Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Albert L. Wright, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of West Virginia University Health System

Transcript

Albert L. Wright, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of West Virginia University Health System · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - There's a small circle of people who truly
• 0:04
  - understand what it takes to lead a health
• 0:05
  - 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
• 0:26
  - brings together more than 1,500
• 0:28
  - executive level attendees
• 0:30
  - and nearly 400 speakers for four days built
• 0:32
  - around growth, financial sustainability,
• 0:35
  - workforce strategy, and the leadership questions that don't
• 0:38
  - have easy answers.
• 0:39
  - Join us November second through the fifth in
• 0:41
  - Chicago.
• 0:42
  - For the agenda and event details,
• 0:45
  - visit beckershospitalreview.com
• 0:47
  - and click on the events tab in the
• 0:49
  - upper right.
• 0:51
  - This is Laura Dierdo with the Becker's Healthcare
• 0:54
  - podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by
• 0:56
  - Albert Wright junior, president and chief executive officer
• 0:58
  - at West Virginia University Health System. Albert, it's
• 1:01
  - a pleasure to have you on the podcast
• 1:02
  - today.
• 1:03
  - I'm excited to be here, Laura, and thank
• 1:05
  - you for the opportunity.
• 1:07
  - Absolutely. Now I'm looking forward to our conversation.
• 1:09
  - I know we're gonna talk a lot about
• 1:10
  - some of the great things you're doing at
• 1:12
  - West Virginia University Health System as well as
• 1:14
  - how you're thinking about the future. But before
• 1:16
  - before we do, can you tell us a
• 1:17
  - little bit more about yourself and your background?
• 1:20
  - Sure. You know, I've been I've had the
• 1:22
  - privilege of being the CEO of the WVU
• 1:24
  - Health System for twelve years now.
• 1:28
  - I'm a pharmacist by background, you know, and
• 1:31
  - and, you know, when you're young and think
• 1:32
  - about what you're gonna do, no one ever
• 1:34
  - says that you're gonna you know, no one
• 1:35
  - ever thinks they're gonna become the CEO of
• 1:37
  - a large academic health system. That just kinda
• 1:39
  - happens to you. And, you know, I started
• 1:41
  - out as I shared as a pharmacist and
• 1:43
  - became a pharmacy director and then, you know,
• 1:46
  - worked my way up into more general administration
• 1:49
  - and leadership. I
• 1:51
  - I previously held,
• 1:53
  - leadership positions at OhioHealth in Columbus and University
• 1:57
  - of Pittsburgh Medical Center in Pittsburgh. And as
• 2:00
  - I shared, I just hit my twelve year
• 2:02
  - point here in,
• 2:03
  - WVU Health System, which we often refer to
• 2:06
  - as WVU Medicine. And, I'm very excited about
• 2:09
  - the things we're doing here in the state
• 2:11
  - and the region to improve the health trajectory
• 2:14
  - of the of the population that we're privileged
• 2:16
  - to serve.
• 2:18
  - That's amazing to hear. You know, what an
• 2:20
  - important population you have. I can imagine there,
• 2:23
  - covers a a wide variety of communities and
• 2:25
  - people. So could you give us a quick
• 2:27
  - state of the union for where you're at
• 2:29
  - today? What has gone well this year, and
• 2:31
  - what are you focused on for the rest
• 2:32
  - of 2026?
• 2:34
  - Yeah. No.
• 2:35
  - Great question. So kind of, you know, we
• 2:38
  - we continue in a pretty significant growth mode,
• 2:41
  - both
• 2:42
  - organically
• 2:43
  - and inorganically.
• 2:44
  - So organically,
• 2:46
  - you know, we're investing well over a billion
• 2:48
  - dollars around the state right now to really
• 2:51
  - grow
• 2:52
  - the breadth and depth of our clinical services,
• 2:55
  - you know, starting at our our academic
• 2:58
  - medical center flagship here in Morgantown, 900 bed
• 3:01
  - hospital, Ruby Memorial, WVU hospitals.
