Cutting Healthcare Business Expenses With Dr. Josh Luke

Josh:

You’d be amazed how many times people are like “I want to sell to hospitals”. Why would the hospital buy anything? They’re just an expense in the model now. “oh we have this great technology then for health plans and health systems that they’re going to love”. Well, they’ve been doing this model for 20 years. What about your approach is new? just because you came from the acute space, it’s just new to you, it may not be new to them. And where’s the value added in them acquiring it?

Sliman:

Welcome to the Care Frontiers podcast, the show where we interview thought leaders in healthcare to share with us their expert knowledge in everything business, branding, and marketing. If you’re a practitioner, medical business owner or an executive, this is the place to be. I’m your host Sliman Baghouri and in today’s episode, we’ll tackle about how you can cut the costs of healthcare expenses and save your business thousands of dollars annually, make sure to tune in all the way through for more details.

Sliman:

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to the Care Frontiers Podcast, where we bring healthcare professionals to share with us their own experience running a successful medical business. Today I have with me a challenger of the healthcare status quo and one of the most influential voices in the healthcare industry. He has been a longtime hospital CEO gaining extensive knowledge from the early age of 32. He’s also the author of the number one best selling book series health, wealth and an international keynote speaker. Today’s guest is on a mission to make health care more transparent and affordable. Let me introduce you to America’s Health Care affordability authority. Dr. Josh Luke, Dr. Luke, welcome to our show.

Josh:

Thanks, I’m so happy to be here. I’m excited to share with your audience and learn from me as well.

Sliman:

I’m really excited, I’m pumped to start diving ahead directly into the questions. But before that, I really want to take a little background of you and tell me a bit how it’s all led to what you’re doing right now.

Josh:

Yeah, I think you covered quite a bit of it. But I’ll tell you, I was a nursing home administrator before I became a hospital CEO. And so that gave me a much different perspective than a lot of the hospital CEOs who were kind of raised on the acute side. And really, it you know, like anything else in a capitalistic system, a hospital is a business. And so, you know, we’re we’re raised with a good heart to think that health care is about doing what’s best for the patient doing what’s best for the individual and, and living healthy. And when you get thrust into an acute hospital environment in a capitalistic system, you kind of lose sight of that. And it’s not to point fingers of anybody. It’s just it’s capitalism. That’s what it is, you’re there to make money regardless of what the product is, right? So when I got to the acute hospital C suite, from the nursing home space, I was a little bit alarmed by that because in the nursing home, there was a much different perspective, because the seniors in a skilled nursing facility are in their last chapter of life, most of them, most of them are not only ill but have multiple comorbidities. And so after about 10 years in the C suite, I wrote my first book called readmission prevention solutions across the continuum which was really focused on preventing avoidable action as a whole. And that was really a new topic and a challenge to American Health Care acute executives because they’d never been asked to pay attention to which patients readmit because they got paid for all of them. But because it was included in the Affordable Care Act, which most people know is Obamacare. For the first time ever, there was a hospital readmission penalty. And so I wrote the first book addressing hospital readmissions, and what I like to just phrase is avoidable hospitalizations. And to this day, it’s kind of the dictionary for people who want to learn about hospital readmissions. And they asked me to do that they being the American College of healthcare executives, because I did have that unique perspective of coming from the post acute side from the skilled nursing facility where we had a much different perspective and, and the individuals that are caring for patients post acute whether in the nursing home, in an assisted living facility, or even at home or in home health. Those are the individuals that can really impact and help reduce avoidable hospitalizations. So that’s really what kind of launched me into this next chapter of my life after being a hospital CEO, where I founded the national readmission prevention collaborative, which is a not for profit, it’s still on line at national readmission prevention, calm and really kind of launched my speaking career as somebody who could speak to how to prevent avoidable hospitalization. So that’s kind of the story in a nutshell, that website still there, by the way, at national readmission, prevention.com you can, there’s resources there. There’s educational tools that you can do online. There’s also a best practices Kind of page if you want to check those out as well,

Sliman:

Of course, the links are always in the show notes. If you’re listening to this, and you want to check out the websites, so would you say that your background from coming from a nursing home is what contributed to your new, let’s say, perspective of healthcare and the system overall?

