Community Health Collective

Jill Steeley
  • 5.0 (2)
  • Management

I'm Jill Steeley, and I spent years as an FQHC CEO feeling like I was the only one struggling with impossible choices—mission or margin, staff or budget, growth or sustainability. Until I realized: I wasn't alone. None of us are. That's why I created this podcast—to build the community that community health leaders deserve. Whether you're leading a health center, a rural clinic, a public health program, or any organization putting community care first, you'll find practical wisdom, honest conversations, and a whole lot of "finally, someone gets it" moments here. Each episode tackles the big stuff—financial strategy, workforce challenges, policy changes—and the personal stuff—boundaries, burnout, and what it really takes to sustain yourself while serving others.

  1. 14h ago

    A CFO Told a Room Full of Health Centers That Every Visit Should Be 30 Minutes

    A FQHC CEO Bootcamp member came back from a CFO training with a story that wouldn't leave Jill alone. Another CFO in the room - a peer, from a health center just like hers - told the whole group that every single visit should be 30 minutes. No caveats. And a room full of leaders who came to that training eager to learn "best practices." That's how a bad standard gets laundered into a best practice: somebody says it with confidence, with a title next to their name, and 18 months later it's just how we've always done it and nobody can tell you where it came from. In this solo episode Jill takes the whole thing apart - starting with the math nobody in that room ran (a 7.5-hour clinic day holds 15 patients at 30 minutes and 22 at 20, which is roughly $300,000 of capacity per provider per year), moving through the two places a universal 30-minute template actually comes from, and landing on the reframe that changes the conversation: shorter doesn't mean more rushed, shorter means better supported. She's clear that some visits genuinely need 40 minutes, and equally clear that those should be a slot type, not the entire template. If your standard slot is 30 minutes and your visits per day are sitting in the teens, this one is for you - because you don't have a provider problem, you have a template problem, and it's the cheapest problem on your whole list. Highlights: Why a 30-minute standard is a capacity decision, not a clinical one - and what it quietly capsThe math on one full-time provider: 15 visits versus 22, seven a day, ~1,500 visits and ~$300,000 of capacity a yearThe federal productivity standard (4,200 visits per physician, 2,100 per mid-level) that a 30-minute template mathematically guarantees you'll missThe two places a universal 30-minute template actually comes from, and why both feel reasonableSteve Weinman on the "my panel is sicker than everybody else's" problem - and why they can't all be rightNine minutes in the EHR for every 15 minutes with a patient, plus the hour and a half of pajama timeWhy the order matters: build the support first, then shorten the slotThe three visit types that genuinely earn 40 minutesThree things to look for when you pull up your appointment templateThe one-thing homework: count your slot lengths, then put your visits-per-day number next to it Quotes from the episode: "A 30-minute standard is not a clinical decision. It's a capacity decision, and most of the people making that decision haven't really done the math on what it costs." "Shorter doesn't mean more rushed. Shorter means better supported." "The long visit should be a slot type. It should not be the entire template." "Somebody says it at a training, it gets repeated in a hallway, then in a leadership meeting back home, and by the time it reaches your actual scheduling template, it carries the weight of a best practice. But it was just what one health center is doing." Mentioned in this episode: FQHC CEO Connect Bootcamp. A 5-month program that helps you build a profitable, reputable health center easier and FASTER than figuring it out alone. Enrollment is now open: www.fqhc-ceo.com Get in touch with Jill: jill@jillsteeley.com or schedule a call with her here.

