Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Tenisha Grimmer, MBA, CPA, PHR, Chief Financial Officer at Access Community Health Centers

Transcript

Tenisha Grimmer, MBA, CPA, PHR, Chief Financial Officer at Access Community Health Centers · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - There's a small circle of people who truly
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  - understand what it takes to lead a health
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  - system right now. The decisions are enormous.
• 0:08
  - The variables are constantly shifting, and the stakes
• 0:11
  - of getting a call wrong don't stay contained.
• 0:14
  - That's not a complaint. It's a structural reality.
• 0:17
  - And it's why the most effective c suite
• 0:19
  - leaders are deliberate about where do they go
• 0:21
  - to pressure test their thinking.
• 0:22
  - Becker's fourteenth annual CEO and CFO roundtable
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  - brings together more than 1,500
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  - executive level attendees
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  - and nearly 400 speakers for four days built
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  - around growth, financial sustainability,
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  - workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
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  - have easy answers.
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  - Join us November second through the fifth in
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  - Chicago.
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  - For the agenda and event details,
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  - visit beckershospitalreview.com
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  - and click on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
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  - This is Laura Dierda with the Becker's Healthcare
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  - podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
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  - Tanisha Brimmer, chief financial officer of Access Community
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  - Health Centers. Tanisha, it's a pleasure to have
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  - you on the podcast today.
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  - Thank you. Really appreciate you inviting me.
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  - Absolutely. Now we're excited for our conversation, and
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  - we'll talk about some of the cool things
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  - you've been doing this year as well as
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  - how you're looking at the future. But before
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  - we dive in, can you tell us a
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  - little bit more about yourself and your background?
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  - Yeah. Happy to do that. So like you
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  - said, chief financial officer at Access Community Health
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  - Centers currently,
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  - an FQHC
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  - or federally qualified health center based in Madison,
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  - Wisconsin.
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  - I actually started my career out in community
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  - banking in Quincy, Illinois almost sixteen years ago
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  - now and got my CPA license shortly after
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  - graduating from Quincy University.
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  - And around ten years ago, I moved from
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  - Illinois to Wisconsin and started out at Access
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  - as a senior accountant and have been there
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  - since. And I'm just incredibly grateful to work
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  - at an awesome place with an incredible mission.
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  - Oh, it's fantastic to hear. And you're definitely
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  - such an important resource for the community and
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  - space for the health care continuum. So could
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  - you give us a quick State of the
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  - Union? What's going well this year? And what
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  - are you focused on for the rest of
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  - 2026?
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  - Yeah. So for what has gone well this
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  - year, you know, several things. So as an
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  - FQHC,
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  - we receive federal funding, and we haven't seen
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  - an interruption to that. So especially with the
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  - current environment, that's something we've been really keeping
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  - an eye on.
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  - We're really grateful for that because over 37,000
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  - patients in Dane and Iowa counties consider access
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  - their health care home, and 90% of those
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  - patients are at or below 200% of the
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  - FPL. So we're constantly trying to remove barriers.
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  - So,
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  - not having any interruptions to that is something
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  - that we're really grateful for.
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  - Also just a lot of the work we've
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  - been putting into our work culture at Access.
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  - So teamwork and communication,
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  - making sure that our administrative and clinical functions
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  - are collaborating really thoughtfully.
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  - So, you know, in a continually changing environment
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  - we talked about a little bit earlier, you
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  - know, requires more communication and collaboration. So we've
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  - been really working hard to make sure we
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  - kind of have what we call a shared
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  - mental model about how we approach some of
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  - the, you know, some of the challenges that
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  - we're facing in the current environment. And I
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  - think that that work has gone really well,
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  - which is really encouraging.
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  - I love that. And to your point, it's
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  - so critical to have that base of your
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  - culture and,
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  - really continue to build upon it and grow
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  - as time goes on. And I'd love to
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  - hear a little bit more about that. You
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  - know, what it how would you describe your
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  - culture, and how have you really been able
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  - to grow and foster something that's positive and
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  - can be nimble enough to change as,
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  - the times dictate.
