Meet Dan Pantera: Embracing technology and innovation

This interview with Daniel Pantera (dpantera@houstonmethodist.org) was conducted in late November 2020 by SCCE & HCCA CEO Gerry Zack (gerry.zack@corporatecompliance.org).

GZ: Your professional career began in public accounting. When and how did you first become interested in compliance as a career path? And how did you choose healthcare as the sector you wanted to devote your career to?

DP: I was fortunate to have a career filled with different roles, responsibilities, and experiences from public accounting, internal auditing, operational leadership, and compliance. In retrospect, the demands of each role were foundational for the next. Launching my career path with a major public accounting firm in 1991 and becoming a certified public accountant helped me understand a variety of industries and the language of business—accounting. One of my peers in public accounting took a position in healthcare internal auditing and contacted me when there was a vacancy in the department. Internal auditing at a large multistate hospital system helped me learn healthcare from the inside and prepared me for a role in healthcare operations. It was when I left internal audit and was promoted to a healthcare operational executive role that I really learned the challenges healthcare leaders face, which gave me insight, empathy, and respect. All of my roles and experiences ultimately helped me become a better, well-balanced, and effective compliance officer. When the opportunity emerged for me in 2008, I was ready to tackle the complexity, challenges, and demands that the compliance role brings as well as build the relationships of trust with the board and senior leaders.

GZ: Your title is “vice president, business practices officer & chief audit officer”; can you explain the evolution of your role and scope of responsibilities?

DP: Business Practices is how we have officially branded our compliance program, which includes all the elements of a traditional compliance function at a large academic medical center. We have an incredibly talented team and very tenured directors whose staff are focused on corporate compliance, privacy, internal audit, and physician organization coding compliance. In addition to my compliance and audit responsibilities, my role has evolved with the addition of two dotted-line direct reports—chief information security officer and research integrity officer—given the heightened risks around cybersecurity and emerging risk regarding foreign influence in research. Leveraging the power of all of these disciplines and skill sets, coupled with innovative tools, provides incredible insight and capacity to handle almost any situation that arises.

This document is only available to members. Please log in or become a member.
 


Would you like to read this entire article?

If you already subscribe to this publication, just log in. If not, let us send you an email with a link that will allow you to read the entire article for free. Just complete the following form.

* required field