Advancing Health

Hypertension while pregnancy or postpartum can increase the risk of other complications that impact the mom and baby. CDC’s Million Hearts named the Missouri Hospital Association a 2021 Hypertension Control Exemplar for its efforts to prioritize hypertension control among pregnant and postpartum patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. Aisha Syeda, senior program manager of AHA’s strategic initiatives uncovers how as she speaks with Judy Hannan, senior advisor of CDC’s Million Hearts® initiative, Alison Williams, Vice President of Clinical Quality Improvement at Missouri Hospital Association and Kendell Farr, Womens Health Nurse Practitioner at Hannibal Regional Healthcare System.

According to the CDC, firearms are used in approximately 50% of all suicides. In this podcast, Dr. Emmy Betz, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and director of the Firearm Injury Prevention Initiative joins Laura Castellanos, associate director, Hospitals Against Violence initiative at the American Hospital Association. Together they explore the connections between firearms and suicide, and what hospitals and healthcare systems need to know about firearm suicide prevention. A variety of organizations are involved in the discussion about firearm safety and suicide. These include the Bulletpoints Project, Walk the Talk America, the partnership between the VA, NSSF, and ASFP, and the American College of Surgeons. For more information on the work that Dr. Betz is doing at the Injury and Violence Prevention Center, please visit https://coloradosph.cuanschutz.edu/research-and-practice/centers-programs/ivpc/research-practice/firearm-injury-prevention

Recently, the hospital leadership team of Ouachita County Medical Center, in Camden, Ark., made the “heart-wrenching decision” to close a rural health clinic that the hospital had operated for 25 years. Leaders and staff also took wage cuts and reduced work hours. Take that one sad event … multiply it by more than 135 times over the past dozen years … and you’ve got some idea of the alarming economic challenges facing our nation’s rural and low-volume hospitals. Hospitals and health systems across the United States are experiencing unprecedented financial pressures right now. Labor shortages, increased expenses, and lower Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates impact most care providers, and none more so than rural hospitals. On this Leadership Dialogue Series podcast, AHA Board Chair Wright L. Lassiter III is joined by Peggy Abbott, CEO of Ouachita County Medical Center to discuss how the current economic stressors are affecting the small, rural hospital she leads. Like every hospital leader, Abbott’s f

In medical care, prior authorization was originally intended to ensure patients received appropriate care that was in line with tested methodologies. Today, “prior authorization” has become a dreaded term…often signaling delayed care and undue financial burdens posed to patients and care providers alike. In some cases, the process of prior authorization has actually put patient lives at risk. What changed over time? Most of all, what can be done about it now? In this special edition podcast, two colleagues who are very well informed about the hazards and pitfalls of the overuse or misuse of prior authorizations in the course of patient care. Terrence Cunningham directs AHA’s Administrative Simplification Policy, and Andrea Preisler is senior associate director, Administrative Simplification Policy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on our health care teams with many suffering from stress, trauma, burnout and increased behavioral health challenges. When physicians, nurses and health care professionals experience extended periods of stress and burnout, they often feel as though they are letting down their patients, their families, and their colleagues. The impact of these prolonged stressors has amplified the need for support and efforts to improve well-being, destigmatize mental health. Continue listening to learn how the Edward-Elmhurst Health’s employee mental health committee works with members across different disciplines and backgrounds to identify and implement strategies to address employee mental health challenges. In this podcast, Rebecca Chickey, Senior Director, Behavioral Health Services at the AHA, speaks with Gina Sharp, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Lindsey Harrington, Psy.D., Manager, Psychology and Counseling, of NorthShore – Edward-Elmhurst Health in Illinois. At

Welcome to the American Hospital Association's special podcast series, Just Lead, a look at how hospitals and health systems that have been recognized with AHA Awards for innovation, collaboration, and health equity are transforming health care for their communities. The results have been encouraging. The American Hospital Association Quest for Quality Prize is presented annually to honor health care leadership and innovation in achieving high-quality health care and advancing health in communities. The award recognizes hospitals and health care systems that are committed to and are making significant progress in providing access to exceptional quality, safe, patient- and family-centered affordable care that is improving the health of their communities. In addition, this award showcases successful innovative models of care, services and collaboration to provide seamless care and to address health care disparities. Today we are joined the recipient of AHA's 2022 Quest for Quality Prize - University Hospitals H

