[INSPRATIONAL MUSIC STING] - We're joined once again by our good friend, Mike Maron, President and Chief Executive Officer of Holy Name, one of our longtime underwriters and partners in the world of healthcare.

Good to see you, Mike.

- Good to see you too, Steve.

- Hey, Mike, how's the world of healthcare doing in March of 2025, when we're taping this program?

How you doin', no uncertainty out there, right?

- No, it is as smooth as it's ever been in my entire career.

I don't know what you're talkin' about.

- What would you say the number one challenge you are facing as the leader at Holy Name is right now as a healthcare leader?

- Well, probably that, the uncertainty every single day.

It's impossible to plan because you don't know what's comin' around the corner, and things are moving at an accelerated pace.

So that to me is probably the most disturbing.

I think the bigger challenge, the other big, big challenge is we have a tendency to forget the reason why we're here, and that's to care for our fellow human beings and those in our community that need our help, and all the other stuff, the business of medicine, the challenges that are there, the businesses of just what's goin' on in the world around us has definitely had a very negative impact.

- Mike, along those lines, caring for the patients you serve every day, the role of, excuse me, artificial intelligence and healthcare evolving rapidly.

Talk about your thoughts on that specifically.

- Yeah, so I think that early on in its stages, but obviously, very, very promising.

These large language models that are gonna get used, if they can draw upon accurate data, are gonna be incredible in accelerating and adding precision to both diagnostics and therapeutics and in the means in which we communicate those results.

So you can have the diagnostics, you can have the therapeutics, but if you can't communicate it to the patient effectively and efficiently, you kinda lose a good percentage of the benefit, and AI is gonna play a role in all of that.

- Mike, along those lines, is this connected PAIX, it's pronounced P-A-Y, but it's actually spelled P-A-I-X.

What is PAIX Technologies and how is it connected to the world of healthcare?

- So, Holy Name is very unique.

In my 38 years here, we've always developed and written our own software.

Several years ago, we started offshoring a lot of our development work to teams in India.

And then about a year ago, Sai Kandamangalam, our CIO, came to me and he said, "We can save significant money, "if we just develop our own "offshore IT software development company."

And so, we green-lighted that.

The board green-lighted it, and PAIX Technologies was born.

So that is our India-based company that now employs around 300 people, and they do software development for us in conjunction with the team here.

And what's exciting about that, Steve, is it accelerates our development process.

We are now in a 24 hour continuous cycle.

So what our team works on in the day here, they hand off to the team there.

At the end of the day, it's their morning, they work through our night, we come back in the next day and we pick up.

- Shift gears, Mike.

We started a series simply called Tomorrow's Physicians, the graphic will come up.

Physician burnout is what it is, also nursing burnout, right.

So the pipeline for future physicians is critical.

Talk about your engagement, your involvement, with graduate medical education and also its connection to one of our higher ed partners, Rowan University, please.

- We're now partnered with Rowan to provide graduate medical education in New Jersey.

We also partner with Mount Sinai in New York, but Rowan is our New Jersey-based primary partner.

Holy Name is the first health system in New Jersey to launch a new graduate medical education program in decades.

And so, this a independent ACGME approved.

- What's that?

Is that an acronym for?

- ACGME is the Academy of Graduate Medical Education, so it is the oversight body, the regulatory body, that makes sure that residency programs meet a national standard of performance so that postgraduate residents are being treated and educated appropriately.

- Why is that so important, Mike, right now?

- Because there's a huge physician shortage that we're on the cusp of, Steve, and it's only gonna accelerate and get worse over the next five to 10 years.

- Why would it get worse, Mike?

- Because doctors are burned out.

The challenges in medicine that we are seeing and feeling every day have become unbearable, and so there's fewer physicians entering into the profession.

Those who do would much prefer to do bench research or other types of medicine as opposed to primary or direct patient care, secondary, tertiary care, and so finding people who have that long standard tradition of commitment to caring for the community, the doctors you and I grew up with, that's a bygone era, and it's become more and more difficult.

And the population's grown, so we need more, the challenges are greater.

We're living with more and more chronic diseases that need more and more regular attention, and finding and developing the professionals to care for us has become probably, not probably, it is the number one biggest challenge facing the industry.

- One more question, Mike, and by the way, check out previous interviews we've done with Mike.

Look at our website, SteveAdubato.org.

We talked about end of life care and the work that Mike and his colleagues are doing there, but also a previous interview, several interviews you've done about the work that Holy Name is doing in connection with Haiti.

Now talk about uncertainty and challenges in our country, but in this case, in Haiti.

The hospital, remind folks what the hospital is in Haiti that you're involved in, and where things are in Haiti right now as it relates to their healthcare situation.

Got about a minute left.

- So since 2010, Holy Name has taken over Hopital Sacre Coeur, which is in Milot, Haiti.

It's in the northern part of the country.

It's a 250 bed general acute hospital that we've operated.

The challenges are great in Haiti.

Talent acquisition is impossible.

Those that can leave the country are still trying to get out.

The turmoil is mostly concentrated in the South, so we're fortunate with that.

It is in the Port-au-Prince area.

We're about 90 miles away, which is about a 10 hour drive away from where that is.

But we worry about the contagion spreading north.

We worry about all the other implications.

Getting resources in and out of the country are extremely challenging and difficult, and forget out, just getting 'em in.

And so, we deal with that every day.

Fortunately, so far in the North, we are stable, we are consistent, but it is not a great prognosis there.

- Check out the Holy Name website to find out more about the initiative.

Hey Mike, good to see you, and thank you for joining us once again.

- Thank you, Steve, real honor.

- Well, it's mutual.

I'm Steve Adubato, and we thank you so much for joining us, and I promise we'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] State of Affairs with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by The Russell Berrie Foundation.

The Turrell Fund, a foundation serving children.

Rowan University.

EJI, Excellence in Medicine Awards.

The North Ward Center.

The Adler Aphasia Center.

Valley Bank.

Johnson & Johnson.

And by PSE&G.

Promotional support provided by BestofNJ.com.

And by Insider NJ.

- The EJI Excellence in Medicine Awards was established in 1939, shining a light on New Jersey's health care leaders.

Current awards include the Excellence in Medicine, Research, Medical, Education and Community Service.

EJI also funds annual scholarships to medical, dental, pharmaceutical and physician assistant students throughout the state.

Learn more at EJIAwards.org.