Our August industry innovator is Jordan Bires, the National Practice Director for Healthcare. Jordan is passionate about working with the Nation’s premier healthcare providers and helping them drive best practices around the management of critical unstructured data. After starting with a healthcare IT company after college, he was hooked and continuously driven to work in the industry after seeing the potential to really help others.
We spoke to Jordan to learn more about his passion for the healthcare industry, lessons learned, and how he feels the industry is trending during COVID19. Here’s what he had to say:
What led you down your career path?
Like many others, I’m not sure if I expressly set out to work in the healthcare IT field. I was fortunate enough to land with a small healthcare IT company out of college, and as I spent more time with the customers, working on the projects, etc., I really developed a passion for the work. I was fortunate that the work we were are doing in the field allowed me to touch so many different areas of the continuum of care. The diverse nature of the work we were doing plus the fact that we were helping patients really hooked me.
In parallel with my healthcare career path, several members of my immediate family have also pursued career paths in various clinical disciplines, working at hospitals with whom we provide direct services to. Trust me- It keeps me honest when my family members use the products/ services we offer.
What is something you thought you knew about the Healthcare industry and later realized you were wrong?
When I first entered the healthcare industry, I was surprised to realize the lack of interoperability between hospitals. Anyone who has ever tried to get a copy of their medical from across state lines knows precisely what I am referring to. There are certain aspects of the healthcare industry that are incredibly advanced -no doubt. But the continued lack of data interoperability continues to surprise me.
Tell us about a recent project that you are proud of.
I am going to take a slightly different spin on this one. I am responding to these questions amid the COVID pandemic, which has been incredibly challenging and stressful for all those involved in the healthcare industry. All the while our projects and operations team have remained upbeat and maintained a high tempo. Several of our projects have to be completed by staff members who have no choice but to work from one of our secure facilities. Day in and out, our staff members showed up and completed their work – never missing a single customer delivery date. I am proud of the resolve that our project and operations team have shown while working during the COVID pandemic.
If you could change one thing about the industry, what would it be and why?
In the healthcare IT industry, we see pockets of innovation that seem to be concentrated in small clusters around the nation. These clusters are typically large, well-funded healthcare institutions that can afford to research, take risks, etc. In parallel, small free-standing, and rural hospitals just don’t have the economics of scale to pursue or have access to some of the amazing things we see happening at other customer locations. In the future, I would love to see more open-source sharing of clinical breakthroughs and technical innovation. I can appreciate the whole concept of protecting intellectual property and rights, but when it comes to healthcare disparities in our nation, I think an open-source exchange allows more collaboration and sharing of technical innovation would be a welcomed change to the industry.
What is something you have recently learned from a client/partner about the industry?
A customer and I were recently speaking about the long term impacts that telehealth technology will have on the healthcare industry (and specifically the primary care segment of the industry). Perhaps not a surprise, but this particular customer saw a strong generational divide among its patients and their affinity to utilize virtual health technologies. Further, this customer predicted that nearly 30% of its ongoing primary care would never return to the brick and mortar locations. Even if the reimbursement models change, this hospital sees telehealth as an essential patient satisfaction item that they will now need for the long term future.
What are three things that you think will shape the Healthcare industry in the next 6-12 months?
- The continued evolvement/ maturation of the telehealth bonanza
- A shift towards more personalized, in-home care
- More non-traditional players entering the primary care space (E.g., Walmart, Walgreens, Amazon, etc.).
In regards to the Healthcare industry in our current climate – what is your take on it?
There is much debate right now on the future of telehealth and virtual care technologies. Some see it as the “new normal,” others see it as a fad, and still others debate what the insurance companies will do with reimbursements for using this technology. I am a big believer in providing choices and options for consumers. I think this COVID pandemic has forced to light that hospitals really NEED their patients and that to retrain the patient base, they need to serve up systems that allow patients to choose more freely on how they receive care. No matter how the government or insurance companies’ ultimately lean on telehealth reimbursement, I think hospitals have to consider their customer, the needs of the customer, etc. and continue to invest in telehealth technologies’ maturation.
In your opinion, what makes DataBank different than other players in the space?
DataBank presents an interesting cross-section of core competencies to our customers. We have well-tenured operations teams, a strong software /workflow build history, experience working in/ around major IT systems (ECM, EMR, etc.), and several models by which to partner with our clients. We maintain strict security credentials, and we have the backing of an incredibly strong parent organization – Kyocera.
