The ASHHRA Podcast

Hosted by Robert "Bo" Brabo and Luke Carignan

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Aug 2026

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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.

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September 4, 2026Episode 5047 min

#249 - Healthcare HR Software Failure: It's Not the Technology

Why Healthcare HR Tech Fails: It's Never the Software Featuring Stephanie Wright, Founder, Wright Talent Advisory Only 43% of HR professionals say their HR technology is effective. Fewer than half. These are organizations that ran vendor selection, sat through demos, built a business case, got budget approved, signed a contract, and went live. Then more than half of them looked at what they bought and said it was not working. Luke sits down with Stephanie Wright, a healthcare TA implementation specialist who has worked across Workday, Phenom, and other major platforms at health systems including Carilion Clinic. She launched Wright Talent Advisory in Dallas to do full-time what most HR leaders only do once in a career. 🗺️ Process Before Config. But You Can't Fully Avoid the Overlap. Stephanie's honest answer: organizations that do requirements work ahead of time still end up in design conversations where the configurator is explaining the system in technical jargon while the client tries to map it to their current workflow in real time. The process work helps. It does not eliminate the messy middle. Plan for both. 🔥 The Real Reason Implementations Underdeliver It is not technical blockers. It is change management treated as a checklist item rather than a work stream. A 30-minute Teams call and a PDF is not change management. Your project team members are your champions, if you actually organize and amplify them. Most organizations do not. 🧪 UAT Gets Compressed. That Is Where Things Break. User acceptance testing is almost always squeezed because design ran long and executives want to hit the go-live date. Stephanie's fix: get hiring managers into the sandbox early, run them through edge cases, and treat testing as a change management moment, not a technical exercise. 📋 Before You Sign Anything Know your internal resource gaps before a vendor ever walks in. Assume the projected timeline is optimistic by at least 25%. Ask the vendor what they will need from your team and where they see gaps. That conversation rarely happens, and it costs organizations every time. Connect with Stephanie: wrighttalentadvisory.com or LinkedIn. Enjoying the show? Subscribe to The ASHHRA Podcast on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. AP3 Sponsor Read This episode is brought to you by AP3 — the ASHHRA Preferred Partner Program. Healthcare HR leaders are navigating rising costs, workforce shortages, and an overwhelming vendor landscape. AP3 cuts through the noise. Managed in collaboration with Lockton and backed by ASHHRA, AP3 is a governed ecosystem of vetted, healthcare-aligned solution providers across talent acquisition, benefits administration, workforce compliance, financial wellness, and employee engagement. Every partner is rigorously vetted. Every relationship is governed. Every solution is built for healthcare. No directories. No bidding wars. Just trusted partners proven to perform. Visit AP3.info to learn more and get connected with a partner. Take2 Sponsor Read This episode is brought to you by Take2 — a proud AP3 partner and the AI recruiting platform built specifically for healthcare. Hiring in healthcare is harder than ever — high-volume openings, hard-to-fill clinical roles, and recruiting teams stretched thin. Take2 changes that. Take2's AI agents automate the work that slows recruiters down — sourcing candidates, running outreach, screening and vetting applicants, scheduling interviews, and verifying licenses and certifications. It works around the clock, syncs directly into your ATS, and gives your recruiters hours back every week so they can focus on the people, not the process. From CNAs and EVS to RNs, APPs, and physicians, Take2 helps you hire faster across every role. Vetted through AP3. Built for healthcare. Proven to perform. Visit take2.ai/ashhra to learn more and get started. Support the show

