relationship with Children’s Health System, one of the 10 busiest pediatric medical centers in the U.S., dates back to his childhood, when he was treated at the facility for diabetes. Today, he finds himself at the helm of the organization’s 20 physician office laboratories (POLs) and non-POLs, supervising 94 employees.
With an annual testing volume of over 1.5 million, it’s a job that requires him to carry two cell phones and a pager to stay on top of daily operations. But for someone like Barry, who describes himself as “detail-oriented, and someone who keeps driving to get the answer,” the job is well matched to his needs.
Like many other lab professionals, he began his career journey as a pre-med major. Forced to look at other alternatives when his scholarship funds were eliminated at the University of Alabama, he literally “stumbled” into an Applied Science program at Jefferson State College where he realized he could roll his interests in science and medical subjects into one major – laboratory medicine.
“I did especially well in my clinical rotations, which were held at a hospital where I got the chance to see a bit of everything because of the diverse population it served,” said Barry. “Those were the days when people still had many misconceptions about HIV/AIDS, and when someone tested positive for the disease, it really created a buzz. But we also saw other diseases like tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and even malaria. I saw more in that rotation than I even see today.”
In 1987, having earned his Associate degree and in need of a full-time job, Barry began work as a medical laboratory technician (MLT) at Baptist Medical Center in Birmingham, AL. He later held progressively more senior positions at nearby Norwood Clinic, and again at Baptist Medical until 1991, when Carraway Clinics, Inc., consisting of 14 POLs, hired him as a lab manager for their Pinson, AL location. His part-time work in regulatory compliance for the clinic soon expanded to include the other clinics as well. “That’s when I realized that not everyone did things the same way I do,” said Barry, who set about streamlining the myriad systems the clinics had in place so that “they didn’t have 100 different ways of doing the same thing.” “Along the way, I had some great mentors, who gave me the type of education you just can’t buy,” he added.
When Carraway Clinics was facing closure in 1998, a colleague alerted him to an opportunity as a lab manager for Children’s Health System. “I always had an interest in Children’s because of my own experience there as kid,” said Barry. “And I like working with children – there’s nothing like it.”
He got the job, and several years later, applied for a newly created position at the health system that would oversee all the laboratory sites as well as quality assurance, safety, cost containment, and regulatory compliance. Despite stiff competition, Barry, the only MLT interviewed for the position, was named the health system’s POL & Clinic Coordinator. “It was like getting a ball of clay that you could shape any way you wanted,” said Barry, who spent the first month “looking at everything I could get my hands and visiting all the sites to understand what kind of systems they had in place.” After creating a uniform system of policies and procedures, he then led the health system through a transition to COLA, a leading laboratory accreditation organization specializing in POLs. The hard work paid off; during the system’s first COLA inspection, 70 percent of the lab sites achieved a perfect or near perfect score.
Meanwhile, Barry continued to stay close to his roots in laboratory medicine. Once a year, he spends a week at each laboratory site, filling in for vacationing MLTs by performing hands-on lab work. This way I get to keep my skills up, while seeing close up whether there’s anything we can do better.”
He credits his team with lab organization’s success. “We have lots of long-term employees, who really care about the kids and work hard to achieve good results,” he explained.
Barry also has established a laboratory consulting practice that specializes in compliance assistance for CLIA, COLA and JCAHO inspections, including providing advice on laboratory design and implementation, employee training, and product selection. He has no plans to give up his day job, however. “I would miss the kids too much,” said Barry. “My job gives me the chance to really help kids stay healthy and out of the hospital, which is very rewarding.”
Children’s Health System has been a COLA client since 2006.
