New NACHC CEO Dr. Kyu Rhee: Top 3 Goals for Community Health Centers

Originally broadcast on November 9, 2023

Experienced health care executive Dr. Kyu Rhee, recently named as the president and CEO of the National Association of Community Health Centers, says member organizations are working on three big goals: Being the provider of choice, the employer of choice and the partner of choice.

As he and NACHC members focus on these items, they’re also nervously awaiting congressional action. In late September, Congress passed a short-term extension of funding for community health centers, National Health Services Corps and the Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education program. Without Congressional action, that money will expire on Nov. 17.

Dr. Rhee says he sees bipartisan support for community health centers on Capitol Hill but the coming days will be critical as the funding hurdles become clearer.

“Conversations on Health Care” hosts Mark Masselli and Margaret Flinter also discuss with Dr. Rhee workforce needs, value-based care and how centers are ready for the next pandemic, if and when it could occur.

Conversations on Health Care features in-depth discussions on health policy and innovation with industry newsmakers from around the globe. https://www.chcradio.com

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Mark ( 00:04 ):
1 out of every 11 Americans received their healthcare through a community health center. These health
centers served more than 30 million patients in 2021, a record number. So why is there such a struggle
to keep funding going? What are the consequences if federal dollars stop or get cut?
Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 00:23 ):
It's the how where we might have a difference of opinion. And the beauty of our movement is our
diversity and getting to that how, I believe strongly in being three things for every health center. We
need to be the provider of choice, the employer of choice, and the partner of choice.
Margaret ( 00:45 ):
These are the big questions facing Dr. Kyu Rhee just a few months into his new role as the President and
CEO of NACHC, the National Association of Community Health Centers.
Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 00:56 ):
Not only on Capitol Hill, but I'm going to highlight this. This isn't just about Capitol Hill, this is about us as
a movement and about all the other stakeholders in the health ecosystem in making sure we have the
resources to fund the staff of tomorrow, the workforce of tomorrow.
Margaret ( 01:14 ):
This is Conversations on Health Care.
Mark ( 01:24 ):
Well, Dr. Rhee, welcome to Conversations on Health Care.
Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 01:27 ):
Thank you for having me.
Mark ( 01:28 ):
Yeah, it's so great to see you and thanks so much for taking time. I'd like to start off just about federal
funding and it's a chaotic situation. It looks like Congress, the House at least took 20 plus days to figure
out who the speaker was. We have a November 17th shutdown of the federal government. Tell us a
little more about what NACHC is doing to try to move the agenda forward, given not only those
situations but two wars where they're trying to provide funding and I guess I should say, how was the
play Mrs. Lincoln? But it's a very complicated situation. What are you doing to try to make sure that
health centers are receiving the resources they need?
Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 02:13 ):
I mean, thank you Mark and Margaret for having me. And I want to emphasize in my role as the CEO of
NACAC and now being maybe 10, 11 weeks in, I'm extremely impressed with the state of our movement.
This is the 23rd health center that I've visited. I've had about 10 primary care association meetings and
more than maybe 10 visits on the Hill to address what you just was referencing: the importance of
bipartisan funding for the community health center movement and the recognition that there are many
people out in the field as I talk to health centers who are emphasizing the importance of funding and

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resources, and the impact the current challenges have on recruitment, retention and just in terms of the
stability of the work that they do every day.
( 03:10 ):
And so we at NACHC have been focused on nonstop advocacy on the Hill. We recognize and appreciate
the extraordinary 60,000 plus advocates out in the field who are also advocating whether they write,
they call, or we've done fly - ins where folks are meeting face - to - face or virtually with members of
Congress and their staff to make sure people recognize the importance of this funding. And I would say
consistently in all of these meetings, I've heard very strong support for community health centers in a
bipartisan way, which has been a core component of our movement since its beginnings. Bipartisan
support for health centers. We have 41% that are in rural communities, the people we serve. We have
63, I think percent who are minorities. The beauty of our movement is that we're all across the nation in
over 15,000 locations and pretty much every member of Congress knows and appreciates their local
community health centers.

Mark ( 04:17 ):
And I think that's one of the secret sauce of community health centers is that bipartisan support, which
the National Association of Community Health Centers has done such an excellent job of fostering along
with health centers in their local districts and as you mentioned, in frontier and rural communities as
well as in urban environments.

