Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Martha Henley on Bringing Rural Healthcare Services Back Home and Building a Sustainable Future

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Martha Henley on Bringing Rural Healthcare Services Back Home and Building a Sustainable Future · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - This is Laura Dierda with the Becker's Healthcare
• 1:00
  - podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
• 1:02
  - Martha Henley, chief executive officer at Unity Medical
• 1:05
  - Center. Martha, it's a pleasure to have you
• 1:06
  - on the podcast today. Thank you. Thank you
• 1:09
  - for having me.
• 1:10
  - Absolutely. Now I'm excited to learn a little
• 1:12
  - bit more about some of the cool things
• 1:14
  - and how you're thinking about the future. But
• 1:16
  - before we dive in, can you tell us
• 1:17
  - a little bit more about yourself and your
• 1:19
  - background?
• 1:20
  - Absolutely.
• 1:21
  - Well, I'm Martha Henley.
• 1:23
  - I am the CEO of Unity Medical Center,
• 1:25
  - which is in Manchester, Tennessee.
• 1:27
  - We are an independent rural hospital serving Coffee
• 1:30
  - County, which consists of about 60,000
• 1:32
  - people, and we have around 410
• 1:36
  - employees.
• 1:37
  - I started in health care in 1991
• 1:40
  - as a surgical tech, so I came up
• 1:42
  - through the clinical side before
• 1:44
  - I joined the administration.
• 1:46
  - And I've worked in
• 1:48
  - most parts of a of a facility, of
• 1:51
  - a building, so I think that kinda shapes
• 1:53
  - how I how I view things.
• 1:56
  - Well, that sounds great. And definitely,
• 1:59
  - you know, a a great background in order
• 2:01
  - to have your current role as CEO and
• 2:03
  - bring that into what you're doing. Now could
• 2:05
  - you give us a quick state of the
• 2:06
  - union of Duke Nuke Medical Center? What's going
• 2:08
  - well this year so far, and what are
• 2:10
  - you focused on for the rest of 2026?
• 2:12
  - Yes. I'd be I'd be delighted to. Well,
• 2:15
  - we are busier
• 2:16
  - than we were a year ago, and, so
• 2:18
  - I'll I'd rather start there than anywhere else.
• 2:20
  - For Unity,
• 2:22
  - our admissions are up about 9% through June.
• 2:26
  - We had a low month in February, which
• 2:28
  - is normally busy, and then continued to grew
• 2:31
  - continued to grow every month after that. Our
• 2:33
  - average daily census has gone up about 19%.
• 2:36
  - Our outpatient has gone up about 10%.
• 2:39
  - Our case mix index continues to rise,
• 2:42
  - while our length of stay has gone down.
• 2:45
  - With that being said,
• 2:47
  - it is because people are choosing to have
• 2:49
  - their care at our hospital.
• 2:51
  - We're seeing more patients. We're seeing sicker patients,
• 2:54
  - and we're able to get them home a
• 2:57
  - little sooner, which is what you want, but
• 2:59
  - it's not always the easiest
• 3:01
  - thing to do.
• 3:02
  - And then we are excited that we're bringing
• 3:05
  - some of the service lines back. We brought
• 3:08
  - orthopedics back this year. We've added chronic care
• 3:11
  - management.
• 3:12
  - Our swing bed program went from
• 3:15
  - about 45 patients for the during the first
• 3:18
  - half of last year to 245
• 3:20
  - this year, and that's care that used to
• 3:23
  - to leave the county and and that they're
• 3:25
  - staying.
• 3:27
  - Ascension
• 3:28
  - Saint Thomas,
• 3:30
  - this is the clearest thing to come out
• 3:32
  - of our affiliation with Ascension Saint Thomas, which
• 3:35
  - actually occurred this year,
• 3:36
  - is,
• 3:37
  - our
• 3:39
  - our ability to provide a different service to
• 3:41
  - our patients. And I'll give you an example
• 3:43
  - of that real quick. Somebody can come into
• 3:45
  - our emergency department at two in the morning
• 3:48
  - with a stroke symptom,
• 3:50
  - and that used to mean we would have
• 3:52
  - to try to get them in front of
• 3:53
  - a neurologist
• 3:54
  - somewhere else. We'd have to transfer that patient.
