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Medical Care

3 Healthcare Shifts Under the Trump Administration to Keep an Eye On

2024-12-09

In a recent live poll conducted during a WTW webinar, attendees revealed their most significant worries as a new federal administration begins to take shape. Healthcare costs emerged as the clear top concern, highlighting the critical importance of this area in the coming months. Courtney Stubblefield, the managing director at WTW, shared valuable insights with the audience during the webinar.

Unraveling the Potential Shifts in Healthcare Under a New Administration

Attendees' Biggest Concerns in the New Administration Era

During the live poll, it became evident that healthcare costs were at the forefront of attendees' minds. This is not surprising given the potential for significant changes under the incoming Trump administration. As Stubblefield pointed out, "There will be a lot to monitor, watch and pay attention to over the coming months." The nominations of key health-related Cabinet positions, such as Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as U.S. Health Secretary, Dr. Mehmet Oz to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya as director of the National Institutes of Health, are setting the stage for potential policy shifts.The narrative from these proposed leaders around health and safety is markedly different from the current Biden administration. Stubblefield emphasized, "This is a team of people who have a change agenda. A lot remains to be seen, but [if confirmed] they could shape the national narrative around health."

The Rhetoric of Trump's Health Picks and Its Implications

The rhetoric of Trump's health picks suggests an administration that is willing to step away from the standard. For example, Kennedy is a vocal vaccine skeptic. Stubblefield noted that there has been commentary about wanting to move away from the suppression of information and allow for open, scientific debate. This could potentially lead to new scrutiny of vaccine and medication safety standards.This approach may ultimately fuel the move towards more flexibility in benefits coverage provisions, fewer mandates, and more deference to healthcare providers in decision-making. As Stubblefield explained, "There is a potential for a shift in priorities that could have a significant impact on the healthcare landscape."

Shifting Priorities on Health in the New Administration

Some of Trump's Cabinet picks were critics of Dr. Anthony Fauci's strategy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Stubblefield stated that their nominations indicate an administration that may de-emphasize the federal focus on infectious diseases and pivot more investment towards chronic diseases. At the same time, a federal emphasis on disease prevention for chronic diseases may shift attention to the inclusion of more holistic treatments.She added, "Hopefully, there will be a balanced dialogue there, but there's a lot to watch and wait for to see how this shapes up." This highlights the uncertainty and the need for careful observation as the new administration takes shape.

Revisiting Healthcare Insurance Standards

One of the most hotly debated healthcare-related issues under the incoming administration is the Affordable Care Act. Stubblefield cautioned that while Trump has a stated goal of "improving and optimizing" the ACA rather than repealing and replacing it, making the program more affordable is a challenging task.Some pundits have proposed that the administration may move to lower costs for younger populations, which could have implications for older Americans insured through the ACA. At the same time, many of Trump's Cabinet picks support Medicare privatization and could push for the continued expansion of Medicare Advantage plans.Stubblefield emphasized, "We've reached a state where it's almost 50/50 between enrollment in traditional and Advantage programs, and it's not faring well financially. How will that trickle into commercial coverage? Nothing exists in isolation in healthcare."

For Saja, two years ago when women were banned from universities in Afghanistan, studying nursing at a healthcare institute in Kabul became her last hope to achieve something. But now, the Taliban government's order to exclude Afghan women from medical training has dashed this ambition, causing panic across institutions. When she heard the news, it was as if she was "reliving the same nightmare."

Afghan Women's Nursing Dreams Crushed by Taliban's Decision

The Ban and Its Aftermath

After women were barred from universities, many like Saja turned to healthcare institutes. However, the Taliban government's order to expel women students from medical training has led to a chaotic situation. Multiple directors and employees of health training centres have been informed of this order, which was issued by the Taliban supreme leader and passed down verbally by the health ministry. Institutes across the country were given a few days to over a week to organise final exams, but without clear announcements or documents, confusion reigns. Some institutes are operating as normal until they receive written orders, while others have closed immediately or are scrambling to hold exams before shutting down. Some even refused to comment, fearing consequences.

Saja, who was in her first year at a private institute, said, "Everyone is confused, and no one is sharing what is really happening." She added that they were given two or three exams each day even though they had already finished their exams a few months back and had to pay fees to sit for these exams.

The director of a Kabul private institute with 1,100 students, 700 of whom were women, said, "No one is happy." He told AFP from his office steps away from women's classrooms where the last lesson on the board advised on how to manage stress and depression in patients.

The Number of Affected Women Students

According to a source within the health ministry, 35,000 women are currently students in some 10 public and more than 150 private institutes offering two-year diplomas in subjects like nursing, midwifery, dentistry and laboratory work. The Norwegian Afghanistan Committee (NAC), which trains 588 women in institutes managed in collaboration with the health ministry, was verbally informed that classes were "temporarily suspended." NAC country director Terje Magnusson Watterdal said this has to be taken "equally seriously as a written document" and that there are many people within the current government who are opposed to this decision. He hopes at least public institutes will be reopened to women.