Josh:

it definitely contributed, there’s probably three different things that contribute. Number one, this is just the way God made me to speak my mind and to tell how I see it. And that’s part of the reason I always joke when I speak, I’m a public speaker folks internationally. So if you have an organization that’s looking for an entertaining speaker that can also educate you on some things, look me up at Dr. Josh Luke calm, but what I was gonna say is, I always joke when I speak, that I can’t keep a job for very long, because I speak my mind. And I wasn’t built for corporate America is built to be an entrepreneur, but it took me about 20 years to figure that out. So. So that’s one of the reasons the other reason is, yeah, when I, when I kind of stumbled into the acute space, I just said, Wow, there’s there’s not much of a focus on the patient here, like there was in the nursing home. And I actually was only in the nursing home space for a few years. Because the third reason is, you know, I was working in sports marketing, which I thought was my career dream. You know, I had two older brothers that were professional athletes, and God didn’t quite bless me with that same athletic ability. So sometime between high school and graduate school, I decided I wanted to work in sports marketing. And I did that and I was off to a pretty successful career for the first five or six years of my career. But then, when my grandmother got sick, and I got married, in the same year, I just kind of stepped back and reflected on my career and what I wanted to do, and if sports marketing was really something that was gonna leave an impact, a lasting impact on society, and decided through discussion and prayer with my wife that I will change to healthcare. And I wasn’t sure exactly what role that would take on. But one of my students approached me and at the university, I was teaching at the time, and asked me if I’d be interested in coming to work at their nursing home. And so I entered the healthcare space as a nursing home marketer and administrator in training. And that really blazed the path for me to really become who I am today, which is an advocate for patients, for families, and for affordable health.

Sliman:

It’s really inspiring hearing your story, because I heard you talk the same story. And when you speak about you wanting other paths career to follow, one that is meaningful, and definitely resonated with me, because in my agency, one I tried to position the agency to serve, let’s say, other industries, I wanted to serve something more meaningful and healthcare was my choice too. So doctor, Dr. Luke, you’ve been a hospital CEO from an early age, I believe 32 is an early age for such a position. And you have a lot of experience managing other medical centers. So let’s say during this uncertain times, what do you advise medical executives on the healthcare C-suits to do that prevent staff decreased efficiency due to this COVID situations?

Josh:

Well, I think in, in America now that we’re a few are entering the Biden era, if you will, and there’s just been this tug of war between Obamacare and and, you know, the Trump administration’s inability to inability to undo a lot of the Affordable Care Act, and it’s some of it. But really, the heart of the Affordable Care Act, which is value based care, is still intact, even as Trump leaves office. So that said, you’re going to see a democratic majority in the United States really pushed to prove that, that the Affordable Care Act was the right approach all along. And with that said, I think you’re going to start to see more of value based care. That’s the real term reimbursement that came out of Obamacare value based care and pay initiatives. And really what it does is it makes the hospital it removes it as its own business entity and makes it just a cog in the spoke, if you will, just another part of the business model, kind of look at it as the fuel to the airline company, as opposed to its own company, just trying to produce a profit. And until we get there, we’re really not going to have a system that focuses on on the patient. And really, I’m simplifying it but what I’ll tell you is, price transparency is one thing that the Trump administration did accomplish that a lot of people are really grateful for, regardless of whether you’re Democrat or Republican. And price transparency simply means hospitals and health plans are going to be required to post their prices which 10 years ago, literally you would have gotten sued if you were to share Those prices as an executive, because they’re such a big secret because health care is one of the few things in America that people pay for, without asking the price. And the day of accountability is kind of common. If you mentioned earlier, my health wealth book series, there’s health, wealth is healthcare, bankrupting a business, which was a best seller on Amazon Forbes, published and then the follow up to that was health wealth for you, which is 11 steps to stay big and live healthy. Both of those are books that teach you how to question the price, access things that are going to actually help you live healthier, and kind of as Gen Xers here in the United States. One of the things that that unfortunately, we experienced was being brainwashed to think that our insurance would pay for it when it came to health care. And we’re having to undo that and unlearn those things and really start to question and shop for health care just like we would for anything else. And that’s really what the root of those health wealth books is all about.