• 3:57
  - And now we have
• 3:59
  - telestroke
• 4:00
  - and telineuro coverage in our emergency room. And
• 4:03
  - over the last six months, our average time
• 4:06
  - to a neurologist
• 4:07
  - consult is twelve minutes.
• 4:10
  - And that's
• 4:11
  - twelve minutes in Manchester, Tennessee
• 4:14
  - at
• 4:14
  - 2AM in the morning. And, you know, if
• 4:16
  - you're dealing with a stroke,
• 4:18
  - that
• 4:19
  - time is the is the whole thing.
• 4:23
  - So that's what's
• 4:24
  - been going on, the fir the first part
• 4:27
  - of this year, and we're we're very excited
• 4:29
  - and and just very,
• 4:31
  - very thankful that we're we're able to do
• 4:33
  - those things.
• 4:34
  - For
• 4:35
  - the rest of 2026,
• 4:39
  - I guess I would say I have three
• 4:42
  - priorities.
• 4:43
  - We're standing up urology. That's a service that,
• 4:46
  - has had left that community, and and we're
• 4:48
  - bringing that back.
• 4:50
  - And we're tightening up on our revenue cycle
• 4:53
  - discipline,
• 4:54
  - trying to make sure that we're getting paid
• 4:56
  - correctly for the service lines that we're providing.
• 4:59
  - And then we're trying
• 5:01
  - to put the grant dollars
• 5:03
  - that
• 5:04
  - are beginning to come in
• 5:07
  - into operations.
• 5:09
  - So
• 5:10
  - I guess to kinda
• 5:12
  - summarize the short version of this, if I
• 5:14
  - could do that,
• 5:15
  - a year ago, I think Unity Medical Center
• 5:18
  - was asking the question of
• 5:21
  - what can, you know, what can we hold
• 5:23
  - on to? You know, what can we do?
• 5:25
  - And now that's not the question. Now it's
• 5:27
  - like, okay. What can we bring back so
• 5:31
  - that our patients can stay
• 5:33
  - in their hometown.
• 5:36
  - I love that. I think that's so inspiring
• 5:38
  - and definitely huge accomplishment across multiple lines and
• 5:41
  - specialties to bring them back, orthopedics and others
• 5:44
  - that have been challenging and disappearing from many
• 5:47
  - hospitals across the country. So, that that's really
• 5:50
  - cool to hear. And, you know, when you
• 5:51
  - think about that strategy being able to have
• 5:53
  - more
• 5:54
  - care and more,
• 5:56
  - accessibility closer to home, how are you able
• 5:59
  - to do that? What does it look like
• 6:00
  - from a resource standpoint and then just,
• 6:03
  - you know, operations as well, bringing some of
• 6:05
  - those things into play and,
• 6:07
  - being able to grow from where you're at
• 6:10
  - in the community?
• 6:11
  - I think, I'd like to say that we
• 6:13
  - I mean, we have a great partner. We
• 6:14
  - have a great partner in in Ascension, so
• 6:16
  - we're able to
• 6:18
  - to use some of their resources.
• 6:20
  - But then, also, it's just building
• 6:24
  - that
• 6:25
  - relationship with the patient where they're comfortable. They
• 6:27
  - know they're getting the best right there. And
• 6:30
  - as we're able to retain those patients,
• 6:33
  - we're able to retain those dollars. And with
• 6:35
  - those dollars, we can reinvest. So it's been
• 6:37
  - just like
• 6:39
  - it continues to grow. You know, each time
• 6:41
  - we're successful with something and there's something else
• 6:43
  - that we're investing in, and I've been very
• 6:46
  - fortunate that that's been, the thought of our
• 6:49
  - board is to reinvest
• 6:51
  - into the community.
