Key Takeaways
- Clinician-leaders who maintain active practice provide essential front-line insights that drive more practical and effective administrative decision-making.
In today's rapidly evolving healthcare landscape, one concept remains vital across all system sizes and geographies: effective leadership. From improving patient outcomes to driving innovative models of care, dedicated clinician-leaders can serve as powerful catalysts for transformation. Physician-leaders bring a unique, inside perspective on how care is delivered—both in the exam room and beyond clinical walls. As a result, these leaders can anticipate the downstream impacts of new initiatives, shape more practical health policies, and foster meaningful collaborative partnerships.
This article explores how leadership and wellness, along with community collaboration, can deliver significant health impact while addressing crucial aspects of physician wellness and organizational well-being. Dr. Julia Flax, Chief Population Health Officer and practicing family physician at CoxHealth in Springfield, Missouri, shares how one health care organization leverages physician leadership, population health strategies, and community-based interventions to enhance care for its local patients and promote health equity.
For many physicians, the transition from the exam room to administrative roles can feel daunting. The traditional medical school curriculum often focuses more on disease management and less on business training or leadership skill development. However, clinicians like Dr. Flax see the confluence of these skill sets as a tremendous opportunity to enhance patient care on a larger scale while addressing issues of physician wellbeing and work-life balance.
"I was not trained in business management or leadership in medical school, but I believe it's important for physicians and clinicians to rise to these leadership roles because we bring a perspective of what truly happens on the front line."
From anticipating how new workflows could affect real-time patient care to pinpointing where the electronic medical record (EMR) poses the most significant challenges, the clinician-leader stands in a unique position to offer evidence-based strategies that remain both practical and supportive of physician wellness.
Dr. Flax's 20-plus years at CoxHealth offer a glimpse of how long-term commitment to a single organization can cultivate a depth of community knowledge and leadership insight. Early in her career, after serving as a full-time family physician, she stepped into an administrative role as a medical director. There, she delved into complexities surrounding payer relationships, managed care contracting, and even the intricacies of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), MACRA, MIPS, and advanced payment models. This broad exposure to administrative details expanded her ability to advocate for physicians and patients alike, while also developing crucial leadership and wellness skills.
By maintaining her clinical practice—remaining in constant contact with the EMR, patient workflows, and bedside concerns—Dr. Flax kept her finger on the pulse of what her fellow clinicians and patients faced daily. This dual perspective was especially valuable when, years later, she transitioned to her current role as Chief Population Health Officer, where she could focus on systems change and practice transformation.
Population health emphasizes proactive outreach, chronic disease management, and upstream interventions that reduce costly downstream complications. In other words, it attempts to tackle health issues before they escalate into emergencies or hospital admissions, saving both lives and resources. At CoxHealth, Dr. Flax spearheads a robust population health department that supports clinicians and patients through data analytics, care management programs, and strategic collaboration with community partners.
Patients rarely exist in a vacuum. They often juggle multiple social factors—lack of reliable transportation, food insecurity, unstable housing—that can impede their ability to manage chronic diseases like hypertension or diabetes. Recognizing the role these social drivers play in patient outcomes, CoxHealth's population health teams actively collaborate with local public health entities, community-based organizations, and even insurance payers to address health equity concerns.
"Working in tandem with others is essential, no single entity can resolve issues like poverty or food insecurity in isolation. We need community-based organizations, public health, and insurers all contributing resources through cross-sector partnerships."
For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the population health department at CoxHealth identified higher-risk patients—such as older adults, immunocompromised individuals, or those with limited social support—and conducted regular wellness checks. For many of these patients, loneliness and social isolation were as threatening as the virus itself. Through frequent phone calls from nurse care managers, patients received not only vital health advice but the comfort of consistent, compassionate human connection.
CoxHealth's program using medically tailored food boxes exemplifies the power of an upstream approach to care. Working through a grant from the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), the organization specifically targeted patients with diabetes and hypertension who also lacked consistent access to nutritious food. By delivering fresh foods and accompanying recipes, while also offering lifestyle medicine education (healthy cooking methods, exercise routines, and medication education), CoxHealth effectively "prescribed" healthier living.
"These interventions hit patients upstream. We aim to reach them before a costly or life-threatening medical episode occurs. It's about identifying their barriers—be it food insecurity or limited education on chronic disease management—and overcoming them with the right resources. This approach not only improves patient outcomes but also contributes to physician wellness by allowing doctors to see the positive impact of their work beyond the exam room."
