HQW 2026: Prepare for the Five Forces Reshaping Healthcare (On-Demand)-HQW 2026: Prepare for the Five Forces Reshaping Healthcare

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Video Summary

Isis Zimbrana, David Nash, and Josh Berlin discuss the pressures shaping healthcare quality and safety: financial strain, workforce shortages and burnout, fragmented care, rapid technology and AI adoption, and changing regulation and reimbursement. Zimbrana argues these challenges reflect a mismatch between healthcare’s growing complexity and outdated systems—not a lack of commitment—and says quality must become an enterprise-wide capability.<br /><br />Nash emphasizes that focusing on costs alone will not solve financial pressures; organizations must reduce waste by preventing errors and improving care. He also points to declining trust, workforce distress, consolidation, and the loss of the daily learning practices used during COVID-19. Both speakers stress that quality improvement should be locally prioritized but supported by sustained leadership commitment and shared responsibility.<br /><br />They see promise in learning organizations, high-reliability practices, psychological safety, continuous readiness, stronger care transitions, quality-focused boards, and expanding professional education. The NAHQ Healthcare Quality Competency Framework can help organizations prepare and credential a workforce capable of applying improvement science, safety principles, analytics, and change management. They conclude that quality is everyone’s responsibility and that a broader, better-prepared workforce offers hope for safer, more reliable care.

Keywords

healthcare quality

patient safety

workforce burnout

financial strain

quality improvement

healthcare leadership

healthcare regulation

NAHQ competency framework