Bill Klaproth (Host): This is a special podcast produced on site at SHSMD Connections 2025 in Dallas, as we talk with this year's Rising Star Leadership Award recipients direct from the show floor. I'm Bill Klaproth. And I'm pleased to welcome Khrista Boster, Chief Marketing Officer for Woodlawn Health and a SHSMD Rising Star awardee. Khrista, welcome.

 Khrista Boster: Hi, Bill. I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for having me.

Host: Of course. I'm so excited to talk to you. You're a rising star. This is so cool. I love it. So first off, can you share a bit about your journey into healthcare marketing and what led you to Woodlawn Hospital?

 Khrista Boster: Right. So, my journey actually started in a cornfield in Northwest Ohio. I was probably upper elementary school and a car accident happened. And the boy was several years older than me, but was a neighbor's nephew. And so, in a rural community, people come together. And so, my mom put us in the car and we went down there, and we waited what felt like an agonizing 30 minutes, but it felt like a lifetime waiting for the ambulance to come.

And I didn't know about access issues, I didn't know about rural health. I didn't know any of that, but that stuck with me. And a lot of people in that community will drive to the hospital because you have to wait 30 minutes for an ambulance or you can drive. And so, we couldn't move this young man because of a trauma injury. So, we were at the mercy of waiting. And I often wondered what would've happened because he went on and he passed away.

Host: Oh no. Okay.

 Khrista Boster: What would've happened if we would've had a hospital? Because that county in Ohio doesn't have a hospital. What would've happened if we would've had access issues? And that always stayed with me. And healthcare always fascinated me. But I'm not scientific and I hate math, so I wasn't sure how I could be a doctor or a nurse, because I thought about that. And I came from a business family, so I went in and I started in college with writing. And then, I moved to marketing, and then did some career things, but eventually landed in a nursing home or a skilled nursing facility as the marketing and development director. And so, within different organizations, I stayed within that role and advanced to being a liaison for several buildings for about seven years. So, that was my direct impact into healthcare.

However, within those seven years, two years, I was recruited back to the community that I left to help with a nursing home that was struggling and I was asked to kind of help. And it was personal to me because there was family members there. It wasn't far from where I grew up. But I saw the same issue happening again, right? I saw people couldn't get to the ambulance, people were driving themselves. Although the population had changed, the problem hadn't changed at all. And so, it really sparked a passion to make sure that healthcare facilities in those rural communities are thriving and growing, because the community really needs them. At the end of the day, they do. So, that was within my time.

I took a four-year break and I went into doing work with an NGO, a non-government organization in Ethiopia and worked with them on doing what's called community development, schools, and fresh water, but also hospitals and maternal care. So, I never really left healthcare. It just looked different. And that was very interesting and fascinating. But about year two in, my husband said-- I wasn't exactly thriving. I was okay, but I wasn't thriving. And I was kind of saying some of the things I missed. And he said, "Would you just please go back to healthcare? Would you just please?" And I was like, "I can't do it. I don't know if I could." You know, I was a mom and that was going to be hard. However, the job at Woodlawn opened up about two years later, because it took two years to convince me to come back. And I'm so glad I did because the same issues that happened in that cornfield when I was a little girl are the same issues that rural health faces today, if not more. And so, making sure that we have viable hospitals and community hospitals and healthcare is just essential to everything.

Host: What a great story. That's amazing. Wow. So, that traumatic experience really left a mark on you, really was instrumental in you thinking about a career in this. Khrista, I love also when you said the population changed, but the problem didn't. That's such a really profound statement, and how you wanted to get back there and maybe make a difference.

 Khrista Boster: And on the hard days, because rural health is not easy right now. Budgets are cut. We're going to be the front lines that get the impact of everything coming. And we are very aware of that. And it could be easy to say, "I'm done. I want to go." But on those hard days, I remember back to that cornfield and I think, "You know what, I'm fighting for somebody's child, I'm fighting for somebody to live so that they can have the access that is needed, and can be that safety net." Because, you know, I don't know if that young man would've ever lived, but waiting 30 minutes for a traumatic brain injury and then a 15-minute ambulance drive, I'm sure put him way behind where had he been closer would've been different.

Host: Absolutely. Well, not only are you a Rising star awardee, we're also very proud of you. Really cool. Because I know that you put together your own little rural healthcare consortium, if you will, with Sara Meyer from Wood County Hospital and Diane Markham from Arbor Health. And you did that on your own just to talk about the issues that you all encounter in rural healthcare marketing.