At the heart of any genuine population health initiative is community collaboration. Through ongoing feedback loops and direct engagement, health care organizations can tailor strategic goals to match local realities and advance equity. At CoxHealth, this partnership starts with a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) conducted every three years.
The CHNA involves collecting data on demographic shifts, disease prevalence, and key social drivers of health within the region. This local intelligence helps pinpoint needs: pockets of high diabetes rates, mental health concerns, or transportation barriers that limit access to care. Over time, the CHNA also provides a metric for gauging progress—whether the prevalence of tobacco use has decreased or if heart disease mortality rates are improving.
"Data and analytics provide clarity, the CHNA findings shape our strategic vision, ensuring that our mission—improving the health of our community—stays aligned with what residents truly need. This data-driven approach also helps us implement evidence-based strategies for both community health improvement and physician wellbeing."
Of course, strong community collaborations don't stop with nonprofit partners. Health care organizations must build robust relationships with local government agencies and public health departments, too. During the pandemic, CoxHealth worked closely with their county and city leadership, setting up mass testing and eventually drive-through vaccinations. Coordination at this level allowed the community to navigate public health policy in real time, preventing misinformation and quelling fears.
"We had our infectious disease physicians and CEO actively out in the community, speaking on the local news to explain what was happening, being transparent and reassuring our neighbors that we had a plan was crucial for reducing fear and building trust. This kind of leadership wellness approach, where we prioritize clear communication and community engagement, helps reduce stress for both our staff and the public."
Dr. Flax began her role as Chief Population Health Officer in March 2020, at the very onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Stepping into a newly established position during an unprecedented global crisis presented immediate tests of adaptability and leadership skills.
When clinic doors had to temporarily shut, CoxHealth pivoted swiftly to virtual care. This decision was vital for high-risk patients in rural or underserved communities who couldn't risk in-person encounters.
"Telehealth skyrocketed, our teams did an amazing job, standing up an infrastructure that allowed continuity of care without risking additional exposure."
The success of telehealth also depended on Dr. Flax's clinical perspective. She understood exactly what made a virtual visit challenging—whether it was inadequate broadband internet in rural locations or the need for accessible user interfaces for older patients. That lived experience as a family physician allowed her to proactively identify and troubleshoot barriers, contributing to both patient care and physician satisfaction.
Simultaneously, population health teams identified socially vulnerable individuals using analytics and made regular phone calls to gauge immediate health needs, medication management, and social isolation. In some cases, teams identified mental health crises, prompting timely referrals and interventions. This crisis-driven innovation later evolved into an ongoing practice at CoxHealth: targeted outreach and consistent communication with high-risk patient groups, further supporting the organization's commitment to health equity.
Perhaps one of the most important roles Dr. Flax and her colleagues served during COVID-19 was that of a trusted community voice. They engaged local media, city councils, and health departments to share accurate information regarding safety measures and vaccination updates. In doing so, they mitigated fear and confusion, reinforcing CoxHealth's reputation as a reliable anchor in the region and demonstrating the importance of wellness leadership in times of crisis.
While improving community health is central to a healthcare organization's mission, the well-being of the physicians themselves is also key to long-term success. Burnout among clinicians has skyrocketed nationwide, and addressing it requires a system-wide commitment. Dr. Flax's recent endeavors at CoxHealth include spearheading a more formal physician well-being program, recognizing how crucial clinician resilience is for patient safety and quality care.
A central challenge is shifting from a "fixed" to a "growth" mindset.
"As physicians, we often train under the idea that failure is not an option, in leadership, you have to be comfortable identifying and learning from what didn't go well. Failures can be stepping stones to improved physician wellness and organizational well-being."
By encouraging open communication, peer support groups, and continuous feedback, Dr. Flax aims to reduce the stigma of admitting mistakes or personal struggles. This cultural change, she believes, is vital for enabling innovation, particularly in fast-changing fields like population health and value-based care.
Another key to building a strong physician well-being program is collaboration with departments such as human resources, IT, and marketing. For instance, to reduce EMR burden—one of the top drivers of burnout—leaders must involve IT in the conversation. Changes to EMR workflows or additional software solutions often require system-wide buy-in and careful deployment to ensure they truly support physician health and work-life balance.
Regular survey tools, such as 360 evaluations or other recognized instruments that measure burnout, provide valuable data to direct improvement efforts where they are most needed.
"We don't want to waste resources on interventions that fail to move the needle, data helps us customize solutions for the specialties or service lines that need the most support, allowing us to implement targeted burnout prevention strategies."
