- There's a small circle of people who truly
- understand what it takes to lead a health
- system right now. The decisions are enormous.
- The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
- of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
- That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
- And it's why the most effective c suite
- leaders are deliberate about where they go to
- pressure test their thinking.
- Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable
- brings together more than 1,500
- executive level attendees
- and nearly 400 speakers for four days built
- around growth, financial sustainability,
- workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
- have easy answers.
- Join us November second through the fifth in
- Chicago.
- For the agenda and event details,
- visit beckershospitalreview.com
- and click on the events tab in the
- upper right.
- This is Laura Dirdo with the Becker's Healthcare
- podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
- Sean Martin, executive vice president and chief executive
- officer at the American Academy of Family Physicians.
- Sean, it's a pleasure to have you on
- the podcast today. Laura, thank you so much
- for the invitation. I'm looking forward to it.
- Absolutely. Now I'm excited for our conversation. I
- know there's a lot of great work that
- you're doing, with the academy, and, certainly, we'll
- be excited to learn more about some of
- the,
- initiatives that you're working on and successes you're
- seeing as well as your focus for the
- next few years. But before we dig in,
- can you tell us just a little bit
- more about yourself and your background?
- Sure. So I'm a native of Oklahoma. Grew
- up in rural Oklahoma. And,
- after my education, I went to the graduate
- school in New Hampshire and,
- made my way to Washington DC, and I
- really have spent most of my career working
- for physician organizations.
- I was a senior vice president at the
- AFP, largely working on payment and workforce policies,
- before I became CEO on 03/11/2020
- and,
- navigated the organization through the COVID pandemic and
- then,
- have been really honored to lead the work,
- that we've been doing moving forward, since then.
- Absolutely. What what a fascinating time to to
- take the leadership role of the organization, and
- I can imagine,
- you know, a a lot of stories coming
- through that time. But, you know, in in
- the, interest of of focusing it on where
- we're at today, could you give us a
- state of the union for,
- AFP? What has gone well this year, and
- what do you focus on for the rest
- of twenty twenty six?
- Sure. Well, we, I thought the World Cup
- went great. That's not really what you asked
- me about, but I thought that was a
- high bar mark for something that high watermark
- for something that went well.
- For us, I think I think we're really
- pleased right now with the expansion
- of primary care delivery models, particularly those that
- are focused on independent practices. I think we
- have been concerned for a while about the
- pendulum swing as hospitals and health systems
- began to rethink their
- primary care strategies, but we're seeing a lot
- of really solid investment in primary care, particularly
- independent community based models.
- And I think at the tip of that
- spear is really direct primary care and direct
- contracting,
- which is creating a lot of opportunity for
- my members,
- to create,
- new approaches to caring for communities
- that are, you know, really aligned with the
- core values of family medicine.
- We continue to be heavily focused on affordability.
- I think the affordability issue is the defining
- debate of the next
- six months to three years.
- I think it will,
- similar to 2008, emerge as a major issue
- in the presidential election in a couple years.
- And I I think like most organizations and
- most CEOs, I'm spending a lot of time
- thinking about that.
- Got it. That makes a lot of sense.
- You know, it is really helpful to understand
- all of the different dynamics going on in
- the health care space today.
- So, you know, truly, truly interesting.
- I'm curious as you're looking at, moving forward,
- thinking about the independent practice, thinking about everything
- else that,
- is coming down the pipe. What are some
- of the big headwinds that you're have your
- eye on and are preparing for?
- Yeah. I think there are three major ones
- that I would share with you. I think
- one is this,
- kinda AI battle that's taking place in the
- coding space where,
- downcoding
- by payers and,
- you know, my members and others on the
- kind of care delivery side using AI to
- maximize
- documentation
- and coding. And,
- I think it's just creating a lot of
- tension, and,
- I don't know that it's great. You know,
- I I think it's just an economic headwind
- that's really putting a lot of pressure, downward
- pressure
- on particularly smaller practices, but I I think
- that concerns me. The other one for us
- in the physician space is just the policies
- around student loans.
- It's it's creating a lot of financial headwinds
- for medical students, residents,
- new to practice physicians. There's a lot of
- uncertainty about what is actually happening in the
- policy space and regulatory space,
- what it's gonna look like moving forward, and
- how these physicians are going to,
- you know, plan one to manage their debt,
- but also two to, you know, create a
- a financial pathway forward for them and their
- families. And then the third one, again, I'll
- come back to it. I think the the
- economic headwind of just affordability of everything,
- but affordability
- inside health care
- is much bigger than I think we realize,
- and I think it's going to start to
- become a really loud
- national conversation,
- more something it already is.
