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Heartland
Dental Care
▼ Dr Rick Workman
shaped a leadership perspective grounded in operating detail rather than signalling. He learned the system by running it. As Heartland Dental expanded from eight supported practices to many times that number, the question became how to preserve human connection inside the Heartland Dental supported network.
Core to Pat’ s role is staying connected at scale.“ It’ s one of the hardest things to do. I try to stay doctor and customer-facing as much as possible. I handwrite thank you notes for every practice and doctor who help achieve their best month ever for their practice. I attend HeartStart, the onboarding program, doctor dinners, and regional Connect to Collaborate meetings. I travel with our Regional Directors of Operations once a year.” The methods reflect habit rather than gesture, as the notes are inspiring, the travel creates shared context, and the visits allow the flow of information to move without filters. americanhealthcareleader. com 37