What qualities sustain great leadership over time? According to Dr. Flax, a commitment to continuous learning is essential. Early in her administrative career, she immersed herself in physician leadership cohorts offered internally by CoxHealth. These programs covered business essentials, communication skills, and the fundamentals of effective team-building—topics not typically taught in medical school but crucial for developing strong leadership skills.
Beyond in-house training, she pursued external certification opportunities, such as the American Academy of Family Physicians' Leading Physician Well-being Program and the Stanford University School of Medicine WellMD Medical Director Course. These programs connect like-minded professionals, fostering idea exchange and creative problem-solving. The AAFP certification, in particular, provided valuable insights into leadership wellness and strategies for promoting physician wellbeing.
Self-assessment tools—like the DISC assessment or 360-degree evaluations—can also illuminate blind spots. "We only know what we know about ourselves," Dr. Flax points out.
"External feedback is critical for developing emotional intelligence. That ability to empathize, communicate effectively, and adapt to various personalities is what sets standout leaders apart and contributes to overall organizational well-being."
Leadership and community collaboration hold tremendous power in reshaping how healthcare is delivered and experienced. When health care organizations nurture clinician-leaders—individuals who understand the patient experience, the complexities of the healthcare system, and the importance of upstream approaches—they build a more resilient, patient-centered foundation. By uniting with community partners to address social determinants and by systematically investing in the well-being of clinicians, organizations like CoxHealth demonstrate that it is indeed possible to transform entire populations' health while also promoting physician wellness and professional satisfaction.
The impact of such leadership transcends statistics. It influences how communities trust their healthcare institutions, how families manage chronic conditions in their homes, and how future generations benefit from proactive, preventative measures. As Dr. Flax's journey illustrates, a wellness leader who straddles both the bedside and the boardroom holds the key to sustainable, positive change—one that can ripple through the entire continuum of care.
Ultimately, the core mission of improving community health starts with a simple premise: empower those at the frontline, listen to the individuals served, and recognize that sustaining collaboration is a cornerstone of any meaningful strategy. When leaders step forward with a clinician's heart and a visionary mindset, the result is a healthcare landscape equipped to meet challenges, innovate solutions, and truly better the lives of the communities entrusted to its care. This approach not only advances health equity but also fosters an organizational culture where both patients and physicians can thrive.
To continue this journey of improvement and collaboration, healthcare leaders should consider attending events like the AAFP Lifestyle Medicine Conference or the AAFP Physician Health and Wellbeing Conference. These gatherings offer valuable opportunities for networking, learning about the latest in wellbeing medicine, and gaining insights from top physicians and wellness leaders across the country. Additionally, pursuing physician wellness CME in 2023 can provide concrete strategies for implementing and maintaining wellness initiatives within your organization.
By prioritizing leadership and wellness, fostering cross-boundary collaboration, and focusing on collaborative outcomes, health care organizations can create a more resilient, efficient, and equitable healthcare system. This commitment to continuous improvement and community engagement not only enhances care team morale but also leads to better health outcomes for all. As we move forward, let us remember that the strength of our healthcare system lies not just in individual excellence, but in our ability to work together, learn from each other, and collectively strive for a healthier, more equitable future.
