Advancing Health

For health care organizations, welcoming a new CEO can present uneasy change — but it also allows the opportunity to creatively address some of the field's biggest hurdles. In this conversation, learn how the leadership and board of directors at Northwestern Medical Center in Vermont started their CEO searches, and how the CEO transition plan helped accelerate their organization’s success and plans for the future. This podcast is sponsored by WittKieffer.For for information please visit WittKieffer

The American Hospital Association is proud to be a major sponsor of the 2023 Circle of Life Award, which honors health care organizations that are demonstrating innovative palliative or end-of-life care to impact the patients, families and communities they serve. In this conversation, Martha Twaddle, M.D., Waud family medical director for palliative medicine & supportive care at Northwestern Medicine, talks to this year’s three honorees about what drives them to overcome the barriers in palliative care, and their ability to build trust and relationships during extremely difficult times.Apply for the 2024 Circle of Life Award - How do you know if your organization is ready to apply for a Circle of Life Award? An innovative palliative or end-of-life care provider that is measuring and evaluating the impact of its work on patients, family, and/or the community is ready to apply for a Circle of Life award. Honorees are emphasizing coordinated or integrated care delivery throughout all settings, engaging

As the nursing profession continues to evolve, it is embracing new technologies and practices that allow nurses to focus on what matters most — their patients. In this conversation, John Haupert, president and CEO of Grady Health System and 2023 AHA board chair, and Mary Beth Kingston, Ph.D., R.N., executive vice president and chief nursing officer at Advocate Health and AHA board member, discuss the future of technology and nursing in the health care environment and how technology can be implemented to improve not just patient care, but overall employee satisfaction.

Addressing burnout and the mental health of employees is not only the right thing to do, but also improves care, quality, patient satisfaction and the financial health of the organization. In this conversation, Nigel Girgrah, M.D., chief wellness officer at Ochsner Health, discusses his evolution in workforce well-being, building a business case for organizational buy-in and the importance of combining leadership with mental health transparency.

American health care has come a long way over the years, but there is at least one glaring exception — maternal health. This three-part series explores the medical complications that can accompany pregnancy, successful prenatal and postpartum treatment programs, and how hospitals and health systems are addressing the social needs of new mothers. In this episode, Stacy Garrett-Ray, M.D., senior vice president and chief community impact officer at Ascension Health, and X’Laodai Mack, new mom and Ascension patient, discuss how the health system is addressing social determinants of health to support mothers and their babies.

The AHA's Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Award recognizes outstanding efforts among hospitals and health care systems to advance equity of care and reduce health disparities within their communities. 2023 Rural Winner, Monument Health, was honored for their journey in health equity progress that has spanned over 8 years. In this conversation, Paulette Davidson, president and CEO of Monument Health, and Sandra Ogunremi, DHA, vice president of diversity, inclusion and belonging at Monument Health, discuss how one incident made the rural health system vow to do better and commit to a strong path forward in health care equity.

The AHA’s prestigious Foster G. McGaw Prize honors health delivery organizations that have demonstrated a strategic approach to community health and health equity. Finalist GBMC HealthCare was one of the organizations honored in 2023 for leading the way. In this conversation, John Chessare, M.D., MPH, president and CEO of GBMC HealthCare, shares how they began investing in their Baltimore community by specifically focusing on social determinants of health.

Digital innovation in artificial intelligence, machine learning and other spaces are becoming more present in health care. With these advancements also come threats from cybercriminals. Through June of 2023, 48 million individuals were impacted by 250 data breaches as reported to the HHS Office of Civil Rights, and about a quarter of them were high-impact ransomware attacks. In this conversation, Troy Ament, chief information security officer at Fortinet, discusses the conversations health care needs to be having to balance digital innovation with cybercrime defenses. Fortinet is an AHA Preferred Cybersecurity Provider.

The AHA's Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Award recognizes outstanding efforts among hospitals and health care systems to advance equity of care and reduce health disparities within their communities. 2023 Transforming Winner, Meritus Health, was honored for creating and implementing strategies that influence equity within its community. In this conversation, Allen Twigg, Meritus Health's executive director of behavioral and community health services, talks about their role in the community and how they have expanded that role to reduce disparities for the population.