    A CFO Told a Room Full of Health Centers That Every Visit Should Be 30 Minutes

  2. Aug 12

    Her Two AI Holdouts Were the Youngest Providers in the Building

    Community Health Collective — AI Resistance Episode (#40)Host: Jill Steeley You cannot answer a values objection with a training session. That's the line Jill keeps coming back to after a story a CEO told in one of her Bootcamp sessions — she rolled ambient scribes out to 50 providers, braced for a fight with her most tenured doctors, and got exactly two holdouts. Neither was over 40. Both were her youngest physicians, and they weren't afraid of the technology or confused by it. They objected on ethics and on environmental cost. In this episode Jill breaks down the three kinds of "no" that look identical from the outside — the capability no ("I can't"), the evidence no ("I don't trust it yet"), and the values no ("I don't think we should") — why only the first two shrink when you throw support at them, why the third one hardens and goes quiet when you ignore it, and the four moves that actually work on a values objection, none of which are another training session. The turn comes at the end: her 62-year-old docs adopted in week one, and the assumption cost that CEO more than the resistance ever did. If you're rolling out AI, a new EHR module, or any change at all right now, this one will save you months of planning aimed at the wrong person. Highlights: Why 48 of 50 providers adopted ambient scribes — and why the two who didn't weren't who anyone expectedThe three kinds of no: capability, evidence, and values — and how to tell them apart in one conversationWhy a capability no gets smaller over time and a values no gets bigger, quieter, and picks up alliesWhat the younger physicians actually argued: patient consent, audio retention, model training, and the environmental cost of the data-center buildoutFour moves for a values objection — name it out loud, get real answers from the vendor in writing, offer a real opt-out with a real expiration date, and don't make them the villainThe reframe: your loudest ethical objector is a free early-warning system for the questions your board and your patients will ask in six monthsThe bigger lesson — stop predicting who will resist, and go ask Quotes from the episode: "You cannot answer a values objection with a training session." "They weren't afraid of the AI. They weren't confused by it. They understood the technology probably better than anyone else on the team." "A capability no and an evidence no both get smaller over time if you provide added support. A values no can actually get bigger if you ignore it." "The assumption cost her more than the resistance did." Mentioned in This Episode• CEO Bootcamp — Jill & Steve Weinman’s program for health center leaders navigating strategic and financial decisions. www.fqhc-ceo.com • Work with Jill — Email jill@jillsteeley.com or schedule a call at jillsteeley.com to talk through your needs.

    Her Two AI Holdouts Were the Youngest Providers in the Building

  3. Aug 5

    One Woman Called Patients All Day for Two Years. Then She Quit - and They Never Replaced Her.

