Latest / Becker's Healthcare Behavioral Health / J.R. Greene, Founder and Chairman of Psychiatric Medical Care
Transcript
- 0:00This is Laura Dierdo with the Becker's Healthcare
- 0:02podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
- 0:04JR Green, founder and chairman of the Psychiatric
- 0:07Medical Care. JR, it's a pleasure to have
- 0:09you on the podcast today. Thank you. Thank
- 0:11you for having me. Absolutely. Now I'm excited
- 0:13for our conversation because I know behavioral health
- 0:15is a huge challenge right now for many
- 0:17hospitals and health systems and especially
- 0:20rural and in community hospitals that are trying
- 0:22to figure out how to serve a broad
- 0:23population with many diverse needs. And so I'm
- 0:26excited to dig in a little bit deeper
- 0:28with you today and talk about some of
- 0:29the themes that you're seeing in the health
- 0:31care space as well as how behavioral health
- 0:34is really evolving right now. But before we
- 0:36dive in, can you introduce yourself and just
- 0:38tell us a little bit more about psychiatric
- 0:39medical care? You bet. You bet. And by
- 0:41the way, just in the intro, I absolutely
- 0:43loved how you called it the psychiatric medical
- 0:46care. So for all the Ohio State fans
- 0:48and the Miami fans out there, you basically
- 0:50you gave us that wonderful introduction is similar
- 0:53to what they all do at the Ohio
- 0:54State University or the University of Miami, and
- 0:56they love
- 0:57to have the in front of their name
- 0:59on that sports side. So the psychiatric medical
- 1:02care,
- 1:03makes me have a nice chuckle this morning.
- 1:05And, you know, I think the big thing
- 1:07is,
- 1:07as we dive into the background of psychiatric
- 1:09medical care, I think the name,
- 1:12is one that I've had a lot of
- 1:13fun with for, many years. And the reason
- 1:15being is when I go to an event
- 1:17or I go to a dinner and I
- 1:18meet people and I let them know that
- 1:19I work, for psychiatric medical care, their next
- 1:21question is, oh, great. What's the name of
- 1:23the company? Well,
- 1:24it's, it's it's psychiatric medical care. Because immediately
- 1:27when you hear that name, you usually think,
- 1:29oh, psychiatric medical care. Because I do love
- 1:31the fact that our name represents exactly what
- 1:34we do. Because so many organizations out there
- 1:36have
- 1:37flamboyantly
- 1:38beautiful different names, but it doesn't necessarily
- 1:42align to what their service is. So, I
- 1:44know the name may may be a little
- 1:45bit boring on the marketing side, psychiatric medical
- 1:48care, but, I, I just wanted to start
- 1:50with that, Laura. Loved how you called it
- 1:51the psychiatric medical care. But real quick, the
- 1:53company,
- 1:54has four different divisions. We operate,
- 1:58mainly today across,
- 2:00close to 300 different locations in 34 states.
- 2:03The four divisions are our intensive outpatient psychiatry
- 2:06program that primarily is focused in rural hospitals
- 2:09across the country,
- 2:10where we partner with those hospitals, integrate with
- 2:12those hospitals to bring an outpatient behavioral program
- 2:15to that community.
- 2:17Our second division is child IOP and PHP
- 2:20of which we provide this more to an
- 2:22urban market,
- 2:23and that is where we provide treatment really
- 2:25for ages nine to 18 for children, again,
- 2:28for an IOP or PHP,
- 2:30level of care. Our third division is inpatient
- 2:33psychiatry. And in that location, we mainly are
- 2:35partnering with large hospitals, which you may know,
- 2:38for those listeners, PPS level hospitals. So,
- 2:41really looking to med you know, manage more
- 2:43of a 12 plus size, psych unit within
- 2:46a hospital.