 Khrista Boster: Right. It's been a huge support system. We now call it sometimes marketing therapy.

Host: Marketing therapy. I love it.

 Khrista Boster: Yeah, we love it. It's a great thing to get together and because we all need each other. Our teams are tiny, our budgets are tiny. But at the end of the day, we still have a big job to do. And so, if we can do that together, we're stronger.

Host: It's easy to see why you're a Rising Star awardee. I'm honored to be in your presence.

 Khrista Boster: Thanks.

Host: So, let's talk about that a little bit. What does the SHSMD Rising Star Award mean to you personally and professionally?

 Khrista Boster: I am just in amazement that I received this award. So, I'm so grateful for all the kind people that said kind things about me. But at the end of the day, I think it shows that rural health has a place within healthcare. And I believe it shows that those who are doing it and doing it at a high level have opportunities to grow and expand the market. And they're just as worthy as any other health system. And they're doing a lot with a little. And I think that I appreciate professionally for the whole industry that that's getting recognized in all the constraints that we have currently facing us.

Host: The size of the hospital doesn't matter. You still have an opportunity to touch and impact people's lives.

 Khrista Boster: Absolutely.

Host: Yeah. So, let's talk about some of the impact that you've made. Can you talk about some specific campaigns or initiatives at Woodlawn Hospital that you're particularly proud of?

 Khrista Boster: Yes, I have two I'm very

Host: proud of.

Oh, I love that. Bring it on. Bring It.

 Khrista Boster: So, we are a critical access hospital in Northern Indiana. And if you are watching what's happening in maternal health in the last several years and currently, is that maternity units are closing. And we were faced with the same challenges. You know, we have to keep a hospital running. It's easy to cut a service. But our board said, "You know what? Let's give it a try and let's go for it and we're going to give it a full throttle try." And I was like, "Okay." So, it took us a little bit, but we created a campaign that talks about inspiring.

Some of the things are We're "We're so happy to celebrate your first Mother's Day with you," or my favorite is one of our staff members, his wife had given birth, and we have a picture of him with his daughter that he allowed us to put on a billboard. And so, it was on a billboard with "Happy Father's Day. We're so happy to celebrate your first Father's Day." So, that is watching not only that impact, but watching us grow in our maternity services and winning a national award, because we decided that we were going to do what was best for our community and that's what meant keeping maternity care close to home. So, that has been really fun to watch.

It's been fun to watch us go from not a viable unit to now where we've been growing 10% every year. And I think that's the power of marketing and telling stories within our community. And then, my second one's a little bit more technical. But, in October of 2022, we were in two EMRs at the time, or two electronic medical records. It was a mess. And we had a month of financials that we weren't exactly proud of, and we were trying to figure out what was going on. The clinic visits were up, but everything else on the downline revenue was not. And so, nobody knew what was happening. Nobody knew anything.

So, we did a lot of cross collaboration to find out, A, can we even get a report? And lots of meetings, were able to figure that out, bringing a bunch of people to the table and saying, "Okay, we can't leave until we come up with the solution. So, what's your solution? And no is not going to work. So, get comfy. I blocked your calendar for two hours. Let's get comfy now."

Host: Get the pizzas ready.

 Khrista Boster: Yep. Get the pizzas right. Bring it on. And so, we came up with a clinical workflow. But in the process, we had brought four new providers on. And we found out something shocking, and yet not so shocking, is that our providers didn't know what we offered. And because of that, they were sending people out. And we had nothing to give a new provider to tell them what was in. And so, we had one provider who sent out a procedure we could have done. And I asked her why, and she said, "Well, you realize I'm going to have to call all my peers. I don't have time to call 20 other people." And that's a very fair point. So, we created a service guide for our whole organization. But then, that sparked a theory that said, "You know what? If we have a service guide and our providers don't know what we offer, I'm sure that they're directing the healthcare traffic. Our community doesn't know." so, we created an external service guide for them as well. And then, what we did was a little bit different, is we went to every department meeting. I went with patient experience and we basically said, "Okay, where are we missing it? Like, tell us what we're doing. Good. But I also need you to tell me where are there roadblocks." And we found that we had some roadblocks that didn't make any sense. An old regulation that said we needed a doctor's signature, actually didn't need a doctor's signature. It could be signed off by a nurse.

