Rachel Watson is a survivor. Last year Rachel and her husband David fell ill with COVID-19. Though David recovered without intervention, Rachel needed extreme measures. When HCA Florida West Marion Hospital received Rachel she was immediately placed on oxygen, but it wasn’t enough. She was transferred to another HCA Florida facility, HCA Florida North Florida and placed on an ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation) machine where she remained for 89 days. The family credits hospital integration and outstanding caregivers for saving her life. Rachel and David joined Chip to share the story of her care and recovery on the Federation’s new campaign, The Real Story. Learn more about The Real Story at fah.org/TheRealStory.

Courtney Clarke is a nurse at Lake Cumberland Regional Hospital in Somerset Kentucky and her efforts to help a patient and protect her kids during treatment made such an impact that she was recognized by the state’s governor. The Federation’s new campaign is embarking on a mission to tell The Real Story of hospitals through the eyes of patients and caregivers. Courtney’s story is our first.

Learn more about The Real Story at fah.org/TheRealStory.

Dr. Ana Pineda has grown her health care career within HCA Healthcare. In fact, the doctors she works alongside today are the very ones that inspired her to take the first steps towards becoming an Emergency Medicine Physician. Dr. Pineda shared with Chip how her career has taken shape over the years, how COVID has affected her role, and her work in training the next generation of physicians at HCA Healthcare.

Dr. Ana Pineda is the Associate Medical Director of Emergency Rooms at HCA Florida Kendall Hospital and Free-standing Emergency Rooms in Doral and South Kendall.

Want to hear more from our caregivers? Hear from Jennifer Brady on Making the Rounds: The Nurse You Want At Your Bedside.

Jennifer Brady is a nurse at LifePoint Health’s Havasu Regional Medical Center in Arizona. A recent recipient of a DAISY Award, she exemplifies every quality you’d want in your nurse. Jennifer was inspired by her children to become a nurse later in life. She joined Chip on Making the Rounds to discuss her journey to nursing and her inspiration in providing high quality care to her patients.

Interested in hearing more from caregivers? Fiona Chew is a nurse on the frontlines of COVID-19 who traveled to the hot spot in New York; hear her story.

The pandemic poured gasoline on the health care workforce shortage. Between nurse burnout, lower immigration numbers for trained caregivers, and a growing negative narrative surrounding health care careers, it’s no wonder we are facing a shortage sooner than we imagined.

Lisa Dolan, Chief Nursing Officer at Ardent Health Services joined Chip to examine how it is using its size and scale to meet this challenge and continue to provide quality, compassionate care to all those who need it.

Want to learn more about the origin of the nursing shortage? Check out this conversation No Silver Bullet: Diagnosing Hospital Workforce Crisis with Peter Buerhaus.

One of the biggest challenges facing hospitals during the pandemic is workforce shortages – specifically beside nurses. This crisis started before COVID-19 and will continue after – fueled by a myriad of developing issues. One constant is that we face an increasing need & a decreasing supply of the hospital nurses who are critical to providing the lifesaving care that patients need every day.

Dr. Peter Buerhaus joins Chip to discuss the cyclical nature of these shortages, how COVID has made it worse, and what hospitals and policymakers can do to alleviate some of these challenges.

A nurse by training, Peter is also a health care economist and active researcher on the economics of the nursing workforce. His most recent research was published in Health Affairs titled “Nurse Employment During The First Fifteen Months Of The COVID-19 Pandemic” and detailed critical information about the country’s nursing infrastructure. A short summary of the findings was outlined by Montana State University.

Would you like to hear from a nurse who travelled to one of the nation’s first hotspots to battle COVID-19? Listen to Fighting on the Frontlines with Fiona Chew for a firsthand depiction of saving patients during the pandemic.

In many ways 2022 is starting off just like 2021 with COVID-19 dominating our lives and health care policy taking centerstage in front of a gridlocked Congress.  And just like last year, Chris Jennings and Doug Badger return to Hospitals In Focus to prognosticate on the upcoming year in health policy. Coming from each side of the political spectrum, the two long-time health policy wonks discuss with Chip how the Biden administration has handled the COVID crisis. - What did they get right and where do they need to course correct? The three also examine the seemingly new role of the Supreme Court in the role of legislating in a divided Washington and what this could mean for  health care policy.

Chris Jennings has spent decades working in the White House, Congress and private sector. He served in both the Clinton and Obama White Houses as Senior Advisor to the President for Health Policy and helped pass, enact and implement the ACA, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and numerous other health reforms.

Doug Badger has been in public policy for many decades serving as a policy advisor to the White House, U.S. Senate, Department of HHS and the SSA. Doug worked in the Bush (43) administration and developed the administration’s proposal for adding prescription drug coverage to Medicare. He also represented the White House in negotiations with Congress that resulted in the enactment of the Medicare Modernization Act. 

Interested in hearing Doug and Chris’ first episode of HIF? Take a listen to Building Biden’s Health Agenda with Chris Jennings and Doug Badger.

In this special edition of Hospitals in Focus, we are sharing a fireside chat Chip recently had with retiring Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO). It was recorded last month at the Federation’s Board of Governors meeting. 

This is a wide-ranging, informative discussion where Chip and Sen. Blunt talk about everything from Medicaid expansion to the growing partisan divide in Washington, DC.  

After serving more than 25 years in Congress and nearly 50 years in public service, Senator Blunt has a unique perspective on where we are today – and where health care policy is headed in the future. He is also one of the few members of Congress to ever hold leadership positions in both the Senate and House. 

We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as the audience did. 

Despite being pushed to the brink during the COVID-19 pandemic, rural hospitals answered the call – fighting adversity to save millions of lives.

It was just another example of the important role these facilities play in the communities they serve. During this episode Chip talks to a veteran of rural hospitals – Doug Weaver, CEO of Hillcrest Hospital Pryor in Oklahoma, which is part of FAH member Ardent Health Services. He discusses the unique challenges his facility, and others like it, faced at the height of the COVID-19 surge.

Doug also talks about the changes in rural health care he has seen during his 40-year career – from the rise of telemedicine to growing staffing shortages. Additionally, Doug explains to Chip how being part of an integrated health care system, like Ardent, helps smaller hospitals keep their doors open to patients. 

Jessica Smith, a respiratory therapist from outside Pulaski, Tennessee, is well known in her small community for her extraordinary dedication and compassion to her patients and family. In this episode, Jessica explains to Chip that like many frontline caregivers she has begun to experience “hero fatigue,” but adds that she still loves her job and does her best to focus on the positive. Her inspiration home life, along with her work ethic led to her winning LifePoint Health’s Mercy Award this year. The episode wraps up with her talking about what that recognition meant to her and her team at  Southern Tennessee Regional Health System.