When the directors of rehabilitation for 3 large health care systems realized they faced common challenges, they developed a strategy to address them.

During a site visit, Shannon Schulz, Spectrum Health director, outpatient (foreground in pink); and Mary Bohn, Promedica regional director, inpatient and outpatient, share data.

A number of years ago, as Kim M. Yearout, PT, was reading PT in Motion, she came across a management-focused article written by Ronda Winans, PT, MS, MBA. Yearout thought, "I want to know more about this. She seems to practice in a setting similar to mine."

Yearout is director of Via Christi Therapy Centers, part of Wichita, Kansas-based Via Christi Health, a member of Ascension. Via Christi employs approximately 10,000 associates at its hospitals, senior villages, physician offices, and health services. In fiscal year 2014, it provided $91.4 million in community benefit. Winans, meanwhile, is director of rehabilitation for ProMedica, a nonprofit health care system with 13 hospitals in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan.