Quality and Outcomes

Establishing a Case for the Social Determinants of Health

Susan Dubuque

// By Susan Dubuque // As payers shift to value-based reimbursement, paying attention to social determinants of health is no longer optional. When you think about supporting the health of your patients and building a healthier community, what comes to mind? A robust medical staff? Great technology? A beautiful new hospital facility? A wide range Read More

Beyond Cultural Competence: Cultural Humility, Cultural Safety, and Recommendations for Better Communication

Ndome Yvonne Essoka

// By Ndome Yvonne Essoka // The “Three C’s of Health Equity” aim to enhance providers’ knowledge about the cultures or groups usually defined by racial/ethnic or sexual minority groups. Safety and humility are key. In recent times, buzzwords like “cultural competence,” “cultural humility,” and “cultural safety” have grown in popularity and become rooted into Read More

Technology Platform Integrated with Primary Care Takes Aim at One of Health Care’s Most Crushing Problems: Mental Health

Brenda Reiss-Brennan, PhD, APRN

// By Cheryl L. Serra // Fragmentation and lack of coordination in health care are still rampant. Intermountain Healthcare has proven that a team-based, holistic approach to mental health, rooted in primary care and enabled through technology, improves outcomes and reduces cost. More than 20 years ago, Brenda Reiss-Brennan, PhD, APRN, recalls being invited by 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

Tele-Mentoring Model Connects Specialists with Primary Care Providers

Sanjeev Arora, MD, MACP, FACG, director and founder, Project ECHO

Health care industry expert Paul Keckley challenges the belief that all health care is local, calling it “the myth that refuses to die,” in his 2018 post on The Health Care Blog. But he notes one exception: “For the least fortunate in our communities, staying at home for care is reality.” Taking time off from 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

Project ECHO Moves Knowledge, Not People

Ben Cloutier, director of communications and marketing, Project ECHO

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // One physician specialist’s vision for sharing his expertise with primary care providers has grown into a global movement that extends specialized care to patients in underserved communities. Health care industry expert Paul Keckley challenges the belief that all health care is local, calling it “the myth that refuses to Read More

How Do Organizations Embrace and Embed Consumer-Centric Values?

Steven K. Klasko, MD, MBA, former president, Thomas Jefferson University, and CEO, Jefferson Health

Let’s face it. Health care is a maze, and patients often feel like the rat, trying to get through and hitting one dead end after another. More often than not, health systems don’t prioritize what matters to patients. And even calling patients “patients” instead of “consumers” may serve to maintain the status quo. In the Read More

8 Dimensions of Patient-Centered Care Revisited and Reaffirmed

Ryan Donohue, corporate director of program development, NRC Health

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // The 2021 book Patient No Longer asks the question, “What makes the top organizations in the country unique?” Let’s face it. Health care is a maze, and patients often feel like the rat, trying to get through and hitting one dead end after another. More often than not, health Read More

Why Tracking Lifetime Value Metrics Can Help Retention Efforts

Suzanne Sawyer, SVP, chief marketing and communications officer, Johns Hopkins Medicine

If acquiring a new customer is up to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one, why is so much attention paid to patient acquisition and so little to retention? Even the definition of “new patient” is relative. At what point does a former patient who has leaked out of the system have to Read More

One Top Trend for 2022: Health Care at Home Is Booming

Wunderman Thompson Health

“The ability to attract, activate, and guide consumers through health care’s labyrinth depends not only on reimagining the business of health care but building relationships of value and trust that result in inspired, confident customers,” says Lindsay R. Resnick of Wunderman Thompson Health. Here’s an excerpt from his new article: Health care transformation was all Read More

Mobile Screening Targets Lung Cancer in West Virginia

Jenny Ostien, director of the Mobile Cancer Screening Program, WVU Cancer Institute

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in West Virginia, with more deaths each year than breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers combined. According to the 2019 West Virginia Cancer Burden Report, lung cancer accounts for 18 percent of all new cancer diagnoses in the state. Only 22 percent of those receiving a lung Read More

Strategies for Making Vaccine Mandates Work

Don Stanziano, chief marketing and communications officer, Geisinger

With the ongoing public health threat posed by COVID-19, a growing number of hospitals, health systems, and medical groups are adopting employee vaccine mandates. The opposition this has generated among some groups of medical workers and the general public make crafting mandate communications and messaging critically important for health care marketers. At Geisinger Health in Read More

Six Impact Trends for 2022: Health Care’s Transformation Journey Continues

Lindsay Resnick

// By Lindsay R. Resnick // The ability to attract, activate, and guide consumers through health care’s labyrinth depends not only on reimagining the business of health care but building relationships of value and trust that result in inspired, confident customers. Health care transformation was all the buzz throughout 2021. To be transformed means to Read More

Industry Leaders Reflect on the Unique Challenges of 2021

Mark Klein, senior vice president, Corporate Communications & Public Affairs, Dignity Health

“For two years, marketing and communication professionals have faced the excruciating crisis of a pandemic nothing fully prepared us for,” says Rhoda Weiss, president of the Rhoda Weiss Consulting Group. “We’re changing how and from where we work, balancing dichotomies of layoffs and staff shortages, experiencing colleague and personal burnout, dealing with new and conflicting Read More

Family Caregivers Are Vital, But Often Underappreciated

Dan Ansel, CEO, Active Daily Living

Family caregiving is an emotionally charged issue that creates an opportunity for providers to create highly engaged and valued relationships. As the shift to value-based care gains momentum and more health systems participate in accountable care organizations and hospital-sponsored Medicare Advantage plans, management of services related to seniors and their caregivers has great potential to Read More

Communicating Employee Vaccine Mandates: A Formula for Success

Emile Lee Vice President, Corporate Communications Geisinger Health

// By Brian Griffin // With the ongoing public health threat posed by COVID-19, a growing number of hospitals, health systems, and medical groups are adopting employee vaccine mandates. The opposition this has generated among some groups of medical workers and the general public make crafting mandate communications and messaging critically important for health care Read More

Family Caregivers: An Untapped Resource in Value-Based Care

Julia Evans Starr, president, Connecticut Community Care

// By Marlene Kurban // More than 50 million Americans — one in five — provide unpaid care for their loved ones valued at $950 billion annually. But their contributions to reducing the total cost of care are often overlooked and undervalued by health systems. As the shift to value-based care gains momentum and more Read More

The Crucial Intersection of Public Health and Clinical Care

Lara Sim, director of Community Health and External Affairs, Seattle Children's Hospital

COVID testing. Vaccines. Health equity. Do they fall under public health or clinical care? In most cases, it’s both, or should be. The gap between hospital-based clinical care and public health is shrinking, as community health initiatives increasingly focus on wellness and prevention. Health systems typically function as separate entities. Nationwide, the drive for revenues and Read More