- 2:47And then the fourth division is telehealth. And
- 2:49so in that, we're providing telehealth into multiple
- 2:52locations,
- 2:53either into the acute wing or a psychiatric
- 2:56facility,
- 2:57even EDs, rural health care,
- 2:59facilities, and we go all the way into
- 3:01jails, providing that level of care to be
- 3:03able to get them an MD, an NP,
- 3:05a therapist,
- 3:06even a nurse on call so that we
- 3:08can get that level of care to almost
- 3:09any location in The United States.
- 3:12That's amazing to hear. And, you know, what
- 3:13great services or programs you can provide to
- 3:15hospitals and and patients to communities at all
- 3:18levels. Now I'm curious. When you look at
- 3:21the last year or so, could you talk
- 3:22a little bit about the initiative you led
- 3:24that had the best results? What did you
- 3:26do, and how did you track them?
- 3:28You know, I think one of the the
- 3:30best level that we did was opening up,
- 3:32our embrace you program. And and the real
- 3:35the real fun reason around this was, and
- 3:37I say fun because it is fun, is
- 3:39I was the assistant coach, of a baseball
- 3:41team. And I started having a lot of
- 3:43parents coming to me because they knew I
- 3:44worked for a behavioral health organization called psychiatric
- 3:47medical care. So, again, getting back to the
- 3:48obvious nature of what we do. And the
- 3:50parents started asking me questions around what type
- 3:52of medication do I need for my son.
- 3:54I had five children on the baseball team
- 3:56of 12 that had ADHD.
- 3:58And immediately, you know, I I'd noticed that
- 4:00this is a is a huge need, here
- 4:03in the Nashville market. So I was able
- 4:04to go back to the board of directors.
- 4:06I put together, you know, obviously, the needs
- 4:07when you go and speak with the board
- 4:09and for those, on the call that have
- 4:10board of directors that they report into, you
- 4:13gotta have a lot of data, got a
- 4:14lot of information to be able to share
- 4:15with them of why this is a necessary
- 4:17need in the marketplace.
- 4:19And the great news is it was a
- 4:21huge need, especially for our level of an
- 4:23IOP, which has a medical director focus.
- 4:26There are IOPs out there that are more
- 4:28coaching IOPs, Laura.
- 4:30So meaning those are types of individuals that
- 4:32call in for care. It's usually a 100%
- 4:34virtual, and in some locations, it may be
- 4:36in person, but it doesn't have an actual
- 4:38psychiatrist
- 4:39or an or an NP involved, which is
- 4:41highly medical. So it gives it that much
- 4:44higher level of care,
- 4:45and what I'll call really backed into outcomes
- 4:48and scientific studies around that. As well as
- 4:50when you're managing children,
- 4:52there can be just a huge need to
- 4:54have in person level of care. If you
- 4:56can imagine a 10 year old sitting in
- 4:58front of a computer screen, maybe a little
- 4:59bit more difficult to manage the care rather
- 5:02than having them in a room, with group
- 5:04psychotherapy with an IOP or PHP level of
- 5:07care.
- 5:07But we really began to notice in Nashville
- 5:10that this was needed, to have that level
- 5:12of care,
- 5:13and certainly it was. Because once we opened
- 5:15the program, we were full within several months,
- 5:17and now we've opened up, already, I believe,
- 5:19six locations in the state of Tennessee.
- 5:22That's amazing to hear. And, you know, what
- 5:23a great story of how you noticed a
- 5:25meeting in the community and then were able
- 5:27to bring it to the organization and develop
- 5:29right programming and systems in place.
- 5:32And I'm curious, you know, when you look
- 5:33at that and when you're working with different
- 5:35organizations, when you're working with some of the,
- 5:38different hospitals or or systems, what do you
- 5:40notice about, the
- 5:42behavioral health culture in in the services they're
- 5:45they're providing? How do you build a behavioral
- 5:47health culture that's gonna be beneficial
- 5:49for those who are, within the organization as
- 5:51well as the community?
