Jami Youmans on the importance of a strong network. || EP. 162

[00:00:00] Waking up every day and knowing that you get to be a part of something that is ultimately going to

[00:00:05] improve the lives or help lives and families is an important mission to work for every day.

[00:00:13] For me though, you know, when the things get tough and every day there's tough decisions

[00:00:17] that need to be made, it's knowing that you have a support network that you can reach out to

[00:00:23] that's gonna lift you up in moments, give you clarity in other moments, and at the end of the

[00:00:28] day be there to catch you if there's things that fall. Yeah, and there's always things that fall.

[00:00:38] This is Inspiring Women and I'm speaking with Jamie Yeomans. We're at the WBL conference and

[00:00:44] I'm really excited about this conversation, Jamie, because you have a background in health

[00:00:49] administration. You've started your own company Health Eco. You're the president, CEO,

[00:00:55] and founder of this company. You support so many other organizations. So Jamie, thank you for being

[00:01:01] on Inspiring Women. Thanks Laurie. No, thank you for having me and thank you for having

[00:01:05] this podcast. This is an incredible opportunity. Well, thank you. So well, all the thanks out

[00:01:10] of the way. Let's start with the bio sketch because, you know, health administration, hospital

[00:01:16] administrator, that's a big job but then you took that and you started your own organization

[00:01:23] as a CEO, a leader. So maybe just give us a little bit of the background. Yeah, yeah. So I've had a

[00:01:29] career in health care and I started really in my college studies thinking that I could make

[00:01:35] a difference in health care by being a physician. I think many of us who don't have exposure to

[00:01:41] the health care system at an early age or don't have friends or family in it think that

[00:01:45] the way that you get into health care is by being a doctor or a nurse or some form of

[00:01:50] clinician. So I went that route and realized, you know, at the later end of my college career that

[00:01:57] what I was most interested in was making an impact on how care was delivered from a business

[00:02:02] perspective, improving the patient experience, improving the provider experience, and the overall

[00:02:08] efficiencies of our health care system. So I pursued a career in health administration and

[00:02:16] that led me to being a hospital administrator in different capacities with a couple of

[00:02:21] organizations that gave me an incredible amount of experience from an operations perspective,

[00:02:26] from a strategy perspective. This happened to be at a time that ACA was really catching fire,

[00:02:32] yes, had been implemented and we as an industry were responding to that. So mergers

[00:02:38] and acquisition activity was at its peak in many instances and I was working for an

[00:02:44] organization that had been acquired and so I got to experience what that operational integration

[00:02:49] looked like, what leadership transition looked like, how to integrate systems and teams and

[00:02:56] go through restructuring as well as get into the bowels of the health system,

[00:03:01] going through the depths of what it meant to operate and be on the front lines all the way

[00:03:06] through. And it not only gave me a tremendous experience but it also inspired me to want to

[00:03:12] make change not just within one organization but for many. Okay, so before we even go to

[00:03:17] Health Eco which I really do want to talk about, during the time of mergers and acquisitions,

[00:03:22] those are challenging times, they're confusing times, you don't sort of know

[00:03:27] what the next moves are going to be and that sounds like that was a leadership opportunity

[00:03:32] for you. So how did you lean into that? How did that opportunity come about for you and

[00:03:37] how did you say yes to it? Yeah, just a sincere curiosity, wanting to know and not being afraid

[00:03:45] of what change meant, knowing that there is a way that change can be made, change can be led,

[00:03:51] you can be a leader and a follower in many instances. But at the end of the day it was

[00:03:57] an opportunity for me to be curious, for me to learn, to get exposure and in many instances

[00:04:04] take roles that allowed me to bring others along and it excited me. It excited me, it was

[00:04:11] not the status quo, it was an opportunity to be at different leading edges both inside the

[00:04:16] organization and out. And I don't know, it's one of those things that I just get excited

[00:04:21] about. Well, it certainly led you to additional things like curiosity has certainly served you.

