The Backstory

Earlier this year, we at Jarrard published a special report on health equity and diversity, equity and inclusion work within healthcare providers. Separately, but roughly in parallel, a team at our parent firm, The Chartis Group, in partnership with the National Association of Health Services Executives, developed a research piece on similar issues and created a health equity maturity model for healthcare organizations.

Together, those pieces cover a huge amount of ground in some of the underlying issues, challenges, and also possible solutions for both delivering more equitable care to patients and also developing a more diverse and inclusive workforce. As I said, those reports were developed independently and so now, with a bit of time having passed since publication, we wanted to revisit the topic and bring together the teams that produced them for some combined insight.

In this conversation, we spoke with LaTonya O'Neil and Dr. Mark Wenneker, lead authors of the Chartis report, and James Cervantes, who helps lead our Kaleidoscope DE& I work here at Jarrard.

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Today we're checking in with Reed Smith, our VP of digital here at Jarrard, to talk about a recent study showing that consumerism remains high on the list of providers' priorities but has slowed down just a little over the past year. Wonder why that might be. The theory we're working from is that digital tools and small things to increase patient satisfaction and drive consumerism forward might be a good way to also deflect some of the criticism that hospitals and health systems are taking. Be sure to subscribe, rate and review this podcast, and of course subscribe to all of our thinking at jarrardinc.com/pod

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This week, a study was published in JAMA Open Network showing that rural hospitals acquired by larger systems between 2009 and 2016 had lower mortality rates in several areas between. It's a valuable dataset showing how consolidation and a relationship with another system can help to improve care. But before hospitals start running around, waving the study in the air as vindication, we thought it would be good to look more closely at exactly how it and positive data like it can be used most effectively for hospitals considering a deal, as well as really anyone who's advocating for hospitals. David Shifrin jumped on a call with Isaac Squyres, a partner at Jarrard in the Regional Practice and lead on much of the firm's merger and acquisition work, to get his thoughts. For more on rural healthcare, please check out a project we've been supporting called the Rural Healthcare Initiative (ruralhealthcareinitiative.org). And of course, subscribe to all of our thinking here at Jarrard by going to jarrardinc.com/pod.

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Buckle up. This is Kim Fox, Tim Stewart and David Shifrin trying to figure out why people don't just take that extra little beat to think about how what they're about to say (or not say) is going to be received by the people hearing it. Check out all the best healthcare communications and marketing, plus a regular roundup of the stories that matter most to healthcare providers today, by subscribing at jarrardinc.com/pod

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We published a special report looking at the rising tension between payers and providers. It has insight from our network and our team, as well as survey results from the public on where they pin the blame for the high cost of healthcare - insurance companies, hospitals, doctors or something else. We also spoke with Wendell Potter a former insurance company communications executive turned healthcare reform advocate and insurance company critic. Here, Justin Gibbs and David Shifrin debrief on everything they've been hearing during the development of this project focusing on the relationship between hospitals and insurance companies.

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This week, we at Jarrard were very proud to announce that Lee Aase had joined us in an of-counsel role. Lee just retired after more than two decades at the Mayo Clinic where he was genuinely a pioneer in digital tools and social media for healthcare. He'll be working with Reed Smith, our VP of digital, along with our digital team and of course our clients to build their digital strategies for the future. We jumped on a call with Lee to ask a few questions about his perspective on healthcare and to generally introduce him to those who may not be familiar with his work.

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MedCityNews published an article this week titled The Inconvenient Truth of Convenience. It points out that the remarkable convenience provided by telehealth can lead to negative consequences, as well. It then goes on to talk about other examples of this and what providers can do to limit the potential problems. As we were discussing this article, Yolanda James brought up her grandmother and also a story about a woman in Alaska. The point of this podcast is to take a topic that we're looking at in our weekly newsletter - In this case, telehealth -and then expanding the conversation to things that we can't really cover in 600 words. 

We had Yolanda jump on the podcast because her stories fit that bill perfectly. The question was ostensibly about how to use telehealth effectively. She shows throughout our conversation that that's not really the core issue.

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President Biden came out swinging against social media companies last week saying they were responsible, not just for the misinformation that's being posted on their sites, but also the consequences of that misinformation. Not long after, on CNN and a couple of other outlets, Surgeon General Vivek Murthy backpedaled a bit without exactly absolving the tech companies. So there's politics, social media, digital angst, misinformation and finger-pointing. It's a perfect recipe for Kim Fox and Tim Stewart to jump in.

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Our CEO David Jarrard, and Partner and M&A lead Isaac Squyres confer on the flood of news this week – mostly critical – about hospitals and consolidation. That includes the frontline documentary called The Healthcare Divide and the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing digging into consolidation and antitrust. In that hearing all but one participant – so that’s bipartisan consensus – expressed concern about consolidation. Not a great if you're a hospital. Then, right after we recorded this conversation, the New York Times ran an article digging into the massive bills many covid patients face. It focuses on insurance companies rather than hospitals, but it’s not a big leap to see where the story could go.

This podcast is a companion to commentary we provide in our weekly Quick Think email, which is only available to subscribers. It's a good conversation but you’ll get even more out of it with The Quick Think, so go to jarrardinc.com/pod to sign up.

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CVS has joined Walmart by placing mental health professionals in a few of its HealthHUBs across the country, with plans to expand. It's much needed competition and increased access and de-stigmatization for mental health and should represent a win for consumers. At the same time, it creates some challenges for traditional providers and there are still a number of questions for CVS. Here, Jarrard Inc. AVP Dan Schlacter gives his take.

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