• 3:04
  - You know, we are probably halfway through. I
• 3:06
  - just got a great tour of we're building
• 3:08
  - a new,
• 3:10
  - eye institute on campus, which will replace our
• 3:13
  - our previous eye institute and probably triple the
• 3:17
  - size
• 3:18
  - of the facility. We have the most comprehensive
• 3:22
  - eye institute here in the state and is
• 3:24
  - a significant regional player, which actually,
• 3:28
  - will make room for
• 3:30
  - a cancer hospital we intend to build on
• 3:32
  - campus here,
• 3:34
  - you know, sometime in the late,
• 3:36
  - would that will open in the early twenty
• 3:38
  - thirties. So we've got lots of growth here
• 3:40
  - in Morgantown, but all around the state. You
• 3:41
  - know, you go out to Berkeley Medical Center
• 3:44
  - in the Eastern Panhandle Estate, and we have,
• 3:47
  - about $200,000,000
• 3:48
  - of projects underway with expansions to both of
• 3:51
  - our hospitals out there.
• 3:52
  - We're building a new cancer institute in Wheeling,
• 3:54
  - a new cancer institute down in Princeton, West
• 3:57
  - Virginia,
• 3:58
  - and a new tower in Parkersburg, West Virginia.
• 4:00
  - So lots of breadth and depth organic growth,
• 4:03
  - Laura,
• 4:03
  - happening in the state. Inorganically,
• 4:06
  - you know, today we sit at 25 hospital
• 4:08
  - campuses,
• 4:09
  - you know,
• 4:11
  - in our health care system.
• 4:13
  - By the end of the year, by January
• 4:15
  - 1, we will actually add
• 4:17
  - seven hospital campuses. One more in West Virginia,
• 4:20
  - a small
• 4:21
  - pediatric behavioral health hospital in Wheeling, West Virginia.
• 4:24
  - The other six in Pennsylvania, you know, so
• 4:27
  - across the border.
• 4:29
  - Five of those coming from the Independence Health
• 4:31
  - System based in Greensburg, Pennsylvania,
• 4:34
  - and also one,
• 4:35
  - one critical access hospital. We're excited about Fulton
• 4:38
  - County Medical Center over, you know, more towards
• 4:40
  - Central Pennsylvania.
• 4:42
  - So, you know, our goal,
• 4:44
  - you know, we have a two part mission.
• 4:46
  - One is to improve the health trajectory
• 4:48
  - of the state of West Virginia and all
• 4:49
  - the surrounding areas we serve, and two is
• 4:51
  - to carry out the teaching objectives
• 4:54
  - of West Virginia University. And we really want
• 4:56
  - to be a top quartile academic health system
• 4:59
  - serving the region.
• 5:02
  - Well, that's amazing to hear and, you know,
• 5:03
  - really cool to understand and see,
• 5:06
  - where you're headed in terms of growth, being
• 5:09
  - able to invest so much in the different
• 5:10
  - facilities, make upgrades, and add services and more.
• 5:14
  - So that's really exciting to see. And, you
• 5:16
  - know,
• 5:17
  - what gives you the ability to,
• 5:20
  - embark on such growth efforts and those kinds
• 5:22
  - of things, especially in environment? I know so
• 5:24
  - many health systems and hospitals are are looking
• 5:27
  - at, you know,
• 5:28
  - tighter budgets than they have in the past
• 5:31
  - in in uncertain financial situations. So what did
• 5:33
  - you do in order to set up the
• 5:35
  - system to have this type of, flexibility to
• 5:37
  - keep growing and developing,
• 5:39
  - and put the right resources in the right
• 5:41
  - places to make the services work for your
• 5:44
  - communities? Oh, that's that's a wonderful question. And,
• 5:46
  - you know, there there's there's no magic bullet
• 5:49
  - other than, you know, your your revenues need
• 5:51
  - to be a little bit higher than your
• 5:53
  - expenses,
• 5:53
  - you know, in order to be able to
• 5:55
  - to make these three investments. But I I
• 5:57
  - like to remind people
• 5:59
  - that the WVU Health System was actually founded
• 6:03
  - by an act of the state legislature, the
• 6:05
  - West Virginia state legislature back in 1996
• 6:08
  - with the intention of always making sure,
• 6:11
  - you know, that we had a locally controlled
• 6:14
  - health care system. Because the
• 6:16
  - the belief of the legislature that time was
• 6:18
  - that if we always had a locally controlled
• 6:21
  - major health system,
• 6:23
  - we would be more likely to make investments
• 6:26
  - in
• 6:27
  - West Virginia health care and improving the health
• 6:29
  - of our population
• 6:31
  - than if our health care was controlled by
• 6:33
  - out of state entities. So when you you
• 6:35
  - know, and and obviously, we have to make
• 6:37
  - sure
• 6:38
  - that our revenues are over our expenses to
• 6:41
  - the point that we have, you know, adequate
• 6:43
  - days cash on hand,
• 6:45
  - you know, to to stay in the good
• 6:47
  - graces of our bondholders. We need to make
• 6:49
  - sure we have, you know, an enough
• 6:52
  - that we can reinvest in our people, in
• 6:54
  - our physical plants, and give them raises and
• 6:57
  - things like that. But, you know, once we
• 6:59
  - once we, you know, satisfy
• 7:02
  - those needs, Laura, then again, I go back
• 7:04
  - to that core mission and why we were
• 7:07
  - created by the state legislature, and that's to
• 7:09
  - make investments
• 7:10
  - in, you know, health care in the state
• 7:12
  - of West Virginia in this region. And when
• 7:15
  - you think about it,
• 7:17
  - the state of West Virginia is the only
• 7:19
  - entirely
• 7:20
  - Appalachian state in the country. Every all 55
• 7:23
  - counties are Appalachian.
