#254 - Healthcare HR News, September 2026: NEJM on AI Jobs, 800 Facilities at Risk, 56 AI-Ready Workflows

Eight hundred hospitals, nursing homes, maternal wards, and psychiatric centers have already closed, cut services, or landed at risk. Not projected. Already happened. Three stories this week, and every one of them lands on an HR desk. 🤖 NEJM: AI Grows the Clinical Workforce Dhruv Khullar of Weill Cornell Medicine published the counter-argument on September 12. Cheaper care means more care, not less work, and one critical failure at any stage still requires a human watching. If he is right, the shortage gets worse, not better. Action: build pipelines now, and stop assuming a four-year degree is the only on-ramp. https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp2607831 💸 800 Facilities and the Medicaid Math The One Big Beautiful Bill Act cut $625 billion from Medicaid over ten years, with 16 million projected to lose coverage. The hardest part has not landed yet. In December 2026, states must implement work requirements, verifying 80 hours a month of qualifying activity every six months. Somebody processes all that paperwork. HR Risk: making workforce decisions on a guess about coverage you cannot confirm. Jeremy's read is to hold steady until the financial hit is real rather than cut ahead of it. https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/medicaid-cuts-threaten-hundreds-hospitals-new-report-finds-rcna265789 ⚙️ 56 Workflows Ready for Agentic AI Right Now The deployment story is administrative, not clinical. Patient verification, scheduling, prior authorization, documentation, coding, billing. AWS launched a platform aimed straight at them, and more than 80% of healthcare executives expect real value this fiscal year, not in five. Aultman Health System in Ohio moved IT staff into auditor and strategist roles instead of cutting them. Key Takeaway: the same claim-denial logic runs faster with agents, so decide now what empathy looks like in an automated process. https://www.lisatmiller.com/agentic-health/ 🔎 This Week's 3 Mission-Critical Moves - Ask your team which manual task eats the most of their week. Eight hours is 20% of a job, so five people doing it costs you a full headcount. - Name your own 56. Find the workflows where the time is spent waiting, not working. - Decide where the human stays, on purpose, before the workflow decides for you. The clinical AI story is still coming. The operational one already arrived. 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 — 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 r