    Community Health Collective PodcastEpisode 39 · Guest: Alison Williams, Vital Interaction Host: Jill Steeley Jill's been saying it for months: the way health centers survive the Medicaid coverage cliff is by helping patients keep the coverage they're still eligible for. In this episode she brings on Alison Williams - 25 years in the health center movement, 10 of them inside a community health center in Upstate New York, another decade leading the national FQHC customer success team at Athena, and a former HRSA grant reviewer - to answer the question every CEO asks next: with what staff? Because HR1 doesn't make most of these patients ineligible. It makes them do paperwork twice a year, forever. Redeterminations move to every six months for expansion adults 19 to 64 starting January 1, 2027. Work requirements of 80 hours a month start the same day. And immigrant eligibility narrows on October 1, 2026, which is right around the corner. Somewhere between 11 and 17 million people are expected to lose coverage - compared to about 4 million when the public health emergency unwound. The difference, as Jill puts it, is that the PHE was a one-time event and this one never stops. Alison walks through how a Patient Management System like Vital Interaction turns that into three different message streams instead of one mass blast, why the first text a patient gets should be "add us as a contact" and not a reminder, how one two-minute provider video becomes dozens through AI, and what actually happens to the person whose entire job was calling patients all day. Jill also flags the funding angle most centers miss: this is exactly the kind of investment the Rural Health Transformation Program was built to pay for. Highlights: The plain-English HR1 breakdown: six-month redeterminations and 80-hour work requirements starting January 1, 2027, immigrant eligibility cuts October 1, 2026Why 11 to 17 million is a different animal than the 4 million who lost coverage during the PHE unwinding - this one is ongoing, not a single eventThe trust step before the reminder: "Hi, this is Friendly Family Health Center. Please add us as a contact," plus QR codes at check-in and checkoutOne two-minute provider video, recorded at a desk, turned into dozens of personalized messages by AI - because patients do what their providers tell them, not what the front desk tells themThree HR1 buckets means three completely different messages - retention, work-hour documentation, and sliding fee for patients who genuinely lose eligibilityTwo-way texting that's actually multilingual: you text in English, the patient reads and replies in Spanish, and it comes back to you in EnglishFollow-up you can dial: one health center runs 3-day, 5-day, 10-day, and 25-day touches, and patients drop off the list the moment they scheduleThe labor answer: the woman who called patients all day for two years, quit, and never had to be replacedWhy a single retained Medicaid patient's PPS payment starts paying for the technology immediatelyRural Health Transformation Program funding maps directly to this - IT modernization and chronic disease managementImplementation runs 90 to 120 days after signing, and you need an executive sponsor, operations, and IT at the table or it turns into a struggle bus Quotes from the episode: "When people hear me say 'help your patients stay covered,' they're thinking about 10 years ago when we were stuffing envelopes. We can do this at scale now." - Jill Steeley "Communicating with the right patient at the right time in the right way. It isn't a mass blast - because if it's going to be a mass blast, it's going to be just like another piece of paper they're not going to react to." - Alison Williams "Is there one provider or one nurse or one care manager at your location that the community knows, respects, and trusts? That's the person we want." - Alison Williams "We're not suggesting you take the human out of every engagement. We're saying those manual tasks that will suck the soul out of your employees - why are they doing that now?" - Jill Steeley Guest disclosure: Alison Williams runs Trusted Advisors Consulting Group and states plainly in the episode that Vital Interaction is her partner and client. Jill has a partner relationship with Vital Interaction as well, and gets her clients a ~33% discount. Links: Vital Interaction: www.vitalinteraction.comSchedule a call with Vital Interaction (Community Health Collective listeners get 33% off): https://guidance.vitalinteraction.com/jill-steeleyAlison Williams: alisonwilliams@trusted-advisors-consulting.com· LinkedInEpisodes 35 and 36, referenced in this conversation: www.jillsteeley.com/podcastFree HR1 planning worksheet: email jill@jillsteeley.com with "HR1 plan" in the subject lineFQHC CEO Connect Bootcamp - next cohort opens in September

    One Woman Called Patients All Day for Two Years. Then She Quit - and They Never Replaced Her.

  4. Jul 28

    Six Leaks, One Hour: What Happens When CEOs Score Their Own Numbers Live

    Community Health Collective Podcast Six Leaks, One Hour: What Happens When CEOs Score Their Own Numbers Live Host: Jill Steeley In this solo episode, Jill, who was a health center CEO for nearly nine years and describes herself as a business-model thinker rather than a finance person, makes the case that funding instability isn't the real threat to health centers, a fragile business model is, and instability just exposes it faster. She walks through why most health centers are leaving anywhere from $200,000 to a million dollars or more on the table every year, and previews the two free Insiders Sessions she and Steve Weinman are hosting in August: a six-metric revenue leak diagnosis (August 4) and the prescription to fix it (August 20). If you've ever watched your budget sit stuck year after year and couldn't name why, this one's for you. In this episode: Why Jill looks at business models, not just finances, and why that reframe matters for your centerWhy funding instability exposes a fragile business model rather than causing the problemThe $5.98 billion flat funding reality and why grant or Medicaid dependency over 35 percent puts your operation at riskThe six metrics that predict a health center's financial health: Days in AR, denial rate, no-show impact, payer mix, 340B, and time-of-service collectionsHow one center recovered $970,000 in six months by finally looking at their 137 days in ARWhy high performers keep their no-show rate below 12 percent, and what 200 no-shows a month really costsThe revenue opportunities most centers overlook, from payer contract renegotiation to 340B expansion to chronic care managementWhy "attracting insured patients" funds the mission instead of betraying itWhat happens in each session and why attending live (with the workbook in hand) is the whole point Quotes: "Funding instability is not your real problem. A fragile business model is. Instability just exposes it faster.""The money you need is almost certainly not in a new grant application. It's in your existing operations, your payer contracts, and your billing system. You just need someone to show you where to look.""Profit is oxygen. No margin, no mission." The two sessions: [Insider’s Session, Part 1] Finding Your Revenue Leaks: The 6-Metric Diagnostic Tuesday, August 4 · 11 AM PT / 2 PM ET We run a 6-metric revenue leak diagnostic on your health center. You'll score your own organization live and leave knowing exactly where you're bleeding. [Insider's Session: Part 2] Revenue Opportunities and Cost Reduction Blindspots Thursday, August 20 · 10 AM PT / 1 PM ET This is what to actually do about it, plus the revenue most centers overlook entirely. Both are free and live, with about 45 minutes of training and 15 minutes of Q&A. Register Insider Session #1 here Register Insider Session #2 here Related episodes: Jill points listeners to her episodes on the HR 1 changes and last week's episode on double-booking on purpose, episodes 35, 36, and 37 www.jillsteeley.com/podcast