- 5:53Great question, Laura. Great question. You know, this
- 5:55is one of the most, unique pieces and,
- 5:58you know, and I'd have to say I
- 5:59had a little bit of a,
- 6:01wonderful upbringing. I was raised by a psychiatrist.
- 6:03So, I'm able to say I've had fifty
- 6:05years of, of psychiatric experience with my father
- 6:08being a psychiatrist
- 6:09when he was practicing. So that right there
- 6:12really helped me to have a good grounding.
- 6:13And then when I joined,
- 6:15the psychiatric medical care over fifteen years ago,
- 6:19our organization was very small. And I think
- 6:22one of the big things of how to
- 6:23build any type of organization, but obviously,
- 6:26in the behavioral health realm,
- 6:29I needed to help create even for myself
- 6:31as the company began to grow.
- 6:33Different types of people love different types of
- 6:35work. And I think that burnout and a
- 6:37lot of the elements today that we hear
- 6:39about, you know, can quickly align to personality
- 6:42types, skill
- 6:43sets, being aligned to the right position, and
- 6:45their right passion. And what I mean by
- 6:47that is what over time is I I
- 6:49needed to really develop something so that I
- 6:51can understand the my own organization and what
- 6:53was how it was building. But also individuals
- 6:56that were working within psychiatric medical care would
- 6:58know what seat on the bus they wanna
- 7:00be in. So I think the first step
- 7:02is when you're building a behavioral organization or
- 7:04any organization,
- 7:05you wanna find the right people on the
- 7:07bus. Right? You wanna get the right people
- 7:09on the bus, and then you've gotta find
- 7:10out the right seat. So how do you
- 7:12do that? Well, I'd really help kinda develop
- 7:14three phases of any organization.
- 7:17The three phases are starting out with improv.
- 7:19And you know what, Laura? You gotta fake
- 7:20it till you make it. I mean, in
- 7:21that capacity,
- 7:23you're you're just trying to find a way,
- 7:25and you're always just like improv. You're saying
- 7:27and and and. You never say but, and
- 7:29you don't stop. You just keep moving forward
- 7:31because there's always an opportunity.
- 7:33But, obviously, you have no swim lanes.
- 7:36It's very broad, and you're just trying to
- 7:38literally make it. And you're trying to find
- 7:40ways of growth,
- 7:42obviously, being frugal as you're building out any
- 7:44department within the hospital or any type of
- 7:46organization.
- 7:47But you also have to find individuals that
- 7:49wanna work for an improv level of care
- 7:52within your hospital,
- 7:53or within your organization. Meaning, they like that
- 7:56type of style.
- 7:57They want to have no swim lanes. They
- 7:59are eager, almost like what you would call
- 8:01entrepreneurship. You know, they wanna be able to
- 8:03get in and be entrepreneurs within their
- 8:05department and be able to just just go.
- 8:08That's the improv. The second phase is musical.
- 8:11So now you still have a live show.
- 8:12So think about Hamilton,
- 8:14Cats, any of these, you know, Andrew Lloyd
- 8:16Webber. Just start thinking about all the musicals
- 8:18we've seen in the world. Well, you'll you'll
- 8:20notice in those musicals that the show is
- 8:22still live. There are still mistakes made, but
- 8:24there are understudies. There is a treatment plan.
- 8:27There is detail, and therefore, the swim lanes
- 8:30are absolutely
- 8:31significantly narrower than an improv.
- 8:34And so people are able to work within
- 8:36that. So you then have different types of
- 8:37people that love to be in musicals. They
- 8:39love that level to where there are swim
- 8:42lanes. They're they're not too tight, but they're
- 8:44able to kinda swim within there. They're able
- 8:46to be in a live, what I'll call
- 8:48atmosphere. And then the third final piece is
- 8:50syndication.
- 8:51And this is literally a big goal, I
- 8:52think, of any system or any location that
- 8:55wants to scale. We always hear that word
- 8:57about scaling,
- 8:58growing. And I think the reality is once
- 9:00you get to syndication,
- 9:02similar to how you watch right now, if
- 9:04you wanna watch Seinfeld, it's on Netflix. It's
- 9:06syndicated. It's very easy to be able to
- 9:07find those and it's just replicated beautifully. So
- 9:10when you get to a syndicated lever, guess
- 9:12what? You have a very narrow swim lane.
- 9:14You've got very clear paths. Everyone knows what's
- 9:17going on, and you can also look from
- 9:19an understudy point of view.
- 9:21The CEO can switch in and out, and
- 9:22usually, you won't even notice when you have
- 9:24a very successful syndicated,
- 9:26organization. So as you think about it, psychiatric
- 9:29medical care went through this growth phase, you
- 9:32know, over the past since it was founded
- 9:33almost twenty five years ago,
- 9:35from three locations to over 300 today. So
- 9:38what that meant is our organization had to
- 9:40go through all three phases. And now we
- 9:42even have new divisions,
- 9:44self managed facilities, you know, in terms of
- 9:46that, and also partners with hospitals. So we
- 9:48now have such a broad,
- 9:49platform
- 9:51that it gives us great diversity, but none
- 9:52of that would have happened if we weren't
- 9:54very improv in the very beginning. We graduated
- 9:57toward a musical focus, and then we needed
- 9:59different levels of skill set. Right, Laura? Because
- 10:01you you have someone here that comes into
- 10:03the musical that doesn't like improv. And if
- 10:05you go and hire someone that is really,
- 10:07really good at syndicated, as an example, you
- 10:09know, we've hired from a very, very large
- 10:11health system, academic health system that was so
- 10:13used to a certain level of of of
- 10:15management and style, hired them and put them
- 10:17into a division that was improv. They did
- 10:19not do well. They they needed clear direction.
- 10:22They wanted that. They didn't wanna just think
- 10:24on their own. And, therefore, that was gonna
- 10:26cause burnout and a failure of that individual.
- 10:28So to get back to your original question
- 10:30of how do you manage and build a
- 10:32culture, it's all about aligning people,
- 10:34that wanna be into one of those three
- 10:36phases. So finding an individual that wants to
- 10:38be in an improv role, a musical role,
- 10:40or a syndicated role, and placing that talent
- 10:43in those particular areas that match their skill
- 10:46set and what they want to do. And
- 10:48then guess what? You're gonna love what you
- 10:50do because you're now in the, what I'll
- 10:52call, division that you love. Does that make
- 10:54sense, Laura?
- 10:56Yeah. Absolutely. I love that analogy. I mean,
- 10:58being a a musical theater,
- 11:00major myself, I I think that it makes
- 11:02a lot of sense. We look at organizations
- 11:04and how you can function within the teams
- 11:06and the expectations of the culture, and and
- 11:08really, you know, lean into your strengths there
- 11:11and and then understanding how being pushed outside
- 11:14of that can lead into to burnout. So
- 11:16figuring out where the right people are in
- 11:18the right places and how they can really
- 11:20function at the highest level makes a lot
- 11:22of sense. Real quick, Laura. If you think
- 11:24about it from a health care perspective, if
- 11:25you think about you've had a hospital that's
- 11:27been operating for fifty years and you're at
- 11:29Harvard, right, you know, in terms of, you
- 11:31know, gen gen mass or, you know, NYU,
- 11:33you're gonna have certain areas like primary care
- 11:36or cardiology that literally already may be in
- 11:38a syndicated function. But then one day you
- 11:41decide you wanna open up a geriatric inpatient
- 11:44psychiatry unit. Well, guess what? You're now starting
- 11:46right back, you know, in terms of improv
- 11:49of bringing in this new facility. And it's
- 11:51gonna very quickly, obviously, within a large hospital
- 11:53and you partner to bring it, it's gonna
- 11:55move very quickly within a large system from
- 11:57improv to musical to syndicated to be very
- 11:59similar to your more established programs. But that
- 12:02way, you can always see that these three
- 12:03levels
- 12:04can match either a brand new organization, a
- 12:07new division,
- 12:08trying
- 12:09AI is a great example right now that
- 12:11is living and breathing in improv as you
- 12:13can just literally see it.
