Lynn Barr serves as Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Caravan Health.
On April 4th, Lynn 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 Lynn's session, click here.
Question: What do innovators/entrepreneurs from outside healthcare need to better understand about hospital and health system leaders?
Lynn Barr: We all work in healthcare for one reason: we want to help people. Innovating in healthcare can be a very daunting task because there are many regulatory burdens and hurdles to jump through. The sudden influx of innovators, or disruptors as they prefer, in healthcare, need to understand that your solution, service or methodologies must improve the lives of patients, clinicians and staff all while remaining financially sustainable.
Q: Tell us about the last meaningful interaction you had with a patient.
LB: I was the patient and it was a nightmare. As knowledgeable and connected as I am, I found myself confused, vulnerable, frustrated and frightened. I have good providers, but the fragmented healthcare and payment system was impossible to navigate. I don’t understand why patients aren’t rioting in the streets in protest.
I’m concerned that healthcare providers have a very different experience of healthcare than their patients. When I was a hospital CIO, it was white glove healthcare for all employees. I went back as a patient a few years later and it was a very different experience.
Patient experience is the first and foremost important part of healthcare, impacting satisfaction, retention and ultimately care outcomes, but is often the most overlooked. It behooves providers and innovators to start and end with the patient.
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?
LB: I see greatness everywhere I look, in our staff and our clients. To design, change, sustain and constantly improve population health is a Sisyphean task. It’s the commitment to a better future that pushes them to solve one problem after another. They will figure it out and they will not fail. My drive is born from the intelligence and greatness of those I work with and for. The thing each of us have in common is our mission to bring population health to life and improve our healthcare system for the better.