Kate Crous serves as the Chief Information Officer for Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, NY.
On May 11th, Kate Crous will present at Becker's Health IT + Clinical Leadership 2018. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place May 10-11th 2018 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Ms. Crous' session, click here.
Question: Who or what are the disruptors that have your attention? Why?
Kate Crous: The disruptor that has my attention is Patientory and blockchain [technologies]. Due to the number of intrusion attempts and data being held hostage by nefarious programmers, healthcare must find a better way to protect patient data. Lives depend on accurate healthcare information for best outcomes. Patientory has the same vision as I do about the patient owning their record instead of it being owned by the hospital or physician. In a much more mobile society, the record should follow each of us.
Q: As a leader, what is the best investment you made in your own professional development in the past five years?
KC: As a leader, the best investment I have made is attending conferences such as the Millennium Alliance and Becker's Healthcare conferences. The talent gathered together is a great brain trust to tap into so that I can get a better understanding of the entire healthcare market, disruptors that can affect the industry and forward-thinking experts that know so much more than one individual can possibly absorb through other means of learning. Exposure to top talent in the industry leads to a better vision for the future.
Q: How do you define patient engagement?
KC: Patient engagement is creating a much more informed healthcare consumer. The amount of information available at each person's fingertips is daunting. The key to being a great healthcare provider is to help each patient sort through the mountain of information and guide the patient to credible healthcare information so that each person can make better choices for healthcare improvement and illness treatment.