Access

Health Care “Sherpas” Guide Patients Through Complex Care at Cleveland Clinic

Cheryl L. Serra

// By Cheryl L. Serra // Providing start-to-finish patient care — whether it’s scheduling a patient’s appointment with the right provider, providing directions to the care facility, or determining if a health care provider is covered by the patient’s insurance — is now shepherded through a main point of contact at some Cleveland Clinic pilot sites. The process transformation is aimed at letting patients know they’re not alone in navigating the complex provider organization, and giving them easier, more personalized access to care.

Healthcare Equality Index: How Does Your Health System Measure Up?

Tari Hanneman, director of the health and aging program at the HRC

The Healthcare Equality Index defines industry best practices for LGBTQ inclusion and recognizes progress achieved by health care organizations to reach their health equity goals. How does your health system measure up? Health care is a necessity. But not everyone has equal access to medical services, which can negatively impact a person’s long-term health outcomes. Read More

Health Equity and Access: Addressing a Challenge That Too Many People Don’t See

Alan Shoebridge, associate vice president of national communications at Providence

// By Alan Shoebridge // Getting access to care has been difficult in many parts of the country for years. Even in densely populated urban areas, a shortage of physicians and clinicians often made setting appointments for primary and specialty care a frustrating experience. And then 2020 hit. The COVID-19 pandemic intensified the staffing shortage and further restricted access. Today, access to care remains constrained by that staffing shortage. Yet this is just one barrier to getting care. Systemic societal issues pose additional barriers for many communities.

Expand Your Virtual Care Options to Improve Access and Attract New Patients

Jeff Stewart, system director of strategic marketing, CHRISTUS Health

There are many ways to expand health care access through virtual care. When CHRISTUS Health launched its “On Demand Care” urgent care service in May 2022, some clinicians were concerned about visit erosion from the primary care provider patient base. That didn’t happen. “Our primary care physicians who were initially skeptical, as you can imagine, Read More

Virtual Care Stays True to the Brand at CHRISTUS Health

Jane Weber Brubaker

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // When CHRISTUS Health launched its “On Demand Care” urgent care service in May 2022, some clinicians were concerned about visit erosion from the primary care provider patient base. That didn’t happen. “Our primary care physicians who were initially skeptical, as you can imagine, have come around to be champions of this because it’s allowed us to keep and grow that volume off hours,” says Jeff Stewart, vice president of strategic marketing for CHRISTUS Health.

Acute Care Telehealth: A Lifeline for Struggling Hospitals?

Teresa Rincon, RN, PhD, FCCM, assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Graduate School of Nursing, and senior telehealth consultant with Blue Cirrus Consulting

Acute care telehealth expands access to care by connecting community hospitals with specialized experts, which helps to close gaps in knowledge and keep care local. When patients in a rural community get sick and need access to intensive care or specialized care, the typical small community hospital — if there is one — doesn’t have Read More

Expanding Access to Health Care in the Face of Provider Shortages

Cheryl L. Serra

// By Cheryl L. Serra // Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno, Nevada is a 650-bed facility and the region’s only Level II Trauma Center. Renown serves over a million people across 100,000 square miles, much of it in remote, rural communities. Like most health systems, Renown is facing greater demand for health care services while being squeezed by provider shortages.

How HRC’s Healthcare Equality Index Works to Address Inequities in LGBTQ Health Care Access

Althea Fung

// By Althea Fung // Health care is a necessity. But not everyone has equal access to medical services, which can negatively impact a person’s long-term health outcomes. In the U.S., racial and ethnic minorities, people of lower socioeconomic status, people who live in rural communities, and sexual and gender minorities often experience disparities in the health care they receive, according to the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

Improving Access to Care: How Health Systems Can Overcome the Obstacles

Lindsay Resnick headshot

Assuring timely access to care — an individual’s ability to obtain health care services — has always challenged payers, providers, and without doubt, consumers. The industry’s constant back-and-forth blame game over cost and access must end. Customers are listening, and so are competitors. Recent market moves are making care more widely available than ever before. Read More

Acute Care Telehealth Expands Access in Community Hospitals

Jane Weber Brubaker

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // When patients in a rural community get sick and need access to intensive care or specialized care, the typical small community hospital — if there is one — doesn’t have experts on-site to manage their care needs — and transferring them to a large tertiary care center may not be an option if no beds are available. In these instances, acute care telehealth is helping patients receive the right care without having to leave their local community, a benefit to the patient, their family, the local hospital, and the tertiary care center.