September 3, 2026Episode 4936 min

#248 - Healthcare M&A Up 33%: Three Stories HR Leaders Must Know

Hospital M&A Is Up 33%, CommonSpirit Has 250 AI Tools Running & UHS Just Bought a Mental Health App August 31st, 2026. Bo Brabo and Luke Carignan. Three stories, one theme: health systems are making big, deliberate moves. Merging before they have to, deploying AI at scale, and buying digital companies to own the front door to care. 🤝 The Consolidation Wave and Why This Time It's Different Hospital M&A is up 33% year-over-year in Q2 2026. Sixteen deals, $7.7 billion in total value. Atrium Health is taking control of WakeMed with a pledged $2 billion investment. MultiCare is affiliating with Samaritan Health for a $700 million 10-year commitment, creating an 18-hospital, 33,000-employee system. Chartis puts it plainly: two-thirds of 2026 transactions involve health systems proactively seeking partners before reaching a breaking point. These are not rescue deals. The logic has shifted from survival to strategic positioning. HR Action: If your board is in partnership discussions, HR should already be at the table. If consolidation arrives as a surprise, that is a different conversation to have with yourself. 🤖 Ambient AI Has Stopped Being a Pilot CommonSpirit Health now runs 250 active AI tools across 150 hospitals, up from 60 in 2023, generating more than $100 million in annual value. Kaiser Permanente has deployed AI scribes across 40 hospitals in eight states. One major health system reports physicians seeing 15% more patients per hour and spending two to three fewer hours per day on documentation. HR Action: Find out how many AI tools are actively running at your health system right now. Not piloting. Running. If nobody knows the number, that is your answer. It is also an opportunity. 📱 UHS Bought Talkspace for $835 Million Universal Health Services, one of the largest hospital operators in the US, acquired Talkspace, offering therapy and psychiatry by text, video, and async messaging. 160 million Americans live in areas with a mental health provider shortage. Mental health conditions account for 20% of all emergency department visits. The digital behavioral health market is projected to reach $17.5 billion by 2030. This is not a tech company buying a clinic. It is a traditional health system buying a digital front door to behavioral health at scale. HR Action: When your CEO acquires a company with tens of thousands of remote contract clinicians, HR cannot be the last to know. Be in the room before the deal closes. Enjoying the show? Subscribe to The ASHHRA Podcast on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. AP3 Sponsor Read This episode is brought to you by AP3 — the ASHHRA Preferred Partner Program. Healthcare HR leaders are navigating rising costs, workforce shortages, and an overwhelming vendor landscape. AP3 cuts through the noise. Managed in collaboration with Lockton and backed by ASHHRA, AP3 is a governed ecosystem of vetted, healthcare-aligned solution providers across talent acquisition, benefits administration, workforce compliance, financial wellness, and employee engagement. Every partner is rigorously vetted. Every relationship is governed. Every solution is built for healthcare. No directories. No bidding wars. Just trusted partners proven to perform. Visit AP3.info to learn more and get connected with a partner. Take2 Sponsor Read This episode is brought to you by Take2 — a proud AP3 partner and the AI recruiting platform built specifically for healthcare. Hiring in healthcare is harder than ever — high-volume openings, hard-to-fill clinical roles, and recruiting teams stretched thin. Take2 changes that. Take2's AI agents automate the work that slows recruiters down — sourcing candidates, running outreach, screening and vetting applicants, scheduling interviews, and verifying licenses and certifications. It works around the clock, syncs directly into your ATS, and gives your recruiters hours back every week so they can focus on the people, not the process. From CNAs and EVS to RNs, APPs, and physicians, Take2 helps you hire faster across every role. Vetted through AP3. Built for healthcare. Proven to perform. Visit take2.ai/ashhra to learn more and get started. NEWS LINKS Story 1 — Hospital M&A Wave 2026 Chief Healthcare Executive: More Hospital Mergers in First Half of 2026 Healthcare M&A Hit $7.7 Billion in Q2 2026 Chartis: Repositioning, Not Scale WRAL: Atrium to Take Control of WakeMed — $2B Investment Modern Healthcare: MultiCare and Samaritan to Combine Story 2 — Ambient AI at Scale Becker's: Health Systems Using AI — 50 Examples Becker's: From Ambient AI to Agentic Workflows — What's Ahead for Healthcare in 2026 Story 3 — UHS Acquires Talkspace Healthcare Dive / PwC: Health Services M&A Active in 2026 Xtalks: Healthcare M&A in 2026 — A Roundup of Deals Support the show

