Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Dawn Rock-Tremble, Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer at Encompass Health

Transcript

Dawn Rock-Tremble, Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer at Encompass Health · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  This is where health care leadership comes together.
• 0:04
  Becker's sixteenth annual meeting brings more than 3,500
• 0:07
  hospital and health system executives and nearly 800
• 0:11
  speakers to Chicago April.
• 0:14
  This year's event includes keynote conversations with Dallas
• 0:17
  Cowboys legend Troy Aikman and former president George
• 0:20
  w Bush. For the agenda and event details,
• 0:23
  visit beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:25
  and click on the events tab in the
• 0:26
  upper right. We're looking forward to hosting you
• 0:29
  in Chicago.
• 0:32
  This is Scott Becker with the Becker's Healthcare
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  Podcast.
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  We're thrilled today to be joined by a
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  brilliant leader. We're joined today by Dawn Rock
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  Trimble,
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  and and Dawn is senior vice president and
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  chief compliance officer at Encompass Health. She's gonna
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  tell us about the trend she's watching, her
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  career, and a lot more. Dawn, can you
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  take a moment and introduce yourself and tell
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  us a little bit about Encompass Health?
• 0:59
  Absolutely.
• 1:00
  So, as you mentioned, I'm Dawn Rock Trimble.
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  I have been with Encompass Health for ten
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  years in this role as the SVP and
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  chief compliance
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  officer.
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  Encompass Health is the nation's largest owner and
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  operator of inpatient rehabilitation
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  hospitals.
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  We've got 173
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  hospitals in 39 states
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  and Puerto Rico. We are publicly traded,
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  and,
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  these are very specialized
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  hospitals
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  helping people get back to
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  the lives that they knew,
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  before
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  accidents,
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  traumatic brain injuries, anything that would require them
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  to relearn
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  some of your basic
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  skills of daily living.
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  Thank you. And and and, Duane, you've had
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  this remarkable career.
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  You you spent time at Johns Hopkins, at
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  Kaiser. You're a lawyer by background.
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  A literally magnificent career.
• 2:02
  Take a moment before we talk about trends
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  and where you're most focused right now.
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  What's some of the advice that you would
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  give to emerging leaders
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  trying to have terrific careers? And I think
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  you've been at a Compass Health now for
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  more than a decade,
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  so you just just fantastic.
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  What advice would you give to emerging leaders?
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  Well, there are two things.
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  I've had this question before and two things
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  that I think really stick, and they were
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  valuable to me. The first is networking.
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  I can't say enough about the value
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  of networking.
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  Any and everything that I've ever gone through,
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  there's never been a reason for me to
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  reinvent
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  the wheel
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  because there's someone out there who's been through
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  whatever it is that I'm currently going through.
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  And so I tell people, do not be
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  afraid
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  to pick people's brains. And I found that
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  leaders
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  generally
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  want to help. And, of course, I'm I
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  may be biased, but especially
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  compliance professionals because
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  we live in a space of ambiguity.
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  And so
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  I have found that,
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  leaders have always been willing
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  to talk through issues and to offer really
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  good sage advice
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  on, how to attack whatever problem you're facing.
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  And I and and beyond that, you never
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  know what doors can be opened,
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  just from the value of networking. So I
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  always tell people,
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  try to meet as many leaders in your
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  field as possible because they will be
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  your most valuable asset.
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  And I just talked about this a little
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  bit. It's don't be afraid of ambiguity.
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  It can be scary,
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  especially when it's your job,
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  to make some decisions
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  where
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  nothing's ever black and white, and everyone every
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  lawyer will tell you that.
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  Very few instances,
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  where things are very black and white. We
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  live in a space of gray.
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  And so learning to,
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  thrive in that space,
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  I think ambiguity
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  gives you an opportunity
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  to create something out of nothing.
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  And people tend to they they want the
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  black and white. They want
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  to be able to go to a statue
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  or to go to some regulatory guideline, and
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  it tell you exactly what to do.
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  But those instances are very rare, especially in
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  my line of business. And so I tell
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  people, don't be afraid. Don't shy away from
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  ambiguity. Look at it as an opportunity
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  to develop a rule, a practice, a process,
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  a law, what have you,
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  that others can follow behind you.
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  Thank you so much. And talk about in
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  the in the world that you live in
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  today,
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  either the compliance world or the hospital world,
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  what are some of the core trends that
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  you're watching closely?
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  Well, I would say like everyone else in
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  health care these days, artificial
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  intelligence is high on my list of things
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  that you just can't escape. This truly is
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  an example of if you can't beat them,
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  join them.