Sliman:

You mentioned the book health wealth is health care, bankrupting your business. And I really want to dig deep into that. Now know that businesses are struggling to meet their quarterly revenues. Can you share with us some of the tips from that book that will help business owners cut some of the costs of health care expenses?

Josh:

Yeah, one of them is DNA testing. I’m doing your full genome sequence. And it’s funny that people still like to think that this is kind of futuristic or witchcraft. It’s ironic that people when they introduced me, as a speaker called me a futurist, really more of a healthcare futures is where it started. But it’s because I look at things that are scientifically backed and say, well, that that seems to work. There’s evidence that that works. So why not give it a try, particularly if you’re having challenges. And one of those things is when you do your full genome sequence. And you can do it with ancestry.com, even 23andme. And color. And a lot of these different companies that I write about my book, my books, I should say, they give you a printout of how your body is constructed. And whether it’s there’s two areas I focus on, and one is nutrition. There’s a lot of science that shows that by knowing your full genome sequence, you can understand which foods are fuels for you, and which ones are blockers are the terms that I use. And where the science is really progressed. And really advanced is when it comes to pharmacogenetics, which is really as simple as your DNA makeup can tell you Oh, hey, Josh, Advil, for whatever reason, your body doesn’t metabolize Motrin, very well. So you shouldn’t use that. You should use this instead. And here’s the dosage that will work best and how often you should take it. And you know, one of the things that you get to learn when you’re a public speaker, is there’s people that come up to you after you speak, and usually a line of a handful of people. And once in a while there’s one, they usually wait till the end, and then they almost have tears in their eyes. Sometimes they’re very emotional. And you can tell as they approach you, you hit a chord with them. And I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked about DNA testing, when I’ve had people wait for me afterwards and come up and say, hey, what you talked about, the pharmacogenetics changed my life. In fact, in one case, I remember somebody said it was actually that medication, the doctor kept prescribing me, that was actually making the symptoms even worse. So. So the DNA test, the full genome sequence, is one example. I think, if you’re here in the United States, selecting a cost sharing plan, as opposed to a traditional health plan, it forces you as a cost sharing plan, really, you pay cash rates to doctors and hospitals. And then it only kicks in when you have a large expense, but it forces you to be a consumer, it forces you to ask and I have in the two or three years, I’ve been in cost sharing plenty of examples, personally of me saying, hey, the when the doc just says off the cuff, I’ll send this to the lab. Oh, wait, hold on, what lab? How much is it gonna cost? And there’s so many layers to that, because I remember one time they were gonna send this big chunk of mass they removed from, from my arm or something and to the lab. And when he called it was like 350 bucks, even though he was 99%. Sure, he already knew what it was. He just wanted to quote unquote, be safe. And I said, Hey, Doc,

Josh:

I can’t afford that. So how about if I just send a vial? That’s okay, well, how much is the ball? He came back and he said, 80 bucks. I said, Okay, that’s fine. But see how that took 30 seconds. And the doctor didn’t question it because the doctors like Gen X. And boomers were brainwashed in the 80s in the 90s. by those who did it in a calculated manner, whether it was the pharmacy industry or the acute hospital industry health plans. They’re brainwashed not to question its healthcare. This is how it works, quote, unquote, the fallacy of your insurance will pay for it. And so I have plenty of examples of how, look, it’s really simple. you shop for a car, you shop for a house, you shop for groceries, why don’t you shop when it comes to your body and your health, and by joining a cost sharing plan. It forces you to do that. And the third example I’ll give you the different steps from the house. The wealth book series is what’s called direct primary care. And I actually was texting my direct primary care physician this morning. It’s a big movement in this country. It’s similar to concierge medicine because and I only say it because so many people have heard of concierge medicine. But this isn’t for rich people. It’s for the average Joe, like me, I pay 150 bucks a month for my family, we can walk in and see the doctor. Anytime we want between eight and five, you get personal attention, he knows you by name, he does way more procedures in his office than a normal primary care physician would. After hours, you have free access to Tella doc or, in my case, it’s Tella doc. And in other cases, it’s maybe other telehealth providers. So it’s a turnkey approach that I’ve decided to take as an alternative to the traditional health plan. I teach at a university, my employer offers health insurance, my share of cost is 7000, CDs, excuse me, $700 a month for my family. I say no, I don’t want those benefits. I pay less than that, for my cost sharing. Plus my doctor, I believe I’m getting better care. And the average American family is spending $22,000 a year just for the right to go see a doctor or pick up a prescription 22 grand before you ever see a doctor or ever pick up one prescription for most would describe as a broken healthcare.

