Graciela Soto Perez, CEO of Altura Centers for Health, joins Third Way Health CEO Frederik Mueller to share her 22-year journey leading one of California’s largest FQHCs. From starting as a candy striper to scaling Altura, and from one clinic to nine locations and three mobile units, Graciela reflects on leadership, technology, vendor relationships, and keeping mission-driven care at the center.

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS(00:00) Intro(00:32) Meet Graciela Soto Perez, CEO of Altura Centers for Health(01:23) Altura Centers for Health: An Overview(05:49) Graciela's Personal Journey in Healthcare(18:35) Technological Advancements in Healthcare Operations(23:21) Handling Employee Workload and Referrals(24:26) Centralizing Calls and Referrals(26:23) Managing a Growing Organization(28:12) Communication Strategies in a Large Organization(30:19) In-House vs. Outsourcing Decisions(33:58) Trust and Vendor Relationships(39:48) Success Stories and Future Goals(45:33) Advocacy and Legislative Challenges(48:27) Final Thoughts and Closing Remarks

🔔 Subscribe to Healthcare Ops Wave for more stories on the people shaping healthcare operations!

🌐 Learn more about Altura Health and Graciela Soto:

https://altura.org/

🤝 Partnerships: healthcareopswave@thirdway.health

🎙️ About Healthcare Ops Wave:
Healthcare Ops Wave (HOW) dives into the people behind healthcare operations — exploring growth, strategy, and the systems that keep care moving.

Leslie Pennypacker, Executive Director of Tribeca Pediatrics, joins Third Way Health CEO Frederik Mueller to share how she helped grow the practice from a single neighborhood office to 51 locations across NYC, her unconventional path from bartending to healthcare, and how smart design, standardized systems, and scrappy team-building fueled Tribeca’s thoughtful scale - without losing its personal touch. They dive into growing pains, team structure, vendor relationships, and how to maintain quality and trust at scale.TIMESTAMPS:(00:00) Intro: Welcome to the Healthcare Ops Wave(00:20) Bartender to Healthcare Boss(04:02) Scaling from One to 51(06:50) Call Centers, Shelves & Systems(11:28) Growing Pains(18:33) Running 51 Clinics Smoothly(22:01) Daily Ops in Action(22:59) Letting Go (Sort Of)(24:16) Growth Phases & Data Wins(26:16) Data Is the Backbone(29:50) Outsourcing: Hits and Misses(38:28) Rapid Fire Round(38:45) Rethinking Mental Health Care(43:33) A Peek Into Leslie’s Week(45:16) Wrap-Up and Reflections 🔔 Subscribe to Healthcare Ops Wave for more episodes on the people driving healthcare operations forward!🌐 Learn more about Auxira Health and Inna:Website: https://www.tribecapediatrics.com/Auxira Health: / tribeca-pediatrics Leslie Pennypacker: / about-this-profile 🤝 Work with us:For partnership opportunities, contact us at: healthcareopswave@thirdway.health🎙️ About Healthcare Ops Wave:Healthcare Ops Wave (HOW) dives deep into the humans behind health care operations. Learn from the best operators about growing business, streamlining operations, scaling up practices, and serving millions of patients. Brought to you by Third Way Health, subscribe for more!

Inna Plum is the co-founder and CEO of Auxira Health, a care delivery startup helping cardiology practices expand clinical capacity through virtual teams. She joins Third Way Health CEO Frederik Mueller to talk about scaling smart, building trust with providers, and why not everything needs to be automated.

They cover her journey from private equity to frontline ops, lessons from Cityblock and MedArrive, and what it really takes to deliver high-quality care at scale—without losing the human touch.

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Intro: Healthcare Ops Wave

(00:31) From High School to Healthcare

(01:45) Inna’s Path from Finance to Care Delivery

(02:46) Startup Lessons from Blue Apron, Redesign, and Cityblock

(06:01) Founding MedArrive + Building in a Pandemic

(08:00) Launching Auxira & Rethinking Cardiology Care

(15:04) Virtual vs In-Person Ops Models

(20:52) Trust, Training, & Building in Teams

(23:27) Outsourcing Without Losing the Patient Experience

(25:34) Hiring for Fit and Accountability

(30:17) Expanding the Model Across Specialties

(32:43) Rapid Fire and Final Reflections

🔔 Subscribe to Healthcare Ops Wave for more episodes on the people driving healthcare operations forward!

🌐 Learn more about Auxira Health and Inna:

Website: https://auxiliahealth.com.au/

Auxira Health: https://www.linkedin.com/company/auxira-health/

Inna Plumb: https://www.linkedin.com/in/innaplumb/

🤝 Work with us:

For partnership opportunities, contact us at: healthcareopswave@thirdway.health

🎙️ About Healthcare Ops Wave:

Healthcare Ops Wave (HOW) dives deep into the humans behind health care operations. Learn from the best operators about growing business, streamlining operations, scaling up practices, and serving millions of patients. Brought to you by Third Way Health, subscribe for more!