<p>having that ability to being on the front lines seeing patients dealing with the EMR seeing how these workflows affect in real time are really valuable and I think it's valuable to our organization as [Music] well this is Zach with the American Journal of healthcare strategy and you are listening to the clinicians and Leadership podcast Series where we focus on empowering clinicians from bedside to boardroom today I am joined by Dr Julia flax Dr Julia flax do you mind introducing yourself absolutely and thank you so much Zach for having me this is a great opportunity and I enjoy talking about leadership and and and different topics like that so thank you so much um I'm a family physician uh went through Medical School residency and then um work for Cox Health in Springfield Missouri I worked there since residency so over 20 years um I'm an employed um ambulatory pH physician so I do outpatient work um also um I do a lot of administrative things um that started usually I think it was about six to seven years after starting uh Cox Health um I still did full-time family practice for a while but I also became Cox Health medical director and that served as my introduction to the insurance the pay programs uh rvus uh Contracting so it was a lot to learn credentialing um but it was a good experience um I learned a lot um in that role um about that time too we had the ACA uh be approved and macra and myips were heading this way the explosion of Medicare Advantage plans um Advanced payment models so over the next few years uh we started working with those Advanced payment models including Medicare Advantage shared savings programs uh we were involved with a Next Generation ACO for three years right before the pandemic hit um and so that evolved my work into the chief population Health officer uh at Cox we have a robust population Health uh Department um it's just a blessing to have for our family physicians in particular it really takes a lot of Burden um off of them to try to take care of our patients but also the patients uh love it we see a lot of U improved Health outcomes and decrease costs from it so that's my current role as a chief population Health officer well and I have heard about your your health systems population Health that the the way that you guys approach that is is unique and and really really cool and I I think that one of the most impressive things that has stood out to me just looking throughout your experience which you have a wealth of both clinical and administrative is the fact that you and you identifi this you've been in the same Health System for for your the majority of your career if not the entirety of your career and so I'm I'm curious throughout your career in this in that same Health System what have what have been some of or one of the most impactful experiences that have developed your approach to leadership sure uh like you said I I've been here a while and have been blessed to participate in different leadership roles and from each one I've actually gained um a lot of insights a lot of different skills I've learned from um many of our administrative leaders uh a lot of different U techniques I've learned from them uh some things that weren't natural to me I've tried to incorporate like more storytelling uh giving that narrative um I think that's a good trait so I've really learned a lot from different roles I think the most um impactful of late has been my work in physician well-being um we are starting up a formalized physician well-being program here at Cox Health we've been doing things for physician wellbeing for some time but it's just never been formalized and and promoted it like it could be and um you know with the quadruple aim at the time really promoting physician well being recognizing the distress that Physicians were in uh We've really understood the importance of that to take care of our uh Physicians and clinicians all together so that work has been um a really Growing Experience because we don't have a playbook for that we're pioneering this on our own uh within our health system so that's been something different usually when I've got to a leadership role there's a mentor that I'm fulfilling or succeeding I guess is the is the term and you know I'm getting a little mentorship there guidance uh there's a way to do these things you know of course we can always tweak but there's a there's a foundation there so this is brand new uh so it's um increased my ability to really be agile flexible uh collaborative with other departments especially with leadership our physicians our key physician leaders how to gain buyin and really do some appreciative listening and see what really is impacting them in their workflow what is really those pebbles in the shoe that we could work on to improve their well-being um also working with human resources um it of course because the EMR is just such a headache for us um how can we optimize that U marketing Communications how do we get the word out about what we're doing and make sure we're um engaging the Physicians and doing what they need and then um surveying the Physicians um actually seeing where are we standing in physician well beinging where is our distress level right now and then measuring that against National benchmarks also looking for different areas in our system different um service lines that may be struggling more than others and and then doing a deep dive with them and having meetings with the medical director the administrative director to see what are your pain points and if we can help them with some process Improvement projects to improve that and then hopefully in the future we we going to come back measure that and make sure that all those things we're doing are making a difference we're improving uh physician well-being um and but if but if we're not we want to not do things that aren't helping so that whole thing um has just been uh challenging but it's been very rewarding as well oh yeah and again I'm just I'm thrilled to have you on today just to just to cure just ways that you know you serving in the different roles that you have served has just improved the Cox's health system and just the patients have benefited as a result um so I'm I'm also curious what inspired you to pursue a leadership role as the chief population Health officer within the Cox Health System I yes um I've been blessed to work at Cox I I love the organization it's physician Le uh so um I have stayed here a while but that has given me some insights um into the local community and our patient populations um one of the reasons I did want to pursue more of an administrative role with the chief population Health officer opportunity is to expand my um scope of reach and um how I can impact people being a physician it's a it's a blessing one of the most of the time when you ask um a person why did you want to be a physician the common answer is I want to help people and so that's my kind of boring answer um but it's true and and by being a physician um in the clinic I get to help people every day U one-on-one in that clinic setting when given the opportunity for some of these administrative roles Like Chief population Health officer or medical director not only can you help people one-on-one but you can really apply that on a grander