Tommy Ibrahim, MD, MHA, CEO of Bassett, shares how the health system utilizes partnerships and innovations to care for its communities and workforce.
It's been more than a year since the COVID-19 pandemic initially rocked the U.S. healthcare system and many hospitals have partnered with outside organizations to innovate and survive.
These partnerships have allowed providers to be nimbler to handle patient surges, keep the workforce safe, vaccinate their respective patient populations, and address social determinants of health.
More than halfway through 2021, hospitals and health systems are continuing to embrace widespread innovations and partnerships to help care for their communities and staff.
Among these is Bassett Health Network, an independent, integrated health system headquartered in Cooperstown, New York, comprised of Bassett Medical Center, the Bassett Heart Care Institute, and the Bassett Cancer Institute, and the Bassett Medical Group.
Tommy Ibrahim, MD, MHA, CEO of Bassett, recently spoke with HealthLeaders about how the health system utilizes partnerships and innovations to care for its communities and workforce.
This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
HealthLeaders: What strategies and collaborations are Bassett healthcare excited to implement this year?
Tommy Ibrahim: We have a long-standing history of serving this region. Our healthcare system has been committed to maintaining an independently governed healthcare system for Cooperstown and the surrounding areas. As a result of the big scheme of major industry trends and significant challenges that healthcare organizations continue to face, we had to think innovatively and creatively about sustaining that independence and sustaining the mission of the organization long term.
We are looking at partnering with local health systems and other players within the healthcare industry to continue to advance key areas consistent with our mission. Without going into too much detail, we have a lot of exciting conversations underway, regionally as well as nationally. We're going to continue to serve the community the way it needs to be served.
In healthcare, quite frankly, it needs to be more about collaboration and how we can bring respective value to our communities through the leveraging of the strengths, expertise, and value that other organizations can bring. You're going to continue to see a lot more partnerships developed in healthcare and that trend is already picking up steam.
HL: Bassett Healthcare recently announced a new security system to curb workplace violence on its employees. How will this initiative work?
Ibrahim: This is just one of many, significant investments that we're going to be making into our workforce and into our people. The incidence of workplace violence is quickly accelerating across healthcare, and particularly that has become exacerbated with the pandemic, accelerating mental health issues, substance abuse issues, and ultimately translating into additional episodes of workplace violence on staff and caregivers.
This technology, which is developed by Strongline, is an innovative and creative tool that enables healthcare workers and caregivers to quickly alarm nearby surroundings, nearby employees, as well as to a centralized monitoring station, any potential issue that might result in an increased risk of them being harmed by a patient, by a family member, or another potential person within the healthcare environment.
The way it works is it's Bluetooth-enabled and through an easy-to-deploy tool on our caregiver badges, they can quickly press a button discreetly. We send an alarm to a central monitoring station to notify others that something might be escalating, or they might be in potential danger.
Creshelle Nash, MD, MPH, CHIE, medical director for health equity and public programs at Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, shares how the pandemic has given the national healthcare system a vehicle to address social determinants of health and health disparities.
More than one year into the coronavirus pandemic it has become painfully clear that minority communities are especially vulnerable.
A recent McKinsey & Company report, for example, found that during the pandemic, rural communities with diverse populations experienced 1.7 times more COVID-19 deaths per capita than other rural communities around the country. The study also found that in rural counties where the population is comprised of at least 33% of racial or ethnic minority groups, deaths from COVID were 1.5 times higher than in other communities.
Creshelle Nash, MD, MPH, CHIE, medical director for health equity and public programs at Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield recently spoke with HealthLeaders about how she saw these disparities first-hand, and how the COVID-19 crisis has given the national healthcare system a vehicle to address social determinants of health (SDOH) and health disparities.
This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
HealthLeaders: Through your work with the Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield, what did you witness in Arkansas during the pandemic?
Creshelle Nash: Like the rest of the country, we have seen the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on communities of color throughout the pandemic. What it has done has illuminated the health inequities that already existed, from food insecurity, housing insecurity, behavioral health needs, all of those things, varying by race, ethnicity, income, and geography.