[00:04:27] What did you want to be when you grew up? Like what were you thinking about in the

[00:04:30] way back machine? It's not that way back for you. Yeah, you know I wanted to be an athlete growing

[00:04:37] up. I was a multi-sport athlete, thought I was going to have a career. My parents are both very

[00:04:43] tall, I'm a tall person. I always expected to be seven foot tall and dunk playing basketball or

[00:04:50] do the crazy things that you would see on TV at the time. But ultimately sports was not really

[00:04:59] a career path that I was interested in pursuing as I got older. Well too bad because women's

[00:05:03] basketball is on fire right now. It is about time that it had its moment and I hope this

[00:05:11] moment carries forward. Yes, yes. Well okay so curiosity and leadership and sort of making a

[00:05:17] difference for patients and focusing on the business aspect is part of your history. Now

[00:05:24] what about leadership and having the both courage and energy and everything it takes to form Health

[00:05:30] Eco? Yeah, it was. Health Eco is really the successor of a strategy that I had back in 2014-2015

[00:05:42] and fortunately I was able to cultivate very strong partnerships, co-founders who helped me

[00:05:47] to build companies along the way including one that has stayed with me throughout the entire

[00:05:52] life and has helped not only build and grow Health Eco but has been a tremendous asset in

[00:05:58] helping to build and launch new companies. Is this the venture firm that you were part of?

[00:06:04] Yeah, he's been it so my partner yeah I've had partners along the way but I've had one

[00:06:08] partner that's stayed with me both through our initial organizations Vantage One Group,

[00:06:13] Vantage Ventures which is now ultimately Health Eco. Oh wow yeah well boy talk about business

[00:06:18] opportunity and trying to figure out how to you know sort of take advantage of innovation

[00:06:23] but also understanding the business of how to keep a company sustainable

[00:06:27] and really making it scale. That's amazing background. So what does Health Eco do? So

[00:06:33] Health Eco partners with health care organizations primarily health systems in the surrounding

[00:06:38] ecosystem on identifying and generating alternative revenue strategies. Ultimately how do we help

[00:06:46] our health care partners grow? We want them to have financial sustainability, financial health.

[00:06:52] Our focus is on generating net new business models that they can adopt at scale. So we

[00:06:58] bring health systems together from across the country identify common problems within those

[00:07:03] problems. We will organize those into themes and within those themes really dissect what are

[00:07:10] the business models that our health system partners can win at and how do we bring the

[00:07:15] ecosystem together to support that. And once we have enough critical mass and enough

[00:07:20] insight and intelligence around those opportunities we'll activate our venture

[00:07:24] studio and commercialization accelerator to really build launch and scale what that

[00:07:29] opportunity represents. Okay so what are some of those business models like what are some

[00:07:34] of the trends that you're following or blank sheet of paper you know starting to develop?

[00:07:39] Yeah we um. Or is that all proprietary? No. Early stage early stage opportunities you probably

[00:07:46] can't get into but we recently launched a company called Aadalon. Aadalon stands for

[00:07:50] access to access laboratory network. It's a way for health care based hospital based

[00:07:57] clinical laboratories to partner with each other leveraging a tech enabled service

[00:08:02] platform that gives them the ability to not only buy and sell their their capacity in

[00:08:08] their laboratories but it also allows them to reach in deeper. Okay. And access the subject

[00:08:13] matter expertise, subspecialty pathology, clinical excellence standards the like. And so

[00:08:19] we're building not only a nationwide network for our health system laboratories to elevate

[00:08:25] and access diagnostic testing but also begin to think about how they can scale their laboratory

[00:08:33] operations into their communities offering higher end higher quality patient care services

[00:08:39] through the laboratory. That is so interesting because all we talk about you know in health

[00:08:43] care I'm talking a lot about just you know resource shortages and they're everywhere

[00:08:48] whether it's supply chain or you know human resources or capital the professionals that

[00:08:53] are needed so that you're finding capacity in new and interesting ways. That is so interesting

[00:08:59] that really is innovative. Yeah we want our we want our health care organizations

[00:09:04] to leverage and be who they are and create opportunities to expand that. We're not asking

[00:09:10] them to be anything more than who they are but we're giving them the opportunities to

[00:09:14] leverage that both in their markets and then nationally as they collectively collaborate.

[00:09:20] Interesting that's fascinating. Okay so let's move to WBL we're here at the conference together

[00:09:26] and you've been a WBL member for a number of years so what drew you to the organization

[00:09:31] and what do you get out of it? What drew me? Women leaders who doesn't want to be around

[00:09:37] female leaders. They are just it's an exceptional group of women who are who are in health

[00:09:44] care who are mission aligned who are looking to do amazing things and at the end of the day

[00:09:50] they want to help each other. So this is an incredible support network that I haven't seen

[00:09:56] anywhere else in the health care space so I feel incredibly fortunate to be a part of this

[00:10:01] group and the women who have that I've met and who I've been able to establish relationships

[00:10:07] over the years with have been nothing but you know additions and wonderful collaborators in

[00:10:13] my career. The other thing that just you know speaking with so many of the other

[00:10:17] women executives here is like it's a place of business and so you know in terms of just

[00:10:22] different people that you're meeting and ways to navigate what you're trying to do with your

[00:10:26] company or if there are other ways that you can partner are you finding that to be true as well?