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  AI has truly just become inescapable.
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  So we're examining ways that AI can provide
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  value
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  in a regulatory compliance space.
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  I think because it's been largely
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  unregulated,
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  and those existing regulations have been issued
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  by various states making
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  consistency
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  minimal at best,
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  we compliance folks,
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  those of us who live and breathe the
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  structure
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  that regulations
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  bring,
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  have been closely watching these industry trends in
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  hopes of,
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  either anticipating
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  or perhaps getting out in front of some
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  regulatory
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  oversight.
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  I don't think that I am the only
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  compliance
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  professional
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  who thinks
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  that some very stringent regulations are coming down
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  the pipe.
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  And so we just wanna be prepared when
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  it happens.
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  And
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  and to prepare for that,
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  I've really been very closely watching
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  the
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  regulatory
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  activity,
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  around AI in these various states.
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  And and how do you see the evolution
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  of AI and some of the compliance there,
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  and how challenging
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  will will some of that be?
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  I don't well, I I can't
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  say how
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  challenging it will be because we're in such
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  we're in very early stages.
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  I'm hoping that
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  there will be some consistent,
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  regulations,
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  meaning that regulations will come out at the
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  federal
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  level,
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  rather than
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  each individual state having its own set of
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  unique laws.
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  But until that happens,
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  the best thing we can do is
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  watch
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  trend what's happening at a state level,
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  in hopes that if and when
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  federal regulations
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  are issued, we're prepared
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  to quickly implement,
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  or or make any changes that we would
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  need to comply with the federal regulation.
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  Thank you. And and you've had this remarkable
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  career, remarkable leadership.
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  Let me ask you this question, Duane. What
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  what's one thing that has stuck out to
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  you in your career that that that's maybe
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  excited you
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  or surprised you, positive or negative? Tell us
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  something that has stood out to you in
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  your career.
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  When I look back
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  over all of these years,
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  I
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  I am smart enough to know that I
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  got into compliance
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  when compliance was still very much in its
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  infancy,
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  and that allowed me
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  to move up the food chain, for lack
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  of a better term, fairly quickly.
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  In hindsight, I wish that I had
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  moved a little slower.
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  Compliance is a very exciting field
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  because it
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  it borrows from so many other fields.
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  So my
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  my background is in social work,
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  and you would be surprised at how often
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  I
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  tap some of my social work practices
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  in this field that's largely,
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  legal and regulatory.
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  There were
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  things that I that I had to adapt
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  to very quickly,
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  that I wish I had taken a little
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  more time to delve into.
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  So I think
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  the the one thing that stands out,
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  and and I say this because I'm
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  coming to the end of my career,
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  that I wish I had just taken
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  more time to marinate in some of those
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  parts
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  of the career,
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  rather than
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  being focused on getting to the next level.
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  I I think that is such thoughtful advice
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  and advice you don't hear that often. I
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  think it's it's brilliant and fascinating.
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  Thank you. Talk about as we moved into
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  2026,
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  and we're already here,
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  what are you most focused on and excited
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  about this year?
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  Well, I think my response to that question
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  will never change because it's the core of
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  what I do. I'm always focused on changes
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  in law
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  that'll impact our operations
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  and figuring out how to implement them with
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  minimal disruption. That's always the
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  the core focus of what I do.
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  I think that that is not gonna change
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  in these last ten years of my career,
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  unless the career
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  fundamentally
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  changes
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  itself.
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  So that that's always the focus. And with
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  173
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  hospitals
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  and again, in 39 states in Puerto Rico,
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  those changes aren't just changes in federal law.
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  We're thinking of changes in state law and
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  how do you implement those,
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  and how do you continue to have some
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  level of consistency
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  in your operations
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  when you operate,
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  in
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  multiple states.
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  So I think that's that's a,
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  it's a focus, but it's also exciting. It
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  is how do you take this very
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  you you take these laws and you operationalize
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  them in a way that,
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  doesn't result in
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  39
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  different practices.
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  That that's the fun part of my job.
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  Yeah. I think just a fantastic, Dawn. As
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  a fellow lawyer, I feel your pain. I
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  hear you. I love your focus. I love
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  your career.
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  Again, we're with Dawn Rock Trimble today, senior
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  vice president and chief compliance officer at Encompass
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  Health.
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  They have hospitals in 39 states and Puerto
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  Rico, an amazing
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  company, an amazing leader.
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  Dawn, thank you so much for taking the
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  time to visit with us today on the
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  Becker's Healthcare podcast.
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  What a pleasure for me to get to
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  visit with you.
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  Well, thank you so much, and thank you
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  for having me.