← Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Becker’s Healthcare Podcast
Shondra Williams, President & Chief Executive Officer at InclusivCare
00:14:34
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- [00:02]
A
R1 is the leader in healthcare revenue management, helping providers achieve new levels of performance through smart orchestration. With more than 20 years of experience, R1 partners with 1,000 providers, including 95 of the top 100 US health systems and handles over 270 million payer transactions annually. If you want to learn more about how you can transform your revenue cycle operations, Visit us at www.r1rcm.com.
- [00:32]
B
Hello and welcome to the Beckers Healthcare Podcast. My name is Will Riley from R1. I am joined today by Chandra Williams. Chandra is the CEO of Inclusive Care. Chandra, welcome to the podcast.
- [00:46]
C
It's my pleasure Will.
- [00:48]
B
Glad you're here. Why don't we start with you telling us a little bit about yourself. Tell us about inclusive care community you serve.
- [00:55]
C
Yes. So I'm Chandra Williams. As you mentioned, I've been president and CEO of Inclusive Care for the past 13 beautiful years. I am very optimistic. That's why I call it beautiful because lord knows healthcare is quite a challenge. But. And it, it takes a lot of optimism and a lot of vision and a lot of innovation and creativity to make it all happen. So Inclusive Care is in the greater New Orleans area. We are a federally qualified health center serving right around 9,000 or more patients providing medical, dental, specialty medical services such as podiatry, women's health, behavioral health as well as in house pharmacies.
- [01:52]
B
Wonderful. Thank you for that background. Tell us about some of the things that are on your mind as you head into 2026.
- [01:59]
C
Yes. So lots information. My brain is clogged with, you know, what, what do we do? How do we do what we do? Under somewhat constraints. Right now we are facing day number 32 or so of the government shutdown that is not necessarily affecting our funding. However, it basically could affect our patients their inability to come into the clinic. We've done a tremendous job with being able to provide them with high quality, affordable and accessible health care. However, when they hear things like Medicaid cuts due to the one big beautiful bill, when they think about SNAP benefits that are being cut, was slated to be cut due to the government shutdown, then the first things that's on their mind, or I should say the last thing that's on their mind is their health care. So we are contending with that, making sure that we are preventing disinformation, keeping our patients informed, engaging them in their healthcare delivery, nudging them, supporting them and all the things that they need fundamentally in order to keep their health care alive going. I should say.
- [03:32]
B
Let's talk a bit more about that because the bill obviously changes rules around eligibility for Medicare, Medicaid potentially makes it a few more administrative hurdles to get over. Tell us about that and tell us about the impact that you think that could have for your community.
- [03:54]
C
Yes, so we are bracing for at least 10% potentially reduction in patients who currently have Medicaid insurance to being uninsured. We're also contending concurrently with the instabilization instability of the marketplace. We have a fair number of patients who are also on the marketplace or getting their insurance using the marketplace. Amidst that, we're also going to be sampling or participating in the 340B rebate model pilots as federally qualified health centers. We're mandated to participate. And while in theory it seems to be a great program that assures accountability and transparency, we're mostly concerned with the administrative burden that it may carry, which can delay payments that today are instant tomorrow or, you know, soon there could be a delay in those payments and every day counts.
- [05:07]
B
Tell us, so what does some of those changes cumulatively mean to an organization like yours in terms of cash flow and revenue?
- [05:18]
C
Yeah, so as was mentioned, we are anticipating, you know, patients possibly going from insured, where we are receiving upwards of about 196 to $200 per visit, to actually being required to pay at least $40, which is their copay. So that difference is what the organization is going to basically go without. So we're going to have to plug that gap and try to figure out how to make it work. Today's operations continue to keep that afloat despite the fact that there could be reductions.
- [06:04]
B
What does that mean for your team that you run? Tell us a bit about the team and the makeup of that team.
- [06:12]
C
Yeah, so we are, you know, we are pretty resourced at the top level. Executive suite with a chief medical officer, chief pharmacy officer, human resource director, chief dental director. We have two medical deputy providers as well as a corporate administrator, executive administrator there. So we've. And a chief operating officer and cfo. How could I forget that? First and foremost a chief financial officer. And so we, we have, you know, all those key positions filled. However, the, the real question will, is that as leaders we have to upskill almost every day and certainly every year because the challenges are usually not the same challenges. So it is a challenge and it's something that we're having to ensure that our leaders are equipped and being able to rise to the occasion under the current circumstances.