scale uh for example some of the Outreach opportunities for screenings like our colar rectal cancer screening um that we do um every year we've done that since the um pandemic because people couldn't come in for their colonoscopies so we started doing that and had success so things like that how can we really help people on a grander scale that's been the attractiveness to me and that's given me a lot of fulfillment well and I mean I I think that we've we've mentioned a number of times here but I think that your your career with Cox Health and just the length of that career within the same Healthcare System is something that is not not super common in today's culture and um since graduating Medical School you started out a physician had other various roles um both clinical and Leadership and then now you're the chief population Health officer for the system so I'm I'm curious how has your clinical experience within that same Healthcare System and with the same patient population that that Health Care System serves how has that influenced your approach to Administration I guess throughout your career but more specifically within your present role oh that's that's a great question I think that's important for a lot of clinicians who are seeking leadership roles I was not trained in business um management really any leadership training through throughout my medical school and residency so that might not come naturally um but it's that we develop those as clinicians and actually be there at the table with those administrative um um leaders so we have a diad structure here we have the clinician leader and the administrative leader and I think that's invaluable from the clinician um point of view because you have that insight into um how this affects the patients at the patient level the complexities of the healthc Care delivery system in itself I mean you're on the the ground running with uh with these patients and you know how maybe sometimes different things um initiatives might have some Downstream consequences that might be negatively affecting patient care which might not be seen if if um someone who is not a clinician is making these decisions so I think it's really important that clinicians rise up to these leadership roles when when able um also just being in that um clinician role I um every day I'm working in the EMR I feel the pain so to speak of some of my colleague Physicians so it's um easier for me to understand what decisions at the higher level might trickle down and and we don't want to cause any more burden um burdensome work for these Physicians so I think having that ability to being on the front lines seeing patients dealing with the EMR seeing how these workflows organization as well so something something else I'm curious um about and I I think you have a unique perspective on this next question because I mean like we've said several times before you you you've been a physician now you are a physician leader specifically the chief population Health officer and and you've done that within the same Health Care system within the same patient population so I'm I'm I'm curious how does your organization how does Cox Health and the system engage with the local community to better understand their health care needs and then kind of second second part of the question is how how does Cox Health align their strategic goals with the needs of that same community that you serve that's a great question we're a community- based hospital so that is near and dear to our heart actually our mission statement is to improve the health of the communities we serve so it aligns with our strategic goals just naturally um and being a family physician that just just speaks volumes to my heart um because that's why we went into Healthcare is to improve the health of people um I think one of the things that is helpful for us is every years we do a community health needs assessment and by doing that we're able to identify different demographics in our area different social drivers of Health that might be an issue um top um poor health outcomes U for example we might have a higher rate of diabetes or mental health issues or drug use um tobacco use those type of things um social drivers of Health we have higher food insecurity in certain areas uh poverty in certain areas trans portation issues so by being involved with that uh Community Health needs assessment kind of keeps our perspective of how best can we impact our community uh another thing we do through our population health Team in particular is use that information and then use our da data analytics to identify patients in our populations who are maybe having some of those social drivers of Health who um May might benefit from some community services so one of the things we do is we also act as a bridge to community-based organizations Public Health um to really help impact those social drivers of Health um I think most of us are aware of the studies that show that only 20% of Health outcomes are determined by what's happening in that clinical visit or that clinical setting so much is um outside of that and as a hospital organization it's hard for us to really impact that with you know our operating margin's not um you know it's it's it's good but we don't have the resources to really do those things that we need that public health setting that community- based organization even working collaborative collaboratively with insurance payers who are providing these resources as well so it's it really needs to be this team-based approach to providing care so I think having that insight into our community um like for example um we received a grant from the American Academy of family physicians recently for our population health Team and we identified patients in our Medicaid population who have poverty and also food insecurity who have um diabetes and or um hypertension and so we have been working with community- based organizations to um identify these patients and also provide um medically tailored food boxes to them with fresh food options recipes and then also aligning these patients with education uh lifestyle medic uh lifestyle medicine education how to how to make healthy foods how to exercise how how to make these great choices so we're trying to hit these patients Upstream before they have these medical issues where you need a hospital system like you know a heart attack or this retroactive or down Downstream effect so the all these resources we trying to move that needle more Upstream to improve the health of our community yeah well and I think that is just one of the coolest things to hear the the focus of a of a Health Care system is is bettering the community and and and the speaks volumes and and why we need clinicians in leadership positions to recognize that hey we we can only do so much within the clinic setting that's going to directly impact a patient's outcome we need to be doing more that extends beyond what some may even consider your the regular reach of a healthare system and so I I that's that's really cool and fascinating to hear about so uh something something else I'm I'm interested in just hearing your uh perspective is you you started your role as the chief population Health officer in March of 2020 um and I I can't think of a a harder time