- Got it. I I think that makes a
- lot of sense. And, you know, to your
- point,
- the financial aspects of health care certainly
- are ones that,
- you know, are a challenging discussion have been
- so, so necessary when you think about not
- only
- the health of, provider organizations, but also, you
- know, what the affordability for health care will
- be.
- So when you look at the work that
- you do, you know, with the
- academy as well as, with legislators in Washington
- DC, what are,
- you know, is the tenure, I guess, of
- the discussions there? Are you seeing movement in
- the right direction when you connect with lawmakers
- and policymakers,
- or,
- is it still kind of an uphill battle?
- No. I mean, I think we're in a
- good it's always an uphill battle.
- But I think we're, you know, in a
- good position. There's a there's a lot of
- recognition of the value
- of comprehensive and continuous primary care right now.
- I think we see a lot of investment
- of intellectual capital into making it better.
- I think we actually see regulatory
- movement. I thought
- the Medicare physician fee schedule, while it has
- some challenges, was a real signal,
- a directional signal of greater investment in primary
- care, both from a financial perspective, but also
- just,
- from a foundational perspective of making sure people
- have access to comprehensive and continuous primary care.
- So I I think, Laura, we we see
- positive signs.
- Positive signs have to be built,
- into, you know, positive policies, but I I
- think we are,
- optimistic about our ability to, to do that.
- That makes a lot of sense. And, you
- know, thank you so much for digging a
- little bit deeper there. Now when you look
- over the next two to three years or
- so, where are some of the best opportunities
- to grow? What do you see, if you
- look a little bit into your crystal ball?
- Yeah. I I love this question. I I
- think we're at,
- you know, family medicine and primary care have
- really had three renaissance errors, and I I
- think we are, you know, looking at kind
- of that fourth one.
- I think comprehensive,
- continuous,
- AI supported family medicine and primary care models,
- have a moment in front of them. And
- and I think this concept of,
- you know, like super primary care or the
- super generalist as Bob Walker likes to call
- it,
- is not unrealistic.
- And and I think
- because of their capabilities
- and and the the depth and breadth of
- services that family physicians can provide in all
- kinds of settings,
- I think there's a moment for family medicine
- to really grow in meaningful ways. And,
- because they can be deployed to any care
- setting, hospitals, communities, community health centers, independent practices,
- they are unique in their ability to meet
- the needs of
- individuals, families, and communities, and I think we're
- really eager to build that case and build
- support systems around them.
- I love that. You know, so such important,
- reminders and ways to really,
- think through what's gonna be most beneficial for
- the patients and how to, leverage the technology
- that is available,
- to, you know, make some of those things
- that were in the past, you know, a
- dream into reality.
- Now from your perspective, when you think about
- leadership,
- who is a leader that you admire really
- from any industry and why?
- I I I struggled here. I'm not really
- admiring him right now, but I am spending
- a lot of time reading Adam Grant.
- And I've I'm actually have gone back and
- reread his book Originals, and part of it
- is is consistent with the conversation we're having,
- Laura. I think he does a really interesting
- job of framing up
- how to look at old problems with new
- solutions, and
- that's kinda where my headspace is right now.
- I I don't think these problems are new
- to us. I think they've been around in
- various forms for decades, and,
- we have,
- you know, taken
- modest approaches to fixing them. But I I
- think Adam does just a brilliant job of
- talking about,
- you know, how to take disruptive views that
- hold problems and really
- create new opportunities or new industries or new
- products. And when I think about family medicine
- and primary care, I'm thinking about how do
- we disrupt and create a new version of
- primary care or family medicine,
- to meet the problems of today and tomorrow.
- And so I I'm really enjoying rereading that
- book, and, I admire him as a writer,
- but I don't know that I admire him,
- you know, in the way you're asking the
- question. But that's where I'm spending my time.
- Yeah. I know. I mean, I think that's
- very helpful and and certainly a great context
- when you look at, you know, where the
- industry's at today and where an innovation can
- come from. I think most leaders would agree,
- you know, a lot of the the issues
- they're going through are variations on a theme
- or things that, have plagued health care for
- a long time. And and so I love
- that idea of being able to, identify some
- of that and then the leaders who can,
- think differently about it and disrupt in the
- health justice.
- Sean, thank you so much for joining us
- on the podcast today. This has been a
- ton of fun, a really great conversation,
- and I look forward to talking to you
- again soon. That sounds great. Thank you, Laura.