Rebekah Le, CFO of Legacy Community Health

Summary

Becker’s Healthcare Podcast with Rebekah Le, CFO of Legacy Community Health

Date: December 25, 2025
Host: Madeline Ashley
Guest: Rebekah Le, Chief Strategy and Finance Officer (CFO) at Legacy Community Health

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Overview

This episode features an insightful conversation with Rebekah Le, CFO and Chief Strategy Officer at Legacy Community Health—the largest federally qualified health center in Texas. The discussion centers on current and future challenges facing healthcare finance leaders, innovation in revenue cycle management, the evolving role of the finance officer, and how Legacy’s mission-driven culture supports resilience and growth. Rebekah’s perspective provides actionable ideas for navigating finance, technology, and leadership in community-based health organizations.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Background: Legacy Community Health’s Scope and Mission

• Legacy’s Scale: Over 60 clinics, nearly 200,000 unique patients, serving the greater Houston and Southeast Texas area.
• Mission Focus: Ensuring healthcare as a right, not a privilege.
• Quote: “I can honestly say that Legacy Community Health and the work that we do is so amazing… it really is an honor.” — Rebekah Le (01:13)

2. Major Challenges in Healthcare Finance

• Legislative Uncertainty:
  • Monitoring changes like HR1 and other legislative actions that could impact funding and care delivery.
  • Quote: “We’re keeping a close eye on... legislative things... making sure we understand how it impacts the communities we serve.” — Rebekah Le (02:12)
• Cybersecurity & Digital Privacy:
  • Emphasized increasing risks with healthcare digitization.
  • Quote: “Managing all the challenges in this increasingly electronic world that we need to keep our eye on and ensure that Legacy is at the top of its game when it comes to cyber and privacy.” — Rebekah Le (02:39)

3. Investing in Revenue Cycle Management

• Technology-Driven Strategies:
  • Implementation of EPIC provided more data and business intelligence capabilities.
  • Focused on “data centricity,” optimized cash management, electronic reconciliations, and advanced behind-the-scenes processes using AI.
  • Quote: “Everywhere I go, every conference, every conversation starts with the two letters AI.” — Rebekah Le (03:07)
  • “It’s really going to be about data centricity and leveraging all the technology and tools that are increasingly becoming available.” — Rebekah Le (03:54)

4. Evaluating and Selecting New Tech Tools

• Collaborative Approach:
  • Legacy is an EPIC “connect partner,” enabling shared learnings with other FQHCs.
  • Main Filter: Return on investment, focusing especially on areas where manual intervention still occurs.
  • Quote: “For right now, we’re heavily focused on where is someone... having to touch pieces of paper, whether it’s adding value or not. And so that’s going to be our first area of focus.” — Rebekah Le (04:49)

5. Team Culture: Driving Resilience and Engagement

• Mission + Business:
  • Finance team stays engaged by directly connecting with the impact of their work—regular visits to clinics and seeing patients.
  • Uses data storytelling to connect numbers to organizational mission and community outcomes.
  • Quote: “Our blend between mission and business... We actually really encourage all of our teams... to really get connected to that mission.” — Rebekah Le (05:18)
  • “There’s power in the story that the numbers tell us, and that if they can be a part of helping us tell that story quicker, faster, better, that it really does have these very specific healthcare-related outcomes.” — Rebekah Le (06:11)

6. The Evolving Role of the CFO

• Storytelling & Curiosity as Core Skills:
  • CFOs must be storytellers—translating numbers into actionable narratives.
  • Emphasizes combining strategy and finance, staying future-focused but grounded in present realities.
  • Quote: “I remember one time I had someone tell me, hey, you’re a CFO, you must really love numbers. And I kind of joked and I laughed and I said, well, I don’t know about love numbers, but there’s a story to be told, right?” — Rebekah Le (06:55)
  • “If you go into anything with genuine curiosity, you’re going to come out much more engaged, much more collaborative, and much more aligned in what you’re going to do going forward.” — Rebekah Le (07:32)

7. Looking Ahead: Growth and Optimism

• New Clinic Openings:
  • Despite challenges, Legacy will open several new clinics in 2026 to extend their reach.
  • Quote: “Amidst whatever challenges there are, there is a massive need to be met. And so we’re really excited to just continue that reach all throughout the greater area in Southeast Texas.” — Rebekah Le (08:23)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Everywhere I go, every conference, every conversation starts with the two letters AI.”
  (03:07, Rebekah Le)

