COLLEGE OF BUSINESS
India Carroll, ’81
CEO of Green Clinic
India Carroll is 1981 accounting graduate and serving as Chief Executive Officer at Green Clinic, a multi-specialty physician clinic based in Ruston, with over eight locations in the surrounding communities. Learn about India and how the College of Business prepared her for her career.
Where are you currently working? What is your title?
I am the Chief Executive Officer at Green Clinic, a multi-specialty physician clinic located in Ruston, LA.
What are your job responsibilities/duties?
Green Clinic has 61 providers, supported by more than 300 employees in 8 different locations in Ruston and the surrounding communities. My primary responsibility is to ensure that our physicians and staff have the necessary resources at all times to provide excellent healthcare to their patients. As any business leader will tell you, the only way to accomplish that is to surround yourself with great managers, give them the tools they need, and let them do their jobs.
What does a typical day look like?
Healthcare is undergoing a tremendous amount of transition right now, so I don’t have many days that I would consider “typical.” My first priority is to the physicians and staff, so my door is always open to meet with them and discuss concerns, strategic plans, opportunities, etc. I have weekly meetings with my managers, and monthly meetings with the Board of Directors and Physician Partners to keep them up-to-date on financial and operational issues. On any given day I might be developing a strategic plan, negotiating a managed care contract with an insurance company, recruiting physicians, formulating a plan to ensure compliance with the latest healthcare regulations, or visiting with a patient. Whatever it takes to get the job done.
What do you most enjoy about your job?
That’s an easy one. It’s the people I work with, and being able to observe them changing other people’s lives on a daily basis. I work with an incredibly talented group of physicians, clinicians and staff who have tremendous passion for their patients and their coworkers. Day in and day out they give 110% of themselves to make someone’s life better. It’s awesome knowing that what I do helps them accomplish that.
What is the most difficult aspect of the job?
The most challenging part of my job right now is responding to the ever-changing governmental policies that regulate healthcare. Physicians tell me daily that they are forced to spend more time with their computers than with their patients. The amount of resources expended on compliance with regulations has skyrocketed. Clinicians are burning out at historical rates, not from providing patient care, but from the enormous amount of paperwork required.
How did your experience at Tech and the College of Business prepare you for your professional life? For this specific position?
The obvious answer to that question is that I was taught the technical skills required to be successful in my profession. Equally important, however, were the relationships I built with my professors and fellow students, not only in the classroom, but through participating in social and academic organizations. One of the greatest benefits of attending Louisiana Tech, and there are many, is that you are fortunate enough to become a member of the “Tech Family.” You learn that success in life is not just about your skills, but your ability to build relationships and work together with others toward a common goal.
What advice do you have for students interested in this field?
First and foremost, make sure you have chosen the right field for you. Find a way to test the waters, whether it be through job shadowing, an internship or a part-time job. To be successful, you need to love what you do. Get to know your professors in the College of Business – they are a wealth of information and can help guide you in the right direction. Then study, study, study! The job market is extremely competitive, and employers are looking for candidates who have already proven they are committed by their success in the classroom.
What is one thing that you know now that you wish you had known when you started in the field? When you graduated from the College?
That college was not the end of my education, but only the beginning. To be successful in this profession, or any other, you have to stay committed to increasing your fund of knowledge every single day.