August 27, 2026Episode 4748 min

#247 - Healthcare Recruiting Automation 2026: The Agentic Shift

96% of Applicants Fall Into the Abyss. Take2 AI Is Pulling Them Back Out. Featuring Yaniv Shimoni , Co-Founder, Take2 AI | ASHHRA Podcast Sponsor The average hospital has 43 unfilled nursing positions. It takes up to 102 days to recruit an experienced RN. And your recruiting team is talking to three to four percent of the people who apply. The other 96%? They fall into the abyss. Yaniv Shimoni built a company to fix that — and healthcare was not the plan. The CHROs made it one. Bo sits down with Yaniv, co-founder of Take2 AI and Stanford GSB alum, to unpack what agentic AI actually means for healthcare talent acquisition and how health systems like CommonSpirit, Temple Health, and the VA are already using it. 🤖 Chatbot vs. Generative AI vs. Agentic AI — Know the Difference 60% of TA leaders can't explain it. Here is the short version: chatbots follow a script. Generative AI creates recommendations — but a human executes. Agentic AI executes on your behalf, end-to-end, while you sleep. Take2's system of agents — AI sourcer, AI interviewer, license verifier, reference checker, and onboarder — integrates bidirectionally with your existing ATS. The ATS stays the system of record. The agents amplify the team around it. ⚡ Five Seconds to First Touch When a candidate applies, Take2's agent texts them within five seconds — dynamic phone screen, license verification, and calendar scheduling — 24/7. Physicians, NPs, MAs, CNAs. No variance in completion rates between them. 78% of candidates in a University of Chicago study preferred talking to an AI interviewer because of flexibility — nights, weekends, and on their schedule. 🔐 On Candidate Fraud The fraud is real regardless of whether you adopt AI. What Take2 does: phone number verification, license checks against state boards, background check integration, and real-time photo matching across interview stages. The fight evolves constantly — but doing nothing is not a defense. 🔎 The Right Question Before You Buy Anything What is the pain I am trying to solve? Time to fill? Capacity? Budget? Define the problem first. Then ask: Is it truly autonomous? Is it trained for healthcare roles? Does it integrate with my ATS? Is it compliant? Learn more at take2.ai Enjoying the show? Subscribe to The ASHHRA Podcast on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. AP3 Sponsor Read This episode is brought to you by AP3 — the ASHHRA Preferred Partner Program. Healthcare HR leaders are navigating rising costs, workforce shortages, and an overwhelming vendor landscape. AP3 cuts through the noise. Managed in collaboration with Lockton and backed by ASHHRA, AP3 is a governed ecosystem of vetted, healthcare-aligned solution providers across talent acquisition, benefits administration, workforce compliance, financial wellness, and employee engagement. Every partner is rigorously vetted. Every relationship is governed. Every solution is built for healthcare. No directories. No bidding wars. Just trusted partners proven to perform. Visit AP3.info to learn more and get connected with a partner. Take2 Sponsor Read This episode is brought to you by Take2 — a proud AP3 partner and the AI recruiting platform built specifically for healthcare. Hiring in healthcare is harder than ever — high-volume openings, hard-to-fill clinical roles, and recruiting teams stretched thin. Take2 changes that. Take2's AI agents automate the work that slows recruiters down — sourcing candidates, running outreach, screening and vetting applicants, scheduling interviews, and verifying licenses and certifications. It works around the clock, syncs directly into your ATS, and gives your recruiters hours back every week so they can focus on the people, not the process. From CNAs and EVS to RNs, APPs, and physicians, Take2 helps you hire faster across every role. Vetted through AP3. Built for healthcare. Proven to perform. Visit take2.ai/ashhra to learn more and get started. Support the show

August 25, 2026Episode 4854 min

#246 - Healthcare Workforce Planning 2030: Three Things That Matter

Four Years Left: The 2030 Staffing Cliff, APRN Expansion & Why 76% of Leaders Can't Execute August 24th, 2026. Bo Brabo, Luke Carignan, and ASHHRA Executive Director Jeremy Sadlier. Four years to 2030. Three stories. One question underneath all of them: what are you actually doing about it? 📉 The Shortage Isn't Leaving — Here's the Timeline AMN Healthcare's white paper layered five years of search data against BLS and CDC projections and landed where every independent source has: sustained staffing pressure through at least 2030 across nursing, allied health, physicians, and advanced practitioners. HRSA projects demand for 3.4 million RN equivalents against supply of just over 3 million. Three forces drive this and none resolve on their own — aging patient population, a boomer and early Gen X clinical workforce retiring simultaneously, and a pipeline that cannot outrun the retention leak. Action: The organizations that come out ahead are making investments now that feel inconvenient — extended orientation, APRN integration, AI-enabled recruiting. If it feels optional today, that is the warning sign. 🩺 27 States Plus DC Now Grant NPs Full Practice Authority Indiana became the latest, explicitly citing rural physician shortages. Wisconsin's law covering CNPs, CNSs, CNMs, and CRNAs takes effect next month. The NP workforce projects from 157,000 FTEs in 2016 to nearly 400,000 by 2030. Seven states have joined the APRN compact for cross-state practice on a single license. Action: Don't wait for your state's law to change. Build the care models, onboarding pathways, and integration structures now. Organizations that wait will be 18 months behind when the law does change. 🤖 The Execution Gap Is the Real AI Problem Incredible Health's executive report: 67% of leaders name retention their top concern. 76% say their organizations cannot implement AI at the required speed. 70% of frontline clinicians aren't using AI daily — while 80% want more training. Only 16% of healthcare recruiters use AI in their own work, managing 70 open roles with capacity to talk to just 10% of applicants. One in three healthcare employers is facing a nursing retirement cliff within five years — at the exact moment the 2030 shortage intensifies. Action: Pick one thing from this episode — AI in recruiting, APRN integration, orientation length, or nursing succession planning. Just one. Figure out who owns it. If nobody does, that's your answer. Enjoying the show? Subscribe to The ASHHRA Podcast on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. AP3 Sponsor Read This episode is brought to you by AP3 — the ASHHRA Preferred Partner Program. Healthcare HR leaders are navigating rising costs, workforce shortages, and an overwhelming vendor landscape. AP3 cuts through the noise. Managed in collaboration with Lockton and backed by ASHHRA, AP3 is a governed ecosystem of vetted, healthcare-aligned solution providers across talent acquisition, benefits administration, workforce compliance, financial wellness, and employee engagement. Every partner is rigorously vetted. Every relationship is governed. Every solution is built for healthcare. No directories. No bidding wars. Just trusted partners proven to perform. Visit AP3.info to learn more and get connected with a partner. Take2 Sponsor Read This episode is brought to you by Take2 — a proud AP3 partner and the AI recruiting platform built specifically for healthcare. Hiring in healthcare is harder than ever — high-volume openings, hard-to-fill clinical roles, and recruiting teams stretched thin. Take2 changes that. Take2's AI agents automate the work that slows recruiters down — sourcing candidates, running outreach, screening and vetting applicants, scheduling interviews, and verifying licenses and certifications. It works around the clock, syncs directly into your ATS, and gives your recruiters hours back every week so they can focus on the people, not the process. From CNAs and EVS to RNs, APPs, and physicians, Take2 helps you hire faster across every role. Vetted through AP3. Built for healthcare. Proven to perform. Visit take2.ai/ashhra to learn more and get started. Support the show