- [07:28]
B
How, I mean, so how do they do that? Right. It feels like you said, it's, you're faced with significant financial pressure. Uncertainty is a. Is a sort of. Sounds like an enduring theme. So what does that look like, then, in terms of what leadership qualities you need or they need?
- [07:48]
C
Well, actually, that's the reason why we invest in conferences such as this. We're here at Beckers, and Beckers allows us to be able to network with other healthcare providers and healthcare executives. We're in sessions that are speaking to maybe not the things that we're facing at the community level, but it certainly helps to understand that of what health hospital systems are enduring or what they're bracing for and preparing for. So we continue to invest in our executives, opening up opportunities such as this so that they can actually determine, you know, what's happening in their environment, what types of skills, what type of preparation, what type of tools that are necessary in order for them to rise to the occasion.
- [08:48]
B
And how did. How do you. And they keep your frontline staff motivated and engaged?
- [08:53]
C
Yes. So, you know, we're an organization that really is intentional about culture. Having led the organization for 13 years, having seen, you know, days where, you know, staff members who are demotivated, morale's low. Culture is a big, big, big, important, but yet very complicated hurdle. So we really are. We try to create a system that's very intentional on culture, that allows our employees to feel comfortable in their work environment, feeling psychologically safe in an environment where there's heavy and high risk and high stakes. So paying them appropriately and trying to stay competitive in terms of what their needs are, investing in them as it relates to promotional opportunities as well as training.
- [09:55]
B
Okay, you mentioned training. I'm curious about how you're using technology and how you're implementing new technology in your. In the clinic with. With patients, but also in the administration as well. Can you talk to us a little bit about that?
- [10:12]
C
Yes. So I introduced the concept of business intelligence to my management team a few years ago, and everyone looked at me as this, as if they understood what I meant by business intelligence. And so they nodded and they gave me the feel that they knew what I meant by business intelligence. But yet we were not really coming up with any tools that was helping us to navigate our toughest challenges. So this year, we unpacked that a little bit more by introducing new technology technology through our emr, which is Athena Health, as well as utilizing other technology that helps with high patient engagement. We're doing a lot of predictive analytics, especially given the fact that, you know, there are so many changes. Our challenges with respect to understanding the budget, knowing what the fiscal demands and our requirements are. So it's technology that's helping us to bridge that gap.
- [11:26]
B
Give me some. Can you give me some examples of how maybe that technology or new technologies, AI, for example, are starting to help you be more efficient or serve patients better?
- [11:38]
C
Yes. So I. I said something or I heard at this conference on yesterday, one of the speakers said that AI is not going to improve your workflows. If your workflows are not proficient or efficient, then AI is not going to be that tool to help with in ensuring those efficiencies. So that really hit home for me, which suggests that we've got to spend some time on making sure that our workflows are efficient and then layer that on top with AI technology. So, you know, it's so early. You know, it's hard to tell if where we're going to be successful, but we are very hopeful and we're trying to stay on the cutting edge again. That's why I like to be in environments such as this, because it does allow me, as a chief executive officer, to be on the cutting edge of where things are going.
- [12:41]
B
Right. Yeah. Okay. And so you say you're hopeful about AI, which is. Which is great because it does feel like it's a little bit different from other eras of technology in healthcare. Right. Where maybe adoption has been less sort of enthusiastic or slower or whatever. Do you feel that, too? Do you think this is a bit different?
- [13:04]
C
You know, we've got to embrace it, and if we don't embrace it, then we're going to be left, you know, in the dust. And so it's here already, it's here to stay, and now it's just perfecting it.
- [13:21]
B
Yeah. Okay. Okay. It's been great getting your perspectives on these things. Chandra, what other thoughts would you leave us with?
- [13:32]
C
Just that leadership is so very critical right now. Having empathetic leadership is critical to the culture and the morale, building the morale of the team. Of course, you know, the team is grappling with a lot in our patient environments. We're often contending with or working with patient population that might not have the highest skill set, education level. And so there are things that they come to the table with that we're having to be prepared for. But, you know, just helping our team members to be able to understand, appreciate, but most importantly, taking care of them first. First is. Is very important and is a priority of ours.
- [14:25]
B
Fabulous. Chandra, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast.
- [14:28]
C
It's a wonderful opportunity. Will, thanks for having me.
- [14:32]
B
Thank you. Thank you.