Margaret ( 04:35 ):
Well, we're members of NACHC, proud members of NACAC for several decades now. So we want to
welcome you to your role as President and CEO of the National Association and all the great background
that you bring with you to the role. The value of community health centers, the importance of the
funding, you just very eloquently talked about how both sides of the aisle, very well aware of it in
Congress. But to get outside of Congress, I'm not so sure people know so much about what community
health centers are, that they serve 31 million people, that they're sources of education and training for
the next generation, also huge economic drivers in their communities. How do we get that word out
more at a grassroots level and in the State House as well as the County House and on Main Street with
the businesses?

Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 05:25 ):
Yeah, so I will tell you with my own personal experience, so nearly a little more than 20 years ago as a
National Health Service Corps scholar, as an internist and a pediatrician working in the DC, Baltimore
area, I could see clearly the recognition and appreciation of community health centers at a local level. Of
course, first the patients whom we serve and those waiting rooms that are full. I saw it in terms of the
providers locally, whether it was George Washington University Hospital or Washington Hospital Center
or Howard University Hospital. Providers often think about the role we play. I also saw it at a payer level.
Health plans often recognize and appreciate the role that health centers have. Policy makers, whether
they be on a state capital or Capitol Hill, I think also recognize that. And I think different organizations
and companies like EMR companies or pharma companies as we're partnering on 340B with pharma on
the importance of the role of health centers in serving their community.
( 06:42 ):
So on one hand, I would say that our movement is incredibly strong where people locally know their
health centers, value their health centers, and I think the next chapter of our movement, now that we're

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over 31.5 million Americans served, over 300,000, employed, over 15,000 sites, is serving 1 in 11. In my
opinion, the need out there based on broader metrics is one in three. There are over 100 million
Americans who lack access to primary care. There are extraordinary disparities that impact rural urban,
frontier and island communities. And 1 in 3 Americans are below 200% of the poverty level, which is the
target population that our health centers serve. So the next chapter of our movement will need us to
look together in how we can achieve that goal in the next 20 years as we have in the last 20 years, we've
nearly tripled the number of people we've served to get to 1 in 3 Americans from 1 in 11 to 1 in 3. We're
going to have to work with all these diverse stakeholders and we're going to have to work together
more closely than we ever have.

Margaret ( 07:56 ):
That one in three is a powerful figure. I haven't thought of it that way.

Mark ( 08:01 ):
And you're on this listening tour and you're early in it, so all these questions will probably see more light
as you learn more about ... Though you're pretty well knowledgeable about the health center
movement. If you think about putting financing and this growth aside, what are the other maybe two
challenges that the health center movement faces and maybe just translate that, how does NACHC
address those?

Margaret ( 08:31 ):
Only two.

Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 08:32 ):
No, I mean to me, the NACHC of today and the future is about serving the health centers and all the
stakeholders like primary care associations, health center controlled networks, and having this
recognition that we serve the health centers and the core of what we do is do what I'm doing now,
listening, learning, and asking for more connectedness and collaboration across all the diverse
stakeholders in the movement. If we work together as 1,487 health centers, in my opinion, based on the
broader system, the rest of the system wants to work with us. They want to help address health equity.
They want to advance primary care and value - based care and values - based care. So I think one of the
biggest challenges we'll have in this next chapter is how do we work together?
( 09:35 ):
I emphasize with my leadership team. I love [inaudible 00:09:39] start with why, I talked about it at my
start at the CHI in San Diego, I talked about the importance of starting with why. And I would suggest as
I've looked at this movement and in some ways even more deeply reconnected with it by listening to 23
health centers and 10 PCAs, we're all very consistent on our why. It's about health equity, primary care,
prevention. It's about this purpose and mission. We're also connected on what. We want alignment on
the fact that we need more resources to serve more patients, and there's more disparities that exist that
have to be addressed. It's the how where we might have a difference of opinion. And the beauty of our
movement is our diversity and getting to that how, I believe strongly in being three things for every
health center. We need to be the provider of choice, the employer of choice, and the partner of choice.
( 10:44 ):
And I do think each of those areas will require a lot of introspection as well as broader awareness of how
do we achieve that. In provider of choice, we focus on UDS, and I know we're going into UDS+, but in the

