The Backstory

What does online reputation management look like as the initial, acute phase of the coronavirus crisis recedes? Reed Smith is the VP of digital strategy at Jarrard Inc., and he's looking closely at the online reviews and feedback providers are receiving today. There are questions about safety, messages about PPE, things that providers did not see before COVID-19. And, while some of that feedback is coming from the general public, a lot of it is coming from employees. Hospitals need to watch carefully to understand what people are saying about them - internally and externally - supporting their employees and ensuring they're not squandering the goodwill garnered during the pandemic.

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Jarrard Inc. just completed a survey in partnership with Public Opinion Strategies, surveying, American adults across the country to get a sense of their perception of the healthcare industry and how they will interact with it going forward. One of the major findings is that people are scared to go back to hospitals. That's not particularly surprising. But what is surprising is that healthcare providers and their families don't feel much safer than the general public. That's concerning for multiple reasons, and David Jarrard and David Shifrin get into those results to discuss.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has put a massive financial crunch on healthcare providers across the board. Many rural and community facilities, struggling before coronavirus, are now on the edge. The decline in ED volume, the cancellation of electives, and the rise of telehealth have changed both models of care and the finances of rural providers. It'll be a tough road ahead, but there are some ways for these organizations to adjust their operations and also seek out new partnerships to help ensure they can continue offering care in their communities. In this conversation with Pete Lawson, we explore some of those challenges and opportunities.

Lawson has more than 35 years of experience in both healthcare operations and mergers & acquisitions. He's spent time with both investor owned and not-for-profit health system, and has served as a hospital CEO and multi-facility corporate leader. Now, as a consultant and strategist, he brings his background on both the buy side and sell side to guide client hospitals through the transaction process.

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Difficult as it is, now is an important moment for healthcare leaders to begin examining what the future - of the industry and their organization - could look like. Dr. David Pate, recently retired CEO of St. Luke's Health System and of counsel at Jarrard Inc., and David Jarrard, go in depth on several topics that will help leaders prepare. It's an important conversation, as it provides vision about where healthcare providers could be headed along with some very practical advice.

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Healthcare providers have been faced with difficult decisions regarding staffing throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Many hospitals, health systems and health services companies have pursued furloughs, layoffs and pay cuts in order to help ensure the viability of the organization going forward. When making these changes, ensuring the appropriate legal approach has been taken is necessary to minimize risk and liability. At the same time, clear communications is critical, both to mitigate risk and to be as compassionate and transparent with the affected individuals as possible. Here, Jesse Neil, partner at Waller, and Molly Cate, partner and chief innovation officer at Jarrard Inc., discuss some of these considerations and areas where law and communications overlap in dealing with FTE management and healthcare staffing issues.

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Dr. Tony Briningstool is an emergency room physician and the Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at American Physician Partners.

A huge area of focus for Dr. Briningstool is on what we call caring for the caregiver – how to support clinical staff and build teams to reduce the incredible problem of burnout and moral injury among physicians.

Those issues, of course, are of even greater concern during COVID-19. And so Dr. Briningstool spoke with Jarrard Inc. chief innovation officer and founding partner Molly Cate about how he and the APP team approach positive, proactive leadership and what COVID-19 could mean for the future of healthcare as it relates to clinicians.

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Questions and concerns about how stimulus funds are being distributed – and spent – are growing, changing with each new announcement from the government.

How do hospitals keep up with a situation that seemingly evolves by the hour, especially when the situation isn’t just the medical realities of an evolving viral pandemic but also the response to it?

We recently talked to Martie Ross, Office Managing Principal in the Kansas City office of PYA to break down some of the opportunities and nuances in the various stimulus funds coming online – and the situation evolved even in the 24 hours following our conversation after HHS began distributing some of the funds. Ross and her PYA colleagues have dissected some of the requirements around those funds here, but even now ambiguity remains. With all the confusion, frustration and scrutiny, what are some general considerations for providers to ensure that they stem the bleeding now and take advantage of opportunities to position themselves for the future.

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We've seen a shift in the COVID-19 pandemic over the past few days. As social distancing and other efforts appear to be flattening the curve, hospitals are beginning to look towards what comes next. It's no longer just about dealing with the day-to-day operations of pandemic response but also about how to stabilize the organization, bring services back on line and develop an appropriate financial plan for the future. Our CEO David Jarrard has been thinking a lot about these issues in the context of how leadership - both the hospital board and the executive team - should respond to the shift and the questions they need to be asking.

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Offer help and take good notes.

That’s the abbreviated recommendation by Carol Carden for hospitals and health systems looking to take advantage of new Stark Law waivers during COVID-19. As managing principal of valuation services at PYA, Carden has been closely watching what HHS activity means for physician compensation.

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As healthcare providers are undergoing a range of situations right now, with some entering their COVID-19 surge or in the middle of it, and others still steadying for it, the emotional strain on caregivers on the front line is continuing to grow. And so I asked our CEO, David Jarrard, to talk about how leaders can show care for those caregivers, remain connected with them, and help alleviate some of that tension that they're facing.

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