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At Kindred Hospitals, we believe that treating the

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most medically complex patients isn't about a single

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victory. It's a series of small victories that

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advance our patients to their next level of

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recovery,

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increasing their hope for the best possible outcome.

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Ensuring complex patients have early access to specialized

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care and rehabilitation at Kindred Hospitals

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can help reduce costly readmissions and increase patient

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satisfaction.

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Visit Kindred managedcare.com

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for more information.

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Welcome everyone to the Becker's Healthcare podcast series.

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I'm Ryan Mohammed, writer and moderator with Becker's

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Healthcare. And I'm thrilled to have with me

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today, Jennifer Sharmo, chief growth officer at Security

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Health Plan. Jennifer, welcome to the podcast. We're

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very excited to have you join us today.

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To To get us started, would you mind

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please introducing yourself and telling us a bit

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about your background?

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Sure. Thanks for having me. Jennifer Schormel, chief

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growth officer as you mentioned.

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I'm,

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part of our executive team at Security Health

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Plan, which is part of the Marshfield Clinic

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Health System,

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serving Central Northern Wisconsin.

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I've been with the health plan now for

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17 years,

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in a variety of progressing roles through

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marketing, project management, government programs,

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product development, kind of, a whole gamut of

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of items relating to government business.

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And, now in my role, I oversee,

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again, marketing, product development, and sales.

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Wonderful. Thank you so much for giving us

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that information. So with all the things that

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I'm sure you're busy with, what are some

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of the biggest issues you're following

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in health care headed into the new year?

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Sure. There, certainly isn't any lack of, issues

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or headwinds in health care today.

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Just to name a few, Medicare Advantage is

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always top of mind for us.

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There's, you know, evolving regulation,

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revolving, you know, industry pressures and competition, of

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course. Our biggest goal is really to

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pressures and competition, of course.

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Our biggest goal is really to find ways

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to achieve our collective goals together, whether that's

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with our provider system partners,

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with the federal government and CMS,

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or others on on trying to solve some

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of the big issues,

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that face Medicare Advantage today. And I I

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think, you know, sort of the real, differentiator

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for us specifically at Security Health Plan is

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that provider sponsored health plans, I think, are

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very uniquely positioned

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for this, especially as we think about things

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like utilization

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management concerns and others. You know, when we

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are able to partner together with provider systems

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rather than in that adversarial

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relationship at times, which is, you know, traditional

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in in insurance,

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I think that we can really,

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you know, sort of achieve goals again together

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instead of against each other. But that that's

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sort of,

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one track that we're following and very involved

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and and continuing with.

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Additionally, sort of more in the commercial space,

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I think we're seeing a continued rise in

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non traditional players and competition. And really it

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kinda comes down to, you know, finding the

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right balance between

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cost effective strategies,

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that, you know, employers are, you know, desperate

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for frankly, but also

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preserving quality of care and service to members.

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And so again, this kinda comes back to

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how can provider sponsored plans like ours really,

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you know, sort of try to solve those

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challenges in a way that, doesn't negatively impact

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our communities and our members.

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So kinda all in all, I think a

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lot of the issues that we're tracking,

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into the new year and even beyond is,

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you know, finding ways to reduce that cost

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of care.

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And and for us specifically, it's through this

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very rural lens and and, you know, how

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we solve those challenges in a rural environment.

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You know, we find a lot of times

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that the challenges may be the same, but

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how we solve them has to look very

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different in our rural communities.

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Yeah. Yeah. That completely makes sense. Thank you

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so much for giving us that info.

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Is there anything that you are most excited

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about or anything that's making you nervous in

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regards to anything else you're kinda seeing in

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the news or anything that you're doing personally

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at Security Health Plan?

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Yeah. I think probably a lot of health

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care executives would,

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concur that, you know, the technology and innovation

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is very exciting. Obviously, you know, AI is

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a very big, you know, buzzword right now.

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But, you know, in all honesty, it does

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bring a lot of opportunities and exciting innovation

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to our industry.

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I think that,

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you know, health care and health insurance maybe

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in particular has always been on the lagging

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end of exciting innovation,

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especially, you know, as as compared to, you

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know, some retail spaces and things like that.

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So I think our job is really to

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understand

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how these advances can help not only our

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business, but our consumers,

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in our communities and and, you know, thinking

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about how we can make operations more efficient,

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how these technologies can enhance

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quality and service

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to our members. So, you know, that's definitely

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one area. But, you know, kind of the

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flip side of that, I think we're all

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seeing a rise in cybersecurity

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awareness and concern and risk. So, you know,

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as an executive, that's, I think, top of

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mind for all of us. I certainly don't

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have all of the answers for that, but,

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you know, again, you you know, something that

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makes you nervous for sure. But

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just overall, I think, you know, as a

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small regional nonprofit plan like ours, there's also

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always a level of

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nervousness,

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around, you know, sort of competition

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and, you know, how we can, you know,

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continue to,

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compete

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with maybe those that have deeper pockets or

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leverage nationally. So as growth officer, I'm, you

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know, always intensely focused on creating that differentiating

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value for our customers and for our provider

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partners.

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And, you know, for us, that's really about

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kind of our local collaboration,

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in in that integrated system lens that we

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bring to our our service and, and our

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administration.

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Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much for

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that that great insight. And, Jennifer, before I

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let you go, the last thing I wanted

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to ask you is, in your opinion, what

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would the most effective health care leaders need

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in order to be successful in the next

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2 to 3 years, do you think?

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Yeah. I think, if we've learned anything,

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you know, through COVID and the years that

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follow, it's, that in health care in particular,

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we need to be adaptable and resilient.

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And as leaders, I think that is extremely

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important.

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The health care landscape

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has changed dramatically, and I believe it will

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continue to change.

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As I mentioned, you know, things like new

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technologies,

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regulation, and just the idea of health care

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consumerism overall will continue to, you know, press

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us to think differently, adapt fast,

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and sort of meet the the demand of

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our our patients and our communities, you know,

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as they change. So leaders that are able

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to navigate these changes effectively

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without losing sight of our overall mission and

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vision, I think will we'll really, succeed and

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sort of, you know, come out ahead. You

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know, always

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top of mind, I think, for health care

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leaders is, you know, keeping the focus on

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our members and our patients and prioritizing

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those

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needs and experiences, you know, above all else.

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And and that will really remain the cornerstone

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of

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effective leadership in all aspects of health care

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in my opinion.

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Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Thank you so much for

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those final thoughts. This has definitely been an

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informative discussion, Jennifer. So, again, I wanna thank

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you so much for coming up access health

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care, especially all for the first time. And

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I hope you have a good rest of

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your week.

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Yeah. Thanks for having me.