• 6:53
  - I love that. How how cool. Thank you
• 6:56
  - so much for sharing with us. Now when
• 6:58
  - you look ahead, what are some of the
• 7:00
  - things that you are focused on and thinking
• 7:02
  - about in terms of headwinds, and how are
• 7:04
  - you planning around them?
• 7:06
  - Oh,
• 7:07
  - there's a few.
• 7:09
  - We are a rural hospital.
• 7:10
  - I I think the
• 7:13
  - the greatest one is the Medicare Advantage Program,
• 7:15
  - and it and it's not close. I mean,
• 7:18
  - in Tennessee,
• 7:19
  - we're above average for the Medicare Advantage,
• 7:23
  - in the market. So it's definitely a local
• 7:25
  - problem. It's not just something that we read
• 7:27
  - about.
• 7:28
  - In our own,
• 7:30
  - facility, we're about
• 7:32
  - 53%
• 7:35
  - of our Medicare population,
• 7:36
  - has a Medicare Advantage program, while only forty
• 7:39
  - six have the traditional.
• 7:41
  - Our overall denial rates and different things have
• 7:44
  - been great, but that's definitely something that we're
• 7:46
  - looking at. With more than half of our
• 7:48
  - Medicare population
• 7:50
  - in a plan
• 7:52
  - that requires a preauthorization.
• 7:55
  - It doesn't really have to follow the rule
• 7:57
  - payment rules, and it can take a payment
• 7:59
  - back.
• 8:01
  - It it's concerning.
• 8:03
  - And I say that because
• 8:05
  - the cost is not really the denials. I
• 8:08
  - mean, our denial rates are great. Our team
• 8:09
  - does a great job. We're documenting things well,
• 8:11
  - but it's what we have to do to
• 8:13
  - prevent those.
• 8:14
  - And I'll give you an example because I
• 8:16
  - don't know how you are more, but for
• 8:18
  - me, I like to picture something in my
• 8:19
  - head of how it would work.
• 8:21
  - And so this is how it works in
• 8:24
  - in in our building.
• 8:25
  - We could have a patient that's ready to
• 8:27
  - go to the next level, and whether that
• 8:29
  - be returning to, an assisted living facility, whether,
• 8:33
  - you know, it's an additional,
• 8:35
  - health care institution.
• 8:36
  - But what we have to do is we'll
• 8:38
  - have to set and we'll have to wait
• 8:39
  - on that authorization, which means there is an
• 8:42
  - individual that is spending their time on hold
• 8:45
  - with
• 8:46
  - an organization where
• 8:48
  - it's you know, someone else is trying to
• 8:51
  - determine
• 8:52
  - that it's okay for them to to to
• 8:54
  - move forward. You know, the care has been
• 8:56
  - appropriate.
• 8:57
  - The patient was covered. Everyone knows it,
• 9:00
  - but
• 9:01
  - we still have to wait. So that's taking
• 9:03
  - time away from that patient.
• 9:07
  - And then there's the money. I mean, you
• 9:09
  - know, the protection,
• 9:11
  - that
• 9:12
  - with the rural payment protections that Congress has
• 9:15
  - made,
• 9:15
  - those those same protections don't always apply to
• 9:19
  - the Medicare Advantage Plans. So some of those
• 9:21
  - plans,
• 9:22
  - they don't backdate for effective dates.
• 9:24
  - They can pay you. They can take it
• 9:26
  - back. They can reclassify
• 9:28
  - things.
• 9:29
  - And
• 9:31
  - it just keeps reaching further. I mean, we're
• 9:33
  - now seeing
• 9:34
  - prior authorizations
• 9:35
  - required for some observation statuses,
• 9:38
  - which means that
• 9:40
  - we have to get approval to keep someone
• 9:42
  - in the bed to try to figure out
• 9:45
  - what's wrong with them,
• 9:46
  - which is concerning.