August 20, 2026Episode 4630 min

#245 - Healthcare Culture Strategy: Start With Compassion

Leadership Is a Verb, Not a Title — and New Hope Treatment Centers Is Proving It Featuring Tabitha Bramblett , Chief People Officer, New Hope Treatment Centers Most organizations promote their best performer into a leadership role and then wonder why everything falls apart. Tabitha decided to build the program that changes that — and she did it at a 500-person behavioral health organization serving kids and teens across four states. Luke and Bo sit down with Tabitha to talk about what leadership development actually looks like when you build it from scratch, why culture isn't a values poster, and what compassion has to do with your bottom line. 🏗️ Building Leaders Before They Have the Title New Hope launched a formal emerging leaders program in partnership with CoEffX — an application and nomination process that gives aspiring leaders a chance to learn what leadership is and isn't before they're ever promoted. Graduates move into structured leadership cohorts with peer surveys built in. The result: people who don't actually want to lead opt out early, before a mismatched promotion creates a broken team and a gilded cage no one asked for. Action: If you have no program at all, Tabitha's first two steps — hire a learning and development coordinator and find a program partner — are the place to start. You don't have to build it from scratch. CoEffX (coeff-ex.com) is worth a look. ❤️ Compassion as an Operational Strategy New Hope built its entire culture framework — EPIC values: Excellence, Professionalism, Integrity, Compassion — around a single question: what if we started every interaction, with residents and teammates alike, with compassion? They operationalized it with loving-kindness meditations at shift start and major meetings. Their CEO modeled it personally during Tabitha's health challenges. Tabitha's direct line: turnover, vacancy rates, and time-to-fill are all downstream of how people feel about each other at work. 🎯 The Recruiting Insight No One Talks About Tabitha still reads resumes intentionally — not because AI can't filter, but because people are more than buzzwords on a page. The interview isn't a checklist. It's a conversation. And the question isn't whether the candidate can do the job — it's whether they share the vision. Enjoying the show? Subscribe to The ASHHRA Podcast on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. AP3 Sponsor Read This episode is brought to you by AP3 — the ASHHRA Preferred Partner Program. Healthcare HR leaders are navigating rising costs, workforce shortages, and an overwhelming vendor landscape. AP3 cuts through the noise. Managed in collaboration with Lockton and backed by ASHHRA, AP3 is a governed ecosystem of vetted, healthcare-aligned solution providers across talent acquisition, benefits administration, workforce compliance, financial wellness, and employee engagement. Every partner is rigorously vetted. Every relationship is governed. Every solution is built for healthcare. No directories. No bidding wars. Just trusted partners proven to perform. Visit AP3.info to learn more and get connected with a partner. Take2 Sponsor Read This episode is brought to you by Take2 — a proud AP3 partner and the AI recruiting platform built specifically for healthcare. Hiring in healthcare is harder than ever — high-volume openings, hard-to-fill clinical roles, and recruiting teams stretched thin. Take2 changes that. Take2's AI agents automate the work that slows recruiters down — sourcing candidates, running outreach, screening and vetting applicants, scheduling interviews, and verifying licenses and certifications. It works around the clock, syncs directly into your ATS, and gives your recruiters hours back every week so they can focus on the people, not the process. From CNAs and EVS to RNs, APPs, and physicians, Take2 helps you hire faster across every role. Vetted through AP3. Built for healthcare. Proven to perform. Visit take2.ai/ashhra to learn more and get started. Support the show