Access Will Be Profitable — If Health Care Movers and Shakers Are Right

Access Will Be Profitable — If Health Care Movers and Shakers are Right

// By Lindsay R. Resnick, MHA // Assuring timely access to care — an individual’s ability to obtain health care services — has always challenged payers, providers, and without doubt, consumers. The industry’s constant back-and-forth blame game over cost and access must end. Customers are listening, and so are competitors. Recent market moves are making care more widely available than ever before. Billions upon billions of dollars are being invested in products and services that promise expanded access. The combination of retail clinics, telemedicine, homecare, digital health, and public/private insurance options has opened the access floodgates for many Americans. But access continues to be problematic. The thinking is that if you build it, they will come. But can they?

Remote Patient Monitoring: Has the Tipping Point Arrived?

Chintan Prajapati is a Senior Solutions Architect at Apexon

Remote patient monitoring — inside and outside the four walls of a hospital, with real-time connections between patients and providers — offers benefits to both. During the pandemic, hospitals needed to efficiently provide care to more patients without compromising safety, doctor-patient engagement, quality of care delivery, and patient satisfaction. Higher consumer expectations, increased digitization, and Read More

How to Improve Outcomes and Exceed Patient Expectations with RPM and IoT

apexon-logo

Real-time connections between patients and providers — inside and outside the four walls of hospitals — offer benefits to both. What are the strategic implications? // By Chintan Prajapati // Higher consumer expectations, increased digitization, and the Covid-19 pandemic have all contributed to the trend toward monitoring patient health remotely. This new frontier has ushered Read More

UCSF Health Is Leveling Up for Digital Transformation

Aaron Neinstein, MD, vice president for digital health at UCSF Health

In most industries, digital transformation is more than a simple buzzword. It’s a connected experience for customers looking for access, convenience, on-demand service, and an expected good outcome. In health care, a two-plus-year pandemic accelerated the forces underlying these challenges, continuing to raise consumer expectations in an industry that historically struggles with real change for Read More

What is the Role of Marketing in Driving Growth for a Health Care Organization?

Sandra Mackey, Chief Marketing Officer, Bon Secours Mercy Health

“Growth means different things to different organizations at different times,” says Daniel Fell of Optum. “One thing is very clear, though. The role of marketing has never been more critical.” Here’s an excerpt from Fell’s new article: We recently turned to several leading health care marketers across the country, representing a variety of health care Read More

Level Up and Lead Your Organization to Digital Transformation

Sarah Sanders, chief marketing and brand experience officer at UCSF Health

University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) Health Creates a Coordinated Patient Experience with Persistent Cross-Functional Teamwork // By John Marzano // Incredible advances in health care over the past 20 years have dramatically improved patients’ outcomes and lives. Yet care remains difficult to access, expensive, inequitable, and falls short of consumer expectations despite advancements Read More

Why Health Systems Must Manage and Accelerate Growth Going Forward

“Growth is important for every organization,” says Daniel Fell of Optum. “Whether it’s for-profits or not-for-profits, start-ups or established market leaders, every business depends on some level of growth to succeed in the near term. Growth is also essential to long-term sustainability, especially when navigating dynamic markets and overcoming unforeseen market disruptions.” Here’s an excerpt Read More

UCLA Health Is Tackling Health Care’s Racial Inequities Head-On

Mikel Whittier, director, health equity, diversity, and inclusion, UCLA Health

UCLA Health is emerging as a national leader in addressing racial inequities in health care and across society. In light of growing local and national awareness, the health system became one of the first health care organizations in the country to form an Office of Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. “It’s perhaps the most visible Read More

The Growth Imperative and Why Marketing Must Lead

Daniel Fell, marketing consultant and senior strategist at Optum

// By Daniel Fell // Growth is far from one-dimensional and shouldn’t be thought of in terms of new patients and new revenue only. Growth is important for every organization. Whether it’s for-profits or not-for-profits, start-ups or established market leaders, every business depends on some level of growth to succeed in the near term. Growth Read More

UCLA Health Leading the Way in Health Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Linda Ho, executive director, marketing innovation, technology, and operations, UCLA Health

// By Brian Griffin // A prominent West Coast health system is building a care environment, work culture, and community presence that takes health equity, diversity, and inclusion to the next level. UCLA Health is emerging as a national leader in addressing racial inequities in health care and across society. In light of growing local Read More