• 7:25
  - And, you know, we really, you know,
• 7:27
  - don't have major population centers. Our largest city,
• 7:30
  - Charleston, is just under 50,000 people. So if
• 7:33
  - you think about it,
• 7:35
  - in many ways,
• 7:36
  - we are the definition of rural health care.
• 7:38
  - And, you know, we've embraced,
• 7:40
  - you know, the goal of being the
• 7:43
  - the, you know, one of, if not the
• 7:46
  - best rural health population,
• 7:48
  - health managing,
• 7:50
  - health care systems out there. And these investments
• 7:53
  - to give people,
• 7:54
  - you know, not only access to care, but
• 7:57
  - hopefully proactive investments
• 8:00
  - in the social determinants of health in,
• 8:03
  - you know, proactive investments in behavioral health, proactive
• 8:06
  - investments
• 8:07
  - in home monitoring and early disease detection.
• 8:10
  - We think that's exactly why we exist
• 8:14
  - as an organization.
• 8:15
  - So it's, you know, it's very blessed and
• 8:18
  - and gratifying to be able to make these
• 8:20
  - investments in breadth and depth to improve the
• 8:22
  - health trajectory of our population over time.
• 8:27
  - That's amazing to hear. And, you know, what
• 8:29
  - a great goal and philosophy and certainly important,
• 8:32
  - to be able to do that in your
• 8:33
  - own communities and then share with others as
• 8:35
  - well. I'm curious. When you look ahead, what
• 8:38
  - are some of the big headwinds that you're
• 8:39
  - keeping your eye on as well as, preparing
• 8:42
  - for in the coming year or so?
• 8:44
  - You know, another great question. I I, you
• 8:46
  - know, I I think we watch,
• 8:50
  - the same
• 8:51
  - challenges
• 8:52
  - that a lot of other health care systems
• 8:55
  - are watching. You know, there were some changes
• 8:58
  - in
• 8:59
  - the the so called one big beautiful bill
• 9:00
  - that, you know, potentially
• 9:03
  - adversely affect,
• 9:05
  - you know, our finances
• 9:06
  - and our reimbursement
• 9:08
  - and and those that are eligible
• 9:10
  - for,
• 9:11
  - you know, health care coverage. So we're watching
• 9:13
  - that like everyone else. We're watching,
• 9:15
  - you know, challenges to the three forty b
• 9:18
  - program
• 9:19
  - like everyone else. You know? So our if
• 9:22
  - you really think about it,
• 9:24
  - our entire
• 9:25
  - health care financing system in our country is
• 9:28
  - jokingly
• 9:29
  - somewhat held together with toothpicks and bubblegum. So
• 9:32
  - we'd love to see that be,
• 9:34
  - you know, more stable in the future,
• 9:37
  - you know, and make sure that we're being
• 9:39
  - reimbursed fairly for the great care we provide.
• 9:42
  - So those are things that that keep us,
• 9:45
  - you know, up at night a little bit,
• 9:47
  - but, like, everyone else has those same challenges.
• 9:50
  - The other interesting thing for us, though, is
• 9:52
  - just keeping up
• 9:54
  - with the amazing patient demand we had. As
• 9:56
  - I as I shared earlier, you know, we
• 9:58
  - have over $1,000,000,000
• 10:00
  - of construction projects,
• 10:02
  - you know, happening. We wanna make sure that
• 10:04
  - we've got the
• 10:05
  - the care in place in local communities where
• 10:08
  - people live to make sure we're able to
• 10:11
  - take great care of them. And I I
• 10:12
  - think we're doing that, and I'm blessed to,
• 10:14
  - you know, lead a team of over 40,000
• 10:17
  - people that are laser focused on on helping
• 10:20
  - make sure that their neighbors and their communities
• 10:23
  - get great care.