- 12:15And there's no doubt it's gonna move toward
- 12:17very quickly musical and then ultimately into syndication.
- 12:21Absolutely. A 100%. And, you know, AI is
- 12:23on the tip of everybody's tongue today, and
- 12:25I can see it moving quickly, between those
- 12:27stages. And, you know, looking at the future,
- 12:29what else are some of the big priorities
- 12:31and headwinds that you're focused on for the
- 12:32next year or so?
- 12:34When you when you say headwinds, you know,
- 12:36I think that the biggest thing I think
- 12:38there's one that's that's cultural is is a
- 12:40headwind, and then I also think there's headwinds
- 12:42around managing the the wonderful world of bureaucracy,
- 12:45you know, and trying to figure out what
- 12:46direction,
- 12:48is the federal and the state government's gonna
- 12:50go as it relates to behavioral health. You
- 12:51know, as an example,
- 12:53just recently, the, there's a 50,000,000,000, as you
- 12:56may know, $50,000,000,000
- 12:57that it's gonna be going towards supporting rural
- 12:59health care.
- 13:00So I believe that's a wonderful step, but
- 13:02I've also talked to a significant number of
- 13:05the step you know, the highest level of
- 13:07leaders in health care. And right now, there's
- 13:09just a lot of ambiguity
- 13:10on how is that money distributed to the
- 13:12states, how you know, what type of organization
- 13:15will have access to that money?
- 13:16What are the qualifiers? And and I think
- 13:19that, you know, the biggest thing that I
- 13:20go you know, what kind of the thought
- 13:22pros process I go through with headwinds is
- 13:26how
- 13:27can federal legislators how can leaders begin to
- 13:30take away the ambiguity,
- 13:33and help make things crystal clear on who
- 13:35will be receiving what types of funds and
- 13:37how to apply?
- 13:39I I think that is just would be
- 13:40a remarkably
- 13:41big benefit to all of health care because
- 13:43there's, as we all know, Laura, I mean,
- 13:45at Becker's and everyone knows, health care is
- 13:47complicated.
- 13:48I mean, I don't know if you've noticed
- 13:50this, but it is a really difficult industry
- 13:52to either come in, and it's also like
- 13:54the mafia. You're not gonna necessarily leave.
- 13:57So I I look at that and I
- 13:58begin to say, hey. You know, as people
- 14:00are,
- 14:01trying to learn it, I would love it
- 14:03if there was just more simplicity
- 14:05toward funding and how that manages. Because what
- 14:07ends up happening, and I think this is
- 14:09more of a macro idea of when you
- 14:11ask me what what are future areas.
- 14:13Transparently, I wanna be able to help find,
- 14:16you know, areas with our leadership team that
- 14:18don't require grant funding, that don't need to
- 14:21go through that process. Because one thing I've
- 14:23noticed is when you get grants from a
- 14:25state or you get grants from a federal
- 14:27organization,
- 14:28they stop at some point. And and I
- 14:30think that that concerns a lot of individuals
- 14:33because you get a beautiful program established for
- 14:35one, two, three years while the grant's alive,
- 14:37and you're you're helping so many people and
- 14:39you're changing lives. But then once that grant
- 14:42stops, boom, the financial stop because it was
- 14:45never set up to be what I'll call,
- 14:47an a an entity or level of care
- 14:50that could survive without a subsidization.
- 14:52And I think
- 14:53that's the that's the biggest headwind is trying
- 14:55to find what are care paths within behavioral
- 14:58health that don't necessarily require ongoing grants to
- 15:03ensure longevity of care.
- 15:06Such an excellent point. And definitely, it's important
- 15:08to think about and understand as, you know,
- 15:11all of the the different grants are coming
- 15:12from the government or or state level organizations
- 15:15and Or billionaires or even billionaires. You know?