We specifically saw increased hospitalizations and deaths in minority communities early on. We even saw facilities and healthcare providers in minority areas having a harder time getting PPE, or even other resources [such as] paycheck protection. We saw increased COVID-19 exposure with essential workers.
It has been a trajectory that has opened the eyes of a lot of people, and that's a good thing. This crisis should ultimately lead us to opportunity.
HL: What lessons did you learn during the pandemic around addressing health equity and what steps has Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield taken to address those?
Nash: There were so many lessons, sometimes on the daily. The pandemic at the highest level has shown us that many of the structures that we have in place enable health inequities, and these put people at risk. It has shown us by example not only in infectious disease, but in population health overall. We're all in this together, and we have to reach those most in need to protect us all.
The healthcare system has long talked about SDOH. But these were real-world examples of how policy can impact health.
[For example,] the digital divide came out loud and clear as we were rolling out the vaccine. Initially, people would sign up to get a vaccine online. Well, if you don't have access to broadband, the internet, or have experience with digital platforms, you couldn't get an appointment.
If we're thinking about how people get to the vaccine or mass clinics, transportation barriers were loud and clear in rural areas in Arkansas and across the nation.
The disparities won't disappear with the end of the pandemic. We have to continue to ensure that those who are in the most need can get access to resources and receive care.
When I think about what Arkansas Blue Cross Blue Shield is doing as a health plan, it is all around community engagement. Not only is it with our members and businesses as a corporate partner, but it's also with local communities and working side by side with organizations who have been working in this space of health equity and the health of communities for a long time.
In Vaccinate the Natural State, our campaign, it can look like a PR campaign, it can look like supporting a vaccine, it can be data-driven approaches. It's all about partnering with local communities, and one specific example we have is a partnership that we're doing to focus on vaccinations in the Delta in the state of Arkansas. It's a partnership with the Arkansas Faith Network; Arkansas Medical, Dental and Pharmaceutical Association, which is an organization of minority healthcare providers; and the Arkansas Health department, all coming together to address community concerns around the vaccine, educate, and encourage uptake of the vaccine through a faith-based model. That is an example of taking the lessons that we're learning to address health inequities, not only in the COVID-19 pandemic, but leading to longer-term efforts for other disease states.
HL: What can health care organizations do to improve health equity in their own community?
Nash: A common theme is partnership with community leaders. It's important that trusted voices are at the table because those trusted voices will set the foundation for understanding those SDOH, but also understanding how to address them most effectively in local communities. A diverse workforce within this partnership will help with that. A link to the existing community resources through community health workers, for example, can bridge the gap between the community and the healthcare system organization experience is critically important.
As healthcare organizations, we have to be intentional about addressing health inequities. There are many people that have been working on this for years, but the pandemic and its crisis is an opportunity for renewed focus of organizations on how we do this; it's harnessing that renewed focus at a hyper-local level all the way up to nationally.
HL: Speaking of the national level, what will need to change in our current healthcare system in order to address and eliminate Healthcare disparities across the nation?
Nash: When I think about what healthcare systems need to do to make an impact, it is to develop and implement evidence-based approaches to addressing health disparities, to be intentional about it with will and with resources. To look at quality measures by race and ethnicity oftentimes, for some reason, the quality improvement arena is different from the health equity arena in functionality. For me, by definition, I don't think you can have a quality health care system if it varies by who you are and where you live. Bringing those two camps together to examine quality measures by race, ethnicity, and other factors, language access, income, geography is critically important. Systems need to evaluate if and how their current practices might exacerbate or mitigate health disparities or health inequities.
The [COVID] crisis provides an opportunity for us to move forward and to make sure that our policies don't exacerbate disparities. As large healthcare systems across the nation function and understand SDOH, it's an opportunity for the leaders of those entities to support and advocate for policies that impact and improve those. It's important to use this crisis to look beyond the pandemic and to build health equity solutions into the healthcare system in the long term. No one system or one sector can address health inequities; it'll take partnership across sectors [and] multi-level interventions with the political will and commitment over time.
