Lying in a Colorado rehabilitation hospital with two fractures that left her non‑weight‑bearing, Pat Kroken repeated the same phrase to herself several times a day: “Trust the process.”
It's a phrase that captures the throughline of Kroken’s career. More than a slogan pulled from a self‑help book, the mantra is a life discipline she forged under a barbell and refined through her work at medical practices.
In a wide‑ranging conversation with Daniel Williams, senior editor and host of the MGMA Insights Podcast, Kroken — an ACMPE Fellow and Director of Education and Corporate Communications at MSN Healthcare Solutions — traced how resilience, lifelong learning, a love of reading, and, later in life, a competitive powerlifting journey shaped her work in healthcare operations.
From Illegal Library Cards to Lifelong Learning
Kroken’s relationship with books started early — very early.
“I had an illegal library card,” she quipped. “You weren’t supposed to get one until third grade, and I had one in about second grade.”
Her mother read for recreation, and Kroken grew up surrounded by books, libraries, and the quiet assumption that reading was simply part of life. That habit never left.
“I’m kind of a book junkie,” she said. “I consider it a relatively harmless addiction — unless all your books fall over on you and kill you.”
Today, books remain both a personal refuge and a professional tool. Kroken credits reading with helping her translate abstract ideas into real‑world healthcare operations — a skill she brings to MGMA’s Book Club, where members discuss leadership and management titles in the middle of the workday, not over wine after hours.
“This isn’t a wine club,” Williams joked. “It’s at lunch. It’s healthcare professionals trying to solve real problems.”
For Kroken, the value of the MGMA Book Club is a way to learn from others' perspectives.
“The Book Club brings together people from different medical specialties, different levels of experience, different jobs and backgrounds,” she said. “We each look at the books a little differently.”
Working remotely from northern Michigan, Kroken described the isolation that can accompany senior‑level healthcare roles. The MGMA Book Club, she said, counteracts that by creating a space where disagreement is productive.
“If I didn’t like a book and somebody else did, I want to know why they liked it,” she explained. “If I loved one and somebody else hated it, I want to know why.”
What's on Her Bookshelf: From Thrillers to Leadership Classics
Whether she’s reading about covert operatives or organizational psychology, Kroken gravitates toward stories about people performing under pressure — something she sees as increasingly relevant in healthcare leadership.
Her fiction tastes run toward political thrillers and professional assassins — from Barry Eisler’s John Rain series to Vince Flynn’s Mitch Rapp novels, Mark Greaney’s Gray Man, and Gregg Hurwitz’s Orphan X.
“They have to be very nondescript looking,” she said, “but highly skilled and lethal.”
She balances those thrillers with reflective MGMA Book Club selections and recent favorites like The Rose Code by Kate Quinn. Among the Book Club titles she returns to: Grit; From Strength to Strength; The Power of Regret; First, Break All the Rules; and Essentialism, the current selection — books that challenge leaders to rethink success, regret, and focus.
Taken together, Kroken’s reading habits paint a surprisingly cohesive picture of her leadership philosophy — strategic thinking, a steady hand under fire, and with continual self-reflection.
A Career in Healthcare That Started by Accident
A healthcare career wasn’t on Kroken’s radar at first, but then life decided for her.
“It sought me out,” she said.
At the time, she was teaching advertising as an adjunct at the University of New Mexico, after a career that spanned newspaper reporting, radio and TV, ad agencies, and in‑house marketing roles. A radiology practice manager called her after interviewing “about 100 people” without success.
“I told him I wasn’t interested,” she recalled. “But I said I’d meet with him to see if I had students who might be good for the job.”
Instead, she took the job herself. “It turned out he’d pay me about the same amount of money, and I didn’t have to travel as much,” she said. “Marketing is marketing.”
That decision launched a decades‑long healthcare career spanning practice management, consulting, and deep involvement with MGMA at the state and national levels.
FACMPE Was Never Just a Title
Although she came in with strong communication and marketing skills, Kroken knew she needed healthcare‑specific grounding.
“I was working in an area that I knew nothing about,” she said, “other than the fact that my mother was a nurse.”
For Kroken, pursuing Fellowship in the American College of Medical Practice Executives was about discipline and credibility. “I needed to ramp up very, very quickly,” she explained. “Doctors respect education.”
The fellowship provided a structured curriculum and a shared language — both crucial she said, for anyone moving into healthcare from an entirely different first career.
Leadership Lessons From Powerlifting Platforms
Kroken’s resilience story took a turn that surprised even longtime colleagues: She became a competitive powerlifter and eventually made the U.S. national team.
The journey began during grief. After her husband died suddenly, Kroken realized she needed to take care of herself physically and mentally. Strength training became an outlet, and then a focus.
“I ran out of barbells,” she said. “I deadlifted the 95‑pound one, so they moved me to the big bar. After that, that’s all I wanted to do.”
Powerlifting competitions, she explained, can feel chaotic. “At nationals, there can be 1,200 lifters,” she said. “You get three attempts each at squat, bench, and deadlift. If you miss all your lifts in one discipline, you’re disqualified.”
“You train on a very specific program,” Kroken said. “That’s why you need to trust the process.”
Resilience Isn’t Always About Going It Alone
Trust the process. That phrase came back again during her recovery from a fall on a Colorado mountain — the accident that put her in the hospital — which left her unable to walk or even go to the bathroom without assistance.
“I was totally dependent,” she said. “And I’m used to being very independent.”
What surprised her most was the kindness around her.
“Almost without fail, people were incredibly kind and gracious,” Kroken said. “I had to trust that being dependent for a while was the only way through.”
Closing Thought: "More Guts Than Brains"
When Williams asked what advice she would give someone considering a leap they cannot yet imagine, Kroken's answer captured her approach to life and work alike: “I have more guts than brains,” she said. “Unless you can stop me, I’m going to try things.”
That mindset carried her into healthcare, onto international powerlifting platforms, and through personal and professional adversity. It’s a good reminder that progress can begin before confidence catches up.
Resources
- Connect with Pat on LinkedIn
- USA Powerlifting (USAPL) - the organization Pat competed with
- The Resilience Factor by Karen Reivich, PhD, and Andrew Shatté, PhD
- MGMA Book Club
- FACMPE certification
- MGMA Podcast Network
Email dwilliams@mgma.com if you would like to appear on an episode. If you have a question about your practice that you would like us to answer, send an email to advisor@mgma.com. Don’t forget to subscribe to The MGMA Podcast Network wherever you get your podcasts.
