Year end is a good time to assess with our teams what worked well and should continue and what are opportunities for improvement. One such area of assessment for hospital leaders is alignment of communications operations and tactics with organizational goals. Communications professionals have a valuable skill set and access to an arsenal of high-powered
Today’s Guest: Pearce Fleming, FACHE | President | StayWell If you’ve been involved in health care marketing and communications, you have heard of StayWell. Today, they are positioning themselves to go beyond the standard employer wellness program to integrate themselves into the operations of the provider as well as the health plan with the intent
Politics is a science. You can demonstrate that you are right and that others are wrong. Jean Paul Sartre But, even with science, there are skeptics and nonbelievers. (See vaccines, the moon landing and flat earth). And in the case of complex political and policy issues like all of those governing health care, you can’t
Yesterday’s announcement from CMS that it intends to subject hospitals’ Medicaid supplemental payments to increased scrutiny should raise alarm bells in hospitals of all sizes across the country. And, for hospitals in Texas, Kansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and New Hampshire where Medicaid supplemental payments constitute more than three-quarters of total Medicaid payments, the level of concern
We see more senior leaders and CEOs taking a front seat when it comes to establishing a high-quality digital presence. That's because they know messaging now must go beyond reputation and brand management. Digital strategy is finally seen by hospital CEOs as something that can drive patient volume and smooth over rough terrain in a
The slow but sure growth of telemedicine continues, and with today's announcement of a new round of funding for Texas-based Access Physicians, you can bet that hospitals will continue their embrace of the technology ... especially given several key factors and market forces putting pressure on hospitals. Chief among those pressures is the physician shortage
The 2020 General Election is less than a year away. That means that shortly thereafter, bill filing will begin for the 87th Texas Legislature, and legislators will be busy tending to promises made during campaigns. Is your organization doing everything it needs to in this critical year to maximize advocacy efforts and ensure legislative successes
ground·swell /ˈɡroun(d)ˌswel/ noun a buildup of opinion or feeling in a large section of the population. We launched Groundswell Health earlier this year because we saw a fundamental, and fatal, mistake being made. Whether by hospitals, health systems, ACOs, ASCs or companies selling a health care product or service, leaders are failing to build consumable
With apologies to Kermit the Frog, it’s not easy being a hospital. The obvious challenges exist. Insufficient payments, physician relations, staffing turnover and payer negotiations. Now, major new threats have emerged that are not operational or financial in nature but are the direct result of hospitals’ reluctance to engage in forthright communications about complex issues.