    Six Leaks, One Hour: What Happens When CEOs Score Their Own Numbers Live

  5. Jul 22

    Double Book on Purpose: The $150K-Per-Provider Leak Hiding in Your Schedule

    Double Book on Purpose: The $150K - per - Provider Leak Hiding in Your Schedule Host: Jill Steeley www.jillsteeley.com An empty chair in your clinic is not a neutral event — it's a loss you already paid for. In this episode, Jill starts in the airport. On a recent trip to Connecticut she got a text asking if she'd give up her overbooked seat, and it clicked: airlines sell that seat twice on purpose, because they know a predictable slice of people won't show, and once the doors close that seat is money they never get back. Your 9:00 no-show and your 9:40 no-show are the same math — two providers, two rooms, two empty chairs you already paid for, and a patient on your waitlist who didn't get care. Jill walks through the exact low-tech strategy her dental director ran at her health center: a 15-minute Monday-morning schedule scrub where the team, who knew their patients and their no-show patterns cold, double-booked with intention in only the slots they could predict. She lays out the math (about three empty chairs a day per provider, roughly $150,000 a year), the flex plan for the rare day everyone shows up, and the reframe that keeps it mission-aligned: no margin, no mission. Recovering an empty seat isn't choosing money over patients — it's turning wasted capacity into more care. This one's for the health center leader who's been absorbing empty chairs for years and calling it normal. Highlights: Why an empty chair is a loss you've already paid for — provider, room, chair, assistants, front desk — and the only thing missing is the patientThe airline mindset: a certain share of no-shows is predictable, not random, so you can treat it like a math problemThe 15-minute Monday scrub: how a dental team that knew its patients double-booked only the slots they could predictThe math that makes the case: ~3 empty chairs a day per provider, ~$150,000 a year, compounding across every service lineOverbooking based on predictable behavior — never on who someone is or what insurance they carryThe flex plan for the rare double-show, decided on a calm Monday, not at a chaotic front deskThe reframe: no margin, no mission — recovered capacity funds the visits nobody pays for Quotes from the episode: "Airlines know something we don't give them credit for. They sold that seat twice on purpose.""An empty chair is not neutral for you. It's a loss you've already paid for. The only thing missing is the patient.""You recover it by seeing more patients, not fewer. You're filling seats that were going to sit empty anyway.""We'd been absorbing those empty chairs for years and calling it normal. What's new is deciding to do something about the part we could actually predict." Coming up: Insiders Session, Part 1: Finding Your Revenue Leaks Tuesday, August 4 at 11:00 AM PT / 2:00 PM ET This is the diagnosis. We’ll walk you through the 6-metric diagnostic that predicts a health center’s financial health. You'll score your own organization live and leave knowing exactly where your money is leaking. One center we worked with used this to recover $970,000 in six months. Not from a grant. From revenue they'd already earned. Register for Part 1 Insiders Session, Part 2: Revenue Opportunities and Cost Reduction Blindspots Thursday, August 20 at 10:00 AM PT / 1:00 PM ET This is the prescription. We’ll show you the revenue most health centers overlook and the cost cuts that make you stronger instead of weaker. One of our CEO Bootcamp participants used what's in this session to negotiate an 18 percent rate increase worth $800,000 a year, from a single conversation. Register for Part 2 Here's how they run. 45 minutes of real training, then 15 minutes of live Q&A where you can ask Jill and Steve Weinman anything about your own situation. And when you register, we'll send you the same workbook, so you can score your own numbers right alongside us.

