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At athenahealth,

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we know your ambulatory practice wants healthier, a

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when clinicians need it most.

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Welcome to the Becker's Healthcare podcast. I'm Chris

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Sosa, your host, and I'm thrilled to be

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joined today by doctor Miriam Parsa. She is

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a pediatric rheumatologist and the chief pediatric medical

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officer at Cottage Children's Medical Center in Santa

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Barbara, California.

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She joins us to discuss her organization's work

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with Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

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Miriam, thank you for joining us today. Thank

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you for having me. It's a privilege to

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talk about the work that we are doing

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and will be doing.

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Excellent. Miriam, for those in our audience who

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are not familiar with you and your work,

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could you just please introduce yourself and tell

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us a bit about your background?

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Yes. No problem. I'm a pediatric rheumatologist,

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and I always introduce myself first as a

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pediatric rheumatologist even though I have two jobs

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at the moment.

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I came here about eleven years ago,

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and, I've been the sole practitioner

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here covering,

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three counties, but, actually, probably a little bit

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more as we get referrals from these other

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counties as well.

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But I'm speaking to you today as the

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chief pediatric medical officer,

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and I assume this role

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almost three years ago now.

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And,

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I really wasn't looking into a leadership position,

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being the sole pediatric rheumatologist.

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However,

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it just

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happened to be that my predecessor, doctor Steve

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Barclay, retired a few years ago.

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And, he really encouraged me,

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to consider this administrative opportunity,

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because I love the work that we're doing

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here. It's quite inspirational. I, again, appreciate this

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opportunity

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to share the the great work that we're

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doing in the partnership,

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with CHI that's allowing us to talk today.

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Miriam, what is there anything that you've learned

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about yourself so far having jumped into this

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administrative role?

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Great question. I've learned so much

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about the process,

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about what goes on beyond

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patient care,

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the complexity

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behind it.

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I don't take for granted that I work

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in its institution that is mission driven,

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and that is a rare commodity

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these days considering the pressures that we face

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in health care, financial pressures.

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I have learned

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that this isn't easy.

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That's a perfect segue, I think, into what

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we talked about or mentioned at the top,

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Miriam, and that is the work that you

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your organization are doing with, Children's Hospital Los

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Angeles. So let's get into that. Could you

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let us know how that collaboration with the

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organization evolved?

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Yes. This happened actually predated me. Started the

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conversation,

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with administration

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several years ago. So there are,

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you know, several sole providers such as myself

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that's providing care for many

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families along the Central Coast.

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We understand that that's a challenge, and so

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we really were looking forward to develop developing

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a partnership

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that would allow us to make

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the

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care here locally a little bit more robust.

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So number one, it probably would be,

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especially to support in creating that depth.

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I'd say the other part is that we

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know we can't take care of all complex

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diseases and problems here.

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What's best for the families

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is to provide local care

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the best we can and when we can't

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provide that local care to have a consistent

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partner.

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And that was another great reason. We wanna

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keep our patients, but we understand we can't

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keep all patients here,

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because of our size.

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Miriam, I'm also curious what changes with respect

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to this collaboration

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are exciting you most?

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There's a lot. It's almost overwhelming, all the

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potentials.

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And I think I had mentioned

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first creating depth

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to my colleagues,

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and that will be through potentially joint hires,

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a little bit more streamlined,

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coordinated care,

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also opportunities

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for additional training.

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CHLA is a tremendous organization

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with

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hundreds of specialty,

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specialists,

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at this Courtenay care hospital.

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So we'd like to take advantage

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of that educational opportunity for nurses,

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for physicians. We have a pediatric residency program

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here, which will stay at the Cottage Campus.

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However, maybe there is some interest in the

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future

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in additional educational opportunities.

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We also are just very family centric here.

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So we want to take care of our

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patients here, And so having a reliable

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partner

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will allow us to bring them back when

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it's time for them to come back.

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Miriam, clearly, this

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partnership is something you're very much looking forward

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to, and, hopefully,

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many people at your organization are being able

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to take advantage of this.

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As someone who's gone through this partnership

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and locking it all down,

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what advice would you give to other systems

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that are pursuing

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similar partnerships?

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Yeah.

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Several things come to mind. I would say

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first, making sure both organizations'

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missions align.

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And on day one, that was very clear

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with CHLA

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that CHLA

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and Cottage, we take care of every pediatric

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patient that needs care locally.

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The second really is,

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making sure your administration is aligned with the

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clinicians.

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We have a great relationship,

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the clinical leaders as well as the administrative

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leaders.

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They really were open and listened to us.

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I think that's

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really important. And

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and lastly,

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relationship building.

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Relationship building comes up frequently when we are

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having these joint calls.

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They CHLA needs to know who we are

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and the excellent work that we're doing here,

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and so that starts with Zoom meetings. So

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within PEAS, we've had every unit meet, and

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that will continue.

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So when there is something that comes up

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with a PICU patient,

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my PICU knows who to call on the

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CHLA side.

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So, really, that relationship building, I think, is

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really gonna be

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paramount and foundational

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to the success of this relationship.

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You mentioned the Zoom meetings, Miriam. So how

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often are

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are you on the grounds of CHLA and

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and vice versa? How often does does that

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exchange take place?

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We were at CHLA through the interview process

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of the coronary care.

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We started with an RFI. We had a

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consultant help assist with the process.

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So so far, it's just been through the

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site interviews,

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but we have a

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a lot of work to do as stated,

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and so Zoom, that is so much easier

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to start with. Right. Right. We're anticipating

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some on-site visits. But, you know, with,

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LA traffic, that's not the easiest thing to

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do.

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No. For sure. Thankfully, you know, digital

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means allow you to

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collaborate much more efficiently

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than that. But I was curious because, you

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know, you are in the the same state

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and, yes, you're tens of hundreds of miles

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apart, but, you know, I'm sure that

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part of this collaboration means seeing each other's,

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work, you know, firsthand.

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Does that make sense?

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That's right. Yeah.

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Miriam, is there anything else about your

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partnership that you want to tell the audience

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about?

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That the

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state of pediatric care

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is

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a bit tenuous.

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We're talking about workforce

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shortages.

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You know, as a pediatric rheumatologist, we had

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about half of fellowship,

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programs,

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filled.

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So, we have to be efficient

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with limited resources.

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And this program development, I think,

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strategic

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partnerships

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are an efficient way to work with the

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resources we do have.

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That makes sense, Miriam. Thank you so much

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today for joining us and adding your insights.

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We know our audience cannot wait to hear

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them. We can't wait to share them with

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them. Miriam,

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I'm very much looking forward to the next

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time our paths cross.

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Thank you, Chris, so much.

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At Athena Health, we know your ambulatory practice

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wants healthier,

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a healthier business, healthier care teams, and healthier

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patients.

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But the complexities of modern health care tech

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make it hard for you and your care

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teams to focus on what matters most.

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That's where athena Health can

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help. Our AI native all in one solutions

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reduce administrative burdens,

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streamline billing and payments, and deliver critical insights

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when clinicians need it most. That means fewer

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clicks, more time for patients, and stronger bottom

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lines.

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Practicing medicine is complex,

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but running a practice can be that much

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simpler with athenahealth.

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See how simpler is healthier at athenahealth.com.