Sliman:

So you see, it’s it’s really mind blowing to me, because what you just said and the method you outlined in your book are perfectly logical to me. And if what you say is really logical why there is slow acceptance and adaptation for the methods you’re doing?

Josh:

Well, it’s interesting because most of the world is pretty in tune with American politics as we enter 2021 because of the election, and because of the you know, the the things that have happened since the election on Capitol Hill and other things. So I’ll share with you the the folks that aren’t familiar with a capitalistic society, in a capitalistic society, you have lobbies, the lobbies are basically they represent an industry and all the hospitals paying to the hospital lobby and the hospitals are aligned on something like transparency of prices, they don’t want that why would they want to share their prices they’ve never had to, it’s it can be very difficult to get laws passed to overthrow that because the hospitals are donating money to elected officials on both sides of the aisle. And that’s a term we use here in the states for both Republican and Democrat right there. They’re feeding the coffers of both sides, because they have enough money to do that. And as in essence, nobody’s voting against them. Well, when it comes to health care in America, three of the most influential lobbies in our country, are hospitals, health plans, which is the term for insurers and pharmaceutical industry. And when they’re all aligned on something like price transparency, there’s no way you’re going to get anything through. That’s going to change the laws on on that work against them. Now, so what changed and one thing again, this is turning into a little bit of a lesson in American politics. But President Obama, particularly when he had the majority, in his first two years in office, started using his own signature, which is really an order a president can write administrative order to pass laws without Congress’s approval. Now Congress has the right to go back and undo it. But you’re really flipping it on its head and saying, I just want this to happen quickly. So I’m going to do it. And President Obama knew that the executive order would get passed because he had the majority. And it was almost like, hey, let’s get it approved. And we’ll work out the details later, instead of Let’s spend six months debating it, and allow the lobbies to shoot it down. Well, President Trump continued the trend of using way more executive orders than their predecessors. And it really with healthcare, it almost had to be done for the reason I just pointed out the lobby still filed lawsuits, multiple lawsuits all the way to the Supreme Court on something as simple as price transparency. Let me ask you this guys. What other industry Do you not know the cost of services before you acquire them? Can you imagine going to a car dealership and saying, Yeah, just send me the bill, figure it out. That’s what we do with health care in America. Can you imagine shopping for apartment a condominium a house saying send me the bill? I’ll figure it out later. Of course not. That’s what we’ve been doing in healthcare because we were brainwashed in the 80s and 90s. Purposely by those lobbies. By the way we were brainwashed Okay, to believe that that was the norm. But remember back then, your monthly copay for health insurance for your family was in most cases zero. And then little by little it became 50 bucks a paycheck. I remember being told that in the early 90s and grumbling about that, then it was 100. Now my monthly payroll deduction is $700. That’s $22,000 a year when you include the $5,000 deductible for most American families, before you ever see a single doctor that you’re paying. For the right to get access to so politics is looming large on this. But one of the things that I think the Trump administration, as history reflects back on their accomplishments will be that they got the ball rolling Finally, on price transparency in the posting of prices for acute hospitals, and health plans. And there’s still a lot of work to be done, because, of course, they made it as confusing as possible by posting prices with codes. And there’s 10 codes per procedure. And so I think you’re going to see the administration continue to really hone in and, and pressure them to post prices to the point that eventually the cost of health care. And let me just say one more thing. Nobody in DC has been arguing about the cost of health care, Republican versus democrat for the last 20 years, it’s always just been about who’s going to pay for it. And again, it gets back to all the reasons I pointed out, the lobbies are influential. But Obamacare wasn’t about reducing costs so much as it was about cost shifting, and putting the burden on the taxpayers back. So regardless of who’s paying the cost of health care has to come down before we solve this problem.

