The Backstory

Last week, word came out that Haven, the disruptive healthcare collaboration between Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan Chase was not going to disrupt anything. Three years after its inception, the project was shutting down. Despite everything else going on in healthcare, the announcement made pretty big headlines just as it had when it was launched. Why was it big news? And is there some larger lesson for healthcare to take from the failed project? Maybe the first question is, is Haven actually a failed project? What insights should we take from the whole three-year cycle? Over the course of a couple of days, we talked with several of our friends who work in different areas of healthcare to get their take: Lisa Bielamowicz, MD, president and co-founder of Gist Healthcare and a highly experienced radiologist; Marcus Whitney, partner at Jumpstart Health Investors with a particular interest in the role of technology and innovation in healthcare; Bryan Vartabedian, Director of Community Medicine, Texas Childrens Hospital The Woodlands and author of the 33 charts newsletter that explores medicine and technology (33charts.com); David Pate, MD, JD, the former CEO of St. Luke's Health System in Boise and of-counsel at Jarrard.

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David Jarrard, CEO of Jarrard Inc. and Michael Peregrine, Partner at McDermott Will & Emery, discuss the changing environment for healthcare CEOs, the expectations on leaders to take a stand and how they can do that in a transparent way without stepping across legal lines. Hospitals and health systems are facing a new landscape today with social change and the COVID-19 pandemic, so the relationship between healthcare executives, their boards and their legal and communications teams is more important than ever.

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The moment has arrived.

With the UK granting emergency use authorization and Europe and the US FDA close behind, doses of Covid vaccines will be rolling through healthcare providers’ doors in the blink of an eye. And, with healthcare workers at or near the top of the priority list, providers must lay the groundwork now with the media, the public and employees about how they will distribute the vaccine(s) once they arrive and address safety concerns that arise. We got David Jarrard, our CEO, and Justin Gibbs, Vice President in our Regional practice and leader of our firm’s Covid task force, on the line to talk about the communications imperatives that are facing hospitals, health systems and other healthcare providers right now.

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We got a great response from on the last podcast featuring Kim Fox and Tim Stewart, so we asked them to come back for another round. In both healthcare and society we felt like there's been a strange tension between moments of optimism/hope and pessimism thanks to the slog of ongoing bad news and now the third surge of COVID-19. So, we asked Kim and Tim to talk about that. They are never people to sugarcoat things, and the resulting conversation is real talk for healthcare providers.

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A few weeks ago, we got a group together to spitball about the election with less than a week ago. We figured we'd do it again, putting ourselves on record, talking about what might happen when anything could happen. We'll know soon enough, or maybe we won't. In order of appearance the conversation included Tim Stewart, VP in our National and Academic Health System. Practice Justin Gibbs, VP in our Regional Practice and Isaac Squires, partner in our Regional Practice.

We'll continue to talk about the consequences of the election, especially since we should have at least some clarity soon. So be sure to subscribe to the high-stakes podcast on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

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When people feel helpless, they try to control whatever they can. That's what we're seeing today through the pandemic. Jarrard Inc. Partner Kim Fox and Senior VP Tim Stewart talk about this issue and where healthcare providers can offer some hope.

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The election is looming. There’s so much uncertainty, and if you’re listening to this on Wednesday, September 30, then you’re still probably like us, sitting on the couch, motionless, staring at your now switched off TV and some kind of empty glass in your hand trying to figure out what the crap happened last night. If anyone was hoping for clear answers to the uncertainty… that wasn’t it.

And yet, healthcare leaders need to prepare their organizations for, uh, well, whatever it is that’s coming.

We pride ourselves in looking around corners here at Jarrard, but even we aren’t 100% sure what’s coming. Still, we’ve got a lot of thoughts on the types of conversations that will be taking place around the election and healthcare. That includes some of the hotspots that will erupt – and by erupt I mean be part of the discussion among people actually looking at the issues, not erupt as in, well, last night.

But really, behind the tension and heat around the election and the incoherence of the debate, it’s worth pointing out some areas where providers could temper their expectations. For example, the ACA isn’t going to be repealed, or Medicare for All enacted, any time soon – regardless of who wins.

We got a group of our political junkies together to riff on what’s going on. Here, we’ve taken some highlights from that roundtable discussion. The conversation included – in order of appearance, our CEO David Jarrard,  Vice President in our Regional Practice Justin Gibbs, Senior Vice President in our National Practice Tim Stewart, and Partner and Chief Operating Officer Kevin Phillips. 

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Health disparities faced by communities of color across the country are no secret. Black and Latino populations face higher prevalence of and worse outcomes for many conditions. COVID-19 disproportionately affects people of color. The interplay between socioeconomic status and health is well-documented, access to care is challenge and bias – implicit and explicit – damages trust and creates barriers to care.

It’s long past time for that to change, and we have a responsibility to build a more inclusive, equitable and accessible healthcare system. It all starts with belonging.

In this episode, we hear from Marquise Stillwell of Openbox, Sonia Thompson of Thompson Media Group, Paul Matsen of the Cleveland Clinic and Matt Gove of Summit City MD on what diversity, equity and inclusion looks like in healthcare and how providers can make progress towards helping everyone feel - and be - seen when they pursue care.

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This year, acceleration of existing trends happened across healthcare. Which, in turn, opened up the opportunity for providers to consolidate some of the positive steps they've taken and also reevaluate some things that still need improving That positions marketers of healthcare provider organizations to step in and lead the charge towards creating a new, better healthcare experience. In this episode, we hear from Marquise Stillwell of Openbox, Sonia Thompson of Thompson Media Group, Paul Matsen of the Cleveland Clinic and Matt Gove of Summit City MD on the role and mindset of healthcare marketing and communications teams today.

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Angie Caldwell is the Managing Principal of PYA's Tampa office. A significant amount of her work is around physician compensation, a topic that is right at the top of many, if not most or all, healthcare providers' lists of critical issues today as we sort through the financial fallout of the past few months. Here, Caldwell speaks with Jarrard Inc. CEO David Jarrard about physician compensation redesign, the shift to value-based arrangements - and resistance to it - and some issues running under the radar that providers need to bring to the surface.

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