- 15:18Exactly. Exactly. That's gonna come out and give
- 15:20the money. I I just wish they would
- 15:22find it to be simplified, but then more
- 15:24focused on, okay. If I'm gonna give the
- 15:26grant, let's find out. Let's give the grant
- 15:27to help get the start up cost. Because
- 15:29I think, you know, even with an organization,
- 15:31and I'm sure you're about to even ask
- 15:33a question related to how you get one
- 15:35of these types of programs open,
- 15:37It's really all about startup cost. So if
- 15:39there are grants and funds that can help
- 15:41get a program started that then can be
- 15:44sustainable long term, that is magnificent.
- 15:48And I think that's the biggest level of
- 15:49help. Rather than just saying, hey. I just
- 15:51need a million dollars every year to fund
- 15:53this particular behavioral health program.
- 15:56Rather, let's let's get $200,000
- 15:59to start this type of program knowing that
- 16:01over time, it will be financially self sustainable,
- 16:04and investing in those types of care programs
- 16:07and then aligning that to make sure it
- 16:08can actually happen. And I think
- 16:10we've been very fortunate at psychiatric medical care
- 16:12to be able to find,
- 16:14those type of care models with our intensive
- 16:17outpatient psychiatry programs as well as our inpatient
- 16:20programs and now even adolescent, which we manage
- 16:23ourselves.
- 16:24But with those hospital partnerships, we're able to
- 16:27find a way to get them started at
- 16:28a very low cost and then absolutely become
- 16:31self sustaining, which is why we've been able
- 16:33to grow, to well over 200 locations just
- 16:36in that level of care.
- 16:38Absolutely. That makes a lot of sense, and
- 16:40it's helpful to see things that way and
- 16:42that comes through that light. Now I know
- 16:44for the hospitals and systems that you work
- 16:46most closely with, there is a lot happening
- 16:48right now in behavioral health. And so from
- 16:50kind of the bird's eye view and industry
- 16:52that you've been in, having been around for
- 16:54more than fifty years, what do you think
- 16:56is some of the hardest things that you
- 16:58have to do in the coming year? What
- 16:59do you think is, most important for leaders
- 17:02of these hospitals and systems to understand as
- 17:04they're heading into 2026?
- 17:07You know, I I just feel like it's
- 17:09a broken record, and you've probably, you know,
- 17:11spoken to a 100 different, you know, leaders
- 17:13in health care and, you know, probably another
- 17:15100 in behavioral health.
- 17:18And the number one that always pops up,
- 17:18especially post COVID, is staffing. And and I
- 17:20think that
- 17:22the biggest element that we experienced in the
- 17:24headwinds, when I believe we we spoke,
- 17:27before was related to COVID and the amount
- 17:29of what I'll call interim staff,
- 17:32interim, call it locum tenum, but, you know,
- 17:34in terms of having to have travelers that
- 17:36we paid a fortune to. I mean, Laura,
- 17:38it was highway robbery.
- 17:40And, you know, we we had to pay
- 17:42that because if you didn't have the care
- 17:44professional in that location,
- 17:46at your hospital, you know, at our hospitals
- 17:48or, you know, at our partner hospitals, you
- 17:50know, we weren't able to provide care to
- 17:52the community. And it became really,
- 17:55just a shocking
- 17:56level of amount of money for relocation expense,
- 17:59bonus amounts of money. I'm I mean, my
- 18:01goodness, Laura. I remember paying people I don't
- 18:03even wanna tell you here on the air,
- 18:04but paying individuals a fortune to get started,
- 18:07and then six months later, they quit, leave,
- 18:09ghost us. I mean, who does that? And
- 18:11and I think that that was
- 18:14something people listening can relate to because most
- 18:17likely, they all experienced it as well. And
- 18:18and I don't think it was
- 18:20indicative of a hospital's culture or psychiatric medical
- 18:23cares. It was an indicative toward the environment
- 18:26of what was going on and then also
- 18:28the the locations of where we provide care.
