Welcome to the Pioneers in Health podcast. In this podcast, we share inspiring stories of pioneering leaders from our nation and from your backyard who are working to improve health.
In episode 37, we interview Jodi Schmidt, executive director of the Care Collective at the University of Kansas Health System. The Care Collaborative is a patient safety organization dedicated to delivering high-quality clinical care to improve the health of people living in rural Kansas communities. Founded in 2014 and accredited by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the collaborative is a network of health care providers and care teams who use evidence-based treatment models to achieve the best outcomes.
Jodi is also past president of the National Rural Health Association and representative to the American Hospital Association’s Small and Rural Hospital Governing Council; past chair of the Kansas Hospital Education and Research Foundation and member of the Kansas Hospital Association’s Rural Emergency Hospital task force; and Sunflower Health Plan’s rural and community advisory boards.
In this episode, Jodi shares how she pursued journalism in college and never intended to work in health care. However, she graduated at a time when health care organizations were realizing they needed to communicate with their patients and communities. So, she accepted a job with Hadley Regional Medical Center as the first communications professional to help them develop a strategic communications plan.
As she worked in health care communications, she began to develop a passion for how health care impacts people’s lives. She even went on to pursue a masters in health care administration. She began to understand how important a regional health care facility was in supporting rural communities and was part of the first network survey in the country.
“You could see in action what was possible when you connected resources across a region and saw the opportunity that it brought to patients to expand access to care through that sort of networking,” she said. “So at that point, in the late 80s and early 90s, I was hooked, and I’ve been in rural health care in Kansas in one way, shape or form ever since.”
She also discusses:
- The ability for rural health care facilities to innovate and react quickly
- Challenges for rural hospitals
- Her experience as a hospital CEO in southeast Kansas
- Expanding the availability of low-cost food
- Managing health
- Her experience serving as the president of the National Rural Health Association
- The Care Collaborative and its mission and initiatives
- The Medicare Shared Savings Program
- The Rural Health Transformation Program
- What gives her hope
And much more! Listen now, and learn more about how Jodi is an innovative leader in health care.
Listen now
Listen below or on any of your favorite podcast services. Like and subscribe to stay up-to-date with each new episode!