    Double Book on Purpose: The $150K-Per-Provider Leak Hiding in Your Schedule

  6. Jul 15

    HR1 is About to Double Your Medicaid Churn - Here's the Plan

    Community Health Collective — HR1 & Retroactive Medicaid EpisodeHost Jill Steeley & Guest Howard Archer HR1 isn't a someday threat - it's in implementation now, and it's about to make Medicaid billing harder than most health centers are ready for. In this episode Jill sits down again with Howard Archer, CEO of Fix Healthcare Technology and the creator of RetroCAID, to name the real problem: HR1 won't mainly make your patients ineligible, it'll make them lose coverage over paperwork - twice as often as before. Jill and Howard walk through the exact timeline coming at you (six-month redeterminations for expansion adults, 80-hour work requirements, narrowing immigrant eligibility, and a retroactive coverage window that shrinks January 1), why the churn ahead makes the PHE unwinding look like a warm-up, and the reframe every leader needs right now: your enrollment team is now your retention team. Then comes the part most centers miss - the revenue you already earned but wrote off as self-pay, still sitting recoverable in your system because Medicaid is a moving target, not a static payer. If you're a health center leader watching the coverage cliff approach and doing the mental math on what you'll have to cut, this one's for you - because there's a way through that doesn't start with cutting. Highlights: The four HR1 changes on the calendar, and the dates each one landsWhy the danger is administrative churn - lost mail and missed deadlines - not true ineligibilityThe retroactive coverage change almost nobody's talking about, and why January 1 mattersThe reframe: turning your enrollment team into a Medicaid retention teamWhy recovering old self-pay revenue isn't about front-desk mistakes - it's about movementHow health centers are recovering $9,000 to $35,000 a month on visits they'd already written offWhat "start the application to lock the date" means, and why speed matters more now Quotes from the episode: "This doesn't have to be the nail in the coffin for your health center if we get ahead of it. We know the dates. We can plan for it.""Your enrollment team really has to become your retention team.""It's all about retention, helping patients retain their coverage, and being able to capture the revenue that's already yours that you just don't know is there.""We've never worked with an FQHC where we don't recover revenue for them month after month after month." - Howard Archer Mentioned in This Episode• CEO Bootcamp — Jill & Steve Weinman’s program for health center leaders navigating strategic and financial decisions, where revenue cycle is a recurring topic. www.fqhc-ceo.com • Work with Jill — Email jill@jillsteeley.com or schedule a call at jillsteeley.com to talk through where your revenue cycle is leaking. Schedule a call with Howard Archer to talk about how RetroCaid can recover thousands of dollars in eligible Medicaid payments. Listen to Episode #11 to get a full episode about how RetroCaid works at www.jillsteeley.com/podcast Connect & SubscribeIf this episode resonated with you, please take a moment to: • Subscribe so you never miss an episode • Leave a rating and review • Share with a fellow health center leader who needs to hear this message Have feedback or a topic request? Jill would love to hear from you!