Building and retaining a nursing workforce is one of the many challenges facing health care today. In this conversation, Wendy Horton, chief executive officer of UVA Health, and Beth Mehring, program manager of the “Earn While You Learn” program at UVA Health, discuss the successes of "Earn While You Learn" and how their approach to sustaining the nursing workforce can provide solutions for hospitals and health systems moving forward.

The AHA's Carolyn Boone Lewis Equity of Care Award recognizes outstanding efforts among hospitals and health care systems to advance equity of care and reduce health disparities within their communities. 2023 Emerging Winner, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH), was honored for its passion and progress in advancing health equity. In this conversation, Franck Nelson, RWJUH assistant vice president of health equity, discusses the big steps the organization has taken to dismantle equity barriers in its care delivery system and the community it serves.

In the United States, behavioral health and physical health can sometimes be treated as if they are unconnected, usually involving separate sites of care. One small, rural health system decided to override the usual way of doing things and provide a care model that reconnects treatment to the whole person. In this podcast, Charlie Forbush, chief administrative officer at Western Wisconsin Health, describes their hospital's behavioral health expansion within the schools and community, and how it made a difference in patients’ access to whole-person care.

For health care professionals, victims of human trafficking aren’t easy to spot, and many victims are reluctant to share much about the horror they endured. Mercy Medical Center’s Blue Dot Human Trafficking Initiative flags potential victims of human trafficking for its team of 30 forensic nurses who serve the greater Baltimore region. In this conversation, Debra Holbrook, director of Forensic Nursing at Mercy Health Services, and David Maine, M.D., president and CEO at Mercy, explain the key successes of the Blue Dot initiative and how Mercy is making a huge impact in keeping its communities safe and secure.

When kids experience acute behavioral health needs, they need to be cared for at the right time and the right place. In this conversation, Brian Skehan, M.D., Ph.D., director of Pediatric Emergency Mental Health Services at UMass Memorial, and Jemima Amankwah, nurse manager of Emergency Mental Health at UMass Memorial, discuss caring for these specific pediatric patients and how UMass is helping kids receive treatment that fits their needs.

The many pressures squeezing health care providers have all served to make the role of hospital trustees, or governing board members, more important than ever. These boards have been charged with making sure that quality metrics are met and that strategic priorities guide the missions. In this conversation, John Haupert, president and CEO of Grady Health System and the 2023 Chair of AHA’s Board, and Greg Bentz, board chair of Saint Luke's Health and chair of AHA's Committee on Governance, discuss the thin margin of error that hospitals and health systems are facing, and how Saint Luke's is focusing on governance to help achieve the highest levels of excellence in providing health care.

The gap between supply and demand for health care continues to grow at an unprecedented rate. Reinventing and transforming the nature of care delivery is essential for hospitals and health systems to achieve quality patient outcomes. In this conversation, hear how Northwestern Medicine is using digital technology to better prepare teams to work in the new world of health care, and why a digital mindset is vital to care transformation. This podcast is sponsored by Accenture.

Since 2020 the health care workforce has faced a sharp increase in workplace violence. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that health care workers are five times more likely than any other type of worker to be physically attacked on the job. In this conversation, Karie Gibson, Psy.D., unit chief of one of the FBI’s five Behavioral Analysis Units, discusses the meaning of behavioral threat assessments and how it applies to the threat of violence against hospitals and health care teams.

The 2022 mass shooting during the Fourth of July parade in Highland Park, Illinois killed seven people, wounded another 48 and traumatized an entire community. In this emotional conversation, Gabrielle Cummings, president of NorthShore Highland Park Hospital, discusses how the hospital team responded head-on to an unfolding crisis and kept not only the Highland Park community together, but the health care staff as well.

The AHA’s Suicide Prevention Learning Collaborative was created to start a dialogue among health care providers about the best ways to provide support for health care workers. In this conversation, Paul Rains, senior vice president of behavioral health at CommonSpirit Health, discusses ideas and shared best practices to ensure that every health care worker is cared for and supported across the organization. September is National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month.

Clare Fox, physical therapist with North Country HealthCare in New Hampshire, shares why she left her native England to pursue her health career dreams in the United States. She explains how adopting the team-focused managerial approach she learned from the Lean Six Sigma training courses makes all the difference in efficient health care.