Drew Ungerman

Rich and Nick were at the forefront of this combination.

This makes them uniquely positioned to discuss the challenges and opportunities of leading in a best-in-class health system integration, combining academic excellence with expanded patient care capabilities across a broader geographic footprint.

So we are here to talk about the exciting combination that you all have helped to shape and lead.

And I wanted to start at the beginning, which is what inspired the idea to bring together BJC and St.

Luke's together today?

You all in particular and BJC as a whole is in the business of taking care of people and your communities.

How do you think the combination or how has the combination created value for your patients and your communities that you serve?

Look, the industry does not have the world's best track record on these combinations.

I think you both know that well.

As you were headed into the partnership, what were you most concerned about going into an integration of this size and magnitude?

You know, you both just touched upon the importance of culture, the importance of communications.

And as something as strategic as it is, there's a lot that could go wrong.

There's a lot that you're trying to capitalize on to go right.

What are the other secrets that you have found?

When you put together a combination like this, inevitably there's lots of emotions that go through the minds of all kinds of people in the organization.

How can leaders prevent the disruption to the day-to-day?

You're still running, as you said, very successful, very large independent organizations, and you're bringing them together through the integration.

With that emotion and with that potential for disruption, what can leaders do to minimize some of that as you go through the process?

You know, I want to switch, if I could, to the top team.

At the end of the day, and you talked about, you know, how deliberate you were in getting the team together early on.