Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Shondra Williams, President & Chief Executive Officer at InclusivCare

Transcript

Shondra Williams, President & Chief Executive Officer at InclusivCare · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  R one is the leader in health care
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  With more than twenty years of experience, r
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  one partners with 1,000 providers,
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  including 95 of the top 100 US health
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  payer transactions annually. If you want to learn
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  more about how you can transform your revenue
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  cycle operations, visit us at wwwr1rcm.com.
• 0:31
  Hello, and welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast.
• 0:34
  My name is Will Riley from r one.
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  I am joined today by Shondra Williams.
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  Shondra is the CEO of Inclusive Care.
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  Shondra,
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  welcome to the podcast. It's my pleasure, Will.
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  Glad you're here.
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  Why don't we start with you telling us
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  a little bit about yourself? Tell us about
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  Inclusive Care, community you serve. Yes. So,
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  I'm Chandra Williams, as you mentioned.
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  I've, been president and CEO of Inclusive Care
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  for the past thirteen
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  beautiful years.
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  I am very optimistic.
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  That's why I call it beautiful because, Lord
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  knows, health care is quite a challenge,
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  but and it it takes a lot of
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  optimism
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  and a lot of vision
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  and a lot
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  of innovation
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  and,
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  creativity
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  to make it all happen.
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  So Inclusive Care is in the Greater New
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  Orleans area.
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  We are a federally qualified health center
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  serving right around 9,000
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  or more patients,
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  providing medical, dental,
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  specialty med
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  medical services such as podiatry, women's health, behavioral
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  health,
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  as well as in house pharmacies.
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  Wonderful. Thank you for that Mhmm. Background.
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  Tell us about some of the things that
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  are on your mind as you head into
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  2026.
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  Yeah. So lots
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  information.
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  My brain is clogged with,
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  you know, what what do we do? How
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  do we do what we do under,
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  somewhat constraints?
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  Right now, we are facing
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  day number 32
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  or so of the government shutdown.
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  That is not necessarily
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  affecting our funding.
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  However, it basically could affect our patients.
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  Their bill inability to come into the clinic,
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  we've done a tremendous job with being able
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  to provide them with high quality,
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  affordable, and accessible health care. However, when they
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  hear things like Medicaid cuts due to the
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  one
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  big beautiful bill,
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  when they think about SNAP benefits that are
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  being cut or was slated to be cut
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  due to this government shutdown,
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  then the first things that's on their mind
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  are the I should say the last thing
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  that's on their mind is their health care.
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  Mhmm. So we are contending with that,
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  making sure that there's,
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  we're preventing disinformation,
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  keeping our patients informed,
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  engaging them,
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  in their health care delivery,
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  nudging them, supporting them, and all the things
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  that they need
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  fundamentally in order to keep their health care
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  alive.
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  The going, I should say. Let let's let's
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  talk a bit more about that because
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  the the bill obviously changes or,
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  rules around eligibility
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  for Medicare,
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  Medicaid,
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  potentially makes it
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  a few more administrative hurdles to get over.
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  Tell us about that, and tell us about
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  the impact that you think that could have
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  for your community.
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  Yeah. So we are bracing for at least
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  ten percent potentially reduction
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  in patients who currently have
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  Medicaid
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  insurance
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  to being uninsured.
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  We're also contending concurrently
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  with the
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  instabilization,
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  instability
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  of the marketplace.
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  We have a fair number of patients who
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  are also,
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  on the marketplace
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  or getting their insurance using the marketplace.
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  Amidst that, we're also
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  going to be sampling or, participating in the
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  three forty b,
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  rebate model pilot
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  as federally qualified health centers were mandated to
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  participate.
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  And while
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  in theory, it seems to be a great
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  program that assures accountability
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  and transparency,
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  we're mostly concerned with the administrative
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  burden that it may carry,
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  which can delay payments that today are instant,
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  tomorrow are, you know, soon.
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  There could be a delay in those payments,
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  and every day counts.
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  Tell us so so what what does some
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  of those changes cumulatively
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  mean to an organization
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  like yours in terms of
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  cash flow,
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  and and revenue?
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  Yeah. So,
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  as was mentioned, we are anticipating,
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  you know, patients possibly going from
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  insured Yeah. Where we are receiving upwards of
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  about a 196
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  to $200
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  per visit
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  to actually being required to,
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  pay at least $40,
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  which is their co pay.
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  So that difference is what the organization is
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  going to,
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  basically go without.
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  So we're gonna have to plug that gap
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  and try to figure out how to
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  make it work,
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  today's
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  operations,
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  continue to keep that afloat
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  despite the fact that there could be reductions.
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  What does that mean for your team,
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  in in that you that you run? Tell
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  us a bit about the team and what
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  what the makeup of that team. Yeah. So,
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  we are, you know, we are pretty resourced
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  at the top level executive suite with the
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  chief medical officer, chief pharmacy officer,
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  human resource director,
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  chief dental director.
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  We have two
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  medical,
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  deputy providers
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  as well as a corporate,
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  administrator,
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  executive
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  administrator.
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  They're,
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  so we've and a chief operating officer and
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  CFO. Why could I forget that?
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  First and foremost, a chief financial officer.
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  And so we we have, you know, all
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  those key positions
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  filled. However, the the real question, Will, is
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  that as leaders,
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  we have to upskill
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  almost
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  every day
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  and certainly every year because the challenges
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  aren't usually not the same challenges.