- 18:30Fortunately, over the past five years, that has,
- 18:33or I guess, passed, you know, however long
- 18:34since COVID ended,
- 18:36that has
- 18:37dropped significantly. So we are no longer having
- 18:40to live in that world of travelers, and
- 18:41I think, goodness, that telehealth has expanded as
- 18:45as successfully as it has because that allows
- 18:47us to provide that level of care and
- 18:49not be put into those really difficult situations.
- 18:52But we still have locations that require in
- 18:54person care.
- 18:55But, again, that that cultural that I went
- 18:57I think went through health care and everyone
- 19:00went through this, and I remember hearing Becker's
- 19:02multiple speakers,
- 19:03mentioning this during, you know, right after post
- 19:05COVID. That seems like it's ended. What's what's
- 19:08started to happen more recently is there's just
- 19:11fewer,
- 19:12numbers of individuals that are here that we're
- 19:14trying to find. So retention
- 19:16is the number one thing that our organization
- 19:18is focused on. And I think that goes
- 19:20into setting up, just like I mentioned before,
- 19:24ensuring that the team members we bring on
- 19:27are able to find which path do they
- 19:29like best. Do they want to be a
- 19:31part of an improv location? So what I'll
- 19:33call musical or syndicated to make sure that
- 19:35we can retain that talent,
- 19:38so they aren't just coming in and then
- 19:39leaving six months later and nine months later.
- 19:41And then also on the flip side, we
- 19:43as an organization and our partners, we have
- 19:45to do a really, really good job of
- 19:47finding the right people at the beginning. So
- 19:49if it does take, let's say, three extra
- 19:52months and let's say if we wanna get
- 19:53a program from start to finish opened within
- 19:56four months. Right? So we we sign a
- 19:58contract with the facility. We are gonna be
- 20:00goal to be open within four months. I
- 20:02think the biggest partnership of theirs to say,
- 20:05okay. We can hit that time.
- 20:06But if it takes five months, that extra
- 20:08thirty days may help us both to be
- 20:10able to find the right talent at the
- 20:12right time so that six months after we
- 20:14start,
- 20:15we aren't failing. And sometimes people call that
- 20:17hiring heartbeat, you know, heartbeat higher, so you
- 20:19just you gotta fill a slot. And in
- 20:21in health care, we sometimes fall into that
- 20:23because of licensure requirements, so we do a
- 20:25heartbeat higher. Well, guess what, Laura? Every time
- 20:27we've done a heartbeat higher,
- 20:29maybe one out of 10, we get lucky.
- 20:31But nine out of 10 times, that individual
- 20:33is not a fit to be on the
- 20:35bus,
- 20:36either with our hospital or with us. And
- 20:37so we do have to go through and
- 20:39re recruit, which cost a fortune. And I
- 20:42think that everyone knows that if we can
- 20:44find the right team at the right place,
- 20:46take the time to find the right people,
- 20:49because it's better for the organization and it's
- 20:51better for the care model, that we're all
- 20:53delivering. So I think it's one thing around
- 20:55just having great collaborative partnerships with, entities to
- 20:58make sure we both go into it with
- 20:59that,
- 21:01with that vision in place.
- 21:03I love it. JR, thank you so much
- 21:05for joining us on the podcast today. This
- 21:06has been such a fantastic conversation.
- 21:09Really learned a lot, and I love all
- 21:10the different,
- 21:11topics we talked about today in terms of
- 21:13staffing and in building a great workforce and
- 21:15and the right ways to think about how
- 21:17you can continue to build that foundation and
- 21:19grow and develop. And, JR, I'm looking forward
- 21:21to seeing you as well at our annual
- 21:23media. I know you'll be speaking, with us
- 21:25in April, so excited to see you in
- 21:27person and be able to connect.
- 21:29I'm looking forward to it as I always
- 21:31do.