Robert W. Hurlbut

Rochester Business Journal Staff//August 25, 2023//

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President, Hurlbut Health Consulting

Years in current role: 30

What are the biggest challenges you see in your industry currently?

The biggest challenges that I see in my industry are the workforce shortage and the state Medicaid rate. With regard to the workforce, there was a 45,000-health care worker shortage prior to the pandemic. The pandemic has only exacerbated this problem. All health care businesses are competing for the same pool of nurses, which drives up overall wages. With regard to the Medicaid rate, we are currently operating on a 15-year-old Medicaid rate with no increase. Our current Medicaid rate only covers 60% of our costs. In other words, private Medicare and other insurances have to make up the difference. Other states have given 20% increases to the Medicaid rate for nursing homes. Why haven’t we?

What are you most excited about in terms of health care in Rochester in the near future?

I was talking with my son Robert the other day and he had a brilliant idea. He suggested looking into the possibility of using AI to complete some of the paperwork that nurses do in our industry. Our nurses spend a lot of their time doing state-required paperwork. Any innovations that can take paperwork out of our nurses’ hands so that they can spend more time with our residents would be extremely beneficial.

What do you think are the biggest health care needs in Rochester?

This question goes back to question 1. We have a severe workforce shortage, inadequate Medicaid rates and a state health department and state legislature that are punitive, by nature, to nursing homes. These compounding issues have created a large backup in the emergency departments of all of our hospitals. If these two issues are not resolved, then I foresee the emergency department backups will not only continue to persist but worsen.

This profile is part of Rochester Business Journal's Power 30 Health Care list for 2023. Information used in this profile was sourced from the honoree. View the full list at rbj.net.