Paubox Spring Summit recap: A valley of innovation with Vail Health

The second session of Paubox Spring Summit revolved around innovation within healthcare. “A Valley of Innovation—Rapid Adoption of Technological Solutions to Address COVID-19” featured Chris Lindley, Julie Jackson, and Susan Ibáñez of Vail Health. 

Panel overview: Ibáñez, Lindley, and Jackson addressed how Vail Health uses technological innovations to address pandemic-related challenges.

Key takeaways:

• Innovative technology allowed Vail Health to double its number of COVID-19 vaccine appointments from 256 per day in December 2020 to nearly 600 per day today
• Be sure to choose an agile vendor that is willing to work alongside your organization to create adaptable technology that can change as needed. 
• By improving workflow, organizations can improve ROI, patient experience and free up staff for other essential tasks. 

The Vail Health executives also discussed the impact that rapidly adopting new technology had on their organization. Ibáñez said, “I think this will teach us that we can fast track when needed, but it will be a fine balance [of speed versus regulations]." Additionally, Lindley noted, “At the end of the day, it all comes down to community impact. These technology changes have really helped the community."

About Susan Ibáñez

Ibáñez is the chief information officer at Vail Health, a nonprofit community healthcare system in Colorado’s Eagle and Summit counties. Within the system are a 56-bed hospital, a 24/7 emergency care facility, and other specialty services and clinics.

About Chris Lindley

Lindley is the chief population health officer at Vail Health. He is also the Vail Health COVID-19 incident commander and the executive director of Eagle Valley Behavioral Health.

About Julie Jackson

Jackson is the director of applications & informatics for Vail Health. She has been with Vail Health for over four years and is also a registered nurse working with COVID-19 patients. For more information about these panelists, click here.