‘Behind the Blue’: A look ‘Beyond Blue’ with Craig Collins
LEXINGTON, Ky. (Feb. 23, 2026) — UK HealthCare is an academic health system made up of the University of Kentucky’s hospitals and clinics — about 9,000 team members, more than 80 specialized clinics and 140-plus outreach programs. In fiscal year 2023 alone, the health system served Kentuckians through roughly 1.4 million outpatient visits. Suffice it to say, UK HealthCare is a driver for positive health care outcomes in the Commonwealth.
On this week’s episode of “Behind the Blue,” we’re bringing you another installment of “The Business of UK” — a special feature hosted by Eric Monday, the University of Kentucky’s executive vice president for finance and administration, and co-executive vice president for health affairs.
In this conversation, Monday talks with Craig Collins, senior vice president and chief financial officer of UK HealthCare, and CEO of Beyond Blue — the affiliated organization that helps support and expand UK’s work across the Commonwealth. Together, they break down what Beyond Blue is, why it exists and how major initiatives like Project Blue-Connect and Integrate Blue are designed to strengthen systems, reduce risk, improve security and ultimately help UK HealthCare serve more patients closer to home.
Listeners are encouraged to submit questions and ideas for future “Business of UK” episodes by emailing businessofUK@uky.edu. Upcoming installments will focus on the university’s $8.7 billion enterprise budget, how it is structured, and how resources are allocated across education, research, health care and service throughout the Commonwealth.
“Behind the Blue” is available via a variety of podcast providers, including Apple Podcasts, YouTube and Spotify. Subscribe to receive new episodes each week, featuring UK’s latest medical breakthroughs, research, artists, writers and the most important news impacting the university.
“Behind the Blue,” is a production of the University of Kentucky. Transcripts for this or other episodes of “Behind the Blue” can be downloaded from the show’s blog page.
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As the state’s flagship, land-grant institution, the University of Kentucky exists to advance the Commonwealth. We do that by preparing the next generation of leaders — placing students at the heart of everything we do — and transforming the lives of Kentuckians through education, research and creative work, service and health care. We pride ourselves on being a catalyst for breakthroughs and a force for healing, a place where ingenuity unfolds. It's all made possible by our people — visionaries, disruptors and pioneers — who make up 200 academic programs, a $476.5 million research and development enterprise and a world-class medical center, all on one campus.