Sliman:

It’s really mind boggling how complex the system is. And I really admire that you’re going against the stream of the healthcare model right now, speaking of which, are you optimistic about the future of healthcare?

Josh:

I am optimistic about the future of health, healthcare, I think and again, in an attempt to be a political, I’ve always been a believer in value based care, which was at the heart of Obamacare, people mistake me for kind of a fan quote unquote, or a supporter of Obamacare, there’s pieces of it that I thought were not appropriate, there’s pieces of it that I thought were inherent and appropriate in reducing the cost of health care, and most particularly value based care. I’ve never been a big fan of the mandate, the mandate requires all Americans get health insurance. And the problem with that, going back to my CEO days, I ran hospitals in the inner city for the neediest of the needy for the homeless, for those who couldn’t afford care for immigrants, some legal some illegal, it didn’t matter. We gave care to everybody. We didn’t ask question. We weren’t allowed by law to ask questions. So I have a heart for caring that was really entrenched in that kind of nursing home upbringing, and, and upbringing of being an executive in hospitals where people didn’t necessarily go there by choice. They went there because they had to, and they couldn’t afford care. And the point I want to make is, if you would have walked up to those patients in my emergency room and said, Hey, great news, you’re required by law now to have health insurance, we’ll help you pay for it. They would have said, I’m not interested across the board.

Josh:

That sounds crazy to them. Why would I pay three, four or $500? In my own money, even if you’re going to supplement it out of my own pocket for insurance, when I can just come here to the emergency room and you give me care? No questions asked in a lot. And I always, you know, point this out as a compliment. Immigrants understand this better than most Americans, again, because we’re brainwashed in the 80s and 90s, into thinking our insurance would pay for it and didn’t quite understand that, look, the hospital emergency room has to care treat you for free, because of an app called EMTALA, which passed in the late 80s, which basically said, if a patient is in active labor, or an emergent situation, you have to treat them in your emergency room without asking questions or asking if they can pay. The problem is our lawyers told us that you look, there’s no way you can tell if somebody’s emergent or not, without assessing them. So basically, you got to give everybody care and ask questions later. So that’s kind of the result of it. So yes, I am hopeful. And I would give credit credit to the Obama administration for getting the ball rolling with value based care initiatives. For those of you in the states that might be going because he keep talking about the BB p value based care. What is that accountable care organizations is one example. bundled payment programs is another, they really just stimulated creative thought on how you disincentivize the hospital as its own business, and try to put the focus back on the patient. And it really works kind of like and this is a bad word for those that were raised in the 80s and 90s, but an HTML where you get the hospital, that insurer and the doctors together and say, Hey, if we all do well and the patient succeed, we’ll we’ll Ben will reward you with the bonus at the end of the month. And the good news is the administration’s have started to stop have stopped telling us how they’re going to do a coos and bundles and value based care so much and started saying tell us how to do it. Give us your ideas. And they’ve asked the operators, doctors, nurses and those out on the frontlines to give them ideas on how to help do that.

Josh:

So we’ve come a long way. And like I don’t want to be again, I won’t be a political, the Obama administration got it going. And I think the Trump administration’s big legacy when it comes to health care is going to be their transparency initiatives and ending the mandate and allowing you to cross straight lines, which is going to create competition. We’ll see in the next few years, how much a democratic majority tries to undo that. But again, I think when you read between the lines the Trump administration for example, was isn’t able to undo the affordable care act as a whole, they tried three times. And I would think that the Democratic majority is going to kind of see the same writing on the wall that, hey, there’s things in this that are working, there’s parts of it that aren’t. So let’s take what’s working and build upon it, and see if we can tweak some of these things further, to further bring the cost of care down at the same time while allowing people to access it and live in a healthy lifestyle.

Sliman:

Absolutely, Dr. Luke, to transition a little bit more towards branding, on the marketing side of things in the medical sphere. Josh, you’re known as the health care affordability authority. How did you manage to brand yourself as such? And what are some of the tips you would give to the listeners, if they’d like to build their own brand? Or let’s say stand for something?

