Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Sinai Chicago Prepares for Medicaid Changes and Healthcare Innovation with Thomasina Wilkins

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Sinai Chicago Prepares for Medicaid Changes and Healthcare Innovation with Thomasina Wilkins · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

• 0:02
  - The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system
• 0:04
  - leaders right now is not a short list.
• 0:07
  - Growth in a consolidating market, sustainable margins in
• 0:09
  - a reimbursement environment that rarely moves in your
• 0:12
  - favor,
• 0:12
  - a tech investment cycle that demands both urgency
• 0:15
  - and discipline,
• 0:16
  - and a workforce story that is still being
• 0:19
  - written.
• 0:20
  - Eker's fourteenth annual CEO CFO roundtable brings together
• 0:23
  - more than 1,500 executive level attendees and nearly
• 0:27
  - 400 speakers across four days of sessions that
• 0:30
  - are designed to help c suite leaders benchmark,
• 0:32
  - pressure test, and sharpen their priorities.
• 0:35
  - Not in the abstract, but against the real
• 0:37
  - decisions they'll face heading into the next year.
• 0:39
  - It's the kind of event you leave with
• 0:40
  - a clear sense of where you stand and
• 0:42
  - what comes next.
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  - So join us November second through the fifth
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  - at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago,
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  - and come ready to do the hard thinking.
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  - Register on our events page at beckershospitalreview.com
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  - by clicking on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
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  - This is Andrew Pass with the Becker CFO
• 1:00
  - and revenues like the podcast, and I'm thrilled
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  - to be joined today by Thomasina Wilkins, chief
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  - revenue officer at Sinai Chicago, which includes four
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  - hospitals,
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  - several community clinics, and a nationally recognized research
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  - institute
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  - serving Chicago's West And Southwest Sides. Thomasina, it's
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  - a pleasure to have you on the podcast
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  - today.
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  - Thank you for having me. Before we begin,
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  - can you tell us a little bit about
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  - your role and your background?
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  - Yes. Absolutely.
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  - So my name is Thomasina Wilkins. I'm also
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  - known as TW around the country.
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  - I have over twenty five years of experience.
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  - I stopped counting after twenty five.
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  - I was a subject matter expert in, 20
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  - of the 50 states, including the state of
• 1:43
  - Illinois as well as internationally as well.
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  - I am also an author of a substantial
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  - amount of operating policies and procedures for health
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  - care institutions,
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  - which include medical academic centers,
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  - physicians' offices.
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  - And I was also recently named, one of
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  - the top,
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  - women in health IT by Becker's Healthcare for
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  - 2026.
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  - My role specifically,
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  - at Sinai Chicago,
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  - I oversee accounts receivable,
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  - clinical documentation
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  - integrity,
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  - patient financial services,
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  - and a host of different areas.
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  - So I am cross functional,
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  - financial, clinical, as well as IT.
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  - And on a day to day basis, I
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  - make sure that
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  - all of our,
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  - financial workflows,
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  - are collaboratively,
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  - done with our clinical,
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  - team members,
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  - to ensure white glove service as well as
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  - excellence in care.
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  - Well, it's great to have you joining us
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  - today.
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  - And so to start us off, I want
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  - to,
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  - see if you could give us a state
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  - of the union. What has gone well this
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  - year, and what is... What are you focused
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  - on for the rest of 2026?
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  - Absolutely.
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  - So at Sinai Chicago,
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  - we are definitely
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  - mission driven,
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  - and we are doing an absolutely amazing job,
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  - and we are blazing the trail.
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  - Mission and service to the community has increased.
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  - Sinai Chicago is limit... Eliminating the barriers to
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  - health disparities
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  - one day at a time, one patient at
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  - a time.
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  - It's it's not just patient care. It's personal
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  - for us.
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  - We are highly established in a community, and
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  - our mission driven service
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  - will continue
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  - throughout 2026.
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  - And that's what we're focused on,
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  - reducing disparities,
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  - making sure that our patients have access to
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  - care.
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  - And collaboratively,
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  - even with other health care institutions, even in
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  - the neighborhood,
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  - working together to ensure a healthy community.
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  - And so what are the biggest headwinds that
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  - you're keeping an eye on right now in
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  - the industry?
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  - Okay. So Sinai Chicago is one of the
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  - largest
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  - private, not for profit
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  - hospital... Safety net hospitals.
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  - So the number one thing that we're looking
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  - at is HR one, the big beautiful bill
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  - and the major Medicaid changes that are occurring
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  - in 2027.
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  - Why?
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  - Because our highest,
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  - patient demographic is our Medicaid recipients.
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  - We have some patients who have to choose
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  - between
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  - their meals,
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  - prescription drugs,
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  - paying co pays, deductibles.
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  - So HR one will have a major impact
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  - in terms of the redeterminations,
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  - the work requirements,
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  - the administrative burdens, not only just for the
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  - state, but also for our patients as well.