Editor’s note: Due to an error in our reporting, we have removed the Kaiser Family Foundation data about Arkansas. We apologize for this oversight. This story was updated on July 19, 2021.
Bayesian Health, an AI and machine learning platform, launched Monday with an accompanying study revealing faster recognition and treatment times for patients.
A new clinical AI platform launched Monday with the goal of helping "physicians make the best care decisions, faster."
Bayesian Health launched alongside an adoption and utilization study which found faster recognition and treatment times and a 90% adoption rate.
"Having spent over two decades in AI and machine learning research, I know there’s immense potential to create AI tools to drive better care outcomes," founder and CEO of Bayesian Health, Suchi Saria, PhD, said in a media release. "Health data are messy, and it requires deep AI expertise to deliver strategies that can successfully analyze this data … We’re doing it differently, being one of the first solutions to deliver accurate and actionable clinical signals that physicians and nurses are actually acting upon."
The AI tool spent more than three years in development at John Hopkins University, and uses patents, peer-reviewed research, and technology licensed from the University.
The platform sits within the electronic medical record (EMR) systems and analyzes patient data to create actionable clinical signals to help physicians and clinicians accurately diagnose and deliver timely care, with modules for clinical deterioration, sepsis, pressure injury, and transitions of care.
A recent study found a 1.85 hour faster antibiotic treatment rate for sepsis in the sepsis module, decreasing mortality rates. Another study found a 14% reduction in ICU admissions, a 12% reduction in ICU length of stay, and a 10% reduction in supportive therapy needs.
Bayesian Health has raised $15 million in venture funding led by Andreessen Horowitz, which led Bayesian Health's venture funding, raised $15 million. Health 2047 Capital Partners, Lifeforce Capital, and Catalio Investments also participated in funding.
"The number of data points being generated every single day for any given patient in a hospital is enormous and continues to rise. And yet most physicians have never interacted with any AI technology that actually helps them analyze these data, or gives them any clinical insights," General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz and internal medicine physician, Vineeta Agarwala MD, PhD, said in a statement. "Early results from the real-world use of Bayesian Health's platform is showing us that it can fit into our workflow, and augment how clinicians triage and diagnose patients."
Roxanna Gapstur, PhD, RN, CEO of WellSpan Health, highlights two recently launched initiatives to expand access to quality women's health, mental health, and substance use disorder care.
Editor's note: This conversation is a transcript from an episode of the HealthLeaders Women in Healthcare Leadership Podcast. Audio of the full interview can be found here.
Roxanna Gapstur, PhD, RN, began leading WellSpan Health, a non-profit integrated healthcare system headquartered in York, Pennsylvania, in January 2019.
She has more than 25 years of experience in healthcare leadership, having worked in group practices, academic health systems, and integrated healthcare systems. Prior to serving as WellSpan's president and CEO, she served as president and senior vice president at HealthPartners System in Bloomington, Minnesota.
WellSpan serves diverse communities across five counties in Pennsylvania and one in Maryland. Among the populations served include the Amish and Plain communities, Latinx populations, as well as migrant and homeless communities.
In a recent conversation, Gapstur highlighted two recently launched initiatives to expand access to quality women's health, mental health, and substance use disorder care.
This transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
HealthLeaders: What has been your strategy to vaccinate the diverse communities WellSpan serves? Are you seeing vaccine hesitancy, and if so, what is the health system doing to address it?
Roxanna Gapstur: As the vaccine moved through clinical trials, and conversations took place both nationally and locally, WellSpan anticipated that there would be some vaccine hesitancy among several of our populations and communities across south central Pennsylvania. We asked ourselves, ‘Who will be hesitant to receive the vaccine, and what might be the contributing factors to this hesitancy?’