Josh:

Yeah, thanks for pointing that out. You know, I actually was a whistleblower against a couple of the health care organizations I worked for, which is a term in the states for reporting to the government that there’s some some things that I saw going on that I wasn’t comfortable with, it may not even be legal, I become known as somebody who kind of pulled the curtain back on the healthcare industry. And for those of you listening across the country, believe it or not as much as hospitals and stuff, excuse me, across the world, but particularly in the United States, and in any way you’re listening. I go on boards of directors now for healthcare companies that are or organizations that create a device or an instrument that can help to give them guidance, because what really I know to be my gift to my expertise is to say, Here’s why that won’t work, and why it will work and how your product will work. And more often than not about 95% of the time when people approached me about giving them strategy or consultation or serving on their board. I say, Hey, I think your product has value and can make a difference. But where I’m concerned is your approach to it.

Josh:

You think that you’re gonna walk in and people are gonna, you know, go, Oh, this this is great, let’s do it. That’s not how it works in health care. In fact, I developed an online course, an online masterclass called selling to hospitals, because I had been asked so many times by different pharmaceutical companies, device manufacturers, medical supply distributors, post acute companies, home health, home care, nursing, home, assisted living, whatever it was to come in and teach their sales teams how to get in the door and close deals with hospitals and doctors. And there were so many things I talked about that they just their eyes would glaze over, they’d never heard of them, whether it’s spending limits or or navigating the budget, the not for profit secret, or having a physician champion and how that works that I finally just said, Man, I’ve done this, like seven or eight times in two years. Why don’t I put it online? It’s been a really successful masterclass, you can find that at Dr. Josh fluke.com. But for all those reasons, I actually find myself split between innovations and powerful healthcare companies hiring me to speak or provide counsel to be on their board, as much as I do, working with organizations like Providence, and Kaiser and other health care organizations that say, hey, for a long time, we didn’t want to hear what you had to say, Josh, we tried to keep our head in the sand. But now we understand value based care is is imperative. It’s coming in, we want our team to hear and understand your perspectives on putting the patient first and how we get there. And I’ve always been known as the guy that said, Hey, an old hockey phrase that Wayne Gretzky kind of coined, which is, let’s skate to where the puck is going to be, instead of what I call, I’m kind of wading through the muddy waters of transition.

Josh:

And there’s a few healthcare organizations that I think have done their best to do that. I mentioned a couple of them. Providence, Kaiser, who has already By the way, value based care, and the Affordable Care Act was based on models like Kaiser, so they were already were, but you see organizations like ascension, back in the Midwest that are, you know, sometimes, and I’ve spoken at their events and speak often with a lot of their executives. Sometimes they’re not even 100% sure that financially it’s the right decision. But they know that that their their ministry comes first. And it’s not for profit that is committed to its patients and, and I admire them for being willing to do that. So there’s those health care systems out there. And then guising, there’s a good example of that as well. Those are all examples of health systems in the United States that are attempting to do the right thing and get to a point where you can focus on what we call patient centered care. So when it comes to branding, if your mission imperative is aligned with value based care, which is reducing the cost of care, improving health, one thing I haven’t talked a lot about is self self care, self administering whether it’s medication or technology, all that’s there, but that doesn’t mean that that the buyer who’s the buyer is one of the questions I always tell my my clients, if you will Ask yourself who the buyer is of your product, because the hospital’s now at risk, which means Why would they pay for anything when they’re just really the biggest expense in the model. So ask yourself who the buyer is.

Josh:

And if they are incentivized in their capitalistic business model to buy your product, and if not move on until you find out who is incentivized. Because you’d be amazed how many times people like I want to sell the hospital, why would the hospital buy anything? They’re just an expense in the model now, oh, we have this great technology then for health plans and health systems that they’re going to love? Well, they’ve been doing this model for 20 years. What about your, your approach is new, because you came from the acute space, it’s just new to you, it may not be new to them. And where’s the value added them acquiring it? So those are all the questions I start to ask people. So again, folks, if you have a position on your board or or need a speaker or or you want to do something online, on zoom, reach out to me at Dr. Joshua calm, I’d love to see how I can contribute and help out.

Sliman:

Of course, definitely, the links are in the show notes. To close this off. Dr. Luke, do you have any takeaways for our audience or the listeners?

