In this episode of the Coleman Associates Innovation Podcast, Amanda Laramie sits down with four leaders from Cherry Health in Michigan to discuss their organization's journey toward truly integrated, whole-person care.

What started as an effort to better connect medical and behavioral health services evolved into a broader transformation of workflows, culture, patient access, and team-based care. Cherry Health shares how they redesigned operations, embedded behavioral health consultants, community health workers, nurse care managers, and other team members into primary care workflows, and created a more coordinated approach to serving patients.

The results have been significant. Listen for their No-Show rate reduction improvement, how they organically improved their patients per hour as a result of lower No-Shows, how they expanded integrated care to offer patients more services during one visit, and how that impacted their quality and financial stability too.

Throughout the conversation, the Cherry Health team discusses both the operational and cultural changes required to make integration successful, including redesigning workflows, clarifying team roles, creating accountability systems, and moving away from a permission-based culture toward one focused on finding ways to meet patient needs.

Guests:

Bill Joure, Chief Operating Officer

Julee Geib, Director of Practice Operations

Cynthia Wagenhofer, Chief Financial Officer

Anna Gerard, Director of Behavioral Health

Host: Amanda Laramie

Resources Mentioned:

The 4 Disciplines of Execution

Bill Joure references The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey, and Jim Huling. The book's concepts around focusing on lead measures, creating visible scoreboards, and establishing a cadence of accountability influenced Cherry Health's approach to performance management and operational improvement.

Learn more: https://www.4dxbook.com

Mastering Leadership the Coleman Way by Melissa Stratman

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What happens when nurses are empowered to practice at the top of their license?

In this episode, Amanda sits down with Maria Durazo, RN and Isabelle Lunsford, RN, PHN, MSN, of Open Door Community Health Centers in CA, to discuss how they transformed the nursing role to improve access, support providers, and strengthen patient care in a highly rural environment.

Learn how Open Door built a Tactical Nursing model, developed nurse-led flip visits, created career pathways for nurses, and more than doubled the number of patients served through nurse visits through innovative nursing workflows.

Whether you're a clinical leader, nurse manager, or healthcare executive, this episode offers practical lessons on change management, workforce development, and maximizing the impact of your nursing team.

Guests: Maria Durazo, RN, and Isabelle Lunsford, RN, PHN, MSN

Host: Amanda Laramie

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In Part 2 of this powerful conversation, Amanda Laramie sits down with leadership researcher and author Zach Mercurio, PhD, to explore how leaders can create workplaces where people truly feel seen, valued, and connected.

Zach shares practical, everyday ways leaders can apply the principles of mattering — not through grand gestures, but through intentional interactions that build trust, belonging, and purpose within teams.

Together, they discuss how meaningful leadership impacts engagement, retention, resilience, and organizational culture.

Whether you lead a team, support patients, manage operations, or influence workplace culture, this episode offers actionable insights you can immediately apply to strengthen relationships and help people thrive personally and professionally.

Zach Mercurio is an author, researcher, and speaker specializing in purposeful leadership, meaningful work, and mattering. His work focuses on helping organizations create cultures where people feel valued and connected so they can thrive personally and professionally.

In This Episode:

• What “mattering” really means in leadership
• Why small moments of acknowledgment have a lasting impact
• Practical ways leaders can help employees feel valued
• How connection influences performance and well-being
• Building cultures where people thrive

Guest: Zach Mercurio
Host: Amanda Laramie

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