Nursing leadership, workforce shortages, nurse education, COVID’s impact, pay equity, licensure, prevention, and AI- Dr. Beverly Malone and Roy Bejarano unpack the future of nursing and its central role in U.S. healthcare.

In this episode of Analyzing Healthcare, Roy Bejarano, CEO at SCALE Healthcare, speaks with Dr. Beverly Malone, CEO of the National League for Nursing, former President of the American Nurses Association, former Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Health, and former General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing in the UK.

Dr. Malone reflects on decades of nursing leadership, discussing the profession’s evolution, COVID’s impact, workforce challenges, advanced practice, and how prevention and technology are shaping the future of nursing.

What You’ll Learn

✅ Why nurses remain one of the most trusted professional groups

✅ How COVID reshaped the nursing workforce emotionally and operationally

✅ Why nurse practitioners and advanced practice nurses are critical to access

✅ Why nurse pay is often misunderstood in healthcare inflation debates

✅ What global nurse recruitment means for both U.S. care and source countries

✅ Why licensure compacts could improve workforce mobility across states

✅ How prevention, research, AI, and virtual care could expand nursing’s impact

Key Timestamps

• (00:01) Introduction to Dr. Beverly Malone and her leadership background

• (03:33) What has stayed constant in nursing

• (05:05) Trust, appreciation, and nurses as healthcare leaders

• (09:09) How COVID impacted nurses and the healthcare workforce

• (13:02) Nurse practitioners, CRNAs, and filling access gaps

• (19:08) International nurse recruitment and ethical workforce strategy

• (24:10) Nurse educator shortages and funding challenges

• (33:15) Nurse pay, hospital inflation, and undervalued care

• (39:30) Why nurses do not take strikes lightly

• (44:57) What nurses are most excited about next

• (47:42) Multistate licensure compacts and workforce mobility

• (50:57) AI, technology, and more hands-on nursing care

Key Takeaways

• 💎 Nursing is rooted in caring, integrity, inclusion, excellence, and patient trust.

• 💎 COVID deeply affected nurses because they could not provide care in the human way they were trained to deliver it.

• 💎 Nurse practitioners, CRNAs, and advanced practice nurses are essential to closing access gaps.

• 💎 The nursing shortage is also a nurse educator shortage.

• 💎 Nurses are not the main driver of hospital inflation, yet their value is often under-recognized economically.

• 💎 Ethical global recruitment should support both receiving countries and source countries.

• 💎 Licensure flexibility can help nurses deliver care across state lines.

• 💎 AI should reduce hands-off work so nurses can deliver more hands-on care.

Guest Bio

Dr. Beverly Malone is CEO of the National League for Nursing, one of the leading organizations advancing nursing education and workforce development in the U.S. She previously served as President of the American Nurses Association, Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Health, and General Secretary of the Royal College of Nursing in the UK. Her leadership spans nursing policy, education, workforce advocacy, global nursing, equity, and the future of patient-centered care.

Resource Links

Guest: Dr. Beverly Malone – CEO, National League for Nursing

Host: Roy Bejarano – CEO & Co-Founder, SCALE Healthcare

Podcast: Analyzing Healthcare by SCALE Community

SCALE Community: ⁠https://www.scale-community.com⁠

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