Efosa Imafidon, DPT, MBA, NHA, PMP, FACHE, serves as Administrative Director for SBH Health.
On April 2nd, Efosa will speak at Becker's Hospital Review 10th Annual Meeting. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place April 1-4, 2019 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Efosa's session, click here.
Question: What one strategic initiative will demand the most of your time and energy in 2019?
Efosa Imafidon: One of the strategic initiatives that will demand the most of my time and energy in 2019 is my focus on the growth of the Women’s and Children’s services. We are a safety net Health system that is challenged by Medicaid funding shortfall and uncertainties, which makes enormous growth very challenging. So, this year work within this constraint to growing our women’s and children’s services we are working on collaborative partnerships with community healthcare companies. We are looking at opportunities to work together to provide the community with high-quality women’s and children’s services. We are also working on the innovative use of digital, mobile technology platform (Apps & Referral communication tools) to deliver targeted supportive information linking patients to our women’s health and children’s services. We have begun to see meaningful strategic impact and growth of the women’s and children’s’ services as well as ongoing improvement in our patient engagement and patient experience within the system.
Q: Tell us about the last meaningful interaction you had with a patient.
EI: As a leader with a clinical background as a doctor of a physical therapist, I often seek out regular interaction with patients to find out how their care is going. So, I make a point of performing frequent walk-throughs at our women’s and children’s departments, taking the time to talk with patients and their families. During my interactions with the patients, they are very appreciative of the care they are receiving from our team, and if the patients are not happy with something during my interactions, I get the team to address the issues immediately. Recently, I met a patient that had a healthy baby girl at our maternity pavilion, and she told me that she had a great experience and was very happy about her care. I was pleased that we had lived up to our value proposition for this patient and her family. I shared with my team this meaningful interaction I had with this patient and thanked them for their efforts.
Q: Can you share some praise with us about people you work with? What does greatness look like to you when it comes to your team?
EI: I have worked at SBH Health System for over 15 years, and many of my colleagues have dedicated their lives providing health and wellness services at SBH Health System an underserved community. My colleagues are committed to providing the highest quality care in a compassionate, comprehensive and safe environment where the patient always comes first. My colleagues go above and beyond to deliver services that sometimes go unnoticed, but the patients and their families appreciate their efforts. We are often limited in resources as a safety net health system, but the team finds innovative ways to address patients’ healthcare social determinant of health challenges. I am proud as a leader at SBH Health System to see that the team exemplifies the grit and resiliencies of the community we serve while finding time to enjoy each other’s diverse perspectives and culture. I often see team members during my rounds and thank them for serving our patient and community every day. So, Greatness to me is watching our team working together day and night to provide the highest quality care to patients in the underserved Bronx community. I am inspired as a leader by my colleagues, and I continue to work as a leader to ensure the team has the resources; they need to continue to provide excellent care seamlessly.