• 9:48
  - And in a large in a large system,
• 9:50
  - it's a nuisance,
• 9:52
  - and it's absorbed by,
• 9:54
  - you know, a a lot of people, a
• 9:56
  - lot of large teams. But for us in
• 9:58
  - a rural community, it's a handful of people.
• 10:01
  - And if, you know, we're keeping our resources
• 10:04
  - tied up there or some of our receivables
• 10:06
  - are tied up, it's not just a working
• 10:09
  - capital problem. It's not that type of money
• 10:10
  - that we're dealing with. This actually
• 10:13
  - can trickle down to the 410
• 10:15
  - paychecks, you know, from from the families that
• 10:17
  - are dependent upon that location as well. So
• 10:19
  - it's those are those are some of the
• 10:22
  - the headwind headwinds. That that's probably my first
• 10:25
  - one that we're keeping an eye on.
• 10:28
  - There's a second one, and that's just
• 10:31
  - the workforce. And
• 10:33
  - I guess we're blessed that we don't have,
• 10:36
  - a lot of turnover at our location. I
• 10:38
  - mean,
• 10:39
  - actually, for us,
• 10:41
  - we're about 3.4%
• 10:43
  - year to date, and I think that was
• 10:45
  - against last year's six six or 6.5, something
• 10:48
  - like that.
• 10:49
  - But so the problem isn't
• 10:52
  - really
• 10:53
  - the turnover.
• 10:54
  - The problem is the depth. Like, when you
• 10:57
  - have 410,
• 10:58
  - employees, which is great
• 11:00
  - for
• 11:02
  - our facility, but we're serving a county of
• 11:04
  - 60,000.
• 11:06
  - And some of our departments are very small.
• 11:09
  - If you have a department of three people
• 11:11
  - in it, you have one departure.
• 11:13
  - It's not really,
• 11:16
  - a it's it's not a vacancy. It can
• 11:18
  - come sometimes be concerning for that service line.
• 11:20
  - So that I mean, that's just I'm not
• 11:22
  - complaining.
• 11:23
  - That's, more like an arithmetic
• 11:26
  - more arithmetic than a complaint. So that's something
• 11:28
  - that we're focusing on focusing on, trying to,
• 11:31
  - build those channels that those,
• 11:34
  - workforce,
• 11:37
  - avenues.
• 11:38
  - And then my final
• 11:41
  - not my final, but the only three I'm
• 11:42
  - gonna talk to you about today,
• 11:45
  - is,
• 11:46
  - just
• 11:47
  - the one time money that's coming.
• 11:50
  - It's,
• 11:51
  - the grants are great. We're very thankful for
• 11:53
  - any help that we could get, but what
• 11:55
  - those grants do, it just buys you a
• 11:57
  - start. It doesn't fund a payroll. It doesn't
• 12:00
  - fund consistency. So it's trying to determine how
• 12:02
  - to
• 12:03
  - best utilize
• 12:05
  - those dollars that will give the most return
• 12:07
  - to our community.
• 12:09
  - Absolutely.
• 12:10
  - I think that makes a lot of sense.
• 12:12
  - And you hit on something with your last
• 12:13
  - point and looking at, you know, the funding
• 12:15
  - coming in for rural health transformation and and
• 12:17
  - others, potentially,
• 12:19
  - you know, how to best use that, but
• 12:22
  - also understand what it takes to be a
• 12:23
  - sustainable organization,
• 12:25
  - in in this environment. And so I think
• 12:28
  - that's something I know a lot of leaders
• 12:29
  - are are thinking about and trying to understand
• 12:32
  - and and manage around,
• 12:33
  - you know, to make sure that they're doing
• 12:36
  - the best thing possible for the organization for
• 12:38
  - long term sustainability.
• 12:40
  - Now when you think about the future, what
• 12:42
  - are some of the areas that are,
• 12:44
  - most,
• 12:45
  - biggest opportunities for growth as well?
• 12:48
  - For our facility, I I think I kinda
• 12:50
  - touched on it before. Everything on my list
• 12:52
  - is care that's currently leaving Coffee County.