• 10:26
  - Absolutely. All of that. And, you know, and
• 10:28
  - thinking through all of those different things that
• 10:30
  - are are going on, you know, whether it's
• 10:32
  - HR one or three forty b program uncertainties.
• 10:35
  - I can imagine,
• 10:36
  - you know, a a lot to think about
• 10:39
  - and plan for, but at the same time,
• 10:40
  - you know, to your point at the beginning
• 10:42
  - of the conversation as well, a a lot
• 10:44
  - of exciting growth opportunities. Yeah. So could you
• 10:46
  - dig a little bit deeper there and, as
• 10:48
  - well? How are you,
• 10:50
  - thinking about growth and developing the next couple
• 10:52
  - of years and and then making sure you've
• 10:53
  - got the right team in place in order
• 10:55
  - to make it all happen?
• 10:57
  - Yeah. No. That's a wonderful, you know, thing
• 11:00
  - to talk about. And as I shared, you
• 11:02
  - know, we're growing clinically and our capabilities.
• 11:05
  - A lot of our focus, Laura, if you
• 11:06
  - remember,
• 11:07
  - we created our own provider sponsored health plan
• 11:10
  - called Peak Health a few years back, you
• 11:12
  - know, which is
• 11:13
  - a which is a joint venture with Marshall
• 11:15
  - Health Network down in Huntington, West Virginia and
• 11:18
  - Valley Health,
• 11:19
  - out in Winchester, Virginia,
• 11:21
  - two great partners.
• 11:23
  - And one of the neat things about Peak
• 11:25
  - Health is we really treat Peak as a
• 11:27
  - cost center rather than a profit center. And
• 11:30
  - that allows us
• 11:32
  - to to change reimbursement models, Laura, that move
• 11:35
  - us away from fee for service
• 11:38
  - and towards alternative payment models that incentivize
• 11:42
  - us as health care providers,
• 11:44
  - truly incentivize us as health care providers
• 11:47
  - to keep patients as healthy as possible
• 11:50
  - and in the lowest cost setting. And if
• 11:52
  - we're, you know and if you're incentivized
• 11:54
  - to stay financially healthy by keeping patients,
• 11:58
  - you know, healthy and in the lowest cost
• 12:00
  - setting, you know, that's exactly the type of
• 12:03
  - health care system
• 12:04
  - we wanna create. Right? I want a health
• 12:06
  - care system where people like Albert Wright and
• 12:09
  - other great leaders at W Medicine are saying,
• 12:11
  - how do I keep
• 12:13
  - patients healthy and in the lowest cost setting
• 12:15
  - and feel financially,
• 12:17
  - you know, secure and safe in doing that?
• 12:20
  - And that's where you start to make some
• 12:22
  - of those proactive investments, working with local public
• 12:25
  - health agencies,
• 12:27
  - investments in home monitoring, investments in the social
• 12:30
  - determinants of health. And that's where you really
• 12:33
  - start to change
• 12:34
  - the way you do things,
• 12:36
  - and you start to, you know, not only
• 12:39
  - be able to take great care of folks
• 12:40
  - who are acutely ill, but start to proactively,
• 12:44
  - you know, inject,
• 12:46
  - wellness and preventative medicine into everything you're doing.
• 12:49
  - We are spending a a disproportionate
• 12:52
  - amount of our time and energy
• 12:55
  - working through our children's hospital program
• 12:58
  - because, you know, as if if you make
• 13:00
  - sure your kids have a bright future
• 13:03
  - and you make sure those patients that are
• 13:05
  - in that, you know, age 15 to age
• 13:08
  - 18, if we can make sure
• 13:10
  - that we are are getting them into some
• 13:13
  - type of an educational
• 13:14
  - platform,
• 13:15
  - making sure they have caring adults in their
• 13:17
  - lives,
• 13:18
  - and making sure they realize that, hey,
• 13:20
  - if I eat well, if I stay in
• 13:22
  - good health, if I get a job with
• 13:24
  - a regular paycheck,
• 13:26
  - my life is going to be better. That's
• 13:28
  - how we believe you change the the long
• 13:32
  - term health trajectory of a state from a
• 13:34
  - state that's historically been one,
• 13:37
  - you know, that when you compare our our
• 13:39
  - health rankings to other states, you know, on
• 13:41
  - almost any metric, health, you know, heart disease,
• 13:44
  - diabetes, obesity,
• 13:45
  - addiction, sense of purpose, we're historically
• 13:48
  - between forty fifth and fiftieth. But we don't
• 13:50
  - wanna be between fortieth and fiftieth here in
• 13:52
  - West Virginia. We wanna be top quartiles. So
• 13:55
  - these are the types of investments
• 13:57
  - in our patients, especially those young patients that
• 14:00
  - we slowly
• 14:02
  - turn that dial
• 14:03
  - to become, not only a great place to
• 14:06
  - live and work and cheer for the mountaineers,
• 14:08
  - but to be a very healthy
• 14:10
  - population
• 14:11
  - as
• 14:12
  - well.