to step into a new role within a Health Care System more specifically I can't think of a harder time to step into a new role as a with that role being the the chief population Health officer in March of 2020 um what was it like to serve in that role and how did your clinical experience affect the decisions that you made that time uh yeah that timing was I I'm trying to think of a word crazy um I'm not sure a better word than that it was a little overwhelming um usually you know as as being a clinician um we're trained to on either evidence-based practice of we know how to take care of a patient with a certain diagnosis or we've been trained because we've seen it done a certain way see one do one teach one this is how you do it this was a brand new thing um what I didn't have like again A playbook to kind of go off of what we do but uh we had great leaders in our organization um we had a great incident command team and um our organization really um developed that tella Health platform um very quickly and because we had to shut down like a lot of other Hospital organizations so how do we still provide that care to the patients but in a safe environment so uh our teams did a great job of uh providing these virtual visits for both primary care physicians and uh Specialists so we leveraged that um we also leveraged our population health Team to identify the social drivers of Health on patients who are becoming even more vulnerable so that was super impactful um how can we help these patients who are really suffering right now and uh you know keep them from having worse Health outcomes and one of the interesting things um looking back is one of the big social drivers of Health was um loneliness especially in our elderly patients because of the isolation and uh you know we know the studies that show loneliness and increases morbidity and mortality so just having a nurse care manager reaching out to them periodically and having that human to human phone contact UM meant so much to these patients I mean I still hear stories from my patients about have having that that person reaching out to them um another thing that we did is mass vaccinations um we set up drive-through vaccinations across our locations um and that was very effective um the um and the other thing we did is also um Mass testing so we had drive-through testing uh for patients um which we're all you know taken care of for them and and then and the operations team did a great job with that um I think the other thing that I was really proud of our organization is just the leadership for our community we had infectious disease Physicians we had our uh CEO really trying to be transparent with our community and educate them on where we're at what are we seeing Across the Nation how can we protect ourselves and trying to decrease like fear but you know give them the education they need the confidence they need that we are there for them so I was very proud of how our organization handled that um transition and uh and I'm they helped me uh transition through my role just because of the work they did well and again I I think it's it it speaks to the importance of why we need people and specifically clinicians and physicians in those leadership roles at specifically the population Health times is just to be able to provide care for for their communities and direct um you know I'll create strategic goals for organizations that are patient focused and patient- centered and using the data acquired to better align what the clinics and the Health Care Systems are doing to better serve the needs of their community and so it's it's encouraging to me to hear just what Cox Health is doing and has done um through Co and has continued to do so today uh the way that you guys balance um the Strategic goals of Cox Health with with the needs of your community there um as we are just about getting close to wrapping up um I'm I'm curious to hear uh you you've mentioned a number of times just that the importance of constantly developing and learning as as a leader um really as a person but specifically within it's a unique thing that leaders have to be well versed in is just the the constantly learning and developing more and more and getting better so how do you how do you maintain a mindset that encourages learning developing and improving I think um and that's a great question and very important for leaders especially even early on in their career to really focus on developing these skills um I think having a growth mindset um is very helpful as a physician um I especially earlier in my career I was probably more of a fixed mindset person because the way I was trained um we have to be perfect no mistakes if you make a mistake that's a failure and that's not really healthy for a lot of reasons um especially in the culture of quality and safety um you need to not have that mindset you need to identify what were wrong but when something doesn't go the way you anticipate maybe instead of act accepting that as a failure how can I learn from this um so Mak it a lifelong learning uh model and that's the mindset that I try to focus on is shifting from that fix to the the growth mindset um I've been blessed in our organization they've I've been through two uh physician leadership cohorts um um over the last 20 years and they've been very helpful to just introducing some um business education uh communication skills team building skills things you might not have learned in medical school so I think pursuing those opportunities if you have those within your health system is great um Even If U not necessarily Physicians just clinicians of any any sort are beneficial for that um also different organizations right now I'm with the American Academy of family physicians leading physician well-being program and that's a cohort that runs over 10 months um and we learn about leadership skills process Improvement skills and physician well-being it's been it's just a great resource that I've been using in building our physician well-being program and the networking is amazing um like the Stanford um wellmd medical director course is also I've learned a lot about physici well-being so there's a lot of um outside opportunities for one to to continue to learn um another thing that's been helpful is um I've done a couple of self assessments you might have heard of dis assessments or or 360 those are super valuable because we only know what we know about ourselves and sometimes pointing those thing these things that we might not recognize and um kind of improving our emotional intelligence and working on some of these skills can really impact your ability to be a great leader well Dr flax I thank you so much for coming on today and just the the the wisdom and getting to hear about your experience and the way you you and the rest of your team navigated some some tough times some unprecedented times with with covid and then the ways that you continue to ensure that your organization uh is S is doing its job as it as it should serving the community I I know I I greatly benefited from the conversation and I know anyone that listens to this will as well so thank you for your time today well that's very kind and thank you for the opportunities Zach</p>
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