Thanksgiving is a time for reflection and gratitude, and we’ve got plenty to be thankful for at Strategic Healthcare Partners (SHP) this year. Did you ever think a small team in Savannah could expand globally, adapting to a remote-work world and broadening our reach to navigate the ever-evolving healthcare landscape? Join us as we share stories of growth, evolution, and the milestones that have marked our journey over the years. From welcoming new team members to partnering with stellar firms like Sliced Health and notable individuals like Joe Eberwine from Corstrada, our gratitude extends to those who have played pivotal roles in our success.
This episode is both a heartfelt celebration and a candid discussion of how SHP has adapted to shifting market dynamics and how our podcast came to be a platform for sharing these insights. As we recount our transformation from three physical offices to a team of over 40 members spread worldwide, we also offer a glimpse into the changing tides of the healthcare industry, with big players making waves—and sometimes disappearing altogether. Whether you’re a dedicated listener or tuning in for the first time, discover the passion and commitment that drive us to keep you informed and engaged with the dynamic world of healthcare.
Guest: Jason Crosby, VP Network Integration & Strategic Planning
Jason currently serves as the Vice President of Strategic Planning & Network Integration for Strategic Healthcare Partners (SHP) of Savannah, GA, with whom he has been employed for 13 years. With SHP, he oversees the Clinically Integrated Network activity, as well as the Business Development and Strategic Planning function.
Prior to joining SHP, Jason served as Finance Director for Georgia Emergency Associates, Decision Support Manager at Memorial Health, and as a Finance Lead with Gulfstream Aerospace.
Guest: Aaron Higgins, Data Manager & IT Strategist
Aaron Higgins has worked with SHP since 2019 as the Data Manager and all around Quality Payment Program expert. In 2021, his role expanded to include IT Strategy to help SHP navigate the changing IT landscape in a post-COVID workplace.
Prior to working at SHP, Aaron worked in various private practices starting in 2008, where he typically held dual roles as both the Health IT Administrator and Meaningful Use/PQRS Manager, and in 2015 he moved to the Savannah area to oversee the Quality Payment Program for a private practice.
Every year, since coming to SHP, Aaron has provided a webinar series updating QPP eligible practices on the proposed & final rule changes coming to QPP (recordings of which can be found on the SHP website).
Transcript
Aaron Higgins:
there you are, jason man. I thought I was talking to a turkey there for a second.
Jason Crosby:
It’s not too bad, is it come?
Jason Crosby:
on if, if I was a girl turkey, I might be interested well, here we are the day before thanksgiving as this episode drops 2024, uh, wanting to do a little little kind of reflection, reflection of the podcast, talk about SHP a little bit kind of give a little backdrop on who the company is, and I don’t think we’ve ever really informally, formally introduced ourselves other than just a couple of goofy guys doing the podcast. But yeah, aaron, a little you know in advance. Happy thanksgiving to you and yours yeah, happy thanksgiving.
Aaron Higgins:
It’s uh, it’s been a good year and we have a lot to be thankful for. Uh, both in my professional life, but also in my personal life, had some uh pretty big news happen in the fall, so, uh, our family grew by one, which definitely a lot to be grateful for.
Jason Crosby:
Indeed, indeed. Well done, well done. And so here we are. Like we mentioned, shp’s changed a lot over the years. One thing to be thankful for we’ve really started to have more trusted partners, as we call them. So we’re really thankful for folks that we know outside of SHP walls, that we bring in along with our services and to help out our clients, because we all win at the end of the day, as long as the client in this case the providers are successful, we as consumers, as patients, as what we do with SHP. And so we just want to say thanks to folks like Sliced Health.
Jason Crosby:
Sliced Health we’ve been working with those guys for a number of years. They provide contract management type solutions. We’ve got ARX Connect and Charity Care, joe Eberwine, who we’ve had on the podcast with Corstrada, so we’ve got just quite a few. But definitely thankful for the great service they provide, the great products but, more importantly, the character of those individuals and the firms, because that’s of utmost importance to us and basically how we carry ourselves and the values of SHP. So, to start us off on Thanksgiving, what we’re thankful for. We’re thankful for those folks and obviously for being able to work for such an organization as SHP.