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world of value - based care, there are these HEDIS measures. There are stars ratings, Medicaid, Medicare,
Medicaid managed care. We're going to have to take on risk to be leaders in value - based care. And so to
be the provider of choice will require us to come together with our broad expertise, our collective
purpose for health equity and primary care, and think differently than we have in the past, which in my
opinion has been a bit more independent than it has been collaborative and united.
( 11:41 ):
To be the employer of choice in an environment where there's a lot of competition for primary care,
especially when people recognize in value - based care, you need primary care as the quarterback of
advancing value - based care, whether it's CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Amazon with their investments in
primary care, their interest in making a big impact in advancing primary care. I actually think there's
room for all of us with the gap that we have, but the reality is I would like us to retain our workforce and
mission is a strong component of that, but we're going to have to deliver more than mission to retain
our workforce of today and the future and the transdisciplinary teams that work. So we need to be the
employer of choice. And what will that special sauce be beyond mission to retain our workforce?
( 12:33 ):
I mean, a lot of folks who work in this movement, they don't only want to see patients, not to say that
there are people who want to do only that. They want to be a part of this broader movement of thinking
about education, science and research in other areas. To be the partner of choice, I think you have to
understand how the health system works, how the money and data flow, and you have to choose
partners who have your same values and are willing to do a partnership with you for 5, 10, 15 years. The
same continuity that you have in primary care, you want continuity of partnerships and you have to
think about your strategies there that go beyond just partnerships with public sector, but it has to go
into the nonprofit sector and the private sector.

Margaret ( 13:17 ):
Well, I want to pick up a little bit on what you said about workforce. You're absolutely right about being
the employer choice and retaining workforce, we're also thinking about tomorrow's workforce, and I
think pretty much our audience knows whether they're in healthcare or not healthcare, if you move to a
new city and try and find a primary care provider that's available to see you now and not in six months,
it's a challenge. We all got well familiar with the shortages of nurses around the country throughout the
COVID pandemic and health centers are no exception. But I don't think most people know that health
centers are also part of the solution around training the next generation of healthcare workers. Tell me
what health centers are doing and what some of your priorities are around making sure that health
centers also participate as educational health centers, participate through the new GME programs.
Maybe you could talk a little bit about that.

Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 14:12 ):
In building the pipeline of the future of our workforce, I believe strongly in health centers being the
home for not only where care is delivered, but where the future clinicians and staff of tomorrow are,
whether they be patients like I saw on Skid Row, I saw Wesley Health Centers with their CEO Al, and
heard from him how so many of his staff were former homeless patients who had then evolved into
roles in the health center that they manage. The beauty of our movement, whether it's medical
assistants, pharmacy technicians, dental assistants, nurse practitioners, physician assistants,
pharmacists, doctors, is that we represent the people we serve and the people who are in these

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settings, we should create a pipeline for them to serve in those same settings, whether they be in rural
America, frontier America, urban America, or island communities.
( 15:16 ):
So the work we're doing on the Hill around teaching health centers, I think is a key component of that.
The work we're doing in National Health Service Corps, that played a very important role for my ability
to go to my parents and say after all this investment of education and costs at multiple graduate schools
and Yale Undergrad, they're like, "Wait, you want to work in primary care and underserved?"
[NEW_PARAGRAPH]"Well, I got a National Health Service Corps scholar." That helped them appreciate
and know there's a value that this country has in primary care and underserved communities. It helped
them realize that they wouldn't have to be in debt more as first generation immigrants for my education
and that my service was valued. But the work you're doing here at around advanced practice providers,
the work you're doing with medical assistance, the work you're doing in science and education is
extremely important. And what I've seen across the country is that health centers are innovating in
those areas, but in my opinion, every health center should be a teaching health center. I think every
health center should be a research health center, and we're not there yet.
( 16:30 ):
And part of this movement will need us to evolve into understanding how we deliver those things. And I
think places like CHC Inc and the work you're doing here has to be a model for the rest of the country,
which I believe you're already demonstrating. But we've got to find ways to spread it more quickly for
our movement because the gaps are so significant, the need is so high, the one in three. And the literacy
in these areas of research and education are not as strong as you have here. And so how do we share
that across the country?
( 17:08 ):
The last comment I'll make, we just did NACHC Innovation X. I love the framework of innovation in
community health centers, and it had five Xs related to this conference that we had, our inaugural
conference, Innovation X. It talked about how health centers innovate first they explore a problem. So
here you've explored problems, you've ...

Margaret ( 17:29 ):
Lots of them.

Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 17:31 ):
[inaudible 00:17:31]. You've experimented with solutions, and as you've shared, sometimes the
solutions don't work and you look at the evidence that say this is not a good investment. Then you excel.
Once you see it's working, you want to make it better. You're not satisfied with just good enough. You
want great, you want excellent, you want the best for the communities we serve. Then you expand and
you say, "We're going to not just do it at one site. The average health center has 10 sites. We're going to
expand it at other sites." And the last one is you exchange. The beauty of our movement that's, I think,
different than, for example, the private sector, that often doesn't want to share its innovations. It kind
of keeps it more proprietary. Our movement is all about exchanging across the country, across health
centers.