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  - In our community, one of the barriers that
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  - we have is access to technology.
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  - So
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  - we are heavily looking at that as to
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  - how we can engage our community, how we
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  - can continue to eliminate those barriers,
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  - and that is what we are preparing for.
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  - More than 60%
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  - of our client base or patient base is
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  - Medicaid dependent.
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  - So our community health care workers are being
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  - aligned to be able to get out into
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  - the community
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  - to
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  - provide that service to our patients,
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  - specifically
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  - at their homes and in the community.
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  - Our financial counselors are working to be able
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  - to train in the understanding of what does
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  - this mean for our patient,
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  - community
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  - as well as what paperwork do they need,
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  - what are the requirements,
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  - as... And we're also ramping up on making
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  - sure that we are ready for those patients
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  - who might need
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  - alternative funding, whether that be
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  - financial
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  - assistance, you know, or charity care as well.
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  - So we are looking at HR one. We
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  - are looking at
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  - the,
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  - changes in Medicaid,
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  - and we are ramping up for that to
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  - make sure that we are able to provide
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  - services to our patients
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  - as well as that stellar,
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  - service to our community.
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  - Right now, we're already doing that day by
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  - day,
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  - and, we wanna be able to continue
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  - that high quality of care and service throughout
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  - 2026
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  - and 2027
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  - as well.
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  - Yeah. So, obviously, certainly, big challenge ahead, but
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  - on the flip side of that, what are
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  - you excited about going into 2027?
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  - What am I personally excited about for 2027?
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  - I will tell you that I am excited
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  - about
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  - AI.
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  - I am excited about artificial intelligence,
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  - specifically in health care.
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  - This is one of the things that Sinai
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  - Chicago is blazing the trail doing.
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  - We are at aligning our people, our processes,
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  - as well as our technology, and our vendors
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  - as well. So we're looking at our tech
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  - stack too
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  - and seeing how we can advance to be
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  - able
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  - to advance our clinical care,
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  - our operational
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  - support, as well as our patient financial services
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  - engagements as well, not only on-site, but in
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  - the community as well. So I am excited
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  - about this
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  - because I know that where we are now
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  - is where we are, but where we will
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  - be in 2027
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  - is even better. And why?
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  - Because we're looking at how we can improve
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  - every single day
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  - and recalibrating
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  - that in our people processes as well as
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  - technology
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  - and our service in clinical care
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  - each day.
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  - And I guess on a similar note, where
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  - do you see the best opportunities for growth
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  - over the next two to three years?
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  - So over the next two to three years,
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  - the best opportunities
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  - for growth
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  - is to be able to advance in your
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  - technologies and your tool sets that you're being
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  - able to
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  - to, utilize right now. So growth in terms
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  - of what can we offer the community in
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  - terms of financial assistance.
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  - I understand and know that there's gonna be
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  - high deductibles. There's gonna be our patients who
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  - don't have access to the care deductibles.
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  - So I see that the level of partnership
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  - with our vendors,
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  - the level of partnership
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  - with our senators and
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  - our,
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  - political,
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  - community
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  - is gonna be a well...
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  - It's it's gonna be an advancement for us.
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  - So that's where our opportunity lies
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  - to align with our community leaders,
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  - to align with our vendors, to ensure that
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  - we have the best in class service and
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  - support,
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  - and to also advance our service models as
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  - well, as well as services that we offer
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  - today
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  - and advancing those services and providing more,
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  - in the upcoming months and years.
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  - And so the last question I had for
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  - you today is, who do you admire as
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  - a leader from any industry and why?
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  - Okay. So this one is a big one
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  - for me.
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  - I am a cross functional leader. So I
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  - serve as chief revenue officer for Sinai Chicago.
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  - But my background is so diverse that I
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  - will tell you that I admire
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  - those leaders who are blazing the trail in
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  - health care operations.
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  - That is the IT leader who has figured
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  - out the design to ensure innovation in our
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  - current process...
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  - Current processes and our seamless actions to make
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  - them seamless. Right?
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  - And I admire the clinical leaders who have
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  - actionably created advancements in medicine
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  - so that our patients continue to receive the
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  - highest quality and care.
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  - I also admire those financial leaders who blaze
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  - the trail in ensuring
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  - risk management
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  - and financial stability so we can see more
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  - patients.
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  - That also means that I admire our service
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  - staff and leaders too. That means our security,
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  - our EVS, and our engineers.
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  - Why? Because they keep our doors open, and
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  - they keep us safe and compliant each day.
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  - So
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  - all of these leaders play
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  - a key role in ensuring our community stays
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  - consistently healthy,
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  - and disparities
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  - are reduced.
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  - So I recognize
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  - and I admire
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  - all of the health care operations leaders because
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  - it takes a village through mission and service
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  - to be able to heal our community through
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  - partnership.
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  - Well, thank you so much for joining us
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  - today, Thomasina. It's been a pleasure speaking with
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  - you, and I look forward to talking with
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  - you again down the line. Thank you.