About Dan

Dr. Dan Smith has practiced medicine since 1998 in the emergency departments of Baptist Health System in San Antonio, TX. He became involved with patient experience in 2007 when hospital administration asked him to initiate and oversee a patient satisfaction improvement program for emergency physicians in the Baptist Health System. Dr. Smith developed a simple system of review, accountability, measurement and training. This work, in conjunction with his hospital and Studer Group coaches, “cracked the code” to positive change and performance. His emergency medicine group quadrupled its overall satisfaction rank to the 80th percentile from 2007-2012 and maintained for six years its personal overall physician satisfaction rank of 98th percentile.

Dr. Smith joined Studer Group in 2009. He enjoys coaching and speaking on numerous topics such as patient and physician engagement, performance excellence in the age of change, physician communication and physician performance feedback.

Dr. Smith enjoys work in complex health systems, academic medical centers and group practices. He has coached, mentored and lectured at over 200 organizations in the United States, Canada and Australia. He has tactically trained over 8000 physicians/APPs worldwide on communication best practices.

Dr. Smith contributes to healthcare-related thought leadership and has co-authored and authored white papers, peer-reviewed articles and Insights publications. He is co-author of “Advance your Emergency Department: Leading in a New Era.” He has created numerous communication validation tools used by health systems to assess and objectively document the competency of providers and trainees in the provider-patient construct. He also has recorded numerous healthcare webinars and videos.

Dr. Smith serves as a senior coach, speaker and executive medical director for Studer Group, working in a variety of areas including medical practices, inpatient and emergency departments. Studer Group recognizes Dr. Smith’s contributions to healthcare having awarded him six Pillars of Excellence and its most coveted crystal Flame award.