On Wednesday April 11th, Bart Walker will speak on a panel at Becker’s Hospital Review 9th 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 11-14, 2018 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Bart’s session, click here.
Question: What did you notice about your healthcare experience the last time you were at the receiving end as a patient?
Bart Walker: My last trip to the urgent care was eye-opening and highlighted for me that integration of technology is finally happening in healthcare. First, I searched for the nearest urgent care location on my phone. The search results not only showed the location, hours and providers, but also the current wait time. The web interface allowed me to sign in online and the system texted me 15 minutes before they would call me back to be seen by the treating physician. This allowed me to wait at home and arrive at the urgent care just in time. I was running late, and the text-based system allowed me to notify the provider in advance. This kind of process integration with technology is going to become more and more of a differentiator (and a patient expectation) as the market evolves in the future. The industry has progressed so far from the days when I watched my primary physician hunt and peck at a brand new laptop-based EHR system for 15 minutes trying to figure out how to write a prescription….
Q: As a leader, what is the best investment you made in your own professional development in the past five years?
BW: The best investment you can make is in the people around you. The measure of a great leader is not in how high they climb but rather how many other leaders they create around themselves and whether they leave the organization in a better state than they found it. Despite advancements in technology, business (and especially healthcare) will always be a relationship-driven proposition. The best investment I have made is in the people around me and in the clients we serve.