• “There’s power in the story that the numbers tell us, and that if they can be a part of helping us tell that story quicker, faster, better, that it really does have these very specific healthcare-related outcomes, community-related outcomes.”
  (06:11, Rebekah Le)

• “I don’t know about love numbers, but there’s a story to be told, right? And sometimes the numbers are part of that story.”
  (06:55, Rebekah Le)

• “If you go into anything with genuine curiosity, you’re going to come out much more engaged, much more collaborative, and much more aligned in what you’re going to do going forward.”
  (07:32, Rebekah Le)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• Background and Mission — 00:58–01:41
• Current Industry Challenges — 02:03–02:51
• Technology in Revenue Cycle — 03:03–03:54
• Approach to New Tools — 04:21–04:57
• Team Engagement & Resilience — 05:12–06:31
• CFO Role Evolution — 06:47–07:57
• Looking Ahead to 2026 — 08:17–08:41

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Summary

Rebekah Le outlines the complex and rapidly evolving landscape of healthcare finance, from cybersecurity and legislative risks to leveraging advanced analytics and AI. She emphasizes the unique culture at Legacy Community Health, where “mission meets business,” and describes how connecting financial processes to real-world outcomes keeps teams driven. Ultimately, Rebekah influences her organization by championing technology, storytelling, and a collaborative, curiosity-driven approach, inspiring both her team and her peers in the broader healthcare space.

Transcript

[A]

This is where healthcare leadership comes together. Becker's 16th annual meeting brings more than 3,500 hospital and health system executives and nearly 800 speakers to Chicago, April 13th through the 16th. This year's event includes keynote conversations with Dallas Cowboys legend Troy Aikman and former President George W. Bush. For the agenda and event details, visit Beckershospitalreview.com and click on the Events tab in the upper right. Looking forward to hosting you in Chicago.

[B]

This is Madeline Ashley with the Becker CFO and Revenue Cycle podcast. And I'm excited to be joined today by Rebecca Lee, Chief Strategy and Finance Officer for Legacy Community Health. Rebecca, thanks for joining me.

[C]

Yeah, thank you, Maddie. It's great to be here with you, especially right before the holidays.

[B]

I know it, and happy holidays to you. But before we begin, do you mind just sharing a little bit about yourself with our listeners and more about Legacy Community Health?

[C]

Yeah, sure. Well, you've mentioned my name and my title, so what I'll say is I've had the privilege and honor of serving as the chief strategy and Financial officer at legacy for about 18 months now, and what a ride it's been. I can honestly say that Legacy Community Health and the work that we do is so amazing. We are the largest federally qualified health center in the state of Texas. We've been doing this for over 40 years, serving the greater Houston area and Southeast Texas with over 60 clinics, and we're getting really close to about 200,000 unique patients. So it really is an honor to be here with you today and sharing a little bit more about myself and Legacy.

[B]

Wonderful. Well, I appreciate you diving a little bit deeper there. And to kick us off, do you mind just sharing? Obviously, the healthcare industry is an ever evolving one. And so with this in mind, could you share some of the broader challenges you're keeping a close eye on right now and why these are so important for you to keep that financial eye on?

[C]

Yeah, you know, I think it's interesting times that we find ourselves in, and with our focus on healthcare being a right, you know, rather than a privilege, I think some of the things that we're seeing, you know, like HR1 or some of the more legislative things are things that we're keeping a close eye on, ensuring that we can follow that, make sure we understand how it impacts the communities we serve. In addition to that, when we step outside of more of that legislative front and we think about broader challenges in the industry, it's things like cybersecurity and making sure that we're protecting privacy and really Managing all the challenges in this increasingly electronic world that we need to keep our eye on and ensure that Legacy is at the top of the of its game when it comes to cyber and privacy.

[B]

No, definitely some good points there. And could you also share with us just a little bit in terms of how Legacy is kind of, you know, deciding right now where to invest in its revenue cycle?

