Daniel Durand, MD, serves as Chief Innovation Officer for LifeBridge Health System.
On September 13th, Dr. Durand will serve on the keynote panel "What Makes an Innovator? Encouraging Diversity on IT and Innovation Teams" at Becker's Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference. As part of an ongoing series, Becker's is talking to healthcare leaders who plan to speak at the conference, which will take place on September 13-15, 2021 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Dr. Durand's session, click here.
Question: How has the coronavirus pandemic forced a paradigm shift in your line of work, from your perspective?
Daniel Durand: There has been a sea-change in telehealth and all forms of digital health - both intra-facility and outside the hospital and health system.
On the other hand, Innovation is increasingly being asked to "build" and "design" things in the "real world" for local production as well - for example, we stood-up a PPE factory with Under Armour within a 5 day period and have produced over 200,000 protective face masks and isolation gowns over the first 4 weeks of operation.
Q: What is the most underrated trait of the best leaders?
DD: Persistence (obligatory Churchill quote - "Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy"). In healthcare, the "enemy" is death, disease, and very often our own complacency - but the message is still the same. If I had to hire a leader in healthcare and could only choose one characteristic - I might just hire the most stubborn/gritty/persistent applicant... because this is super hard work and its not for the easily discouraged or faint of heart.
Q: What is one bold goal that you, your team or your organization is staring down for 2021?
DD: Can we take the momentum on telehealth created by COVID and figure out a way to virtualize at least 10 to 20% of encounters going forward (assuming this is medically safe, etc.)
Q: What fundamentals would you encourage your peers to revisit and refine when it comes to health IT and revenue cycle management?
DD:
- Learn the new (and ever-changing) rules around reimbursement for telehealth and "virtual check-ins"
- Learn about DevOps and consider how this approach can allow for more nimble and scaleable telehealth implementation