To understand more deeply about vaccine hesitancy with our at-risk populations, our community health team and medical group leadership embarked with our diversity and inclusion committee on a community listening campaign. The purpose of that campaign was to learn more about the opinions, thoughts, and barriers that lead to vaccine hesitancy within our communities, and to demonstrate cultural humility and respect for all while building relationships and trust. [We then used] those learnings to inform WellSpan's vaccination strategy.
The listening campaign ran for about four months and we heard from more than 220 community members. This included [members] from our Latinx community, the Black community, faith-based organizations, and some of our local physicians from the federally qualified health centers. [We also] collaborated with more than a dozen grassroots groups, schools, and local churches across our geography.
We found that few people mentioned their healthcare provider as a source of information and that the participation of physicians in these conversations with us was well received, especially physicians from the communities that we were connecting with, as well as physicians who are bilingual. They seem to make a critical difference in understanding the participants' acceptance of the information that we shared about the vaccine. We also learned that community members wanted to hear from someone who looked like them and had their shared lived experiences.
We uncovered many factors from fear of side effects to misinformation. But one of the main reasons we saw for vaccine hesitancy was simply lack of trust, and it often related to that populations’ history with vaccines and medical experimentation, but also individual lived experiences with healthcare and vaccines. We did see some mistrust of government, how privacy and data are collected, and some concern about pharmaceutical companies and whether they were acting in the interest of public health versus profit.
HealthLeaders: Recently, WellSpan has announced two initiatives to expand access to quality care for women's health, mental health, and addiction. In early May, Women's Health Center of Lebanon joined WellSpan. What does the health system hope to accomplish with this addition?
Gapstur: WellSpan has a strong commitment to women's health, and what we have found during the pandemic that [women’s health] has become more important than ever. In some of our rural communities, we believe that providing state-of-the-art, evidence-based women's healthcare is important for good outcomes, as well as for families overall.
The Women's Health Center of Lebanon has been an embedded group in that community, with a significant number of providers for rural practice. They have more than eight physicians and APPs working in that practice, and they've worked closely with us over the years. What we hope to accomplish now is to be able to use our long-term, trusting relationship to build on the services we've been able to provide in that community and work together to understand the various populations.
That is a community that has both Plain Community and Latinx populations, so we believe that by working together with some of our federally qualified healthcare centers and Women's Health Group, we can make a big difference in women's health in that community.
HealthLeaders: Another program launched in May was the opening of the Specialized Treatment and Recovery Team (START) to offer help to patients with mental health and substance use disorders. What does Wellspan aim to accomplish with this new program?
Gapstur: We're excited about the START clinic. It is a new and innovative certified community behavioral health clinic that works to increase access to mental health and substance use screenings and services. We also provide referrals to support services and work closely with community partners.
The focus of the program is to get people the care they need in the right place at the right time. At the same time, [we want] to reduce the use of emergency departments by providing those community-based alternatives for the treatment of mental health or addiction. The center itself has a diverse team of clinicians and staff that have been intentionally recruited to operate the clinic as an inclusive environment for the treatment of complex patients that have diverse backgrounds.
The START clinic uses a combination of in-person appointments and telehealth, and it can surround patients with all the resources they need for both mental health and substance use disorders. [START] also addresses issues of chronic disease, housing, social status, and other factors that impact health.
This was a $4 million community grant from WellSpan. The clinic itself has been in operation since December 2020, but it opened its doors for in-person care on May 3; more than 400 unique patients have been treated so far through the program.
[We're] excited about the community partnerships as well. One of those partners is called the Community Action for Recovery and Diversion Initiative, which is focused on individuals who have substance use mental health needs, and who are involved in the York County justice system. The goal of that partnership is to increase access to treatment rather than incarcerating individuals who are charged with minor crimes that are related to mental health or addiction.
HealthLeaders: You've served in multiple executive roles during your career, including COO, CNO, and now CEO. What has been your experience as a woman working in healthcare leadership?
Gapstur: Healthcare is a female-dominated field in terms of people who are working in the field, but females aren't generally represented in leadership at the same level. My own career has taken interesting twists and turns here and there.
