Doctor Andrew McNamara has been a little bit of everywhere – but today, he’s calling Trilogy Health Services home. Joining the team on January 3rd, Dr. McNamara sat down with us to detail his vision of achieving clinical excellence.
Tell us about yourself.
Well, I’m originally from the Chicago area. I’ve spent the better part of my adult life in the business of caring for others. I served as a corpsman in the U.S. Navy, often working in hospitals, before going back to school and eventually my medical degree. I worked for a time with my mentor who was a geriatrician – he inspired us to understand the life cycle and really focus on the whole patient. That viewpoint is what piqued my interest in family medicine.
Tell us more about your history with healthcare.
During my time in family medicine, my practice shifted to implementing electronic medical records. That transition sparked my interest in how that efficiency could help physicians in quality of care, and I decided to pursue a different angle of medicine – working instead in clinical informatics with McKesson. I spent about eight years traveling and working with physicians and health care specialists all over the country during my time there before taking a position as a Medical Director with Aetna. That journey led me to a Chief Medical Officer position in commercial medicine and Medicare over a five-state region in the Midwest. I would go on to a tech startup as a CMO to work in value-based programs. I eventually found myself in Kentucky after returning to lead the Medicaid plan for Aetna as CMO.
What made you choose Trilogy?
One of the things about Trilogy as a company that I learned during my research was that it seemed really committed to employees and having a true servant first attitude. Everyone I spoke with during my interviews was passionate about delivering the best possible care to seniors. My mother is a stroke survivor, so I’ve seen it up close and personal – and I understand the impact that taking care of folks who really need your help has. So I see it as an opportunity to help further that mission.
Tell us about your partnership with Rhonda Dempsey, our Chief Nursing Officer.
Healthcare is a team sport. That’s one of our acronyms – Team Approach Works Best. And I think you definitely have to live that in healthcare. If you don’t, you won’t be very successful.
It’s a partnership that Rhonda said she too is excited about as the company works to move all areas of healthcare and service forward.
“Nurses can help manage all components within the building forward, but we only reach a certain level,” she said. “… So, I think partnering with Dr. McNamara is going to be essential in growing the physicians in the field too to be part of the team.”
When I was applying to medical school, one of my interviewers said if you always do the right thing for the patient, you’ll come out ahead. He talked about how some physicians are driven by money and other things, but … if you’re driven by doing the right thing for the patient, you’ll never fail. You may not always have a good outcome, but you’ll at least be doing the right thing. So, I just think a commitment to doing the best you can for whomever (is meaningful). In a role like this … you’re going from one (patient) to many, and I think it’s a great opportunity.