HLTH21 – Mike McNamera from Impact Health
Episode 20520th October 2021 • This Week Health: Newsroom • This Week Health
00:00:00 00:13:27

Transcripts

Speaker:

Today in.

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Health it interviews from the health conference in Boston

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today, Mike McNamara on how impact health is making a safe

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space for us to collaborate.

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My name is bill Russell.

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I'm a former CIO for a 16 hospital system and creator of this week and

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health it a channel dedicated to keeping health it staff current and engaged.

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Just a quick reminder, I'm going to be dropping interviews

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over the next couple of days.

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And into next week from the floor of the health conference.

Bill Russell:

All right.

Bill Russell:

We have another conversation from the health conference health 2021.

Bill Russell:

And today we are with, uh, Mike McNamara.

Bill Russell:

The, are you the president and CEO of impact health?

Bill Russell:

Sure, sure.

Bill Russell:

I run things that impact health and I'm thanks for coming on the show.

Bill Russell:

Absolutely.

Bill Russell:

I, uh, I commented this morning on the show that the, the process, one of the

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first things you're you're faced with as you come to this conference, The process

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for making sure everybody is safe and we're all vaccinated, but they also put

Bill Russell:

in the, the option for not often, but they put it in that process for testing.

Bill Russell:

And your company is handling all that testing for the conference.

Bill Russell:

Talk about, correct?

Mike McNamera:

Sure.

Mike McNamera:

So we actually, uh, from an intake situation, enterprise software solution,

Mike McNamera:

uh, for this type of program, we use clear we've partnered with them for.

Mike McNamera:

Many many programs we helped open up Vegas.

Mike McNamera:

MGM is a big client for both of us.

Mike McNamera:

Uh, the conventions system, uh, out of Vegas, even the state of Nevada.

Mike McNamera:

So it's, uh, it's a program we're quite comfortable doing.

Mike McNamera:

We can take it to large scale like this five, 10,000 people and put

Mike McNamera:

them through a process of testing.

Mike McNamera:

Uh, essentially clear would give you the green pass after you've had.

Mike McNamera:

Uh, there's so many platforms now for COVID testing, uh, to make an

Mike McNamera:

environment safe and to make this bubble the way it needs to be.

Mike McNamera:

Uh, today we're using an antigen test.

Mike McNamera:

Then we back it up with a confirmatory on essentially a PCR

Mike McNamera:

test that is portable out of the lab out of a high complexity lab.

Mike McNamera:

That's our confirmatory, uh, that takes 30 minutes.

Mike McNamera:

So if you walk in here, The test itself takes a less than 20 minutes.

Mike McNamera:

By the time we put you onto the app, the clear app and get you

Mike McNamera:

all connected in that manner.

Mike McNamera:

Some people actually get a test prior to coming here and that can

Mike McNamera:

go onto the clear app and they can get, uh, entrance that way.

Mike McNamera:

Or they get tested by our, our clinicians.

Mike McNamera:

Uh, we had 50 clinicians here yesterday.

Mike McNamera:

Got about 40 here today.

Mike McNamera:

50 on a Sunday tested 2,500 people.

Mike McNamera:

That's a normal ramp for us.

Mike McNamera:

Uh, it's not unusual for us to do a thousand, 2000 walk-ups

Mike McNamera:

or drive-throughs 14 states.

Mike McNamera:

I mean, COVID has done certain things to certain companies.

Mike McNamera:

We're one of the companies that's exploded and we went from a 600 folks to over

Mike McNamera:

20,000 healthcare professionals that work W2 for impact health on a nationwide.

Mike McNamera:

And, uh, it's been incredible and conferences like this.

Mike McNamera:

We love them.

Mike McNamera:

Um,

Bill Russell:

so conference, as I'm thinking through this conferences

Bill Russell:

companies, uh, like MTM in the entertainment business, but also large

Bill Russell:

scale companies that are now sort of grappling with this, this balance of, of

Bill Russell:

testing on an ongoing basis and vaccines.

Mike McNamera:

Well, yeah.

Mike McNamera:

Today's date, uh, October 18th, correct?

Mike McNamera:

Right.

Mike McNamera:

So we're in the middle of a, what's the mandate going to be from our federal

Mike McNamera:

government when it comes to, uh, workers, uh, and companies with over a hundred

Mike McNamera:

employees, what are we going to do?

Mike McNamera:

How are we going to get them back to work?

Mike McNamera:

So, yes, I work with the largest companies in the country, uh, companies that have

Mike McNamera:

supply chain issues that need to get back, uh, working and getting people to.

Mike McNamera:

Uh, the microns of the world, um, premise is a client of ours and they have 50, 70

Mike McNamera:

large scale, massive companies, the J and J's of the world Smucker's of the world.