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  - Yeah. I mean, you got right at it
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  - there. I think that is something that we
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  - think about constantly, and I think the way
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  - that we've approached that has really been to
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  - really take communication and teamwork really seriously and
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  - have it show up in how we do
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  - our work day to day. So I get
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  - to meet with the clinical leaders actually weekly,
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  - for our dental, medical, and behavioral health services,
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  - which is incredibly helpful, keeps us all on
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  - the same page, make sure that we understand
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  - what's going on and making sure that we're
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  - being really intentional and thoughtful
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  - about the decisions that we're making and that
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  - we're all on the same page for that
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  - work. It also means that we think a
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  - lot about communication with our staff and making
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  - sure that we're thinking about the messaging and
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  - being mindful as different things are happening in
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  - the environment, that we're really thinking about the
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  - stakeholders
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  - that these different things impact and being trying
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  - to be really mindful about how we develop
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  - communication and make sure that we're all on
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  - the same page.
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  - That makes a ton of sense. You know,
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  - it's just such a helpful focus when you're
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  - thinking about collaboration, communication,
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  - and,
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  - how you can really have a thoughtful approach
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  - to it so that the team feels comfortable
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  - and confident no matter what decisions they're having
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  - to make that day. So it really makes
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  - a lot of sense.
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  - What are some of the big headwinds that
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  - you're keeping your eye on right now and
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  - preparing for?
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  - Yeah. So definitely some of the things that
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  - we're looking out for are definitely the Medicaid
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  - changes around work requirements.
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  - So that is likely to impact around sixty
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  - three thousand
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  - people in Wisconsin. So, you know, that's our
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  - home base. So some of them will be
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  - our patients. So we're investing more
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  - resources into outreach and enrollment efforts in order
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  - to make sure that we're really taking advantage
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  - of the resources that are available
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  - to support the work of helping patients enroll
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  - in and navigate potential changes to the Medicaid
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  - program.
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  - We're really about removing barriers for patients. So
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  - that's something we always want to keep top
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  - of mind when there are changes like that.
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  - Also looking out for the three forty b
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  - rebate model. So this I know this has
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  - come up, probably multiple times and for a
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  - lot of different organizations,
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  - but especially for our organization. Like I said
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  - earlier, 90% of the people we take care
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  - of every day are at or below 200%
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  - of the FPL and the savings from that
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  - program help to support the care we provide
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  - every day. So we're just being really mindful
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  - of changes that are happening there. There's some
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  - talk about changing to the rebate model, and
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  - we're trying to make sure, that we're prepared
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  - to navigate those changes successfully so that we
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  - can maintain the savings we get from that
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  - program. And then I would say workforce. I
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  - am sure lots of people also bring up
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  - this one. I think this is something a
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  - lot, again, a lot of healthcare organizations dealing
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  - with, but really being mindful about recruitment,
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  - retention,
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  - making sure that, you know, we're,
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  - doing everything we can
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  - to stay on top of that. It's a
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  - really, difficult environment for workforce and just making
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  - sure that we're able to get the the
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  - folks we need to do the work that
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  - we do because what we do is about
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  - people and we got to make sure we
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  - have the people to kind of to take
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  - care of our patients every day. So that's
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  - also something that remains top of mind,
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  - always, but especially as we look at
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  - at the coming year. I think that makes
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  - a lot of sense, you know, to your
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  - point. I think especially during, you know, three
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  - forty b,
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  - we hear that a lot too on our
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  - end, and and different people are thinking different
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  - ways about it. So when you are planning
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  - around it and planning for the uncertainty too,
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  - what are some of the things that your
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  - team is doing or,
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  - thinking about as you come into next year
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  - and knowing that there's likely a change, but,
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  - you know, needing to fortify in a variety
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  - of different ways because you're not exactly sure
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  - what will happen. Yeah. I know. Right? That's
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  - always the tricky part is the lack of
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  - certainty about what will happen. So I'll just
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  - say that we are one of the things
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  - we're doing is, well, a lot of training
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  - to begin with. So making sure we understand,
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  - what we can know about, some of those
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  - changes and so making sure that we're really
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  - on top of that. Investing in some more
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  - resources to help support doing that work. So
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  - making sure that we're keeping up with some
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  - of the changes from the manufacturing companies and
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  - just in the pharmaceutical companies and just being
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  - mindful that we're being as strategic as possible
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  - about that work and not missing opportunities,
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  - to make sure that we maintain those savings.
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  - And so I would say a lot of
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  - it is kind of that training,
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  - that investment, and and the people that we
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  - need to kind of help keep up with
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  - that work. And then also, you know, where
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  - we can, just making sure we're communicating,
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  - you know, the value of community health centers
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  - and the work that we do, and making
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  - sure that that remains a part of the
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  - conversation as they're thinking about these changes.
