Amy Knight, chief administrative officer of Cook Children’s Health Care System, has officially come full circle at the Fort Worth, Texas-based system, having begun her journey there years ago as an intern.
“I think one of the things that draws me back is the thoughtful expansion that [Cook Children’s] has done, not only from a physician standpoint, but also from a market standpoint,” Ms. Knight told Becker’s. “It’s impressive, the growth and opportunities that we’ve had.”
Ms. Knight rejoined Cook Children’s in early May after serving as president of the Washington, D.C.-based Children’s Hospital Association. Prior to that, she spent 14 years in professional services and was a partner at Kurt Salmon, which has a boutique healthcare strategy firm.
Since her days as an intern, Cook Children’s has grown from “a building” with a few “accessory, older buildings” to a children’s health system with more than 90 locations and nearly 11,000 employees. The health system, which is more than 107 years old, also has a physician network, home health services and a health plan.
“It really strengthens our ability to drive change and act as one, because we all truly share one mission, our promise,” Ms. Knight said.
In her new role, Ms. Knight said her leadership approach is focused on balancing internal and external goals. Internally, she is focused on connecting with employees across Cook Children’s to better understand their concerns and priorities for patient care and engagement in the broader communities.
Externally, she is focused on amplifying the health system’s story.
“We are rich in data, and being able to tell that story with data is incredibly important,” she said. “One of the things that makes Cook Children’s unique is we have master clinicians. … They came here to take care of kids. There’s a lot to say about that from a quality and outcome perspective.”
From a national perspective, Ms. Knight said the largest challenge that children’s healthcare faces is the change of pace, citing generational shifts, technology and the need for advancing research. She also touched on the complexities of Medicaid.
“Medicaid has changed a lot through the years,” she said. “It was originally a payer that was founded to take care of the vulnerable, especially kids, and it’s paying for a lot of healthcare these days. That’s not good or bad. It is what it is. … Figuring out how to take care of kids at the state and federal level is going to be something we all continue to work on, and we’re really committed to that at Cook Children’s, to working with our legislators and agencies [at] the state and federal level to figure out what’s the right thing to do for kids.”
As Ms. Knight settles into her new role, she pointed to a simple but effective piece of advice she has carried throughout her career: “Talk before you write.”
“Still being able to have a conversation with someone, particularly if you’re delivering hard news, whether it’s picking up the phone, [and] we have the gift of Zoom now. … You can actually have a very meaningful conversation, and people hear more of our intent when communication is multidimensional rather than simply reading what is written.”