Mike McNamera:

Right?

Mike McNamera:

So all those companies have got to get their people back in,

Mike McNamera:

and that's what we like to do.

Mike McNamera:

And it's for COVID vaccine.

Mike McNamera:

It's for COVID testing, it's getting home tests in the hands of

Mike McNamera:

the employees on a regular basis.

Mike McNamera:

It's observing that it's collecting that data, uh, so that we can communicate

Mike McNamera:

with the employer, uh, about their employees, uh, which they have to

Mike McNamera:

sign consent, to be able, uh, for us all, to communicate in that manner.

Mike McNamera:

We're not sharing their information with anybody we're just performing that

Mike McNamera:

service so that the employer knows yes.

Mike McNamera:

Uh, that person has been vaccinated or yes, that person has had a

Mike McNamera:

positive or a negative test so that, uh, work can go on and.

Bill Russell:

You know, it's interesting in Massachusetts and I know you're

Bill Russell:

not a technology guy per se, but when I got here, a little thing popped up

Bill Russell:

on my phone that said, Hey, would you like to know if you've come in contact

Bill Russell:

with people who have COVID it's like in Massachusetts, they've set this, or at

Bill Russell:

least in Boston, they've set this up.

Bill Russell:

And I think part of that has to be somebody reporting, you

Bill Russell:

know, positive tests is that.

Bill Russell:

And we just tested all these people in Boston, you would say, Hey, here,

Bill Russell:

here's the positive tasks in Boston would say, you know, these people, these

Bill Russell:

phones have come in contact with this,

Mike McNamera:

right?

Mike McNamera:

So we're state to state on this and we report to CDC.

Mike McNamera:

We have to report to CDC and on these things.

Mike McNamera:

And as an example, in a conference like this, with people who are

Mike McNamera:

double vaccinated, and that's part of the opportunity to be able to

Mike McNamera:

come in here, uh, it's a very low.

Mike McNamera:

But when we do stop someone from coming in here, uh it's because they're

Mike McNamera:

positive and then confirm positive.

Mike McNamera:

And at that person would be able to enter into a location like this

Mike McNamera:

and that, that 10 people they meet.

Mike McNamera:

And then 10 people meet the people who met them.

Mike McNamera:

And you understand the math when it comes to this.

Mike McNamera:

So protecting the bubbles, important, communicating to the state and federal

Mike McNamera:

government, it's part of what we have to do from a regulatory standpoint, the

Mike McNamera:

licensure that we have to go through.

Mike McNamera:

UAS that have changed in the last weeks and months, you have to be updated

Mike McNamera:

in every state for reporting for, uh, permitting it's it's, uh, the logistics

Mike McNamera:

of this business are just staggering.

Mike McNamera:

It is, but it's part of what gives people that comfort that we're doing,

Mike McNamera:

what we should do to stem the tide,

Bill Russell:

the false positives.

Bill Russell:

Do you worry about false positives or do you have.

Bill Russell:

Confirming test.

Mike McNamera:

So the sensitivity, you know, I don't want to bore anybody

Mike McNamera:

with the math, but you know, the sensitivity is such that you're going

Mike McNamera:

to end up every a hundred people.

Mike McNamera:

You're going to end up with so many people that you've got a false positive.

Mike McNamera:

And the great thing about having the other S uh, science, uh, platforms that

Mike McNamera:

we have, their sensitivity goes up more expensive, a little longer time for.

Mike McNamera:

Uh, you know, to have that test process, but when you get the number of false

Mike McNamera:

positives and then can confirm that with one of these high quality tests, uh, you

Mike McNamera:

can feel very, very safe at that point.

Mike McNamera:

So

Bill Russell:

are you able to give any numbers on that?

Bill Russell:

Like, you know, I mean, because everybody, everyone who's vaccinated right.

Bill Russell:

Coming up here.

Bill Russell:

That's I assume, felt healthy coming up here.

Bill Russell:

Cause you have to fill out the right th the form that says, Hey, I feel

Bill Russell:

healthy and whatever, even to get on a plane, you had to fill that out.

Bill Russell:

Um, so I would imagine, you know, you'd have to have to have a breakthrough case.

Bill Russell:

It would have to be a special case for someone to be positive here.

Mike McNamera:

Yeah.

Mike McNamera:

I would say that in these environments that we control and people have to

Mike McNamera:

enter the workers, uh, you know, all the way to the Teamsters who organized,

Mike McNamera:

you know, uh, the, the 400 boosts here.

Mike McNamera:

And, uh, everybody works at the conference center and the convention

Mike McNamera:

centers and the surrounding hotels.

Mike McNamera:

You know, we, we feel as though we can protect folks.