[C]

You know, we, everywhere I go, every conference, every conversation starts with, you know, the two letters AI. And so I think that's a great part place to start. You know, we're thinking about where Legacy is investing in revenue cycle. We actually implemented EPIC a couple of years ago and so that's really been an enabler for providing more data, being able to leverage things like business intelligence. And as we think about how to continue to optimize in that realm, we're looking at things that are going to allow for better indexing. We're going to be looking for things that are really focus around cash management and allowing for more of the behind the scenes, electronically driven reconciliations and allow our team members to really elevate and help us focus in on. Focused more on denials, focus more on how we can ensure that every penny that we can harvest and bring back into the organization we can. So for revenue cycle, it's really going to be about data centricity and leveraging all the technology and tools that are increasingly becoming available.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, to your point, there are so many tools out there right now. How do you kind of sift through the ones that are going to work best for your organization? I mean, because there's just so much.

[C]

Yeah. As a federally qualified health center and being on epic, we're actually a connect partner. So that actually gives us a broader partnership across multiple FQHCs. We're able to talk through that together and see what's really working best with our instance of epic. So a lot of it's going to be around, you know, what fits best and you know what's going to be the best return on investment. So for right now, we're heavily focused in on where is someone by name, by position or role, having to touch pieces of paper, whether it's adding value or not. And so that's going to be our first area of focus.

[B]

Yeah, no, definitely. And again, amid all of these industry challenges and changes that we're seeing, could you share with our listeners how you're really keeping your finance team resilient and engaged right now, essentially? What's that secret sauce to success for you?

[C]

So as I was Reading that question and thinking about the secret sauce, you know, I was thinking about just our blend between mission and business. You know, when you go out to one of our clinics, it's not hard to feel the mission and the passion with which we operate. And we actually really encourage all of our teams, no matter sort of what their daily role is, is to really get connected to that mission. So when we're making a decision, when we're navigating a challenge, we doing it, you know, we can actually put a face with that, right? We can go out, we can see the pregnant woman we serve, we can see the children that we serve, we can see the seniors, anybody that's out there receiving services from us. And so our finance team really embodies that. And so that goes a long way in maintaining that resiliency. We have had some challenging times, right. Healthcare is not an easy industry, and it continues to be a challenging world. So what we've really focused on with our finance teams is really also data centricity, that there's power in the story that the numbers tell us, and that if they can be a part of helping us tell that story quicker, faster, better, that it really does have these very specific health care related outcomes, community related outcomes, and we really see that embodied in how they operate.

[B]

Yeah. And I mean, you touched on at the beginning of the podcast, you've been in your role here for about 18 months. You know, just in general, could you share maybe how the CFO role is evolving beyond just finances? And maybe some of the most important leadership skills that finance leaders can hone.

[C]

In on right now, the two that jump out to me the most is really being a storyteller. You know, as a little bit of a joke here, you know, I remember one time I had someone tell me, hey, you're a cfo, you must really love numbers. And I kind of joked and I laughed and I said, well, I don't know about love numbers, but there's a story to be told, right? And sometimes the numbers are part of that story. And so I really think being a storyteller, and in order to be a storyteller, you have to understand what's going on. You have to be able to see the pieces, how they fit together, you know, who's in that story, and then really go forward, the genuine curiosity. So when I think about leadership skills, I think it doesn't matter what your technical expertise is or your background, if you go into anything with genuine curiosity, you're going to come out much more engaged, much more collaborative. And much more aligned in what you're going to do going forward. And so I think that blend between strategy and finance being focused on the future but not losing touch with the current reality, I think is really what's allowing CFOs overall to evolve beyond the financials and really begin to harvest and harness those broader leadership skills.

[B]

Yeah, the numbers are important, but there's such a bigger story to be told here. So, yeah, some strong insights there. Final question for you. As we mentioned, it is near the holidays right around the corner and we're heading into 2026. Anything you're particularly excited about right now at your organization or just for the future of healthcare?

[C]

You know, when I think about, you know, the holidays, when I think about what we're able to do, we also have a couple of new clinics opening up next calendar year. And so we are not sitting still. So amidst whatever challenges there are, there is a massive need to be met. And so we're really excited to just continue that reach all throughout the greater area in Southeast Texas.

[B]

Well, that's so great to hear. Well, Rebecca, it has truly been such a pleasure getting to touch base with you and talk a little bit. Wishing you a wonderful holiday and I look forward to connecting again sometime soon.

[C]

Thank you, Maddie. It's been a pleasure being here.

[B]

Thank.

[C]

You.