• 14:13
  - I love that. And, you know, it's such
• 14:15
  - a a clear understanding of how taking care
• 14:17
  - of that whole person and making sure there's
• 14:19
  - those resources, opportunities available for them to grow
• 14:22
  - not only,
• 14:24
  - within the hospital and their health journey, but
• 14:26
  - also just within,
• 14:28
  - the entire community. It seems like it really
• 14:31
  - makes a difference in being a leader in
• 14:32
  - that space. I know it isn't easy, but
• 14:34
  - it seems like a great investment to be
• 14:36
  - able to make, especially when you're looking at
• 14:38
  - the social determinants of health and everything else
• 14:40
  - that, goes into that wellness journey. You know,
• 14:43
  - it's it's not easy, but that's why we
• 14:45
  - get paid a nickel more. And believe me,
• 14:47
  - our patients deserve it.
• 14:49
  - Absolutely. I love that.
• 14:51
  - Well, before we wrap up here, I wanted
• 14:53
  - to ask you about leadership too. Who is
• 14:55
  - a leader that you admire really from any
• 14:57
  - industry and why?
• 14:59
  - Oh, jeez.
• 15:01
  - You know, I
• 15:02
  - I don't know that I have,
• 15:05
  - you know, one specific leader,
• 15:08
  - you know, that I would identify. There are
• 15:10
  - so many, you know, we're we're all reflections,
• 15:13
  - Laura, of our mentors in the places we've
• 15:15
  - worked at. And when it's your turn to
• 15:17
  - lead,
• 15:18
  - you know, I think you,
• 15:20
  - I think you try to take bits and
• 15:22
  - pieces in the really good things about those
• 15:25
  - people and places you've worked at, and you
• 15:27
  - try to emulate those, and you try to
• 15:29
  - avoid the blind spots. So I I think,
• 15:31
  - you know,
• 15:33
  - when I think of the collection of leaders,
• 15:35
  - I look up to you know, there are
• 15:37
  - folks that are great communicators.
• 15:39
  - There are folks that have
• 15:41
  - a strict
• 15:42
  - moral
• 15:43
  - compass,
• 15:44
  - you know, in in what they do and
• 15:47
  - and the way they approach
• 15:49
  - their jobs in their world. And, you know,
• 15:51
  - and I believe the job
• 15:53
  - of a CEO
• 15:55
  - is really twofold. You know? And I when
• 15:58
  - I think about everything I do, I think
• 15:59
  - twofold. One, first off, as I shared, we
• 16:01
  - have about 40,000 employees, and that's gonna go
• 16:04
  - up soon.
• 16:05
  - My number one job is to support those
• 16:07
  - 40,000 employees. And that's I can't always do
• 16:10
  - everything
• 16:11
  - every one of them once,
• 16:13
  - but I have to make sure that we're
• 16:15
  - giving them
• 16:16
  - to the best of our ability, the tools
• 16:18
  - and resources
• 16:19
  - to take great care of our patients. So
• 16:21
  - that's, you know, that's one job of a
• 16:23
  - CEO is to take care of your employees.
• 16:25
  - Two is to make sure you're laser focused
• 16:28
  - on your mission. Why is it you exist
• 16:31
  - as a health care system and or or
• 16:34
  - any employee or any employer, I should say.
• 16:37
  - And as I shared earlier,
• 16:39
  - you know, we exist as a health care
• 16:40
  - system
• 16:41
  - to improve the health trajectory of the state
• 16:43
  - of West Virginia and surrounding areas and to
• 16:45
  - cure out the teaching objectives
• 16:47
  - of West Virginia University. So when I think
• 16:49
  - of leaders and leadership,
• 16:51
  - you know, I tend to gravitate towards
• 16:54
  - those leaders that that do really good job
• 16:57
  - of taking care of their employees, building that
• 16:59
  - culture,
• 17:00
  - meeting their mission, and really communicating
• 17:04
  - about everything they know and are trying to
• 17:06
  - do.