[00:10:31] Absolutely absolutely I think we come as individuals with a mindset of not only how

[00:10:37] can we help each other but what opportunities can we create you know what exists out there that

[00:10:43] you know we're not necessarily seeing in our day-to-day and as we convene and collaborate

[00:10:47] how do we spark ideas that can lead to something that ultimately could be a business

[00:10:52] opportunity or an opportunity for folks to work together. Okay so Jamie I wanted to also ask

[00:10:57] you one question so you're I would just say I'm an amazing executive but also a young

[00:11:02] executive leader so as you think ahead in terms of what you're trying to accomplish whether it's

[00:11:08] with health eco or just personally professionally where do you see yourself the next five to ten

[00:11:13] years? That's a good question well I absolutely see myself in healthcare. Yep. I really you know

[00:11:22] what I what I see myself doing is continuing to make impact continuing to be a leader to be

[00:11:28] a change agent to work with some of the best and brightest in healthcare but also helping

[00:11:35] to open doors for others so how do we continue to bring more people to the table more innovators

[00:11:41] more independent thinkers who are going to challenge the status quo and challenge us

[00:11:47] to do better in this overall health care system. So I probably can't give you a

[00:11:53] destination. Yeah this is the next 10 years but you know there's very much a number of

[00:11:59] opportunities that I'm excited for so. Yeah so as you push forward and you know bigger

[00:12:05] more up and broader you know what excites you? So like what can we how do you keep your energy

[00:12:11] up your curiosity up which is you know what started you on this journey what does it for

[00:12:17] you? Yeah it's one it's you know we're in healthcare we're here to do good right so waking

[00:12:23] up every day and knowing that you get to be a part of something that is ultimately going to

[00:12:28] improve the lives or help lives and families is an important mission to work for every day.

[00:12:36] For me though you know and when the things get tough and every day there's tough decisions

[00:12:41] that need to be made it's knowing that you have a support network that you can reach out

[00:12:45] to that's going to lift you up in moments give you clarity in other moments and at the end of the

[00:12:52] day be there to catch you if there's things that fall. Yeah and there's always things that

[00:12:56] fall. That's true for I would say everyone but the CEO role is different I mean and as you well

[00:13:02] know it's quite lonely at the top so who do you reach to for those moments where you need

[00:13:10] whether it's council or energy or just to check the thought that you're trying to or a project

[00:13:18] or a mission that you're trying to bring forward who do you go to? Yeah well first and foremost

[00:13:23] I go to my partners they are your rock solid folks but at the end of the day we don't have

[00:13:30] all the answers. Yep. And so one of the things that WBL has been a tremendous asset to

[00:13:36] me for is introducing me to individuals and groups that can help me find those answers in a really

[00:13:44] easy way so my support system, my support network is where I go. Yep that's spoken like a CEO with

[00:13:50] a growth mindset. So Jamie I want to close out on this great conversation and you know as a

[00:13:57] leader, as a CEO, founder all of the things that you are just advice for other younger aspiring

[00:14:05] leaders who are out there things that maybe you learn worked for you things that you learn

[00:14:12] that no longer need to be learned by others what is some advice you might give? Yeah going back

[00:14:17] to that curiosity, find your curiosity in wanting to get to know and understand the

[00:14:24] things that exist in healthcare it's a complex environment navigating it is a relationship

[00:14:29] based game but really truly understanding what motivates and incents folks across the industry

[00:14:36] in and of itself but also more importantly build your support system and build it from

[00:14:43] the earliest of days get to know your peers, get to know your bosses, your colleagues,

[00:14:50] extend your reach beyond just the organization that you're with because

[00:14:54] healthcare can be a very small community and people are moving around all the time

[00:14:59] and it's great to know that when you're moving they're moving and you can always reach

[00:15:04] out and have a friend. Yep that is excellent advice and so very true this has been an

[00:15:10] amazing inspiring women conversation I've been speaking with Jamie Yeomans and Jamie thank

[00:15:15] you so much. Thanks so much Lori. This has been an episode of inspiring women with Lori McGrath

[00:15:21] please subscribe rate and review we are produced by Kate Cruz at executive podcast solutions

[00:15:27] more episodes can be found on inspiringwomen.show I am Lori McGrath and thank you for listening