Ruth Amos, JD, RN, serves as Partner at Cogent Law Group; Chief Executive Officer at Practical Informatics.
On October 12th, Ruth will serve on the panel "Practical Uses and Thoughts on Blockchain in Healthcare" 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 October 9-12, 2019 in Chicago.
To learn more about the conference and Ruth's session, click here.
Question: What is the #1 principle you uphold and practice to effectively lead a team?
Ruth Amos: Positive persistence! It has been by far the most successful strategy I've used in leading diverse teams with sometimes conflicting styles and incentives. Maintaining a positive outlook toward the end goal can be a challenge at times but is necessary to keep people inspired when the going gets tough. Persistence is key- continue to reach out personally to encourage honest updates, feedback and forward momentum!
Q: What is one topic or issue you've been investing time in to better understand as of late?
RA: Lately I have been investigating successful strategies to rapidly scale businesses leveraging Distributed Ledger Technology (AKA "Blockchain") to address issues in the healthcare and life sciences industries. I was recently appointed to the Board of Directors for Rymedi, a dynamic company that is revolutionizing the way life science companies capture, track & share data to expand markets, improve health & wellness. They are poised for greatness in this space and I am honored to be a part of their team.
Q: What contributes to better conversations between a health system's financial and clinical leaders?
RA: In a word...transparency! I've seen one sided interests hyped on each end, but it is rare to see genuine bilateral openness shared. Financial leaders need to truly understand and respond to clinical challenges and the reasonable finances necessary to achieve quality, safety and compliance measures. Clinical leaders need to understand the entire financial picture in order to participate in solvable goals, not just react to putting out fires, as is the norm. This is a long term goal involving trust building, since current incentives in the US often drive these conversations in a divergent direction. Transparent pricing in healthcare can go a long way to alleviate the issue for both sides.