Roxana Lupu, M.D., has established herself as a leader at Sanford Health by explaining the “why” along with the “what” when it comes to best practices in clinical settings.
In recognition of that leadership, Dr. Lupu was recently honored with Sanford Health’s annual Compass Award.
This board-certified physician informaticist collaborates with colleagues from various departments to ensure safe use of the electronic health record (EHR) in caring for patients based on current guidelines. In addition, she is a committed source of expertise and counsel at Sanford on compliance and privacy issues that arise in the delivery of health care.
“Since becoming the Sanford medical information officer, Dr. Lupu has been a strong advocate and ally of the compliance department, especially the privacy office,” said Cindy Matson, Sanford Health vice president, compliance and audit services. “She is vested in doing the right thing and reinforcing policies and processes that protect Sanford and our patient population.”
What the compass means
The Compass Award was created as a way for Sanford to recognize that compliance involves everyone. Success involves the engagement of front-line leaders in evaluating and analyzing the delivery of health care every day.
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Sanford Health and Good Samaritan Society employees were asked to nominate a co-worker or leader who met these criteria:
- Demonstrates integrity in their words and actions
- Maintains an “open-door” policy
- Takes accountability for doing the right thing
- Admits mistakes and uses them as opportunities for improvement
- Promotes compliance awareness
- Goes above and beyond to fix a process
- Prevented, detected or corrected a compliance error
Previous Compass Award winners include Sanford Fargo hospice director Liz Weisbrich in 2022, behavioral health director Ashlea McMartin in 2021, respiratory care manager Teresa Kershaw in 2020, clinic president Luis Garcia, M.D., in 2019, patient and financial services director Tony Morrison in 2018, and nuclear medicine supervisor Bill Beard in 2017.
“Knowing that the organization is prioritizing this safe work, and making sure that everyone knows why and complies is extremely important to me,” said Dr. Lupu, who has been at Sanford for 12 years. “This is what keeps me going.”
Making privacy a priority
Dr. Lupu has played a significant role in aligning recent advances in telemedicine with patient privacy safeguards. Handling patient data safely continues thanks to Sanford leaders like Dr. Lupu.
“We’ve been able to get together with multiple stakeholders throughout the enterprise to ensure we have ways of interacting with our patients in a safe and secure way,” Dr. Lupu said. “We’ve been able to provide recommendations and education to our clinicians so that they can ‘Know why and comply.’ They know why we’re not doing things that would put patients and their data at risk.”
Dr. Lupu was drawn to becoming a physician informaticist because it gives her the opportunity to look at patient care from a population health perspective, always keeping in mind the quality and safety of care delivery. She understands the importance of adhering to best practices and maintaining vigilance in doing things correctly.
“I genuinely appreciate the way Dr. Lupu goes about her work and the strong and positive way in which she helps further the missions and objectives of organizational compliance,” Matson said. “She is very deserving of the Compass Award for her work and for serving as a compliance champion with Sanford.”
Sanford Accountability for Excellence, or SAFE, is Sanford Health’s commitment-to-safety journey. The Compass Award serves to boost the effort of its people in accomplishing that.
“I feel honored. I just try to do the right thing,” Dr. Lupu said. “If you do the right thing, everything should fall into place. I was not expecting an award for that. I am definitely humbled by the appreciation of my colleagues.”
Learn more
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- Hospice manager helps coordinate care when needed most
- Sanford recognizes safety and compliance with Compass Award
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Posted In Awards & Recognition, People & Culture, Physicians and APPs, Virtual Care