I would say one of the biggest differences for me has been the sponsorship and mentorship opportunities that I've had over the years. [I’ve had] women leaders who have stepped up to help me learn more about how I can stretch myself and achieve the goals that I've set for myself in my career. I think there are some barriers to women in healthcare, just in terms of the acceptance in certain roles, as well as the ability of women to step up and be assertive in communicative settings like the boardroom.
I have worked hard to make sure that I am mentoring and sponsoring other women in healthcare to lead, improve, and achieve the goals that they'd like to do in their careers. We've done a number of things here at WellSpan, our governance and organizational structures have transformed over the past three years. Of our 13 senior vice presidents, six of them are female, three of them leading our regions.
We're committed to creating career paths for both women and other diverse talents throughout our system. We've increased the number of people of color who are executives at our organization by more than 7% in the past couple of years. We're holding ourselves to a higher standard of making sure that we're looking toward gender equity and also people of color in leadership here at WellSpan.
HealthLeaders: What advice do you have for women who want to serve in leadership roles in healthcare?
Gapstur: Be conscious of your own ability to speak up and be confident in yourself and in your leadership. Don't be afraid to take calculated risks and step outside of your comfort zone. Especially if there's a stretch project or something that you feel that you would be good at, but it seems like a scary thing to do.
I like to encourage people to stretch themselves; even the idea of speaking up with new ideas and getting some growth out of those stretch projects. I would also say build trusting relationships with other colleagues, both men and women, to get feedback on your performance, and to help yourself become more self-aware.
WellSpan hospitals (clockwise, from top left): WellSpan Good Samaritan Hospital in Lebanon, WellSpan Philhaven behavioral health hospital in Mt. Gretna, WellSpan Ephrata Community Hospital, WellSpan York Hospital, WellSpan Chambersburg Hospital, WellSpan Surgery and Rehabilitation Hospital in York, WellSpan Gettysburg Hospital and WellSpan Waynesboro Hospital. Photo courtesy of WellSpan Health.
Meena Seshamani, MD, PhD will serve as Deputy Administrator and Director of Center for Medicare and will lead the Center's efforts for those who rely on Medicare coverage.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new director of the Center for Medicare on Tuesday.
Meena Seshamani, MD, PhD will serve as Deputy Administrator and Director of Center for Medicare. Seshamani will lead the Center for Medicare's efforts for those who rely on Medicare coverage, including people 65 and older, people with disabilities, and people with end-stage renal disease.
"Dr. Meena Seshamani brings her diverse background as a health care executive, health economist, physician and health policy expert to CMS," CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure said in a statement. "Providing quality health care to the people who rely on Medicare and advancing health equity as we do it is a priority for CMS. I am delighted to say Dr. Seshamani will bring her unique perspective on how health policy impacts the real lives of patients to her leadership role as Deputy Administrator and Director of the Center for Medicare."
Seshamani has decades of experience in healthcare policy, delivery system reform, and public health policy. Most recently, she served as vice president of clinical care transformation for MedStar Health, a 10-hospital health system based in Maryland with over 300 outpatient care sites. During her tenure, she "conceptualized, designed, and implemented population health and value-based care initiatives and served as a senior leader," according to the press release.
She also recently served as a leader on the Biden-Harris Transition HHS Agency Review Team. Prior to that, she served as Director of the Office of Health Reform for the Department of Health and Human Services, where she led the strategy and implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
Healthcare veteran, Todd Goodall, will lead the health system's marketing and sales team to create strategic initiatives for hospital growth.
Cullman Regional Medical Center named its new chief marketing officer earlier this week.
Todd Goodall, who has more than two decades' worth of leadership experience, will lead the Alabama-based health system's marketing and sales teams to create strategic initiatives for hospital growth.
Additionally, Goodall will help develop innovative and collaborative relationships with the hospital and its medical group physicians that work in more than 12 outpatient settings including an urgent care center, imaging center, ambulatory surgery center, therapy center, and wound care center.