Aaron Higgins:
I think this might be a good time, particularly those who haven’t dealt all the way back to the first couple of episodes, to maybe talk about who SHP is a little bit I think we throw out the initialism there and don’t really think too much about it. But Strategic Healthcare Partners SHP is based here in Georgia. Technically we’re based in Savannah, and I say technically because there’s this little thing called the pandemic that happened four years ago almost five years ago, can you believe it and like many organizations, we went to work from home and in that time our organization has continued to grow and change and evolve. And now, jason, you would say what? About half of the company no longer is even in the Savannah area. Most of us have either moved away or we’re in the suburbs, kind of far away from what little office remains.
Jason Crosby:
Yeah, like with most right, COVID kind of changed everything and that included SHP, right. We went from three physical offices to now one small little office and folks literally around the world you know it’s been here 15 years myself and seeing us balloon to over 40 individuals and the type of services we provide in the hospitals we work with it’s been quite sort of the journey. So definitely proud of what Mike Skrimmer and John Crew have done over the years.
Aaron Higgins:
I’ve been with the company almost six years now, which again it’s kind of hard to believe how quickly this that has just flown by, and we’ve seen a lot of evolution in the healthcare space, and that’s actually one reason why we wanted to start this podcast.
Aaron Higgins:
It’s for you as much as it is for us, to help us understand what are the dynamics shaping the healthcare scene and hopefully explain to you how we’re seeing those dynamics change and shift over time.
Aaron Higgins:
From the time we started this podcast, we’ve seen some big players enter the market and leave the market, some with really big splashes headed into the pool and headed out of it. So I’m thankful that we’ve had this opportunity to share our insights with you all, but also have that opportunity to dialogue with some of the experts that we’ve had a chance to have conversations with, including folks that you’ve already mentioned that we’ve had on the podcast. So it’s been a great going on three years of this podcast, as we’ve gotten to know our own market just a little bit better as a result of it. Managed care contracting does not have to be a hassle. At Strategic Healthcare Partners, we specialize in negotiating and managing contracts with payers, ensuring you receive your fair reimbursement for the services you provide. Don’t get shortchanged. Let SHP handle the tough negotiations so you can focus on your patients. Learn more at shplccom.
Jason Crosby:
Yeah, yeah, we’ve all learned. We’ve met new people and in some cases, some of you listening have inquired into their services for the sake of your entity. Success and that was part of the mission of this is to help bring help to the providers, whether it’s through SHP or vendors or whatever the case may be, and it’s been really neat to introduce some of our cohorts right. We’ve had two of our client reps in the past, ami and Julia with our client reps and, for those that don’t know, we have a our team structure. We have a few client reps and they’re basically the provider’s project manager liaison into the SHP world and they’re just great, a great team. Aaron, of course, part of the analytics, and another fabulous team, provider enrollment team, which you guys have heard Raquel in the past also, so it’s been great to introduce other team members. We’re trying heard Raquel in the past also, so it’s been great to introduce other team members.
Jason Crosby:
We’re trying to get some of the other teams. We have a credentialing and an IPA team. We’ll get them out of their comfort zones and get them on here soon. But yeah, just to give you a little backdrop, it’s been something that our teams collectively have enjoyed and we hope you have as well, and we’re definitely thankful for all those team members.
Aaron Higgins:
We’re certainly blessed to have a really good crew, and maybe we’re biased in saying that, but having worked a plethora of places and worked with different consulting groups over the years, as a receiver of said consulting, I really think SHP brings a level of personal touch to the table that I just haven’t ever seen from a consulting group before. So not to turn this into an infomercial for ourselves, but to turn it into an infomercial for ourself If your organization, no matter what you are in healthcare, a private practice, a hospital of any size think of SHP. Shp, we bring a lot to the table. You can go to our website and look at all of the services that we offer shplccom. Who knows, maybe you’ll pick up the phone and you’ll call Jason. Jason is usually the one who answers incoming inquiries, so you could have a chance to talk to him and learn more about the services we provide.