    HR1 is About to Double Your Medicaid Churn - Here's the Plan

  7. Jul 7

    More Visits, Less Medicaid: The 3 Changes Coming for Your Patients (and the Plan to Meet Them)

    The Community Health Collective — Episode 35 Show Notes More Visits, Less Medicaid: The 3 Changes Coming for Your Patients (and the Plan to Meet Them) by Jill Steeley On nearly every coaching call and inside the CEO Bootcamp, Jill hears the same question: "What are we going to do about our patients losing their Medicaid?" So in this episode - released a day early to get the word out - she answers it. HR1 (the One Big Beautiful Bill, signed July 4, 2025) isn't weather that just happens to your health center. It's a schedule. Three Medicaid changes are already on the calendar, and each one does the same thing: it turns a covered patient into an uninsured one. Same patient, same visit, a fraction of the revenue. But a schedule is something a CEO can prepare for. Jill - a former FQHC CEO who inherited an $800K deficit, turned it into a multi-million-dollar reserve, and took her center from a 42% uninsured rate down to 12% through Medicaid expansion - breaks down what's coming and the three plays to meet it. No fear-mongering. No cutting staff, services, or sites. Just a plan to protect access, protect coverage, and go get revenue that's already sitting on your table. This is a slow-turning ship. The time to get behind the wheel is now. In this episodeThe three HR1 changes headed at your Medicaid patients: six-month redeterminations (starting late 2026), 80-hour work requirements (states running them by early 2027 — six months away), and the immigrant eligibility cliff (October 1, 2026)Why the real danger is almost never true ineligibility — it's the paperwork, and it's predicted to be twice as bad as the COVID unwinding (up to 10 million losing coverage)The operational kicker most centers are missing: your Medicaid managed care plans are barred from determining work-requirement compliance — so the health center that helps patients document their hours is the one that keeps them coveredPutting a real dollar figure on it: Medicaid is 40–65% of operating revenue for most centers, and the scenario to plan for is a 10–25% Medicaid shrink with uninsured rising to match (10–17 million people nationally)Play 1 — Defense: turn eligibility & enrollment into a retention machine, and use patient-engagement technology to communicate at scale (you don't need to hire more staff — you're the trusted voice)Play 2 — RetroCAID: turn write-offs back into paid claims by scrubbing every visit against Medicaid eligibility retroactively (365 days, rolling) — risk-free, no EHR integration, and they only bill when you collect. Urgent, because the retroactive window shrinks from 90 days to 1–2 months on January 1, 2027Play 3 — Offense: grow Medicare and commercial — the two payer lines HR1 doesn't touch. A Medicare or commercial patient brings 75–100% more revenue than a self-pay visitWhy "we're going to protect access, protect coverage, and go get revenue" beats "tighten the belt and pray" The line to remember"HR1 is not weather. It's predictable and it’s on a schedule — a set of dates you can already see on the calendar. And anything you can see coming, you can prepare for." 🎙️ Join the Live WebinarMore Visits, Less Medicaid: How Smart CEOs Are Preparing for the Coverage Cliff With Jill Steeley & Steve Weinman 📅 Thursday, July 9 · 11:30 AM MT / 1:30 PM ET · ~45 minutes + 15 minutes of live Q&A Everything in this episode — gone deep, with the actual worksheets and workflows, not just theory. Between them, Jill and Steve (who grew a health center from $3M to $30M) have lived this. You'll walk out able to put a real dollar figure on your own exposure, with a defense plan to keep patients covered, a way to recover the Medicaid dollars you're writing off, and a plan to grow the lines HR1 can't touch. 👉 Register here: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bOmGjMCTS-GJ1RxrrOXC4w#/registration Don't let this one ambush you in Q4. You're not doing this alone. Resources & LinksFQHC CEO Bootcamp — the program where we go deep on this work with health center leaders: www.fqhc-ceo.comThe RetroCAID episode (Play 2) — Episode #11: $9K to $40K Monthly: How One Software Automatically Recovers Hidden Revenue for Health Centers, an interview with Howard Archer, CEO of Fix Healthcare IT: www.jillsteeley.com/podcastWebinar registration: Save your seat for July 9 Connect with JillJill Steeley · Steeley Strategic Solutions 🌐 www.jillsteeley.com — grab free resources and take the Healthcare Leadership Style Quiz ✉️ jill@jillsteeley.com · 📞 406.579.0887 The Community Health Collective — honest conversations about the real barriers keeping health centers stuck, and what it takes to get unstuck. If this episode helped, share it with another community health leader. That's how we grow this collective, one connection at a time.

