Steve Valdiserri Calls for Greater Focus on Healthcare Basics
Healthcare leaders face constant pressure to move faster, adopt new tools, and respond to rising costs. But according to Steve Valdiserri, one of the industry’s most persistent problems is not a lack of innovation but a.lack of focus on the basics.
Valdiserri is raising awareness around the need to prioritise clear operations, trusted data, and disciplined execution across healthcare systems.
“There are plenty of good ideas and visions in healthcare. There is no shortage of shiny red objects,” Valdiserri says. “What healthcare lacks is execution on those ideas. It essentially has an operational execution operations problem.”
With more than a decade of experience across value-based care, healthcare analytics, and operations, Valdiserri has seen the same patterns repeat across organisations of all sizes. Strategy decks grow. Technology stacks expand. Outcomes stay flat.
Industry data supports his concern. Studies show that nearly 70 percent of healthcare transformation initiatives fail to meet their goals due to execution and workflow issues. Up to 30 percent of healthcare data is estimated to be inaccurate or incomplete, leading to poor decisions and wasted effort. Clinicians continue to spend close to twice as much time on administrative work as they do with patients.
“Complexity in healthcare will always be present. There are so many factors to consider when forging in a space that has so many stakeholders. It isn’t like a B2C company where you are selling a widget to a consumer. The inputs, throughputs, and outputs are all diverse, complex and nuanced,” Valdiserri says. “But that doesn’t mean it isn’t solvable. It just takes a lot of time. Time, trust, and determination..”
Valdiserri believes the rush to adopt new tools, including AI, often skips a critical step.
“Everyone says AI won’t fix broken processes which I agree,” he says. “But what it can do is identify the gaps and make recommendations for how to solve them. And on the occasion you have a great process in place that is working, use AI to amplify it. That’s where you start seeing the magic. ”
He stresses that clarity around ownership, workflows, and data must come first. Without it, even the best technology adds noise instead of value.
“Technology should make healthcare simpler but with all the shiny red objects running around, many times it makes it louder,” Valdiserri says. “Leverage technology to solve clear agreed upon problems that can be proven or to enhance already existing processes that are working really well and are ready for optimization"
Beyond healthcare systems, Valdiserri sees a broader cultural issue around discipline and consistency. Whether in organisations or personal health, he believes progress comes from repeating fundamentals, not chasing shortcuts.
“Progress is boring. It should be.,” he says. “If it is boring that tells you that you are doing the basics every day consistently well. And compounding that day-over-day is how you’ll win..”
He also points to rising chronic disease rates as a signal that deeper issues remain unaddressed. More than 60 percent of US adults live with at least one chronic condition, and food-related factors play a significant role.
“Unfortunately the US Healthcare system has a known reputation for treat symptoms very well and managing chronic conditions,” Valdiserri says. “But what the system lacks is a clear and focused, tangible effort around preventing it from needing to be treated or managed in the first place. We have avoided the harder conversation in our industry about food, long-term habits, sleep, and moving our bodies. Instead it’s just treat what is present and hope the fix works.”
Through his work and public commentary, Valdiserri is encouraging leaders, teams, and individuals to pause, simplify, and examine how their systems actually function day to day.
“A simple way to look at it is to ask yourself and focus on ‘Will the system work on a Monday morning’,” he says.
Call to Action
Steve Valdiserri encourages readers to reflect this week on where complexity has replaced clarity in their own work or health. Awareness starts by noticing what is not working, questioning assumptions, and paying attention to the basics that often get ignored.
“Be very clear on the goal. Be even more clear on the basics that need established to get to that goal. Having Clarity on the basics will create calm,” Valdiserri says. “And calm leads to better decisions and future enhancements to the process.”
To read the full interview, visit the website here.
About Steve Valdiserri
Steve Valdiserri is a Michigan-based healthcare and technology leader with over a decade of experience in value-based care, healthcare analytics, and operations. He previously served as Vice President of Value-Based Strategies at VillageMD and is the founder of Avanti Strategy Group. His work focuses on helping organisations turn complex ideas into clear, workable systems built on discipline, data, and execution.
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