Margaret ( 18:20 ):
I think that's very true.

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Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 18:21 ):
So those five things are really important and those are things that we're going to have to deliver in this
next chapter of community health centers.

Mark ( 18:27 ):
Well, that's such a great aspirational focus and also building on that plan, do, study, act sort of model,
really thinking about it. But while you were going into the future with [inaudible 00:18:40], let's just take
a step back and go over some of the ways that community health centers helped during COVID, which I
think was a very important role that we played. NACHC points out that fewer people were infected with
COVID or died from the virus when a health center was nearby and the centers provided a remarkable
22 million vaccines. 72% of them were administered to people of color. But we've had a number of
leading authorities on the show.

Margaret ( 19:10 ):
That's right.

Mark ( 19:11 ):
Topol, Dr. Fauci, many others who said there are going to be more pandemics as there have been. What
do you think about the readiness for us? And obviously we're thinking day - to - day in terms of primary
care, but that public health role and leadership that we play in making sure that all of our communities
are ready to deal with what is bound to come our way, pandemics, what do you think we have to do in
that arena?

Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 19:41 ):
So I have a framework of we're all part of a public health system, So when you look at our healthcare
and our public health system, primary care community health centers are a core part of that, we
demonstrated that during the pandemic. I think a big reason why we achieved those extraordinary
numbers and were trusted by public, private, and nonprofit entities to deliver those 22 million vaccines
was because of the trust we already had in our communities, because our workforce already
represented the people we serve, because we were already culturally and linguistically concordant. And
so we can't underestimate the power of who we are and how we're already prepared and capable of
responding to any type of natural, manmade pandemic situation.
( 20:41 ):
I mean, I was in Mississippi at their PCA, I saw Delta Health Center, the beginning of our movement in
1965 with John Fairman. He talked about how a tornado had impacted one of his health centers and
many of his staff and how they reacted. And we're not only the first responder, but they're not leaving
that community. I talked to John [inaudible 00:21:05] in Maui right after the Maui wildfires and talked
about the impact that that wildfire had on his community and the people he serves. He's there, he's not
going anywhere. And he talked about how a lot of people came right away, but ...

Margaret ( 21:21 ):
Other health centers came right away.

Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 21:22 ):

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Other health centers, all the other Hawaii health centers came together. But my point is that we are
perfectly situated to be emergency responders and prepared and supporting recovery, but we do have
to partner with the public health system. Often when people say public health system, they're meaning
governmental public health. So state health departments, local health departments, they will all ... I just
talked to Mandy Cohen a couple of weeks ago and we're going to have a big meeting with her team in
Atlanta next month, and she's very clear that she knows that community health centers are a key part of
our public health system, and she has a lot of confidence in not only what they did in the pandemic, but
what they could do in other areas of public health.
( 22:12 ):
So the beauty of our movement is that we start with primary care, but we've integrated public health,
we've integrated behavioral health, we've integrated oral health, we've integrated social health. We've
looked at the needs of a community and partnered with all those diverse stakeholders to deliver those
services one patient at a time, one population at a time, one community at a time, and now one nation.

Mark ( 22:36 ):
That's great. That's great.

Margaret ( 22:38 ):
Well, and part of this, and you're giving me PTSD, remembering back to the early days of the COVID
pandemic, part of getting ready for the next time, and I think this time we would actually know we had it
was we could turn right to our own staff and it was probably eight days from the beginning to when
we're out there. And the number one group of people on those front lines giving vaccines were a dentist
and our hygienist because they couldn't be practicing dentistry at the time. Our nursing staff rallied.
Anybody with a license pretty much was out there, and we trained the veterinarians and others who the
State Health Department ...

Mark ( 23:10 ):
And our National Guard.

Margaret ( 23:11 ):
... Allowed to give vaccine, our National Guard partners showed up. So we know that there's ... And
many people say it was the single most significant time in their career in terms of really feeling like they
were right there, but we've got to be thinking about the people coming behind us and we think about
the mental health crisis, how many more mental health workers we're going to need. They all need
training. What's going on on Capitol Hill that's going to significantly increase the ability of health centers
to, as we were speaking a few moments ago, really become the centers of training and education?
Because it's got to happen. You just did a survey at NACHC, and health centers having huge workforce
issues, lost nurses disproportionately as people were trying to respond to the needs for help anywhere.
What's happening on Capitol Hill with this?

Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 24:01 ):
At the Primary Care Association meetings, I showcased what I would call a collaborative evolving
strategy on primary care workforce with three focus areas. One is recruitment. Number two is retention.
Number three is reform. And it's been very helpful to get feedback from primary care associations,
community health centers in terms of their thoughts. I think it highlights our strategy.

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( 24:34 ):
In recruitment, I'll start, there's no question that when you look at the workforce, I just talked to Jim
[inaudible 00:24:41] the other day. We have a monthly dinner with Luis and Jim, and we looked at the
current workforce. We have over 300,000 employed. For 31.5 million Americans for 1,000 patients,
there's a team of 10. That team of 10 is generally what I would call, it's football season. So I think of a
quarterback. There's generally a primary care clinician, whether it's a nurse practitioner, a physician
assistant, or often a physician. They're the quarterback. They have typically nurses and medical
assistants that like my mom are the heart of so much of what healthcare is about and how it's delivered.
Then there's behavioral health, there's oral health, there's social health, there's community health
workers. There's the frontline staff that I view them as the blockers, the call center staff.
Margaret ( 25:29 ):
The facilitators. Maybe not the blockers. That's the football term.
Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 25:33 ):
Well, the football term is the blockers are very appreciated. They're often ...
Margaret ( 25:33 ):
I'm just making it clear that we're blocking anything.
Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 25:39 ):
Yeah, the line is really important in sports. They're often not typically ... They don't have their name in
lights, but they're the core part, the security staff, the facility staff, they're typically out of those 10
people, there's 5 folks who are focused on making sure things operate and everything.
Margaret ( 25:59 ):
Sure.
Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 25:59 ):
So we have to recruit those people. But I will tell you as I was talking to Jim, we were focusing on where
do we need to go. There are areas that I'm hearing like mental health, oral health, social health,
community health workers, folks are saying we need more staff in these areas. So we're going to have to
think about the balance of recruitment in the future, not only on Capitol Hill, but I'm going to highlight
this. This isn't just about Capitol Hill. This is about us as a movement and about all the other
stakeholders in the health ecosystem in making sure we have the resources to fund the staff of
tomorrow, the workforce of tomorrow. Retention is incredibly important as I keep emphasizing. In the
movement to value - based care, there's a lot of competitors who would like our wonderful staff that
represent the people we serve and represent the American population.
Margaret ( 25:59 ):
Absolutely.
Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 26:48 ):

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So we're going to have to do more than just bleed mission to retain them. We're going to have to be
very sophisticated in our strategies to retain our staff. A lot of the workforce of today and tomorrow. It's
not about our history. It's about how are you going to help me have good work - life balance? How are
you going to help me make as much as I can make down the street at a One Medical or at a Oak Street
or at a Village MD? Am I going to have the ability to do these other things and beyond see patients?
How are we going to fund those things? So retention is going to be a lot more different than we've done
in the past.
( 27:35 ):
And then reform, I emphasize the simplicity of reform is if only five to 7 cents on the dollar is spent on
primary care, we need to work with Sean Martin, AFP, Primary Care for America. If our core competency
and our core mission is only getting a nickel on every dollar is spent in healthcare, then we have to
advocate for that nickel to become a quarter. And that requires us to ask some bold questions, get in
the rooms where a lot of these decisions are being made, and advocate for more funding for primary
care, not only for the largest primary care system, but for all of primary care no matter where it is.

Margaret ( 28:14 ):
The primary care spend that the NASEM report is putting so much focus on. That's great.

Mark ( 28:18 ):
I was just wondering how, one of the things about the history of the health center movement, we
obviously need to ... Storytelling is so important in what we do, and part of the way people are inspired,
obviously, and this is for those of you who know us, we are shameless propagandists and obviously we
publish Peace and Health, and I know we've featured that on the show. But there are more people
talking about health centers. The new book, The Last Politician about President Biden came out recently
and praises community health centers for the role that they played during the pandemic.
( 28:59 ):
But we've talked about this a couple of times, not only here but earlier in our conversations about what
more should we be informing the public about. There are so many wonderful stories within the health
center movement and they have kept their light under a bushel basket. We think about health centers
that we know all across the country.

Margaret ( 29:18 ):
Absolutely.

Mark ( 29:18 ):
Who just have this remarkable story. It's not only Jack Geiger's story, but there are hundreds of stories,
and it's important for us to be telling that. We're glad the President in the book praised the work of
community health centers, not just during the pandemic but every day. And again, what do you think
NACHC is going to do to try to cultivate that storytelling?

Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 29:42 ):
I think we're doing it with social media today. I don't know if you follow me, if you could follow me on
LinkedIn or X, I mean, every day I'm pretty much sharing the stories of my travels in visiting every health
center. I've got 23 so far. I've still got 1,464 to go.

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Mark ( 30:00 ):
I have a feeling you're going to reach [inaudible 00:30:03].
Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 30:03 ):
But I think we're ...
Margaret ( 30:04 ):
We're going to try and compete with you.
Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 30:05 ):
Beauty of the stories is extraordinary. I don't know if you saw that HBO special, Our Towns.
Margaret ( 30:10 ):
Yes.
Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 30:10 ):
It's a beautiful special, and to me, we should have a piece called Our Centers, and I think ... But I'll tell
you, as part of my board pitch to the NACHC board, I said, "We should have a commercial."
Margaret ( 30:24 ):
Absolutely.
Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 30:25 ):
We should have a 30 second commercial at the Super Bowl.
Margaret ( 30:27 ):
Absolutely.
Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 30:27 ):
I know that's expensive. It's generally, I mean, when I was at IBM for a decade as their Chief Medical
Officer, one of my roles that I never thought I'd have was approve the healthcare commercials. And it
was fascinating, and IBM had a lot of commercials, especially during the Super Bowl and other places
and The Masters, and telling the story of how data analytics and AI is leveraged with health and
healthcare was fascinating. We have to tell our primary care story, whether it's a 30 - second commercial,
whether it's on social media, whether it's on the Hill, whether it's on Capitol Hill or state capitals,
whether it's with stakeholders that don't know us that well, think we're the entity that supports poor
clinics. We need to highlight how we're the provider of choice, the employer of choice, and the partner
of choice. And I believe from moving to 1 in 11 to 1 in 3, we are going to have to tell more stories, we're
going to have to be shameless about promoting what we do.
Margaret ( 31:29 ):
Yeah. Shameless and proud.
Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 31:30 ):

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And proud and assertive and bold. I think Fitzhugh Mullan, one of my mentors, he interviewed me for
my job at Unity, him and Dr. [inaudible 00:31:44] and [inaudible 00:31:44], the three of them for my
National Health Service Corp placement at Unity Healthcare in DC. He wrote a piece called, Tin - Cup
Medicine and that's what a lot of healthcare delivery and community health centers is. You're begging
people to help and you're getting a penny or 5 cents on the dollar of healthcare. In my opinion, the next
stage of our movement is asking and explaining why we deserve 20 to 25 cents on the dollar, and it's not
just tin cup whatever we get. It's about recognizing we are lifesaving, we are cost saving, and we
represent values that our health system should be built on. Health equity, primary care, prevention,
mental health, oral health, public health, and that if there's ever a place you're going to invest money, it
should be in your health center.

Mark ( 32:35 ):
Well, and I just want to make a note, and I think health centers should really invite as many people in
and diverse people into the organization. Margaret, remember we invited our good friend Mike Critelli,
who is President, CEO worldwide of Pitney Bowes. Never been to a health center, said, "I'm going to give
you 15 minutes." Four hours later, he was still there. Just absolutely amazing. I think that's true across
the country. We have to reach beyond our comfort to bring people in and really educate them. And of
course, as I've mentioned before, the publications of the work that people are doing inspires others to
move forward.

Margaret ( 33:12 ):
Right. And the research is so important, but I also want to see that commercial at the Super Bowl game,
and it might be enough to get me to go to a football game. So we'll look forward to that.

Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 33:22 ):
I asked Angelique to talk to the ad council.

Margaret ( 33:25 ):
Sounds good. Dr. Rhee, we really want to thank you for joining us. Also, thanks to our audience, and be
sure to go online to chcradio.com, sign up for the email updates, and we'd love to have you share your
thoughts and comments about this program. Dr. Rhee, thank you so much for joining us today.

Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 33:40 ):
Thank you for having me. Thank you so much for everything you're doing for this movement. Thank you.

Mark ( 33:43 ):
That's great.

Dr. Kyu Rhee ( 33:44 ):
All of you.

Margaret ( 33:49 ):
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This transcript was exported on Apr 03, 2024 - view latest version here .
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Transcript by Rev.com