Challenges remain as Boulder Valley health care groups move past COVID-19 era

BOULDER — The worst of the COVID-19 era might be several years in the rearview mirror, but Boulder Valley health care providers are still grappling with fallout from the pandemic. 

Additional headwinds that may or may not be directly attributable to COVID-19 — labor shortages and inflation, for example — present other challenges, industry leaders said during BizWest’s CEO Roundtable on Health Care held Tuesday in Boulder. 

COVID changes

Few industries were as heavily impacted by the pandemic as the one responsible for taking care of the people who got sick.

One of the most significant changes to the health care sector that resulted from COVID-19 was the accelerated adoption of telemedicine technology, industry leaders said.

“The expectation that there is a virtual option didn’t exist before covid,” Boulder Medical Center CEO Donna Basden said. “It exists today.” 

During the pandemic many employees began to expect some remote work flexibility from their employers, she said. “We found a way in COVID … and it’s incumbent upon us now to recognize creative opportunities for that to continue now.”

Still, Nextera Healthcare CEO Clint Flanagan emphasized that “there’s hardly anything that can replace a face-to-face visit.” Flexibility is key, he said.

Kaiser Permanente vice president of ambulatory services Kelli Kane said that successful patient care often comes down to effectively “matching your operations to individual needs.”

Health care operations will be more prepared in the case of future pandemic-type events, Boulder Community Health chief medical officer Ben Keidan said. “Its turnkey, we’re all ready”

Workforce woes

“By far our top challenge is in the workforce shortage arena,” Basden said.

Part of the labor problem can be traced back to the COVID-19 era when health care workers experience unprecedented burnout.

“There are still some hard to fill areas,” Kane said. “… The more specialized you get, the more difficult it can be.”

Even for a system adequately staffed with physicians and nurses, “if you don’t have the support personnel … then we’re unable to deliver on our mission,” Basden said.

Kane said she has noticed that since the pandemic, “people don’t want to work as much. That has been a real strong shift for us.”

Thankfully, the labor crunch appears to be waning somewhat. 

“It’s not easy, certainly,” Basden said, “but it is easing.”

Workers who “left for greener pastures” in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic are “starting to come back,” Keidan said.

“Most of us have been forced to step up and increase wages,” which makes jobs more attractive to job seekers in an inflationary environment, Boulder Valley Health Center CEO Savita Ginde said.

Impacts of policy decisions

On a national level, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last year that turned back the clock on abortion rights is having a major impact in Colorado, a state where a woman’s right to choose remains protected. 

“Ever since the SCOTUS decision last year, our numbers have tripled,” Ginde said. “… We’ve maxed out our space in terms of the number of patients we can see.”

States where reproductive care is restricted are “flooding our markets with additional patients,” she said.

Within the Centennial State, there is concern among health care leaders about the impacts of recently passed and possibly soon-to-be-passed state-level regulatory changes and the potential shift toward a single-payer system. 

“Our providers really struggle with the administrative burden” that results from state-level regulatory requirements, Mental Health Partners co-CEO Jennifer Leosz said.

Lawmakers ought to consider “a little bit of pause” to help providers “adjust” to newer regulations, Keidan said. 

Flanagan agreed, adding that “the free market often creates solutions that work really well.”

Prioritizing mental health

Health-care providers, according to UCHealth Longs Peak Hospital and Broomfield Hospital president Ryan Rohman, have in recent years begun focusing more and more resources on improving behavioral health and substance abuse services. 

“Destigmatization during COVID had an impact, and I think in a good way,” Leosz said.

Another phenomenon that’s come about as a result of the pandemic is an increased threat of violence within health care settings.

“With despair and financial stressors” the potential for violence is elevated, Keidan said.

Sponsor attendees at Tuesday’s CEO Roundtable event included Aaron Spear and Wade Wimmer of Bank of Colorado; Jim Cowgill of Plante Moran; and Patrick Haines with Berg Hill Greenleaf and Ruscitti.

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