Jason Crosby:
Yeah, yeah, We’d love to engage with you guys. Please reach out. Also, we just want to hear from you what could we do more to help bring a little bit more information education to you? That would be helpful and we’ll be sure to do so and hopefully you’re going to kind of take a little time out of where we are with these quick conversations. We’d love to know if these were helpful. We’ve had, of course, Jeremy Miller. While we are digital marketing folks, we hope that his expertise Last week you will have heard him talk about AI, and then next week or shortly after, search engine optimization, and we want to give him props because he’s been our digital marketing consultant for several years now and I can attest to his knowledge and success because we have seen that as well. So hopefully these subject matter expert type of quick conversations again are helpful. We’d like to hear that if they are.
Aaron Higgins:
Yeah, certainly a lot of feedback has helped us guide where we go with this podcast. Some folks have mentioned hey, you don’t really have a stuck-to format. We’re okay with that. We like being able to bring you a variety of content and conversations, from our SEO marketing expert all the way up to CEOs of big healthcare groups, so we want to provide a perspective of healthcare from all angles. So, jason, what are you personally most thankful for this year?
Jason Crosby:
Gosh, I’ll tell you what, Aaron Personally, besides being able to do this again with you for another year, that’s definitely the highlight, oh keep, flattering Keep flattering.
Jason Crosby:
You know we did this last year right, and it’s always neat to kind of look back and, and you know, nothing beats family and it’s it’s kind of interesting talking to you. I think we both kind of took different paths in our lives. This year on the family front, as you mentioned, and for me it’s the first time since I was in my mid twenties that I’ve got an empty house, and so that’s while that is said, I’m thankful because that means, okay, we’re doing something right. We’ve got folks that are out there somehow Somewhere in the world. There’s a couple of folks that came from my house that are trying to find their way, and so I’m very thankful that we have been blessed, that they are doing fine and are healthy.
Aaron Higgins:
Yeah, Well, like I said at the beginning, we added one this year. It’s our first, so it’s the inverse of you, jason. So you got an empty nest and I’m just filling mine, so it’s a lot to be thankful for this year. It certainly has been an adventure, one we actually started back in 2020. And so, yeah, it’s been four years, but it’s been a long four years and it’s been a really long almost three months. What is sleep, I don’t know anymore, but it’s been worth it. So, to you, our listeners, I would encourage you. Let’s take a pause here and reflect and think of what are you most personally thankful for this year? So, as we wrap up today’s episode, we want to leave you with that thought of is it family, is it friends, is it successes at work, whatever those things are? Just pause and give thanks this time of year. So, jason, speaking of thanks, thanks for taking a few minutes with me today and having this quick conversation.
Jason Crosby:
Hey, mary, happy Thanksgiving to you, happy Thanksgiving to all that are listening, and we’ll be back shortly.
Aaron Higgins:
Alrighty folks, that’s a wrap on this episode of Beyond the Stethoscope Vital Conversations with SHP. I’m Aaron Higgins and I’m Jason.
Jason Crosby:
Crosby. This show is brought to you by Strategic Healthcare Partners. Our executive producers are Mike Scribner and John Crew, who probably by now deserve medals, and our editor is Nyla Wiebe who polishes our ramblings into something listenable and shout out to Jeremy Miller, our social media manager, with Boost by Design, keeping us trendy and meme-worthy.
Aaron Higgins:
And let us not forget our toiling robot transcriber, who catches about 90% of what we say, and that other 10%.
Jason Crosby:
Wait, here’s proof right in this episode. You can dig through our podcast archive at shplccom slash podcast Pretty clever Check out all the episodes and even learn about what SHP can do for you.
Aaron Higgins:
And while you’re at it, find us on Facebook and LinkedIn, Drop us a comment, ask a question or just let us know if you made it to the end of this episode without zoning out.
Jason Crosby:
At this point. Thanks for hanging out with us. We’ll see you next week, Same time, same place.
Aaron Higgins:
Bye for now.
Jason Crosby:
Later Gator.