Event Summary | Leaders in Healthcare Series: Dr. Dreama Sloan-Kelly
Edited by Giancarlo Nero and Megha Gupta
On November 12, ViTAL had the privilege of hosting Dr. Dreama Sloan-Kelly, MD CCS, for the second installment of their Leaders in Healthcare series. This series serves to introduce students to non-traditional paths in healthcare and empower them to follow their individual passions. Dr. Sloan-Kelly embraced her unique interests and used them to pursue a career that combines the clinical, billing, and coding aspects of healthcare. She is the president of Dr. Sloan-Kelly Consulting, formerly known as Kelly, Sloan, and Associates. Ultimately, she was able to succeed and thrive because she chose to walk in her truth, and she advises students to do the same.
Dr. Sloan-Kelly is a graduate of Wellesley College and Tufts University School of Medicine. At Wellesley college, Dr. Sloan-Kelly majored in political science on a pre-med track. This experience at an all women’s college helped shape her independent voice as a woman and provided her with the foundational tools that ignited success later in her career. The summer after her first year of medical school, she worked in medical records, which allowed her to explore realms of healthcare outside of a clinical setting, and she fell in love with this side of medicine. In her third and fourth year of medical school she worked in all divisions of medicine from psychiatry to internal medicine. During this time, she also explored doctors’ financing, coding, and billing. From this experience, she chose to pursue business. Through coding consulting, she now works with practices one on one to help them thrive and receive the financial support they deserve.
The key to Dr. Sloan-Kelly’s success
Dr. Sloan-Kelly chose to follow her gut and follow a trajectory unlike her peers. Though she was criticized for her decision to pursue business rather than continue with residency training, she created a name for herself and thrived because of her passion. As her motto goes, she assumed success “not by accident, but by design.” She built her brand around herself because she was not afraid to make it about her and be her authentic self. This is where her nickname “Dr. Diva” came to be.
She has also committed to always being there for her clients, and never truly taking a vacation because they rely on her. She has proved that she will always be dependable.
The prevalence of health inequities in the medical world
COVID-19 has brought health inequities to light, particularly with the momentum of the Black Lives Matter movement. Dr. Sloan-Kelly discussed with us that health inequities are a result of implicit bias issues rather than political issues. She recalled personal stories where her family members received unnecessary medications and testing, solely because they were Black. This reflects the larger issue of racism in medicine, in which access to equitable medical treatment and quality care is not promised to all patients. She hopes that physicians become more aware of their biases and she encourages everyone to advocate for equality in healthcare, as far as race and class, especially in light of the polarized world we live in right now.
How COVID-19 affected Dr. Sloan-Kelly Consulting
Dr. Sloan-Kelly’s business did slow down during this pandemic, and this is the first time she witnessed her company come to a halt as a result of the lack of elective procedures. However, she did receive a rise of legal cases starting in May as a result of insurers trying to make more money back from physicians, despite the lack of revenue doctors have been receiving.
Her advice for our student audience
Dr. Dreama Sloan-Kelly advises all students to walk in their truth and be on a quest to find peace within themselves. She claimed that finding a career that brings them peace will allow them to get through the highs and lows of both personal and professional life. She also advised students to never take no for an answer, but more importantly, to never allow others to tell them no in the first place.
Particularly for entrepreneurs, she says to never be afraid to ask questions and get into the dirty work of the career they are pursuing. She said that it is important to put in the hours, work hard, and make connections along the way to be successful. Also, do not believe it takes a lot of money in the bank to build a company from the ground up. Because ultimately, “Baby, life will happen.”
This Leaders in Healthcare event proved to students that it is possible to create a life around doing what they love and to never be discouraged if their path is unlike their peers. Dr. Dreama Sloan-Kelly walked in her non-traditional path, allowing her to become an empowered woman, and now she empowers others to do the same.
Thank you to everyone who was able to attend and to Dr. Dreama Sloan-Kelly for sharing her words of wisdom with our ViTAL community!
You can watch the recording of this event here.