Mike McNamera:

We did that for, uh, for the previous administration.

Mike McNamera:

They were the only ones straddling for, uh, the summer and into the fall of 2020.

Mike McNamera:

And I recall we did over a hundred events for them and.

Mike McNamera:

That we know of, there was no super spreader event at any of those.

Mike McNamera:

A hundred plus events.

Mike McNamera:

Uh, Tulsa was a little, um, out of control.

Mike McNamera:

I didn't, I did not have control feature there.

Mike McNamera:

I only protected around, uh, the president, uh, who came to speak

Mike McNamera:

at that rally, uh, that area I know is, was safe and protected.

Mike McNamera:

And then the only place that we weren't allowed to in the country to test was the.

Mike McNamera:

So the white house had its own medical staff.

Mike McNamera:

So when Amy Coney Barrett was nominated for the Supreme court, we were not

Mike McNamera:

allowed on the white house grounds.

Mike McNamera:

That is the only place I know of in that previous administration, that a

Mike McNamera:

super spreader event actually happened and it can happen easily, but you got

Mike McNamera:

to have the right protocols in place.

Mike McNamera:

That was the white house medical involved.

Mike McNamera:

Um, you know, we were, we were testing other places for other events around that.

Mike McNamera:

That we weren't at the rose garden.

Mike McNamera:

And I think that's the only one that I know of where there was a superstar event

Mike McNamera:

during all of Trump's, um, campaigning and his previous administration.

Bill Russell:

So, so I'm curious, I mean, is this, this is your core business.

Bill Russell:

What does your business look like?

Bill Russell:

Moving out?

Bill Russell:

I mean, will this, or do we see this pretty strong next

Mike McNamera:

year as well?

Mike McNamera:

You know, age doesn't mean anything it's it's, you know, how

Mike McNamera:

you feel, how you act, how you.

Mike McNamera:

And, uh, I I'm supposed to be in my retirement years and you know, this

Mike McNamera:

could have, you know, could have happened when I was 45 and not the age I am.

Mike McNamera:

But

Bill Russell:

so this really has led to a

Mike McNamera:

significant uptake in Dubai since it has.

Mike McNamera:

I mean, it's, I, it's not, it's not calculable, right.

Mike McNamera:

That the growth is, is, is staggering.

Mike McNamera:

Uh, you know, it's, it's.

Mike McNamera:

Bigger than a Facebook, right.

Mike McNamera:

It's just been kind of crazy.

Mike McNamera:

So, but in terms of what's next, I mean, rapid deployment of

Mike McNamera:

healthcare services at scale, that's the mantra and impact health.

Mike McNamera:

We can go anywhere.

Mike McNamera:

We've got great, got hundreds of people who are qualified.

Mike McNamera:

We can stand up a group in a matter of hours of FEMA.

Mike McNamera:

We have a contract with.

Mike McNamera:

They give us 72 hours, we're ready in 48 hours to go to any emergency

Mike McNamera:

in our country or in any of the us, uh, properties, uh, around the world.

Mike McNamera:

And it's, it's daunting and it's going to change.

Mike McNamera:

I can tell you that impact health has been nothing but a change

Mike McNamera:

company, uh, and have to adapt.

Mike McNamera:

I mean, when we had the dip in.

Mike McNamera:

And then the scale up for the Delta variant.

Mike McNamera:

So as someone who wants to build value and have my employees, uh, on a long-term

Mike McNamera:

basis, so that, uh, you know, we're, we're creating a good environment

Mike McNamera:

to work and to grow and prosper.

Mike McNamera:

And we've now turning our business into a staffing business, a staffing

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business with 20,000 dedicated folks.

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Who've got COVID.

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Nationwide.

Mike McNamera:

Uh, in an example in Florida, I've had over 1500 people working for

Mike McNamera:

me, just in the state of Florida in South Carolina last month, 63,000

Mike McNamera:

days of employment for nurses based on the work we're doing in one state.

Mike McNamera:

So I think I'm a staffing company of rapidly deployed healthcare services.

Mike McNamera:

It's

Bill Russell:

Thank you very much for, for all the work that you guys did.

Bill Russell:

Thank you.

Bill Russell:

Thanks

Mike McNamera:

for the time.

Mike McNamera:

Check back for Morris.

Mike McNamera:

The, we continues.

Mike McNamera:

A lot of great interviews, a lot of great conversations.

Mike McNamera:

I'm looking forward to sharing them with you.

Mike McNamera:

That's all for today.

Mike McNamera:

If you know someone that might benefit from our channel,

Mike McNamera:

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Mike McNamera:

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Mike McNamera:

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Mike McNamera:

Thanks for listening.

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