"Todd is a consummate professional who understands today’s healthcare system and how to drive expansion for the needs of those we serve," James Clements, CEO of Cullman Regional, said in a statement. "With him at the helm, we anticipate his team will not only help transform this already growing medical facility into one that better serves not only Cullman, but also one that benefits the entire north Alabama healthcare population."
Goodall previously served in leadership positions related to strategic planning, business development, and marketing with large hospitals and health systems across the country. These include roles at Memorial Hermann Health System, Tenet Healthcare, Dignity Health, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, and Good Samaritan Hospital.
"Cullman Regional is on the precipice of unique growth and expansion," Goodall said in a statement. "I am proud to be on board with its outstanding leadership team to extend its footprint."
Ben Leedle, president of Adventist Health's Well-Being Division, and Shelly Trumbo, vice president of the division, reflect on the first year and look ahead to future initiatives.
A recent Deloitte report found that by 2040, healthcare spending will reach $8.3 trillion, with 60% of healthcare spending projected to go towards improving health and well-being. This projection estimates $3.5 trillion in savings compared to a projection from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, largely due to what Deloitte termed a "well-being dividend."
Adventist Health is one healthcare organization aligning its strategy with the well-being trend, having committed to a 10-year, $1 billion investment in community well-being solutions.
In April 2020, Adventist acquired Blue Zones®, an organization dedicated to improving the health and well-being of communities across the country. Six months later, the West Coast-based health system announced the launch of a new Well-Being Division as a "breakthrough move to promote community well-being." Subsequently, Blue Zones® CEO Ben Leedle was appointed president of the Well-Being Division.
More than a year after the acquisition, Leedle and Shelly Trumbo, vice president of the Well-Being Division, spoke with HealthLeaders about their accomplishments in creating a strong framework for serving Adventist’s communities and upcoming plans for the Well-Being Division.
Integrating the two organizations proved to be seamless during the past year, according to Leedle and Trumbo.
The Blue Zones'® mission is to "empower everyone, everywhere to live a better, longer life," while Adventist's purpose is "living God’s love by inspiring health, wholeness, and hope." The two executives said that the initiative was already off to a promising start thanks to the proactive work related to well-being by Adventist prior to the acquisition of Blue Zones®.
"As an organization, our mission is very aligned with well-being," Trumbo said. "When you look at Adventist's heritage, it's deep in our DNA."
Currently, there are two pillars that uphold Adventist's mission and the Well-Being Division's purpose: the continued work with Blue Zones®, including a focus on promoting healthy choices for patients, and a partnership with Synchronous Health, a behavioral healthcare company. Both leaders added that more partnerships are likely to be announced in the future.
Leedle explained that the uniqueness of the Blue Zones® partnership is that the aim is to enable better care for communities in Adventist's footprint, but can also eventually be scaled to help other organizations, through proven tools, processes, and solutions with the help of the Well-Being Institute.
Scott Reiner, CEO of Adventist, previously said that the Well-Being Division is part of a decade-long strategy to "move [Adventist] from a healthcare company to a health company."
During the first year, the Well-Being Division created a strong framework by bolstering their talent and expanding the team, including hiring Dexter Shurney, MD, MBA, MPH as CMO of the Blue Zones® Institute and the Well-Being Division. According to Leedle, this hire defined the division's purpose and culture, and helped integrate Blue Zones® into Adventist Health.
Additionally, the Well-Being Division felt it was important to start at home and launched Blue Zones® at Adventist Health to impact and invest in the health system's workforce of 30,000 employees, Trumbo said.
Over the past year, the Well-Being Division utilized the Blue Zones® Institute’s principles, proven research, and strategies. The team spent time with the broader health system to partner with each associate in an effort to help them live a longer and better life. This was an especially important task due to the stress and burnout caused by the pandemic, Trumbo said.
"This year [we] drew a bold line in the sand that said 'We must walk our talk,'" Trumbo said. "If we as an organization are going to fulfill that lofty purpose of improving wellbeing for everyone, everywhere, so that they can live better and longer lives, that has to start with us and with our associates."