August 19, 2026Episode 4554 min

#244 - Candidate Fraud, Nurse AI Use, and the Turnover Leak

Nurses Tripled AI Use Without You, 170K New Grads Can't Fix 40% Turnover & CHROs Think They've Won August 17th, 2026. All three: Bo Brabo, Luke Carignan, and ASHHRA Executive Director Jeremy Sadlier — plus a first for the Monday News Drop: a special field correspondent. Three stories, one thread: is your workforce moving faster than your strategy? 🚨 Field Report: Candidate Fraud Is Already at Scale Casey Marquette, CEO of Covenant HR and AP3 partner, joins as the show's first field correspondent. 22 North Korean operatives submitted 167,000 applications, completed 21,000 interviews, and secured 76 US jobs using stolen identities and AI-assisted interviewing. Covenant HR's platform flags 20% of candidates as suspicious. Gartner projects one in four candidates will be fraudulent by 2028. Healthcare is uniquely exposed: credential complexity is enormous and the stakes of a bad hire include patient harm and data breach — not just a bad fit. Only 31% of HR leaders report strong fraud prevention controls. The fix is identity verification built as a continuous layer from application through onboarding, with real-time photo matching across every interview stage. Action: Visit ap3diligence.info to learn more about Covenant HR. 🤖 44% of Nurses Are Using AI. Only 4% of Healthcare Employers Are. Incredible Health's 2026 State of Nursing Report (2,200 nurses, 1.5M platform records): nurse AI adoption went from 15% to 44% in 12 months — without employer strategy, training, or mandates. Only 8% of nurses report a clear AI strategy from their organization. But nurses with employer-guided training save 24+ minutes daily versus 16 for those without. Only 20% of nurses say pay is the top reason they'd stay. Three in four have considered leaving in the past three years. Action: Ask your team what AI tools they're already using. That's your strategy's starting point. 💧 The Pipeline Isn't the Problem. The Leak Is. US nursing schools graduated 170–190K new RNs this year. The national vacancy rate is still 8.6% and turnover rose to 17.6% — up from 16.4% two years ago. Some facilities are replacing 40% of their nursing staff annually. Nurses who left their first job had orientations nearly two weeks shorter than those who stayed. The minimum at some facilities: six and a half days. Action: Review your orientation length and your 30-60-90-day touch point cadence. If structure disappears at 90 days, so will your nurses. Enjoying the show? Subscribe to The ASHHRA Podcast on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. AP3 Sponsor Read This episode is brought to you by AP3 — the ASHHRA Preferred Partner Program. Healthcare HR leaders are navigating rising costs, workforce shortages, and an overwhelming vendor landscape. AP3 cuts through the noise. Managed in collaboration with Lockton and backed by ASHHRA, AP3 is a governed ecosystem of vetted, healthcare-aligned solution providers across talent acquisition, benefits administration, workforce compliance, financial wellness, and employee engagement. Every partner is rigorously vetted. Every relationship is governed. Every solution is built for healthcare. No directories. No bidding wars. Just trusted partners proven to perform. Visit AP3.info to learn more and get connected with a partner. Take2 Sponsor Read This episode is brought to you by Take2 — a proud AP3 partner and the AI recruiting platform built specifically for healthcare. Hiring in healthcare is harder than ever — high-volume openings, hard-to-fill clinical roles, and recruiting teams stretched thin. Take2 changes that. Take2's AI agents automate the work that slows recruiters down — sourcing candidates, running outreach, screening and vetting applicants, scheduling interviews, and verifying licenses and certifications. It works around the clock, syncs directly into your ATS, and gives your recruiters hours back every week so they can focus on the people, not the process. From CNAs and EVS to RNs, APPs, and physicians, Take2 helps you hire faster across every role. Vetted through AP3. Built for healthcare. Proven to perform. Visit take2.ai/ashhra to learn more and get started. NEWS LINKS Story 1 — Incredible Health: 2026 State of Nursing Report Incredible Health: 2026 Annual State of Nursing Report — AI Adoption Trends and Future Implications for Retention Incredible Health: The Workforce Moved First — Inside Our 2026 State of Nursing Report Distilinfo: Nurse AI Adoption Surpasses Hospital Strategies, Report Finds (July 8, 2026) Healthcare IT News: Nurses Are Fearing AI Less — And Using It More Story 2 — RegisteredNursing.org: The Nurse Staffing Pipeline Paradox RegisteredNursing.org: The Nurse Staffing Pipeline Paradox — Why Graduating More Nurses Isn't Enough (August 10, 2026) RegisteredNursing.org: Nursing Program Expansion — State Investments & Pipeline 2026 (August 8, 2026) NSI: 2026 National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report Becker's: Hospital Nurse Turnover and Vacancy Rates by Year Story 3 — HMA CHRO Priorities + Becker's Compensation The Health Management Academy: 2026 CHRO Priorities Snapshot Becker's: Where Health System Compensation Dollars Are Going in 2026 (March 27, 2026) Becker's: 140 Hospital and Health System CHROs and Chief People Officers to Know — 2026 Support the show