    More Visits, Less Medicaid: The 3 Changes Coming for Your Patients (and the Plan to Meet Them)

  8. Jul 1

    Payer Mix, Not Encounters: The One Number To Track

    Community Health Collective — Payer Mix Episode (Ep. 34)Host: Jill Steeley Payer Mix, Not Encounters: The One Number To Track Most health center leaders are watching the wrong number. They track encounters - visits up, schedules full, providers slammed - and call it progress. But here's the thing: more visits won't make your health center sustainable. In this episode I tell the story of a CEO I coach who sent me his encounter count like a monthly report card, proud and rising, until I asked him to pull his payer mix by revenue instead. That one shift changed everything. Encounters are a vanity metric. Payer mix is the real one. Revenue is decided by who you serve, not how many visits you do. I walk through the math on what one insured patient is actually worth, why Medicare is the most overlooked and most stable payer you've got, and the intentional plays to grow your insured lines - employer outreach, referral engines, and showing up in your community. And I take on the discomfort head-on: watching your payer mix isn't choosing money over mission. No margin, no mission. At PureView, focusing on insured patients the whole time I was CEO is exactly how we ended up serving more uninsured patients, not fewer. This one's for the CEO who's working harder every month and watching the revenue stay flat. Highlights: Why encounters are a vanity metric and payer mix is the number that tells the truthThe back-of-the-envelope math: how 1,000 insured patients compounds into roughly $2 million in new annual revenueMedicare as the most overlooked, most stable payer line - and the two moves to capture it (attract them, and stop under-billing the ones you already see)The intentional plays to grow payer mix: self-funded employers, referral engines, and community presenceThe reframe: no margin, no mission - margin is what funds the uninsured patient, not the other way aroundYour one-thing-this-week homework: pull your payer mix by revenue and ask if your commercial and Medicare lines are growing, flat, or shrinking Quotes from the episode: "He really was watching and monitoring the wrong performance indicator.""Piling on encounters when your panel isn't insured just means you're busier on your way down.""The lever here isn't more. The lever is who.""We took an $800,000 deficit to millions of dollars in reserve and dropped our grant dependency from 62% down to 17%. Our mission didn't shrink, it grew - because the margin is what funded it." Mentioned in This Episode• Revenue Diversification Guide - email me at jill@jillsteeley.com with Revenue Diversification in the subject line and I’ll send you my free guide. • CEO Bootcamp — Jill & Steve Weinman’s program for health center leaders navigating strategic and financial decisions, where revenue cycle is a recurring topic. www.fqhc-ceo.com • Work with Jill — Email jill@jillsteeley.com or schedule a call at jillsteeley.com to talk through where your revenue cycle is leaking. Connect & SubscribeIf this episode resonated with you, please take a moment to: • Subscribe so you never miss an episode • Leave a rating and review • Share with a fellow health center leader who needs to hear this message Have feedback or a topic request? Jill would love to hear from you!

    Payer Mix, Not Encounters: The One Number To Track
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Ratings & Reviews

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About

I'm Jill Steeley, and I spent years as an FQHC CEO feeling like I was the only one struggling with impossible choices—mission or margin, staff or budget, growth or sustainability. Until I realized: I wasn't alone. None of us are. That's why I created this podcast—to build the community that community health leaders deserve. Whether you're leading a health center, a rural clinic, a public health program, or any organization putting community care first, you'll find practical wisdom, honest conversations, and a whole lot of "finally, someone gets it" moments here. Each episode tackles the big stuff—financial strategy, workforce challenges, policy changes—and the personal stuff—boundaries, burnout, and what it really takes to sustain yourself while serving others.

Information

  • Creator
    Jill Steeley
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    42
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2026 Jill Steeley
  • Show Website
    Community Health Collective