The Impact on Midwifery Students

Midwifery students are particularly passionate about their studies. As Magnusson Watterdal said, "So many of these young women have been motivated to become a midwife because they have lost a mother or an aunt or a sister in childbirth. It's not just a profession; it's a vocation. So, of course, there's great desperation among students and staff."

Small protests have been held in various parts of the country as shown by sources and images circulated on social media. Another student, Assal, using a pseudonym, received an expedited diploma last week but still has little hope of finding a job in a country with widespread unemployment and limited opportunities for women. She said, "They had already taken everything from us. Next thing we won't even be allowed to breathe."

In today's fast-paced and ever-changing business world, organizations are constantly challenged by unprecedented levels of change and complexity. Markets shift rapidly, new technologies emerge daily, and customer expectations evolve at a breakneck pace. This volatile environment calls for organizations to adapt quickly, innovate continuously, and respond decisively to new opportunities and challenges. Companies aiming for significant performance improvements may have tried top-down or bottom-up approaches, but there is a third way - a team-centric approach that can lead to lasting, significant gains. Our recent experience with organizations across industries and geographies shows that team-focused transformations can result in 30 percent efficiency gains when implemented effectively. This is especially true when teams with cross-functional skills come together to achieve difficult outcomes.

Unlock the Potential of Teams for Lasting Business Transformation

Four practical steps to team empowerment

Transforming large, complex systems requires a unit-by-unit strategy. Each leadership team must develop its own change process aligned with the organization's overall strategy and values. Teams need to have honest conversations about their performance barriers and determine how to overcome them. Once accountability benchmarks are established, unit leaders can effectively propel change and foster high performance within their specific contexts.

With operational agility at the team level in place, leaders can take four actions to unleash team potential: identify the highest-value teams, activate the teams, lift leaders to support their teams, and scale this approach. Let's explore each of these steps in detail.

Identify the highest-value teams

Leaders know that transforming companies through teams requires identifying those that can deliver the greatest business value aligned with the transformation agenda. Some teams will increase revenue in the short term, while others will take longer to realize their potential. But all are tied to the organization's identity and purpose.

For example, a pharmaceutical company faced a revenue drop as its bestselling medicines lost exclusivity. It prioritized its 40 product teams by looking at its future pipeline and identifying the handful with the highest chance of yielding revenue or successful development milestones in the next two to three years. The bank, a leading Asian bank, embarked on a transformation by identifying and prioritizing high-value teams. Its goal was to create a horizontal organization with teams capable of rapid adaptation and innovation. By focusing on its 50 most critical teams, including the group executive committee and certain country leadership teams, the bank made early progress in shifting its culture.

Activate the teams

Activating value-creating teams requires empowering them with a clear mandate, aligning them around clear outcomes, and agreeing on how to execute together. A global life sciences company gave teams expanded powers to set their own direction and make decisions. By immersing each intact team in a two-day session and involving a broader range of stakeholders, the teams gained a greater sense of ownership and commitment.

After clarifying the value they could create for stakeholders and setting measurable results, teams began to focus on more value-added endeavors. The shift to engaging a broader set of stakeholders also improved trust and collaboration. For example, legal colleagues better understood team goals and could prioritize requests. This shared understanding led to a higher team metabolism with experimentation and innovation becoming a core mindset.

Lift the leaders to support their teams

Teams need leaders, and leaders' behavior can make or break a team's performance transformation. McKinsey research shows that change leaders should move beyond traditional skills to inspire purpose, set medium-term strategy and long-term vision, and remove obstacles. At the global life sciences company, leaders became guides rather than directors, setting strategic visions and enlarging their spans of control.

As more teams get involved, senior leaders can act as connectors and communicate successes to boost energy. They can also sponsor customer-centric teams and help remove obstacles. In one case, a leader removed a blockage for a team experiencing pushback. Embracing a growth mindset is crucial for leaders in this context.

Scale this approach to more and more teams

To spur transformation at scale, new ways of working must extend to all value-creating teams. The global oil and gas services and equipment company expanded by creating a network of "culture transformation change agents." These agents carried new ways of working to all parts of the organization and shared success stories.

The global life sciences company scaled its approach by bringing in teams that interacted regularly with the first phase of teams. Having a sufficient number of team coaches is critical. Training coaches through a "see one, do one, teach one" model and specific "train the trainer" sessions takes time. Leaders can measure impact by tracking metrics and sharing success stories to show the organization's commitment.

Finally, to operationalize agility at the team level, the organization must evolve at a systemic level. When the organization offers a clear shared purpose and direction, teams can quickly form, disband, and reform to address new priorities.

Teams are often overlooked as the engine of organizational transformation. By investing in high-performing teams, organizations can create lasting change that benefits the entire enterprise. The examples shared here demonstrate how focusing on teams can lead to breakthrough performance, foster innovation, and build organizational resilience.