• 12:55
  - So the growth here is not necessarily just
• 12:58
  - the new markets. It's bringing back the services,
• 13:01
  - that are currently driving past us. Our first
• 13:03
  - one is urology,
• 13:05
  - which is the first one. It's the most
• 13:07
  - real one. We've,
• 13:09
  - been without that service for quite a while,
• 13:11
  - and we have identified a patient, and we
• 13:13
  - have some work underway. And right now,
• 13:16
  - our patients drive about thirty
• 13:18
  - five minutes for
• 13:20
  - a lot of specialty
• 13:22
  - care. And if you hear honestly, if you
• 13:24
  - hear that, you think, well, that's not a
• 13:25
  - big deal. That's a thirty five minute drive.
• 13:27
  - That could be a nice relaxing time.
• 13:29
  - But, the drive is really not the problem.
• 13:32
  - It's what they're what they're driving into. Our,
• 13:35
  - bordering county is Rutherford County, which has about
• 13:38
  - 400,000 people in it right now. I think
• 13:40
  - they,
• 13:41
  - added about 45,000
• 13:43
  - residents within the last five years.
• 13:46
  - So that is, like,
• 13:47
  - our our entire county that's arrived in their
• 13:50
  - county,
• 13:51
  - in that time frame. So our patients, they're
• 13:53
  - not just driving. They're really
• 13:55
  - they're getting in line behind a market that's
• 13:57
  - already growing faster
• 13:59
  - than than
• 14:01
  - they can keep up with. So you're waiting
• 14:03
  - weeks for an appointment, and then you sit
• 14:05
  - in a waiting room, and then you have,
• 14:07
  - you know, an hour for care that's a
• 14:08
  - day off, which is rarely one trip. If
• 14:11
  - you've been to the doctor, it's a consult.
• 14:13
  - Could be a procedure.
• 14:15
  - And,
• 14:15
  - then some follow-up. And
• 14:18
  - for our,
• 14:19
  - our community,
• 14:21
  - for someone on a fixed income or a
• 14:23
  - mother,
• 14:24
  - a mother with two kids and an hourly
• 14:26
  - job, that's the difference between
• 14:28
  - getting the care and putting it off because,
• 14:30
  - you know, those people will put those things
• 14:31
  - off. And then something that
• 14:33
  - could have been manageable
• 14:34
  - becomes something that's that's not. So I I
• 14:38
  - think that's where you'll you'll hear my passion
• 14:40
  - come through with. It's it's trying to make
• 14:41
  - sure that we can take care of the
• 14:43
  - people before
• 14:44
  - before it's not manageable.
• 14:46
  - Another thing that, we're really excited about is
• 14:49
  - women's health. That care currently is sent to
• 14:52
  - another county to see a specialist, kind of
• 14:54
  - the same scenario. So we're bringing that
• 14:57
  - back,
• 14:58
  - to an outpatient pediatrics.
• 15:00
  - The access right now, the majority of our
• 15:02
  - families are driving outside of the county for
• 15:04
  - just routine care,
• 15:06
  - and
• 15:07
  - we're we've got some programs in play that
• 15:09
  - that we're working on to bring that back.
• 15:12
  - Inpatient dialysis,
• 15:15
  - today,
• 15:16
  - if you need dialysis
• 15:19
  - and you're in,
• 15:20
  - our facility, we either have to transfer you
• 15:22
  - out or
• 15:24
  - you you're just not admitted there. I mean,
• 15:26
  - our our providers just know that they can't.
• 15:28
  - So
• 15:29
  - that
• 15:30
  - transfer
• 15:31
  - drive, that transfer is is driven by a,
• 15:34
  - service gap. So it's not about how sick
• 15:36
  - you are. It's just that we don't have
• 15:37
  - that. So we're able to we're bringing that
• 15:38
  - back, and then I've spoke briefly
• 15:41
  - on the,
• 15:43
  - neurology. I mean, we are very excited.