And so, we went through this whole process, and the campaign is called Close the Gap. So when we started our measurement of internal referrals, meaning that how many of our providers had referred to us was at 30%. I recently-- because we do this now monthly-- ran the report and it's at 75%. So for a rural health system, I'm super proud of our team, and their opportunity to be vulnerable and to open up and for our executive team who worked really hard to close those gaps with us and was open to that feedback, because some of it wasn't fun feedback. But being able to be impactful and watching our team and how much that's made us be able to be financially stable. And I'm so proud of those two opportunities.

Host: Well, you should be. You identified a need for both of those. You put the process and plan in place, and look at the results. I love how you grew your maternity services. And you're right, maternity wards are closing all across the country at rural hospitals. So, great job on that. And Close the Gap, getting feedback from all the different departments, and then raising, the engagement from 30% to 75% is amazing.

 Khrista Boster: Yes. Definitely a team though.

Host: Wow. You're a Rising Star awardee. It's easy to see why. Can you talk a little bit on how SHSMD has helped your career?

 Khrista Boster: Oh, SHSMD was so helpful in my transition back to healthcare. Because I had left in 2018, so right before COVID and right before everything changed. So, when I came back, I was given a mentor. And in the process, I had gotten promoted up to CMO, and I was kind of freaked out a little bit. I didn't know what to do as being a chief marketing officer. And so, having somebody who had been in those shoes and had done it, even though in a larger organization, she super helped me get through that first year with a lot more confidence and taught me a lot. And so, very grateful for that pouring into me.

And then, secondly is the connections. You mentioned Sara and Diana, but there's other people I've met. And those connections of the days when I get stuck and I'm like, "I have no idea how to do this or I don't know who to go to." And in rural health, our teams are very, very tiny. So, it's not like we can just have somebody go vet 20 vendors. You know, at the end of the day, I need it down to three so we can get to one. And so, being able to reach out to people and say, "Okay, so who's your trusted partner? Who do you utilize?" And then, from that, we can get a list. And I know that they've already worked in a small hospital. And I know the caliber of the people and they've worked well. And so, that has saved me a lot of time.

And then, I just think the education. Healthcare is changing. Marketing's changing. If you sit in a rural environment, your team might be tiny, your budget might be tiny, but you're still up against some very big health systems. So, you have got to be competitive and you've got to be on that top line of strategy with everyone else and you have to be at the top of your game. So, SHSMD helps me stay at the top of my game.

Host: Yeah, that is for sure. So for any up and coming Rising Star, what's your advice for them?

 Khrista Boster: Oh, I think first off is careers. You know, when you have some wonky jogs in your career, it will all make sense. It will all make sense, I promise. Because I know sometimes I was like, "I always wanted to be a hospital marketer, but working in a nursing home, how's that going to get me to where I'm going?" But I learned a lot in those situations. I call it learning through osmosis. But making sure that when you're in those rooms, you're listening and you're absorbing and you're learning and you're asking questions.

The best thing about healthcare is people are willing to teach if you ask, and no question is a dumb question. And if you don't understand an acronym, because we talk all medicalese, it's really helpful to ask and know nobody's going to look down on you for doing that. So, I think, you know, osmosis can be your greatest teacher.

And then, my last tip would be stay curious. Always ask why. Always look at things differently and figure out why something is what it is, but how could it be different. I think the beauty of being nonclinical in a clinical space is having a different view and being able to express that view.

Host: Some great thoughts, Khrista. Stay curious. Hmm. Learning through osmosis. I like that. That's so true in any career path. No matter what industry or career you choose, that is so true. And then, no question is a dumb question. Ask those questions.

 Khrista Boster: Yes, absolutely.

Host: So, that makes sense. All right. Before we wrap up, this has really been great. Anything else you want to add? Anything else you want to share?

 Khrista Boster: Oh, no. This has been such a great experience, and I'm just so grateful for the opportunity.

Host: Absolutely. Khrista, thank you so much again. We appreciate it.

 Khrista Boster: Thanks, Bill.

Host: Yeah. Once again, that is Khrista Boster and we hope you enjoyed SHSMD Connections 2025. For those of you who are unable to attend, you can access the presentation recordings at shsmd.org. And make sure you check out all of the offerings during SHSMD week, which is November 16th through the 25th.

And if you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels. And please hit subscribe so you get every episode chock-full of great healthcare strategists, marketers like Khrista, topics, and solutions. And to access our full podcast library, visit shsmd.org/podcasts. This has been a production of Doctor Podcasting. I'm Bill Klaproth. Thanks for listening. See ya!