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the dedicated team members at America’s hospitals and health systems have worked tirelessly to care for patients, comfort families and protect communities during this unprecedented public health crisis. However, the pandemic has taken a heavy toll on our health care teams with many suffering from stress, trauma, burnout and increased behavioral health challenges. And when physicians, nurses and health care professionals experience extended periods of stress and burnout, they often feel as though they are letting down their patients, their families, and their colleagues. Moreover, they often feel more challenged to care not just for their patients, but also themselves. The impact of these extended stressors has amplified the need for support and efforts to improve well-being, destigmatize mental health and address overall wellness from a system-wide level, to better care for the health care workers who care for our communities. In this podcast, Rebecca Chickey, Senior

Welcome to the American Hospital Association's special podcast series, Just Lead, a look at how hospitals and health systems that have been recognized with AHA Awards for innovation, collaboration, and health equity are transforming health care for their communities. So what does this mean for their patients? Today we are joined by the recipient of AHA’s 2022 Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Award – Mount Sinai Health System in New York City represented by Shana Dacon-Pereira, Senior Director for the office of diversity and inclusion at Mount Sinai.

Hospitals and health systems must be clear on goals of their opioid stewardship program and intentional about a process for measuring and monitoring progress. Over time, these metrics will help demonstrate organizational success and can be used to support broader initiatives to fight the opioid epidemic, such as advocacy efforts for legislative action. In this final episode of AHA’s five-part series on opioid stewardship, Marie Cleary-Fishman, vice president of clinical quality at the American Hospital Association, is joined once again by Dr. Holly Geyer, hospital internal medicine practitioner sub-specialized in addiction medicine at Mayo Clinic. The discussion: setting and surveilling opioid prescribing metrics, and managing outliers while keeping satisfaction scores high.

Ordering the right test at the right time is crucial to providing evidence-based patient care to achieve the highest quality outcomes. It can also help increase financial sustainability for a hospital. Both of these objectives can be accomplished through a successful laboratory stewardship initiative. PeaceHealth understands this quite well. Join us to hear insights from PeaceHealth on their experience establishing a lab stewardship initiative that improved patient care and outcomes through optimized testing, all while driving down costs for enhanced financial sustainability. Today’s podcast is brought to you by the College of American Pathologists.

America has seen soaring rates of fatal overdoses from opioid analgesics – that is prescription drugs such as oxycodone, hydrocodone and fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that is often produced and sold illegally. Hospitals are trying to limit the amount of opioids leaving their doors while increasing education about opioid use and misuse among health care workers and patients and deploying new treatment models. In this episode – part four of AHA’s five-part series on opioid stewardship, Marie Cleary-Fishman, vice president of clinical quality at the American Hospital Association, is joined once again by Dr. Holly Geyer, hospital internal medicine practitioner subspecialized in addiction medicine at Mayo Clinic. The discussion: encouraging careful and selective use of long-term opioid therapy in the context of managing chronic pain through evidence-based prescribing guidelines, educating staff and patients, and improving the referral to treatment process

Since the start of the pandemic, foreign based ransomware gangs have dramatically increased targeting of U.S. hospitals and health systems and their mission critical service providers - with many becoming victim of high impact ransomware attacks. These attacks have disrupted hospital business operations, delayed health care delivery and risked patient safety - not only for the victim organization but also for interconnected providers on a regional basis. It is essential that health care organizations understand the current cyber risk landscape and understand that high impact ransomware attacks will disrupt every business, clinical and operational function in the organization – but they can also brace for impact, and prepare for recovery. Join us to hear to insights from health care cybersecurity experts, including our own John Riggi, AHA’s National Advisor for cybersecurity and risk, who spent nearly 30 years as a highly decorated veteran of the FBI and now serves as National Advisor for Cybersecurity and Ris

Some 57 million rural Americans depend on their hospital as an important source of care as well as a critical component of their area's economic and social fabric. In many areas, there is growing concern…that fabric is starting to fray. The stresses of the past 2.5 years have affected every hospital and health system in America, none more so than rural hospitals. On this Leadership Dialogue Series podcast, AHA Board Chair Wright L. Lassiter III is joined by Dr. Julie Yaroch (Yarrow), president of ProMedica Charles and Virginia Hickman Hospital in Adrian, Michigan. Lassiter and Yaroch talk about the issues that rural hospitals continue to face, including workforce shortages, increased costs of care, and an aging population. At the same time, patients living in rural communities must navigate challenges related to accessing care, such as lack of transportation and unreliable or unavailable internet access. Yaroch says collaboration is key right now. She describes how the hospital she leads views health care as

Each day, more than 300 Americans are shot, and, according to the CDC, more than 110 are killed by gunfire. The Government Accountability Office reports that gun violence costs hospitals over $1B annually. Dr. Chethan Sathya, a pediatric trauma surgeon and director of Northwell Health's Center for Gun Violence Research recently testified in front of the Senate’s Judiciary Committee on this topic. He sits down today with Laura Castellanos, associate director of the American Hospital Association’s Hospitals Against Violence initiative to discuss what we know about the cost to hospitals and health systems, as they treat a growing number of victims of gun violence. For more information on the work that Northwell’s Center for Gun Violence Prevention is doing, please visit https://www.northwell.edu/center-for-gun-violence-prevention

Patients with complex medical and social needs are often challenging to treat in a traditional medical encounter. An intensive high-touch care delivery model in the outpatient setting can improve value for patients, providers and payers. In this podcast, Julia Resnick, director of AHA’s Strategic Initiatives is joined by Dr. Stacy Bank, medical director of University of Utah Health’s Intensive Outpatient Clinic and Chad Westover, CEO of University of Utah Health Plans. You’ll hear Dr. Bank and Chad discuss how the clinic is partnering with the health plan to provide wraparound medical and social care to some of the health care system’s most at-risk patients – and how the new model of care is benefiting the patients, the clinicians and the health plan. Learn more about University of Utah’s Intensive Outpatient Clinic in this short film, Meet Me Where I Am. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h691wk3N0pU&t=2s&ab_channel=UofUHealth

Health care is currently seeing a dramatic increase in cyberattacks, including disruptive ransomware attacks that interrupt patient care and risk patient safety, as well as impact hospital and health system business operations. It is essential that health care organizations understand the current cyber risk landscape and understand that cyberthreats are a true enterprise risk. Acknowledging this, they can take proactive measures to prepare for and mitigate cyber risk with focused attention on fast-moving, real-time threats. Join us to hear to insights from health care cybersecurity experts and AHA members, including our own John Riggi, AHA’s National Advisor for cybersecurity and risk, who spent nearly 30 years as a highly decorated veteran of the FBI and now serves as National Advisor for Cybersecurity and Risk at the American Hospital Association and their 5000+ member hospitals. John and his expert colleagues from Denver Health and Fort Defiance Indian Hospital will discuss how hospitals and health systems

As we start to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, understanding and reconnecting to purpose, rediscovering our why is key to moving forward. The health care workforce is facing unprecedented challenges and opportunities to redefine care delivery and encourage the next generation of leaders to use the lessons of the last two years to change for the better. Dr. Tom Yackel, President of MCV Physicians, the faculty practice plan of VCU Health System, senior associate dean for clinical affairs in the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, and past chair of the AHA’s Committee on Clinical Leadership sat down with Elisa Arespacochaga, vice president of clinical affairs and workforce at the AHA Annual meeting to share his thoughts as a clinical leader and practicing physician. This podcast was recorded at the AHA Annual Meeting.

Bundled care programs are a key driver in the transition from fee-for-service to value-based care. In this Members in Action podcast featuring maternal and child health efforts, Aisha Syeda, senior program manager at the AHA is speaking with CJ Stimson, Chief Medical Officer of the Vanderbilt University Medical Employee Health Plan and Senior Vice President of Value Transformation in the Office of Population Health. Together they will discuss how Vanderbilt University Medical Center is working with Metro Nashville Public Schools to provide bundled care solutions which improve maternal health outcomes and provide more value to patients and payers.

For three decades, the 340B drug pricing program has enabled hospitals that serve high numbers of low-income patient populations to stretch scarce federal resources and provide more comprehensive care to their patients and communities. The program, which has enjoyed strong bipartisan support, does not cost taxpayers a dime. Instead, the program is subsidized by drug companies, which are required to sell certain outpatient drugs at a discount to eligible providers. These discounts help hospitals provide critical programs and services to their patients such as medication therapy management, diabetes education and counseling, and mobile treatment clinics for rural areas. Ask any hospital in the 340B program and they’ll tell you it’s done a great deal of good for the patients and communities they care for. Which is why current efforts by drug companies to reduce the program’s scope are so alarming. In this podcast, an AHA policy expert explores the value of the 340B drug pricing program and the negative impact th

On this Leadership Dialogue Series podcast, AHA Board Chair Wright Lassiter III, is joined by Mikelle Moore, senior vice president and chief community health officer at Intermountain Healthcare, based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Using many examples from Intermountain, Lassiter and Moore explore the different roles that hospitals and health systems can take in advancing community health — including as leader, convener and participant — and the importance of listening and building trust in every interaction with the community. Lassiter and Moore also talk about tackling long-term issues that may take decades to solve, including addressing social determinants of health, improving mental health and well-being, and increasing access to primary care.