Adventist is also undergoing a three-year initiative to launch a Blue Zones® project in every community within its footprint, which spans over 75 communities on the West Coast and in Hawaii, covering more than 10 million people.
"We began there because that community had already launched the Blue Zones® journey before Adventist Health even began here," Trumbo said. "There was a great deal of readiness and excitement there for the project, and so that was our first community that launched."
Adventist will continue to work closely with more communities in its footprint to determine their level of readiness to launch in the future.
Leedle said that launching a Blue Zones® project in a community requires multiple steps as well as an understanding from the community that its population must take initiative and lead themselves with the help of the Blue Zones® team.
1. Readiness
Gauging how interested the community leadership is in launching this initiative
Confirming the community's desire and willingness to lead themselves
Bringing together elective officials, citizen councils, leaders of businesses, and building a 15 to 25-person committee to represent that community
Utilizing measurement experts, documentation experts, and analysts to collect data on what wellbeing historically looks like in that community and create a profile of understanding
2. Foundation
Experts help create a local Blue Zones® team and governance structure to drive the initiative
The team ceates a Blue Zone project blueprint, which includes a dashboard of accountability and a map for moving forward
Create alignment and partnerships
3. Launch
The community starts the policy transformation work
"We position ourselves with Blue Zones® and our Well-Being Division as the catalyst to co-create this [initiative]," Leedle said. "We believe we're setting up something communities are missing in America, which is collective decision-making to advance health and wellbeing, and the vitality of its communities so that they can be sustaining themselves in a continuous fashion."
Trumbo added that other initiatives in the past that have tried to address communities and have failed are due to the lack of competency and infrastructure given to the communities themselves. The reason that Blue Zones® projects work is because the community has agency.
"One of the reasons why Adventist Health and Blue Zones® are such an ideal marriage is because we both have always had that deep commitment to listening to what matters most to the community, of investing deeply in the development of community agency, and understanding that we are just accelerators, facilitators, and supporters that help a community reach its full potential," Trumbo said.
The ProMedica Toledo Hospital Emergency and Urgent Care, slated to open in early November, will operate as a hybrid clinic with a full-service ER and an urgent care clinic open seven days a week.
ProMedica has partnered with Intuitive Health, a Dallas-based retail healthcare operator, to open the first hybrid emergency room and urgent care clinic in northwest Ohio, the health system announced Tuesday.
The ProMedica Toledo Hospital Emergency and Urgent Care, slated to open in early November, will operate as a hybrid clinic with a full-service ER and an urgent care clinic open seven days a week, providing patients with access to immediate, appropriate care with lower costs.
The partnership with Intuitive comes just over two months after ProMedica signed a collaborative agreement with The MetroHealth System in Cleveland to operate a comprehensive skilled nursing and rehabilitation center.
"ProMedica is excited to partner with Intuitive Health to bring the hometown Five-Star services of ProMedica Toledo Hospital closer to home for patients who live or work in the Toledo suburb, Maumee, and the surrounding communities," Dawn Buskey, ProMedica president of acute care, said in a statement.
The emergency room and the urgent care center will both be equipped with their own lab equipment, radiology suite, and ER-licensed physicians. Walk-ins and appointments will both be welcome, and patients will be informed prior to treatment whether they will be treated and billed as urgent care patients or ER patients.
Intuitive pioneered the freestanding emergency center and urgent care model, and since 2008, has partnered with health systems to build, operate, launch, and retain freestanding hybrid ER and urgent care facilities in 10 major U.S. markets.
“Health care is changing, and consumers are demanding better service with an emphasis on convenience, safety and value," Thom Herrmann, CEO of Intuitive Health, said in a statement. "Our combined Emergency and Urgent Care model provides the convenience and efficiency of a top retailer while delivering the highest level of clinical care and customer service that patients demand."
While there are significant fears around interest rates and inflation, 67% of respondents to a new survey said they haven't let those concerns affect their portfolios.
