worked at an assisted living for two years. And one, that gave me great knowledge at as to what the frontline staff go through. And two, it helped reassure my decision to go into this profession. I I think that healthcare needs people who are passionate about the work that they do. And I think starting off at a young age is just the way to do it, honestly.

SPEAKER_01 32:48

And if you think about healthcare 20 years from now, what do you want to see radically changed?

SPEAKER_00 32:54

I I want to see, and I think we're trying, we're starting to trend towards this. Um I know that CMS has a goal of transitioning to a value-based care program by 2030. Now, will that happen in full by 2030? Probably not, but I think there has to be some sort of payment reform. The way that we currently operate now is difficult for standalone single-site organizations to thrive and succeed in. So I think that there has to be some alternative way there. I I also am very excited, circling back to AI and technology, to see where that takes us. Um, I think in 20 years, our healthcare system is going to look very different, but I think it's going to be look different for the better. Um and also I want to see young professionals work up into healthcare leadership roles. I I think right now the healthcare industry to some young professionals can be unattractive. So, what can we do as a long-term care organization to change that mindset? And I I want to see just people succeed, quite honestly. I want uh young professionals to work up into leadership roles and do a great job.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

Drew, thank you very much for joining me today. It was great to talk to you, kind of get your insights into the healthcare profession and where Illuminus is going as an organization. So thank you.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

Yeah, thank you, Matt.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

Thanks for watching, everybody. We'll see you next time.