Re-establishing Confidence in Greenway is Job One for CEO Pratap Sarker

Everyone loves a comeback story. There’s just something inspiring about facing adversity and fighting through a challenge to emerge victorious on the other side. That is certainly the script that the new executive team at Greenway Health hopes to write for themselves. So far, their journey appears to be carrying them in the right direction as the company focuses on product stability and earning the trust of their clients.

Healthcare IT Today sat down for an exclusive one-on-one interview with Greenway CEO, Pratap Sarker to discuss the direction he has charted for the company and the challenges that lie ahead.

Throughout the interview Sarker spoke calmly and in measured tones. He was very open about the need for Greenway to re-earn the trust of its customers, which has slowly eroded over the past several years. He was transparent and earnest in his responses.

Below is an abridged summary of the interview. Watch the video for the full conversation.

You’ve taken over as CEO, since January, at a time of inflection for Greenway. What’s job number one for you?

Job number one is re-establishing confidence in Greenway.

Let me break that down into parts.

Number one is making sure that we are working assiduously on uptime and stability of our products. Number two is making sure that we’re delivering on our commitments – predictable delivery of our software and solutions. And number three is making sure that we are doing everything to have enhanced client support, as well as client engagement.

If we do each one of these effectively, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that we will re-establish confidence in Greenway and get back to growth.

You talked about improving customer service and your product stability. What are you doing behind the scenes to achieve that?

There’s a tremendous amount that’s going behind the scenes and it starts with relooking at our entire client interaction roadmap, our client interaction journey. We invested heavily in what we referred to as the client solution advisor role, a CSA role. Think of it as a core team that concentrates on our most important clients and essentially it gives them individual support. My vision is to expand that to our entire client base.

We’ve also invested in augmenting what we do from a client support standpoint. We are doing everything to streamline that entire area.

I’m trying to lead by example. I’m out there with clients regularly. I encourage clients to reach out to me. I want to hear problems firsthand. I’m also encouraging my leadership team to lead from the front. I’ve asked them to take the responsibility of owning a set of accounts and manage those accounts in the role of an executive sponsor.

As part of your cultural transformation of the company, you mentioned an acronym “AS AIR”. What does that mean to you? And how has that manifest for the organization?

“AS AIR” has to do with our values and our core purpose. The three pillars of our core purpose are:

1. Successful providers
2. Empowered patients
3. Healthier communities

I’m very confident that if we do the first two correctly, we will achieve the third.

Everything that we do in Greenway is a combination of our core purpose and our values. We want to be agile. We want to make sure that we are respecting individuals. We want to make sure that we have a servant’s heart. We want to make sure that we have a down-to-Earth approach in everything that we do. Eliminate arrogance. Include empathy.

The most important thing is, we just need to get the job done for our clients.

A year from now, what will your clients be saying about Greenway?

Here is what I would like them to say…and I want to earn it. I really want to earn it.

First and foremost, I just want clients to tell us that the products we are releasing and the changes that we are making to our EHR products, our ancillary products, and other services that we are launching with partners – are not just making a change in their lives, but doing so in a manner that is frictionless.

The second thing is, I would love for clients to start feeling that Greenway really cares. Around the time that I joined the organization, when I started reaching out to clients, one of the things that I would hear is: “Have you forgotten us?” We absolutely have not forgotten. But we need to demonstrate that. We need to demonstrate that in meaningful ways.

The last thing I would like them to say is that they feel like they have been heard. Because if they feel that we’ve taken their input and applied it to our products in order to make a difference to their lives … we will re-establish confidence in Greenway and growth will follow.

What are you seeing coming down the pipe that’s got you worried for healthcare and your clients?

I can’t say that there are things that have me really worried and let me tell you why.

There is a tremendous amount of regulation. Some people might view regulation as a burden. We actually view it as an opportunity. The 21st Century Cures Act, for instance. It’s a tremendous amount of work to get all our platforms interoperable and FHIR certified. But we view it as an incredible opportunity, not just for Greenway, but for the healthcare industry at large.

The second thing is data. The way data is ingested and the way data is analyzed is going to make a huge difference in almost every aspect of healthcare. Be it from the clinician’s point of view. Be it revenue analytics. Any where there is data, and you have an easy means of continuously analyzing that data – will have a significant impact on the provision of care. The more data that you have, the better you will be in extending care to a population.

Lastly, our clients are talking a lot about artificial intelligence. I think artificial intelligence is also becoming real in healthcare. We’re finally finding that there are material use cases which are out there and it’s not just true for healthcare, it’s true of the world of technology at large.

You positioned your question as one of concerns. I am a glass half full kind of guy. I see more opportunity than concern out there.

What message would you like to send to your competitors?

I love being a dark horse. Greenway loves being a dark horse. Watch out for us.

Learn more about Greenway Health: https://www.greenwayhealth.com/

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