Get to know Lyndon McPhail and his strategies for creating better HealthTech

Meet Lyndon McPhail . Learn about his passion for building borderless and evidence-based healthcare. In this interview, he gives advice on integrating technology into provider workflows and shares how he recharges to stay fit and healthy.

Do you have a favorite quote??

Everything I do circles back to this. It’s critical when working to create better healthcare solutions. In the last two decades, healthcare has seen a wave of new technologies, but many have complicated provider workflows and caused more stress and work.?

For example, primary care doctors now spend more than 50% of their workday in EHRs, leading to work-life imbalance and high burnout and attrition rates.

Tell us about your background.

Every decision I've made focused on gaining experience in different areas of the healthcare process, giving me a holistic understanding of the end-to-end journey patients experience as they navigate through a health system.?

22 years ago, I started with MED2020, at the time Canada's leading provider of Health Information Software. This gave me insights into hospital-based coding systems, HL7 and system integration.?

From there, I moved into Electronic Medical Records where I began to master my integrated health solutions knowledge. Managing hundreds of incoming interfaces and working with physicians nationwide provided me a clear understanding of clinician workflows and how patient information maneuvers throughout the patient's entire circle of care team. During this time, I also developed a comprehensive patient portal that was integrated directly into the EMR — thus making the patient an integral member of the circle of care team versus the traditional process of GPs, specialists and other HCPs working around the patient.

After this, I shifted my focus to evidence-based medicine with the Canadian Pharmacists Association, developing clinical decision support tools available through print, online, mobile apps and fully integrated solutions. Ensuring all clinicians had the most recent evidence-based therapeutic guidelines and detailed pharmaceutical information at the point of care helped me become more knowledgeable in what’s most critical for physicians to properly diagnose, treat and monitor all major conditions found in primary care. This is when I felt my role changed from software product management to clinical product management specialist.?

Because of these previous experiences, I can now confidently guide the development of a health solution that easily adapts to clinician needs and daily workflows and aligns with HIPAA and other regulatory standards.

What drives you every day?

If bringing a product to market can truly and directly improve outcomes, that’s what matters. I may not be a clinician, but my work gives healthcare professionals the tools to make better decisions at the point of care and improve patient health outcomes.

You've already written two pieces on interoperability while at Star. Why are you such a vocal advocate??

I see three major reasons healthcare organizations need to focus on interoperability:?

1. It lowers overall healthcare costs because the government, insurers and patients don’t pay for duplicate test processes and procedures.?
2. It saves time for healthcare professionals because they have the necessary information at the point of care.
3. Above all, interoperability saves lives. Codified data removes the guesswork, ensuring the entire care team has access to vital information while enabling the patient to participate in their care, fueling participation and adherence.?

For more insights, be sure to read his articles on medical device interoperability and the benefits of healthcare data interoperability.

What brought you to Star?

Star has a global scale. Regardless of where a project starts, there's always a vision of how to expand it globally.?

Before joining Star, I worked for companies focused on a specific product, service or region. Now, I can work on multiple projects without geographical limitations. It's truly a global opportunity.?

If healthcare solutions are built right, they'll never have geographic boundaries because the need for evidence-based medicine is universal. That ability to travel and help companies around the world has always been my dream.

What advice do you give companies that want to launch new medical products and software?

Don't start any project without understanding clinical workflows. The last few years have seen a major increase in companies building software solutions, but clinicians are reaching data overload when required to sift through all that data. The industry needs to remember the impact of that responsibility on clinicians and empower them with the tools to assess what's relevant at the point of care.

Whether it's wearable data from patients or software-generated insights, this can burden clinicians who may have thousands of people under their care. So, think carefully about how your solution works for, and not against, clinician users.?

On the architecture side, data must be structured and codified so that it can be used across platforms. If you build the interoperability side on the back end, the information could be more balanced between different systems.?

What does a typical workday look like?

A lot of advisory work on our projects. My job is to ensure that our teams understand clinical processes, HIPAA compliance, regulatory processes, clinicians and user experiences to fulfill requirements and help craft great MedTech products.?

Sometimes, I get in there and write requirements and user stories directly, but nowadays, it's more of a knowledge transfer inside our HealthTech Practice.

What's the most thrilling thing you've ever done??

This is a hard one! The first thing that came to mind is "have I led a boring life?" Then I remembered bungee jumping. That took me totally out of my comfort zone, and I was surprised I loved it.

How does somebody become an interoperability specialist??

To be an IT architect, you must understand APIs, FHIR and HL7. However, to be truly effective in enabling change, you need to know why data is relevant and what and when is the best way to present it. More than anything, learn how to listen and teach. The best interoperability specialists can work with teams to build their skills.

What's one essential but not obvious thing you'd like people to know about you?

I take a lot of pride in what I do, but I am always conscious about whether I am providing all the necessary information. The reality is healthcare is continuously evolving. We must keep learning and growing as we adjust to new evidence and processes.?

Whenever I reach the edge of my comfort zone, I immediately think, is there more research I need to do? Do I have a team member who can provide greater insight? Reaching out is always so rewarding because it challenges me to see problems in new ways and find better solutions.

What are your top hobbies and interests?

Above all, focused time with family and getting outside are what I enjoy most. Nothing beats a good round of golf, or boating and kayaking. It's also going to sound very Canadian, but I love curling and skiing.?

Lyndon’s expertise has already been invaluable on several HealthTech projects at Star. Connect with Lyndon McPhail via LinkedIn to discuss project ideas, interoperability and clinical product development.?