In the fourth and final installment of the "Lessons in Healthcare Innovation" series on Healthcare Champions, host Sam Meers revisits the groundbreaking journey of Spira Care with Jimmy Keown, VP of Health Innovations and Growth, and Jason Spacek, EVP of Health Innovations at BarkleyOKRP. This episode uncovers the triumphs of the final push to bring Spira Care to life. Spira Care is a revolutionary approach to advanced primary care that transformed healthcare delivery in the Kansas City metro area.

Jimmy and Jason reflect on the complexities of branding Spira Care, the pivotal "to blue or not to blue" decision. They discuss the cultural and operational shifts necessary to create a seamless patient experience, from training care teams to designing innovative care environments. Listen to their insights on the effort it took to bridge consumer trust between payers and providers.

Hear how Spira Care overcame skepticism, rallied ambassadors, and scaled from a bold concept to a thriving model with measurable impacts on cost, patient satisfaction, and healthcare outcomes. These healthcare innovators also delve into the barriers preventing other payers from pursuing similar models. Learn their take on tackling the inertia of the status quo in healthcare.

Join us to celebrate the legacy of Spira Care, and discover how bold, intentional innovation can reshape the future, profitability, and affordability of healthcare.

In this episode, host Sam Meers continues our conversation with Dan Low, Chief Medical Officer at AdaptX, we explore how healthcare systems can transform patient outcomes by harnessing real-world data. Dan shares the challenges of clinical variation and explains how this overlooked issue can significantly impact care quality, efficiency, and equity. With AdaptX, months-long data analysis processes are now reduced to seconds, giving clinicians the tools to make informed decisions that directly improve care delivery.

Dan dives into inspiring examples of change already happening in hospitals across the country. From cutting the use of greenhouse gases in operating rooms to dramatically reducing reliance on opioids for surgical patients, these real-world results are not just theoretical—they're measurable, scalable, and reshaping long-standing practices. Dan also highlights how a consortium of hospitals is now collaborating to share insights and implement changes faster than ever, proving that innovation can spread exponentially.

Tune in as Sam Meers, from BarkleyOKRP and Dan Low discuss the future of healthcare and the critical role data plays in improving outcomes, driving sustainability, and fostering collaboration. Whether you’re a healthcare leader, practitioner, or innovator, this episode offers actionable insights into solving some of the industry’s biggest challenges.

In this episode of Healthcare Champions, host Sam Meers from BarkleyOKRP welcomes Dan Low, Chief Medical Officer at AdaptX, to discuss his visionary approach to harnessing data and Lean principles for a transformative shift in patient care. As a pediatric anesthesiologist with an unconventional journey through critical care, neonatology, and emergency medicine, Dan shares how his vast experiences led him to identify critical inefficiencies in healthcare systems. Observing that healthcare often lags behind other industries in data-driven decision-making, Dan set out to challenge this by founding AdaptX, where his work aims to leverage existing healthcare data to drive consistent, high-quality patient outcomes.

Through thought-provoking anecdotes from his Lean training at Toyota, Dan illustrates how simple yet impactful changes—such as reducing waste and aligning team processes—can significantly improve healthcare. His training in Japan taught him the importance of standardization and efficiency, a philosophy he has applied at Seattle Children’s Hospital and beyond. Comparing this to industries like Starbucks, where consistency and process drive customer satisfaction, Dan demonstrates how a similar approach in healthcare could minimize clinical variability, reduce patient wait times, and ultimately provide safer, more predictable outcomes.

Tune in to discover how Dan’s passion for problem-solving and his relentless pursuit of innovation are paving the way for a more efficient, patient-centered healthcare system. This episode dives into the steps healthcare leaders can take to harness their teams’ ideas and build robust systems that are both responsive and reliable, creating a ripple effect that can enhance the patient experience across the board.