• 15:46
  - You know, you assume that having a neurologist
• 15:48
  - in a rural community
• 15:50
  - is is almost impossible.
• 15:52
  - And to be honest, a straight
• 15:55
  - recruitment
• 15:56
  - is
• 15:57
  - hard. But with the telestroke and teloneuro coverage
• 16:00
  - that we already have seen working here
• 16:02
  - or I mean, we're not starting from just
• 16:04
  - an idea from scratch. So we're gonna build
• 16:06
  - on some of that,
• 16:07
  - so that the patients can actually get that
• 16:09
  - in a in a
• 16:11
  - in in their home.
• 16:12
  - So if we do all of those things,
• 16:16
  - our families
• 16:17
  - in this county can get most of what
• 16:19
  - they need
• 16:20
  - without
• 16:22
  - jumping on the interstate. So that's that's our
• 16:25
  - strategy
• 16:25
  - moving forward.
• 16:28
  - I love that, Martha. And I think, you
• 16:29
  - know, it it it definitely
• 16:31
  - has a lot of underlying thoughts on how
• 16:34
  - you can keep care local and have the
• 16:36
  - best care possible
• 16:38
  - taking care of your teens too. I know
• 16:40
  - that's a big part of being able to
• 16:42
  - manage,
• 16:43
  - the needs of the community and understanding how
• 16:45
  - you'll be able to
• 16:47
  - continue to grow it and function in the
• 16:49
  - future. So I think that makes a lot
• 16:50
  - of sense, and I love the passion and
• 16:52
  - energy you put behind all of the things
• 16:54
  - that you're doing and working on as you're
• 16:56
  - thinking about the future.
• 16:58
  - Now before we wrap up, I wanted to
• 16:59
  - ask you about leadership too.
• 17:01
  - Who is a leader that you admire really
• 17:03
  - from any industry and why?
• 17:06
  - Oh, so
• 17:07
  - I have had so many
• 17:09
  - influential people in my world.
• 17:12
  - As I told you, I started out as
• 17:14
  - a scrub tech. I have mopped floors. I
• 17:16
  - have done so. I've learned from everyone.
• 17:19
  - So this this was a little bit of
• 17:21
  - a challenge for me, but if I had
• 17:23
  - to
• 17:24
  - pick one person
• 17:26
  - in my life that has
• 17:29
  - shaped
• 17:30
  - not just my inner self, but I believe
• 17:32
  - my leadership style, it would be my my
• 17:34
  - grandfather,
• 17:35
  - Bob Anderson, who is no longer with us.
• 17:37
  - But,
• 17:39
  - he had a working farm here in Coffee
• 17:42
  - County,
• 17:43
  - that's actually been in our family for more
• 17:45
  - than a hundred years. He never ran anything
• 17:47
  - anyone would ever call, like, an organization or
• 17:49
  - anything like that. But I remember very specifically
• 17:52
  - that he had a loan once with a
• 17:54
  - family
• 17:55
  - member. It was somewhat casual thing and and
• 17:57
  - you know there was nothing written really down.
• 17:59
  - There was no formal agreement. But at the
• 18:01
  - end of that particular,
• 18:03
  - payment, this man thought that my grandfather still
• 18:06
  - owed him a payment.
• 18:07
  - And
• 18:08
  - my grandfather knew he didn't. I mean, I
• 18:10
  - heard them talking about it. But he paid
• 18:13
  - him that additional payment anyway.
• 18:15
  - And I remember so vividly asking him, why
• 18:18
  - would you pay money that you don't owe?
• 18:22
  - And he said,
• 18:24
  - It is better to know that someone has
• 18:26
  - cheated you than to have someone think
• 18:29
  - that you cheated them.
• 18:31
  - So,
• 18:32
  - I mean, I was I was a young
• 18:34
  - girl, and I did not understand that at
• 18:37
  - that point,
• 18:38
  - like he did. I mean, he understood that
• 18:40
  - his name was gonna be carried on and
• 18:43
  - it was gonna mean a lot more.
• 18:45
  - And so I think I've carried that,
• 18:47
  - which is it's kind of like the whole
• 18:49
  - job at a rural hospital.
• 18:51
  - You're you're not just passing through. Your your
• 18:54
  - patients or your neighbors, your employees you see
• 18:56
  - at the grocery store, every decision
• 18:58
  - you make gets remembered.
• 19:00
  - And
• 19:02
  - it isn't just a story like I tell.
• 19:04
  - I
• 19:05
  - I can give you any examples,
• 19:07
  - without even being specific. I mean, if you've
• 19:10
  - been in this anyone
• 19:11
  - that's been to a hospital, every hospital has
• 19:13
  - a patient who lives frustrated.
• 19:15
  - Whether it's been a long wait,
• 19:16
  - whether they
• 19:19
  - didn't get they didn't feel as though something
• 19:21
  - was communicated or an experience that didn't quite
• 19:23
  - meet a standard. And sometimes the people
• 19:26
  - in the hospital have followed every policy correct,
• 19:30
  - and they've done everything they could, but that
• 19:32
  - person
• 19:33
  - still doesn't feel like they got what they
• 19:36
  - needed. And if that happens,
• 19:39
  - if it's appropriate, we will reach out, we'll
• 19:41
  - listen, and we, you know, we work through
• 19:44
  - the experience. And if there's room,
• 19:46
  - we just kinda on the side of trying
• 19:49
  - to make sure that that we help them,
• 19:52
  - like, that they've been heard.
• 19:54
  - So,
• 19:55
  - I mean, could we consistently say, okay. This
• 19:57
  - is just it. We've done everything we we
• 19:59
  - did was correct, and this is, you know,
• 20:01
  - you're wrong. We could. But
• 20:03
  - but, you know, it's it's rarely it's rarely
• 20:06
  - the point. So
• 20:07
  - I I think that I try to
• 20:10
  - push that
• 20:12
  - to our leaders inside our organization,
• 20:14
  - you know, that,
• 20:16
  - you know, patients will forget the detail of
• 20:17
  - a bill. Employees will forget the detail of
• 20:19
  - a meeting. Nobody forgets
• 20:21
  - whether they're treated with respect
• 20:23
  - or whether they believe you by your word.
• 20:25
  - And that trust gets built, you know, one
• 20:28
  - decision at a time. And if you ever
• 20:29
  - have that opportunity,
• 20:31
  - you should take that road.
• 20:32
  - And it took me a long time to
• 20:34
  - realize the influence that my grandfather had
• 20:38
  - by
• 20:39
  - him showing what his word meant and how
• 20:42
  - he
• 20:43
  - wanted to make sure that that carried through.
• 20:46
  - So that's I think that's probably
• 20:48
  - I know that is my,
• 20:50
  - greatest example that I that I carry forward
• 20:53
  - with me.
• 20:54
  - I love that. What a powerful example that
• 20:57
  - you have truly from
• 20:58
  - your own background and history in such an
• 21:01
  - inspiring
• 21:02
  - note and,
• 21:03
  - really poignant message there in terms of thinking
• 21:06
  - about trustworthiness,
• 21:07
  - what your legacy is, and what it really
• 21:08
  - means to be a pillar of the community.
• 21:11
  - I love it. Martha, thank you so much
• 21:13
  - for joining us on the podcast today. This
• 21:14
  - has been a really, really powerful interview. I
• 21:17
  - I thank you so much that you've accomplished
• 21:20
  - and be extremely proud of and then a
• 21:22
  - lot of exciting things ahead as well. So,
• 21:25
  - I appreciate your time today, and I know,
• 21:27
  - you'll be speaking at our CEO CFO roundtable
• 21:29
  - in November, and I'm excited to see you
• 21:31
  - in person there and keep the conversation going.
• 21:33
  - Absolutely. Thank you so much, Laura, for having
• 21:35
  - me. I'm excited about November.