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  So
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  it is a challenge, and and it's something
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  that we're having to
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  ensure that our leaders are equipped
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  and being able to rise to the occasion
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  under the current circumstances. Circumstances.
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  How how I mean, so how how do
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  they do that? Right? It feels like you
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  said, it's,
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  you're faced with significant financial pressure.
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  Uncertainty
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  is a is a sort of,
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  sounds like a enduring
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  theme. Mhmm. So what what does that look
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  like then in terms of what leadership qualities
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  you need or they need? Well, actually, that's
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  the reason why we invest in conferences such
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  as this. We're here at Becker's,
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  and,
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  Becker's allows us to be able to network,
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  with other health care providers and health care
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  executives.
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  We're in sessions that are,
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  speaking to maybe not the things that we're
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  facing at the community level, but it certainly
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  helps to understand
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  that of what health,
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  hospital systems are,
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  are enduring or what they're bracing for and
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  preparing for.
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  So we continue to invest in our
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  executives,
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  opening up opportunities such as this
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  so that they can actually determine,
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  you know, what what's happening in their environment.
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  How what types of skills, what type of
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  preparation, what type of tools that are necessary
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  in order for them
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  to rise to the occasion.
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  And how do how do you and they
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  keep your frontline staff
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  motivated and engaged? Yes.
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  So, you know, we're an organization
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  that really is intentional about culture.
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  Having led the organization
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  for thirteen years, having seen,
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  you know, days where,
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  you know, staff members who are demotivated,
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  morale's low
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  culture is a big, big, big important,
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  but yet very complicated hurdle.
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  So we really are we try to create
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  a system that's very intentional
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  on culture,
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  that allows our employees to feel comfortable in
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  their work environment,
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  feeling psychologically
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  safe
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  in an environment where there's heavy and high
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  risk and high stakes.
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  So paying them appropriately
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  and trying to stay competitive in terms of
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  what their needs are,
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  investing in them as it relates to promotional
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  opportunities
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  as well as training. Okay. Mhmm.
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  You mentioned training. I'm curious about,
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  how you're using,
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  technology
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  and how you're implementing new technology in your
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  in the clinic, with with patients, but also
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  in the administration
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  as well. Can you talk to us a
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  little bit about that? Yeah. So,
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  I introduced the a concept of business intelligence
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  to my
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  management team
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  a few years ago,
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  and everyone looked at me as this as
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  if they understood what I meant by business
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  intelligence.
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  And so they nodded, and they gave me
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  the feel that they knew what I meant
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  by business intelligence.
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  But yet
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  we were not really coming up with any
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  tools that was helping us to navigate
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  our toughest challenges.
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  So
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  this year, we unpacked that a little bit
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  more
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  by introducing
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  new technology,
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  technology
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  through our EMR,
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  which is athena Health,
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  as well as
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  utilizing other technology that helps to with,
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  high in patient engagement.
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  We're doing a lot of predictive analytics,
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  especially given the fact that, you know, there
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  are so many changes or challenges with respect
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  to,
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  understanding the budget,
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  knowing what the fiscal demands and or requirements
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  are. So it's technology that's helping us to
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  bridge that gap.
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  Give me some can you give me some
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  examples of how maybe that technology or new
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  technologies,
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  AI, for example,
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  are starting to help you be more efficient
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  or serve patients better? Yes. So,
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  I I said something or I heard at
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  this conference
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  on yesterday.
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  One of the speakers said that
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  AI is not going to improve your workflows.
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  If your workflows are not
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  proficient or efficient,
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  then AI is not gonna be that tool
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  to help with in ensuring those efficiencies.
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  So that really hit home for me,
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  which suggests that we've gotta spend some time
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  on making sure that our workflows
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  are efficient and then layer that on top
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  with AI technology.
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  So, you know, the it's so early. You
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  know, it's hard to tell
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  if,
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  where we're gonna be successful, but we are
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  very hopeful, and we're trying to stay on
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  the cutting edge.
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  Again, that's why I like to be in
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  an environment such as this because it does
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  allow me
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  as a chief executive officer to be on
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  the cutting edge of where things are going.
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  Right. Yeah. Okay. And so you you say
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  you're you're hopeful about AI, which is which
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  is great,
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  because it does feel like it's a little
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  bit different from other
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  eras of technology in health care, right, where
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  maybe,
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  adoption has been less sort of enthusiastic or
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  slower or whatever. Do do you do you
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  do you feel that too? Do you think
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  this is a bit different?
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  You know,
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  we've gotta embrace it. And if we don't
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  embrace it, then we're gonna be left,
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  you know, in the dust.
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  And,
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  so it's here already.
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  It's here to stay, and now it's just
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  perfecting it. Yeah. Okay. Okay.
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  It's been great getting your perspectives on these
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  things, Chandra.
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  What what what other thoughts would you leave
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  us with?
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  Just that leadership is so very critical right
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  now.
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  Having empathetic leadership is
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  critical to the culture and the morale, building
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  the morale of the team.
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  Of course, you know, the team is,
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  grappling with a lot. In our patient environments,
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  we're often,
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  contending with or working
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  with patient population
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  that might not have the highest,
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  skill set education level. And so
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  there are things that they come to the
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  table with that we're having to be prepared
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  for.
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  But,
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  you know, just helping our team members to
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  be able to understand, appreciate, but most importantly,
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  taking care of them first first is is
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  very important and is a priority of ours.
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  Fabulous. Chandra, thank you so much for joining
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  us on the podcast. It's a wonderful opportunity,
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  Will. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Thank
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  you.