Connect Newsletter (Sept. 22, 2026)

Karen Love Retires After Eight Years Leading Cook Children's Health Plan

A remarkable chapter is coming to a close as Karen Love, MHA, retires after eight years as President of Cook Children's Health Plan.

Under Karen's leadership, the Health Plan experienced significant growth while staying true to its mission of improving the lives of children and families.

To read about Karen's legacy of advocacy, service and creating healthier communities across Texas, visit Connect Newsroom. 

Acknowledge Your Performance Conversation in Workday

As managers wrap up Performance & Development (P&D) discussions with employees by Sept. 28, don’t forget to log in to Workday to acknowledge that you and your manager reviewed your annual performance evaluation and calculated rating together.

You must complete this P&D task by Oct. 5. Here are the steps:  

1. Go to your Workday inbox

2. Select the “To Do” – Acknowledge Performance Review Check-In

3. Click “Get Started”

4. Select the appropriate acknowledgement statement in the “Status” field

5. Add comments, if desired

6. Click submit  

Step 4 gives team members the choice between two statements: 

• “I acknowledge that I have had a conversation regarding the review with my manager.”
• “I acknowledge the review meeting has been held, and I would like to request further discussion.”

If you choose the second option, your manager and the manager’s leader will be notified in Workday. You and your manager will have five business days to discuss the matter further. Learn more at the P&D page on CookNet. 

Information Services News

ServiceNow, Epic and Workday Requests Are Getting Easier

What's Changing?

Requests for ServiceNow, Epic and Workday will no longer be submitted through Optimization categories.

Instead, go to the Employee Center and search for:

• ServiceNow Enhancements
• Epic Enhancement Request
• Workday Request

Select the option that best matches your need, and your request will be sent to the right team automatically.

To learn more about the changes on the Idea Portal and how it will be easier to track your requests, visit Connect Newsroom. 

ServiceNow Incident Reporting Update: Identifying Patient Care Impact

What is Changing?

A new question is now available when reporting an issue through Epic "Something is Broken/Epic Report an Issue" or the ServiceNow Employee Center:

Question: Is there an impact to patient care?

Select the option that best describes the impact only when the issue is:

• Preventing Patient Care – Patient Present Right Now
• Preventing Scheduled Patient Visit
• Preventing Documentation or Result Entry

Selecting one of these options elevates the incident for expedited assessment by the appropriate Information Services support team. Please include a clear description of the issue and your callback information so the on-call responder can contact you if additional details are needed.

Appropriate use of these options helps the IS team prioritize incidents that may directly affect patient care.

Kids' Place has Openings for Ages 2+

There are currently spaces are available at Kids Place for the 2-year-old and preschool age groups. 

To learn more, please visit Kids' Place registration. 

Please note the infant age group is currently on a waitlist and members of Kids' Place will reach out directly to you if you are on the waitlist and a spot becomes available. 

Sign Up for Employees Care 

It’s not too late to sign up for Employees Care 2026. Stop by one of the Employees Care events occurring now until the end of the month to make a donation and grab your thank you gift(s). 

Can’t make it to one of our events but still want to make a difference in the lives of patients, families, and colleagues? Click here to sign up.

Because of you, we’re able to go above and beyond for those under our blue peaks. Click here to see a few of the recently funded Employees Care projects that help create moments of magic for patients across our healthcare system. Contact EmployeesCare@cookchildrens.org with any questions.

Share Your Content with Us

Do you have any tips, ideas or content you would like us to know about? We want to hear from you! Please view our SharePoint site and email us at InternalCommunications@cookchildrens.org. 

To find more content about our employees and news you need to know, bookmark our Connect Newsroom website.