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  - Got it. That that's really smart and and
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  - definitely,
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  - you know, makes a big difference if you've
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  - already thinking about that, having those conversations, then
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  - being ready whenever the time comes to to
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  - make the leap. Now what are the best
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  - opportunities you see as well
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  - over the next two to three years or
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  - so?
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  - Yeah. So I think one of the big
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  - things we wanna do one of the things
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  - we're doing in response to this environment is
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  - really leaning in and trying to grow. There
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  - are people out there that need us, our
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  - community. We want to make sure we're a
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  - resource for our community. And so really, we're
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  - thinking about how can we support a larger
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  - patient base? How can we help more people?
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  - Some of what that looks like is we
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  - are looking at actually building a new clinic,
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  - in one of the suburbs that are near
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  - Madison. And so that'll be something that's really,
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  - I think, helpful for our community and for
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  - our patients, providing another point of access. And
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  - so that's something that's really top of mind.
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  - And like I said, that's just one example,
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  - but really looking at how can we
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  - partner. So another thing we're doing is like
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  - looking for strategic partners with whom we have
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  - alignment as well so that we can continue
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  - to meet patients where they are and remove
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  - barriers to care. As an example of that,
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  - so we have a school based dental program
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  - as well, where we actually visit the schools
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  - with a vehicle,
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  - that serves over 3,000 children a year, which
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  - requires planning community partnership to accomplish. So really
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  - just always thinking about like, who are those
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  - strategic partners? How can we be a resource
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  - for a community and And how can we
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  - look for opportunities to grow, because the services
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  - we provide are so needed, and we wanna
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  - make sure we're meeting patients where they are.
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  - Fantastic. I think that is so helpful and,
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  - just love the innovation of being able to
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  - get to where the patients are and fit
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  - into their daily routine and daily schedules so
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  - they have those access points to care and
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  - It's just exciting the possibilities with some of
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  - the different innovative partnerships ideas and technology available
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  - too that could supercharge some of these efforts.
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  - It seems like Yeah. Absolutely.
• 9:28
  - Fantastic. Well, before we wrap up here, I
• 9:30
  - wanted to ask you about leadership. Who is
• 9:32
  - a leader that you admire really from any
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  - industry and why?
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  - So I love this question. I really had
• 9:38
  - to think about it. I I was like,
• 9:39
  - this is a tough question for me because
• 9:41
  - I really am continually influenced by and have
• 9:43
  - learned from so many people from so many
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  - walks of life. So what I decided, I
• 9:47
  - was like, well, when I was thinking about
• 9:48
  - this, I would say the leaders that have
• 9:50
  - had the biggest influence on me and how
• 9:51
  - I lead are the ones who come from
• 9:53
  - a space of servant leadership,
• 9:55
  - that are continually learning, that are continually building
• 9:58
  - up the people around them. And there are
• 10:00
  - honestly so many leaders I get to work
• 10:01
  - with every day that take that approach, in
• 10:04
  - new and interesting ways. And I'm just always
• 10:05
  - trying to make sure that I'm paying attention
• 10:07
  - so that I can, you know, adapt some
• 10:08
  - of those ideas for myself,
• 10:10
  - and my leadership role as well. So I
• 10:12
  - would really say that honestly, I really do
• 10:15
  - take notes,
• 10:16
  - from everywhere I am,
• 10:18
  - at work. I got to go to the
• 10:19
  - Becker's,
• 10:20
  - CEO CFO conference last year, and and I
• 10:23
  - got to hear a lot of great ideas
• 10:24
  - about how people approach leadership. And so just
• 10:26
  - looking for opportunities like that, to learn as
• 10:28
  - much as I can and to grow as
• 10:30
  - a leader.
• 10:31
  - That's fantastic to hear. I think, you know,
• 10:33
  - definitely,
• 10:35
  - a lot of great people coming in together
• 10:37
  - for the CEO, CEO of Roundtable. I know
• 10:38
  - you'll be with us as well this November
• 10:40
  - speaking on a panel too. And so, to
• 10:43
  - your point, it's just such a great opportunity
• 10:44
  - to connect with folks and really,
• 10:47
  - develop the types of relationships and can inspire
• 10:50
  - each other and,
• 10:51
  - understand what leaders are going through, but at
• 10:53
  - the same time, support each other through it.
• 10:55
  - So I'm so glad that you'll be able
• 10:56
  - to be there. I'm looking forward to seeing
• 10:58
  - you in person. Yeah. I'm excited too. Thank
• 11:00
  - you for having me today.