August 13, 2026Episode 4451 min

#243 - Building the Healthcare Workforce Before They Apply

You Can't Hire Your Way Out of This — St. Elizabeth Healthcare Proves It Featuring Brittany Sorrell, Director of Workforce Development, St. Elizabeth Healthcare 700,000 open healthcare jobs every month. 306,000 unemployed healthcare workers to fill them. The math does not work. Brittany Sorrell has spent three years building the model that actually does — and it starts in high school. Luke sits down with Brittany, a former bedside nurse and nursing faculty member turned workforce development director, to talk about what it looks like when a health system stops trying to recruit its way to stability and starts building a workforce from the ground up. 🏫 K–12 Is the Real Recruiting Pipeline St. Elizabeth's workforce development strategy starts well before a candidate ever submits an application. Community partnerships, on-site exploration programs, and simulation center experiences give high school students a chance to discover careers they didn't know existed — radiation therapy being a standout example. Students leave asking to shadow. That's the pipeline. Organizations that wait until job posting miss the moment entirely. 🎓 Funding Faculty to Fill the Classroom Brittany's most creative move: St. Elizabeth covers the salary gap for nurses who want to teach at partner universities — paying their clinical rate so the university can afford to keep them on faculty. The result: larger graduating cohorts, stronger institutional relationships, and graduates who already know St. Elizabeth before they apply. Two-year programs, funded by the Kentucky Work Ready Scholarship, are producing work-ready graduates at no cost to the student. 🌱 The 30-Month Problem — and What St. Elizabeth Is Doing About It Gen Z nurses are outperforming every prior generation in retention through the first 24 months — then leaving at a higher rate than anyone else at month 30. Brittany's read: they're not leaving, they're growing. They hit proficiency, get the three-year itch, and start pursuing advanced roles. The organizations winning at this mark are identifying those nurses early, creating internal progression opportunities, and engaging them before the door opens. 🔎 Where to Start If Workforce Development Just Landed on Your Desk Assess before you diagnose. Talk to your academic partners. Find out what they actually need — it may not be scholarships. Close the gap between what you assume and what you learn. Enjoying the show? Subscribe to The ASHHRA Podcast on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. OUR SPONSORS AP3 Sponsor Read This episode is brought to you by AP3 — the ASHHRA Preferred Partner Program. Healthcare HR leaders are navigating rising costs, workforce shortages, and an overwhelming vendor landscape. AP3 cuts through the noise. Managed in collaboration with Lockton and backed by ASHHRA, AP3 is a governed ecosystem of vetted, healthcare-aligned solution providers across talent acquisition, benefits administration, workforce compliance, financial wellness, and employee engagement. Every partner is rigorously vetted. Every relationship is governed. Every solution is built for healthcare. No directories. No bidding wars. Just trusted partners proven to perform. Visit AP3.info to learn more and get connected with a partner. Take2 Sponsor Read This episode is brought to you by Take2 — a proud AP3 partner and the AI recruiting platform built specifically for healthcare. Hiring in healthcare is harder than ever — high-volume openings, hard-to-fill clinical roles, and recruiting teams stretched thin. Take2 changes that. Take2's AI agents automate the work that slows recruiters down — sourcing candidates, running outreach, screening and vetting applicants, scheduling interviews, and verifying licenses and certifications. It works around the clock, syncs directly into your ATS, and gives your recruiters hours back every week so they can focus on the people, not the process. From CNAs and EVS to RNs, APPs, and physicians, Take2 helps you hire faster across every role. Vetted through AP3. Built for healthcare. Proven to perform. Visit take2.ai/ashhra to learn more and get started. Support the show