Healthcare operating pools are rebounding strongly as the nation emerges from the coronavirus pandemic, with a big focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing, a new survey shows.
The NEPC annual Healthcare Operating Funds survey examined how healthcare operating pools are invested and found that 72% of respondents said that ESG is "somewhat important or very important." Larger healthcare systems prioritized ESG more than smaller systems.
Additionally, the survey found that while there are significant fears around interest rates and inflation, with 63% of respondents expecting higher interest rates by the end of 2021, 67% said they had not let inflation concerns result in portfolio changes.
Nearly one-third (29%) of respondents said that they may create formal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals for their portfolios.
Additionally, the survey found that:
While a 2020 NEPC survey found that 61% of healthcare organizations furloughed staff, with 43% suspending or postponing retirement plan contributions, the 2021 survey found only 9% of respondents plan to keep those measures in place.
Three-quarters (76%) of respondents believe the S&P 500 will deliver returns of at least 6% this year, following 2020's "robust market returns."
Nearly half (46%) of respondents plan to increase allocations, due to an optimistic view on private markets, while only 3% are planning to decrease allocations.
The online survey gathered data from 81 participating healthcare funds who represent 75 organizations with an assets under management (AUM) ranging from $250 million to more than $2 billion.
The awarded money will go toward university and healthcare organizations that address DEI in their internal medicine education and training.
Five physician organizations have awarded almost $300,000 to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in healthcare, according to a Thursday morning announcement.
The Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM), the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), the ABIM Foundation, the American College of Physicians (ACP), and the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation donated $287,500 to 32 different healthcare organizations and medical schools to further incorporate DEI into their internal medicine education and training to address bias and discrimination, a factor that has led to mistrust in the healthcare system.
Over the past year, providers have increased their focus on DEI efforts due to the pandemic exacerbating healthcare disparities in the communities that they serve.
"The Alliance is proud of this initiative advancing DEI in undergraduate and graduate medical education. The critical work of the 32 grant recipients will resonate throughout AAIM's member institutions and across the internal medicine community," L. James Nixon, MD, chair of the AAIM Board of Directors and vice chair for education in the Department of Medicine at University of Minnesota Medical School, said in a statement.
The organizations will receive grants of $20,000, $5,000, or $2,500, depending on the size and scope of their programs.
These initiatives will include identifying community barriers to healthcare, creating a detailed curriculum on how to address diverse communities' needs, increasing medicine residents' education of social issues in the communities, identifying community resources, and addressing systemic racism and other social determinants of health.
"We congratulate the recipients of this grant and look forward to their efforts to advance DEI and to create more equity in health systems by incorporating DEI into the fabric of internal medicine education and training," George M. Abraham, MD, MPH, FACP, president of ACP, said in a statement. "Dedicated work in this area will benefit medical professionals and the patients they treat so that our health care system can be more just and equitable. The results of these grants will also benefit organizations, trainees, internists, their patients and their communities."
The second round of grant funding will be awarded later this year with additional funding from the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation. Grants will be awarded to organizations that "emphasize inter-professional projects that incorporate members across the care team."
"This past year has made it ever more clear that building trust with our patients is central to a health care system that will truly meet the needs and provide the most effective care for all," Holly J. Humphrey, MD, MACP, president of the Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation, said in a statement. "I commend this initiative in tapping what is our greatest resource – the creativity, commitment and passion that diverse members of care teams bring to the cause of achieving equity in health."
Organizations receiving grants from the first round of funding include:
Baylor College of Medicine
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Columbia University Medical Center
Community Memorial Health System
Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
Emory University
Florida Atlantic University
George Washington University
Hennepin Healthcare
Hofstra University
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Magnolia Regional Health Center/University of Mississippi Medical Center
MedStar Georgetown University Hospital
Mount Sinai West Hospital
NCH Healthcare System
Oregon Health & Science University Hillsboro Medical Center
Riverside University Health System
Rutgers New Jersey Medical School
Stamford Health
Stanford University
University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix