Interview with Dara M. Webb, Executive Director Quality and Care Management at Mercy Clinic
What is your current health care position? What are your responsibilities in this position?
I’m the Executive Director Quality and Care Management at Mercy Clinics. I manage quality, data, care management and social work teams. My responsibilities? In the health care world, it’s all about showing value to patients. A lot of our managed care contracts are value-based. That means from a care management perspective, providing quality to our patients and ensuring they get the best quality of care. From the social work team perspective; it’s asking if you have transportation, food insecurity issues, do you have utility issues…it’s about looking at the patient holistically and meeting all their healthcare needs.
How do you feel you are able to make a difference in this position?
Prior to coming to Mercy, I had a job at a community health center on the south side of Chicago. So, I’ve been working in the community health arena. I’ve also done consulting work. I’ve been everywhere from New York City to New Orleans to Cincinnati to California…so I think having a variety of experiences prior to coming here, I can speak to what it looks like to be a vulnerable patient…Hispanic, Black, no insurance…I understand those populations. I’ve also worked for other large health systems as a consultant, so I bring all those ‘best practices’ to the St. Louis area.
Health care is a team sport. Tell us about your team and how they help you succeed.
I work with a great team of physician leaders as well as a well-respected, high quality RN nurses. I have a social work manager…I capitalize off all their skills because I’m not a nurse. There are people in these types of roles with clinical backgrounds and I don’t. You’re right, it’s a team sport and I like to say I quarterback my team. They are the clinical experts. I just make sure that they have the tools they need to successfully do their work. They’re in the trenches, they understand those nuances of quality metrics, social work and care management criteria. I do the operational part. I do get to do the talking and convincing physicians to do certain things.
COVID-19 has disrupted all of our work and lives. How has it disrupted your work, and how are you adapting?
This pandemic taught us that we can’t take things for granted. Surprisingly, I was thrown in the middle of this. My leadership team and I report to the COO of the clinic here. They basically said, ‘Dara, we need you to operationalize these clinics.’ For example, we had to set up vaccination clinics where we vaccinated more than 2000 people a day. I had to not only do my day job, but become a vaccine expert, hire staff and make sure we had a good workflow because we were vaccinating the public as well as our patient population. It was just making sure we were getting those patients through (the clinics) in places like Kirkwood and Chesterfield. But, since there aren’t a lot of African American leaders at Mercy, I had to speak up and ask: ‘where are these clinics in North County and North City?’ It wasn’t that Mercy didn’t want to do it (in those areas), it’s just that those areas weren’t in our footprint. So, my role was to make sure they did.
Mentors are crucial to the development of a successful professional. Tell us about a mentor and how that person guided you.
I have to give a shout out to Dr. (Simone) Cummings. She’s now Dean of the Walker School of Business and Technology at Webster University. She was actually one of my professors at Washington University for my graduate program. We’ve stayed in touch since then. I would say we’re more friends now but what I admire about her is that she’s authentically herself. She’s shown me that you can continue making career strides while just being yourself. I’ve always admired that about her.
Do you have a previous position that helped prepare you for this work? If so, tell us about that.
I have to say, no. It’s just a combination of great experiences over the years. They’ve all taught me different things over the years. It’s just a matter of bringing those experiences to the St. Louis area. Healthcare is a team sport; it changes every day. You have to be quick on your feet.
Tell us about your experiences as a student that prepared you for this work.
Again, when I was in grad school, it was Dr. Cummings, who was a professor at the time. Every year, NAHSE (National Association of Health Services Executives)-because of its focus on African American leadership-offered a case competition. Usually, three or four people present. I was the only black student in my graduate program and Dr. Cummings said, “So what, you can present.” I was courageous enough to present all by myself. Although I did not win and did not place, in my mind, I won. A lot of people told me: “Oh my God, you were so brave to do this all by yourself.” That experience taught me that sometimes you have to be courageous and go it alone.
Should we expand Medicaid in Missouri – yes or no? Why or why not?
We should absolutely expand Medicaid in Missouri. It speaks volumes to being in a red state and all the troubles we have. I think that’s all the more reason why every health care executive, every person of influence in the healthcare arena really needs to speak up to our legislators regarding this. If we don’t expand Medicaid, I just fear that the healthcare disparities that we already have will continue to worsen to be completely honest. There’s no reason why, in the U.S., the most vibrant economically successful country, we should not have expanded Medicaid and health care for everyone. It’s sad to look at the health disparities in North City and county but those disparities also exist in rural, white America. Those statistics are just as saddening.
What are your thoughts about receiving this “Excellence in Healthcare” award?
I think it’s just lovely. My dad is a lifelong reader of the St. Louis American, so I always read it as well. I’m a big, big supporter of getting our issues and stories out there, so I’m definitely honored to be recognized as a leader in healthcare.
Dara Webb named Excellence in Healthcare awardee
The St. Louis American Foundation’s 21st Annual Salute to Excellence in Health Care Awards will be celebrated as a free virtual event at 7 p.m. Thursday, July 29. For additional details and registration, please visit givebutter.com/2021HealthSalute.