August 11, 2026Episode 4351 min

#242 - The Workplace You Don’t Recognize Yet

Gen Z Nurses Need 2.5x More Manager Contact, 69% Lack Fraud Controls & New Hires Decide in 5 Days August 10th, 2026. Bo is back. All three: Bo Brabo, Luke Carignan, and ASHHRA Executive Director Jeremy Sadlier. Three stories, one thread — the distance between the workforce you have and the strategy you're running. 👩‍⚕️ Gen Z Is 30% of Your Nursing Workforce — Your Manager Model Wasn't Built for Them AONL and Laudio's spring 2026 report (nearly 100,000 nurses, 150+ hospitals): Gen Z is the second-largest RN generation and the only cohort growing. They need 2.5x more meaningful manager interactions per month to match prior generation retention outcomes — one-on-ones, timely recognition, personalized feedback. The 30-month inflection: Gen Z retention is stronger than prior generations through month 24, when structured residency programs support them. At month 30, when that structure disappears, their turnover rate surpasses every other generation. They stay because the structure holds them. They leave when it vanishes. 🔐 Do You Know Who You Actually Hired? Phenom and Checker's 2026 report: only 31% of HR leaders have strong fraud prevention controls. 69% are operating with partial controls or openly lack confidence. Hiring fraud runs three categories: credential misrepresentation, interview fraud (deepfakes and proxy candidates — one person interviews, another shows up), and identity fraud. A typical healthcare hiring process runs candidates through six separate systems. A flag at one stage doesn't carry to the next. The fix is identity verification built as a continuous layer from application through onboarding, not a single-point check. 🤖 AI Literacy Is Now a Legal Requirement The 2026 NAAHR Conference: 58% of TA leaders couldn't explain the difference between AI, conversational AI, and agentic AI. States including Colorado, California, Illinois, and Texas now require AI governance committees. Five-day rule: new hires decide whether they'll stay within their first five days on the job. One organization cut their application from 50+ questions to essentials — flow increased, quality held. Another replaced a 90-minute phone screen with a five-minute version, cutting three weeks from time-to-hire with no quality drop. Action: Count your application questions. If it's over 20, cut three and watch what happens to applicant flow. Enjoying the show? Subscribe to The ASHHRA Podcast on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. OUR SPONSORS AP3 Sponsor Read This episode is brought to you by AP3 — the ASHHRA Preferred Partner Program. Healthcare HR leaders are navigating rising costs, workforce shortages, and an overwhelming vendor landscape. AP3 cuts through the noise. Managed in collaboration with Lockton and backed by ASHHRA, AP3 is a governed ecosystem of vetted, healthcare-aligned solution providers across talent acquisition, benefits administration, workforce compliance, financial wellness, and employee engagement. Every partner is rigorously vetted. Every relationship is governed. Every solution is built for healthcare. No directories. No bidding wars. Just trusted partners proven to perform. Visit AP3.info to learn more and get connected with a partner. Take2 Sponsor Read This episode is brought to you by Take2 — a proud AP3 partner and the AI recruiting platform built specifically for healthcare. Hiring in healthcare is harder than ever — high-volume openings, hard-to-fill clinical roles, and recruiting teams stretched thin. Take2 changes that. Take2's AI agents automate the work that slows recruiters down — sourcing candidates, running outreach, screening and vetting applicants, scheduling interviews, and verifying licenses and certifications. It works around the clock, syncs directly into your ATS, and gives your recruiters hours back every week so they can focus on the people, not the process. From CNAs and EVS to RNs, APPs, and physicians, Take2 helps you hire faster across every role. Vetted through AP3. Built for healthcare. Proven to perform. Visit take2.ai/ashhra to learn more and get started. NEWS LINKS Story 1 — Laudio + AONL: Gen Z Nurses Report (Spring 2026) GlobeNewswire: Laudio and AONL Report Reveals Distinct Expectations and Work Patterns Among Gen Z in the Healthcare Workforce AONL: Engaging and Retaining Gen Z Nurses: Trends and Strategies Fierce Healthcare: Gen Z Nurses Prioritize Schedule Flexibility, Need More Manager Interactions to Avoid Turnover Laudio: Gen Z RNs Are Reshaping Health Systems' Culture Story 2 — Phenom + Checkr: Hiring Fraud in Healthcare 2026 Phenom: Hiring Fraud in 2026: What CHROs Need to Know Now Checkr: Fraud Prevention — HR's Next Big Opportunity Universal Background: Candidate Fraud in Healthcare — Smarter Identity Verification That Protects Patients and Candidates Story 3 — NAHCR 2026 Conference Takeaways Cisive: Top 5 Healthcare Recruiting Trends 2026 — Takeaways from the NAHCR Conference iCIMS: Definitive Guide to AI Adoption in Talent Acquisition Ravehealth: 8 Critical 2026 Healthcare Recruiting Trends Shaping the Future of Hiring Support the show

August 4, 2026Episode 4217 min

#241 - Nurse Burnout 2026: It's Actually Moral Injury

You've Been Treating Burnout. It's Actually Moral Injury. August 3rd, 2026. Luke Carignan is flying solo, and he has something to say. Three stories. One thread. An uncomfortable conclusion the research is forcing. 🩺 It's Not Burnout. It's Moral Injury. That Changes Everything. Connect RN's "Burnout in 2026 Looks Different" draws a distinction that reframes the whole conversation: burnout is depletion. Moral injury is a wound — the repeated experience of being asked to act against your own values with no way out. A global study of nearly 10,000 nurses across 35 countries found more than half experiencing severe mental health symptoms tied to their work. 58% feel burned out most days. Only 39% plan to stay in their current position next year. And yet 75% still say becoming a nurse was the right choice. They love this work. They're losing patience with the conditions of it. The Joint Commission now recommends organizations focus on meaningful work and professional autonomy — not coping skills. You cannot wellness-program your way out of moral injury. You have to change the structural conditions that cause it. ⚠️ There's an Early Warning System. Are You Using It? In fall 2025, AONL partnered with Laudio to analyze 95,000 nurses across 150+ hospitals and identify the operational signals that predict burnout before it becomes turnover. The strongest single predictor: nurses regularly leaving late. Others include 50% of a team not using PTO in six months, and teams skipping breaks — linked to a 15% retention decline among early-tenure nurses. This data already exists in your systems. Late clock-outs are in timekeeping. PTO balances are in your HRIS. The question is whether anyone has connected it to workforce risk. Full report and PDF linked in the show notes. 🔧 93% Know It Needs to Change. 71% Can't Make It Stick. Aya Healthcare's 2026 Workforce Innovation Report: innovation energy concentrates in hiring and onboarding while scheduling and shift management — the operational layer with the most direct daily impact on nurses — lags as the lowest priority. The fix is not a technology roadmap. It is management discipline: one high-value use case, a clear owner, protected time, one pilot unit, measure, scale. Action: Pull one operational metric this week — late clock-outs, PTO balances, or break compliance — for your highest-turnover unit. See what it tells you that your annual survey doesn't. Enjoying the show? Subscribe to The ASHHRA Podcast on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. This episode is brought to you by AP3 — the ASHHRA Preferred Partner Program. Healthcare HR leaders are navigating rising costs, workforce shortages, and an overwhelming vendor landscape. AP3 cuts through the noise. Managed in collaboration with Lockton and backed by ASHHRA, AP3 is a governed ecosystem of vetted, healthcare-aligned solution providers across talent acquisition, benefits administration, workforce compliance, financial wellness, and employee engagement. Every partner is rigorously vetted. Every relationship is governed. Every solution is built for healthcare. No directories. No bidding wars. Just trusted partners proven to perform. Visit AP3.info to learn more and get connected with a partner. Support the show