Josh:

I think the the one thing I talk a lot about that’s not specific to healthcare is is understanding that the tactics and techniques of generations, I’m a Gen X, I’m a proud Gen X or my kids are Gen Z, is what we’re referring to them as kind of born after the new millennium. And those born between Gen Xers and Gen Z from kind of what, like the late 70s until the millennium, are known as millennials, and for a long time, you know, I think it’s funny that the older generations always kind of wave off and wave their hand at the trends and tactics of the millennials and the younger generations. And you’re about to start reading a lot more about Gen Z and their trends and tactics just like we did about millennials, right. But where I see people miss opportunities is when the older generations the Gen Xers and boomers don’t sit back and go, Hey, millennial culture is actually societal culture now, because they’re more influential, we’re not as cool as we used to be as old folks. And so when you look at millennial culture, that’s American culture and its global culture in many ways.

Josh:

And I look at things like cryptocurrency and Bitcoin. And I look at just the surge at the end of 2020. And for those people who wave it off, say I don’t understand it, I don’t get it. It’s a farce. Well look in the mirror, because it is not a farce. It’s the something that the millennials believe in Jen’s ears believe in, stop and think for a second about digital currency. You’d be amazed how many people that I come across that don’t really distinguish between crypto and digital. And for those of you who say, Well, I’m not comfortable with either Well, you go Starbucks, because I’m pretty sure you are comfortable with that, because you’re using digital currency at Starbucks. Most Americans in this country are slowing down their patronage to restaurants and places that don’t allow you to order food in advance because we’re impatient.

Josh:

Right? What about PayPal? What about online? Everything you do is in digital currency nowadays. So it’s examples like cryptocurrency and other things that make me say, Hey, if you’re not stepping back, and as a CEO, I had to do this right. I had to say, who is my audience? Who are my employers? Who am I dealing with? How are they interpreting my communication? Same thing with Gen Z’s now, you know, I’ve noticed there’s so much anxiety, mental health, I’ve noticed my kids and their friends really struggle just to simply walk into a store and talk to somebody it’s just it’s a, we’ve enabled gens ears not to have the social skills that we’re forced to have, as Gen Xers, that as latchkey kids that were raised on our own. And if we wanted something, we had to work for it and fight for it. And if you’re not paying attention to these things, that’s a huge problem. That is absolutely a huge problem. And you’re going to be more successful in business. And in life. When you step back, you look at the generations, the differences, and it starts with how they interpret communication.

Josh:

It starts with that, whether I’m a hospital CEO, or public speaker, that’s the first thing I do is I size up my audience, what generation, what education, what experience, what do I know about them? Where do I anticipate they’re going to come in on which side of the argument before we even start discussing it, and then just kind of use the methodology of empowerment, to lead them to where you want them to go? And the most amazing thing I learned as a CEO about leading by empowerment, is that 10 or 15% of the time that that that individual leads you away from what you thought the answer was, to a different answer, because they educated you along the way about some things you didn’t know because remember, they’re supposed to be the expert in their area, whether it’s in medicine, or nursing or in the operating room. I loved it when somebody came into my office and I had one solution in mind. And they did their job by educating me on the finer things I didn’t know. And we came to a different resolution because that’s true teamwork. That’s true to true leadership. When people ask me how I lead as a CEO, I lead By empowerment and I just described that process to you. So that’s the one thing I’d love to leave with people as we wrap up.

Sliman:

Thank you so much, Dr. Luke for taking the time. It’s been a pleasure having you on the show. If you want to reach Dr. Luke, you can connect with him on LinkedIn at DrJoshLuke. You can also follow him on Twitter, @Josh4health. And if you’d like more of what Dr. Luke has to say about health care, you can tune in to his podcast spend less live well show. You can also visit his website DrJoshLuke.com and check out his incredible online courses. Dr. Luke, do you have anything you want to add to that or direct our listeners?

Josh:

Yeah, follow me on LinkedIn. If you haven’t already. It’s Dr. Josh Luke on LinkedIn. I’d love to connect with you but hit follow. They don’t always let me connect because I’m maxed out. So thanks so much for your time.

Sliman:

Okay. All right, ladies and gentlemen, that was Dr. Josh Luke.