• 17:09
  - Fantastic. Great words of advice and especially
• 17:12
  - in time like today when things are transforming
• 17:15
  - so quickly and and certainly,
• 17:18
  - you know, changing a lot within the healthcare
• 17:20
  - space, having that communication that's open and and
• 17:22
  - leaders who are really focused on the right
• 17:24
  - things to grow and develop and evolve, it
• 17:27
  - makes a big difference in how the trajectory
• 17:29
  - of the organization goes.
• 17:31
  - For sure.
• 17:33
  - And and, you know, there there are a
• 17:34
  - lot of folks that, you know, we talk
• 17:35
  - about some of the challenges in health care.
• 17:38
  - And I I see that, Laura, as opportunity.
• 17:41
  - Right? I think that's opportunity for leaders to
• 17:43
  - lead and be creative
• 17:45
  - to improve a system that is
• 17:47
  - is broken in some ways but has so
• 17:49
  - much potential. And that that gets me up
• 17:52
  - every morning excited to come to work.
• 17:55
  - That that's such a powerful thing, to have
• 17:57
  - that type of energy and passion. And everything
• 17:59
  - that you're doing, you know, is coming through
• 18:01
  - so strongly and I can imagine bleeds, you
• 18:03
  - know, into the entire organization.
• 18:06
  - And, you know, to that point and having
• 18:08
  - that excitement coming through and leaders across the
• 18:11
  - board,
• 18:12
  - how do you make sure that that culture
• 18:14
  - and leadership for all levels really is something
• 18:17
  - that's embedded into what you're doing and in
• 18:19
  - the experience that, people are having at all
• 18:21
  - levels of the organization?
• 18:23
  - You know, I I think it starts with
• 18:25
  - surrounding yourself with a complimentary team of partners
• 18:29
  - that are like minded, you know, and we
• 18:31
  - when we're recruiting, you know, physician leaders,
• 18:35
  - executive leaders,
• 18:37
  - You know, we spend a lot of time
• 18:38
  - thinking about cultural fit. You know, we we
• 18:40
  - want people with great credentials. We want people
• 18:42
  - with great capabilities
• 18:44
  - and and leadership traits, but we also want
• 18:46
  - people that fit our culture
• 18:48
  - and are a 100% aligned with what we're
• 18:51
  - trying to accomplish. You know? Now that still
• 18:53
  - means we want diversity of
• 18:55
  - of thoughts and diversity of approach, but we
• 18:57
  - all have to have
• 18:59
  - that common goal of fitting into the culture
• 19:01
  - and working as a team. So we spend
• 19:04
  - probably a little more time, I think, than
• 19:06
  - this is subjective, but I think we spend
• 19:08
  - a little more time than some other organizations
• 19:10
  - making sure we have that cultural fit
• 19:13
  - and and making sure that everybody is is
• 19:16
  - rowing in the same direction.
• 19:18
  - Not only at the health care system, but,
• 19:20
  - you know, I have great relationships with, you
• 19:23
  - know, president Michael Benson, who's the president of
• 19:26
  - West Virginia University and the chair of the
• 19:28
  - board of directors of the WVU Health System.
• 19:30
  - You know, I just met with doctor Benson
• 19:32
  - this morning, Wren Baker, our athletic director. We
• 19:35
  - really want West Virginia University,
• 19:38
  - you know, the university proper, the health system,
• 19:41
  - athletics, you know, whatever the case may be
• 19:43
  - to all be rowing in the same direction
• 19:46
  - to, you know, so that the flagship university
• 19:49
  - and health system of the state of West
• 19:50
  - Virginia,
• 19:52
  - is is leading the state,
• 19:54
  - towards great things in the future.
• 19:57
  - Albert, thank you so much for joining us
• 19:59
  - on the podcast today. This has been a
• 20:00
  - really fun conversation and and clearly very inspiring
• 20:00
  - to think about everything you're doing in West
• 20:00
  - Virginia.
• 20:04
  - Conversation and and, clearly, very inspiring to think
• 20:05
  - about everything you're doing in West Virginia. I'm
• 20:06
  - excited as well to see you in person,
• 20:08
  - our CEO CFO roundtable. I know you'll be
• 20:11
  - speaking and digging deeper into a lot of
• 20:13
  - the things that we talked about today. So
• 20:14
  - I'm looking forward to that, and and thank
• 20:16
  - you so much for your time. Laura, thank
• 20:18
  - you for the opportunity, and I look forward
• 20:20
  - to seeing you soon as well.