July 28, 2026Episode 4138 min

#240 - Why Nurses Are Staying But Not Okay

41% of Nurses Stay for One Reason: They Can't Afford to Leave July 27th, 2026. Luke Carignan and ASHHRA Executive Director Jeremy Sadlier open with a number that is hard to sit with — and spend the rest of the episode on the organizations doing something about it. 🩺 Nurses Are Staying. But They're Not Okay. The Nurse.org 2026 State of Nursing Survey (2,000 nurses nationwide): job satisfaction dropped from 55% to 47% in a single year. Eight points in 12 months is a cliff, not a slope. 43% say they're likely to leave the bedside in the next year. 23% are considering leaving the profession entirely, up from 15% last year. And the number that reframes everything: 41% say the number one reason they're still at the bedside is financial necessity. Not mission. Not their team. They stay because they can't afford to leave. 37% of nurses who received a raise last year still couldn't cover an unexpected $1,000 expense without going into debt. Action: A raise and financial security are not the same problem. They don't have the same solution. If you've found an approach that moves the needle, drop it in the comments — we want to hear it. 🏛️ Washington Did Something Right: Title VIII Advances 21 to 0 The Senate HELP Committee advanced the Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act with a unanimous bipartisan vote. Title VIII is the primary federal program funding nursing scholarships, loan repayment, and training grants. The bill reauthorizes it through FY2030 and adds a nurse faculty demonstration program. The alternative to reauthorization isn't the status quo — it's those programs sunsetting. The nurses you recruit in 2028 and beyond are being shaped right now by whether this pipeline stays funded. 🏆 165 Organizations Are Cracking the Culture Code Becker's 2026 Top Places to Work in Healthcare: 165 organizations doing what everyone says they know they should do — consistently. Structured career ladders with a real map. Leadership development with protected time. Listening strategies where leadership visibly acts on feedback. Scheduling autonomy for clinical roles. Recognition that is personal, timely, and specific. The difference isn't knowledge. It is operational commitment — the whole leadership team on the hook, not just HR. Action: Forward one article from today's show notes to your CNO this week. No explanation. See what they say. Enjoying the show? Subscribe to The ASHHRA Podcast on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. This episode is brought to you by AP3 — the ASHHRA Preferred Partner Program. Healthcare HR leaders are navigating rising costs, workforce shortages, and an overwhelming vendor landscape. AP3 cuts through the noise. Managed in collaboration with Lockton and backed by ASHHRA, AP3 is a governed ecosystem of vetted, healthcare-aligned solution providers across talent acquisition, benefits administration, workforce compliance, financial wellness, and employee engagement. Every partner is rigorously vetted. Every relationship is governed. Every solution is built for healthcare. No directories. No bidding wars. Just trusted partners proven to perform. Visit AP3.info to learn more and get connected with a partner. News Links Story 1 — Nurse.org 2026 State of Nursing Survey Nurse.org: 2026 State of Nursing Survey — Stress, Pay, Safety & Beyond Nurse.org: 43% of Nurses Want to Leave the Bedside. Most Can't Afford To. Nurse.org: 55% of Nurses Got Small Raises in 2025 — Many Can't Cover a $1,000 Emergency Fierce Healthcare: Nurses' Job Satisfaction Stumbles After Post-Pandemic Gains Becker's: The Current State of Nursing 2026 Story 2 — Title VIII Nursing Workforce Reauthorization Act (July 22, 2026) AACN: Title VIII Reauthorization Advances Out of the Senate HELP Committee Senator Collins: Bipartisan Bill to Strengthen America's Nursing Workforce Advances Out of Committee Newswise: Title VIII Reauthorization Advances Out of the Senate HELP Committee Story 3 — Becker's 165 Top Places to Work in Healthcare 2026 Becker's: 165 Top Places to Work in Healthcare 2026 Support the show