Spring is finally in the air and now that warmer weather is around the corner. It’s also the time of year when things look a little brighter. Hope and positivity are in the air.
In light of this (see what I did there?), I thought it would be nice to discuss an uplifting topic this week on #HCLDR – What’s working in healthcare?
Three years ago, we had a chat about positive deviance – the concept that there are people/organizations succeeding despite the harsh current environment. The idea of that chat was to look at healthcare and see where there were pockets of success and see if any of them could be replicated elsewhere.
The chat was very memorable because of all the fantastic positive examples that were brought up by members of the community. It was uplifting to learn that despite the chronic lack of funding, preference for status quo, and mountain of regulations, there are people and organizations who are experiencing tremendous success with patient-centered initiatives and other efficiency programs.
This week, let’s talk about what’s working well in healthcare. Is there a treatment, process or approach that you believe is working? Is there a program you have seen that is really helping reduce the burden on physicians and nurses? Is there something from a patient perspective that is truly helping TODAY but isn’t widely replicated?
One area that I’m particularly excited about is primary care. I think there are a lot of great things happening here that go under the radar. The return of house calls, for example, is one positive development that I hope can be replicated at scale. Home Health is a growing are of healthcare – and one that patients seem willing to pay for, especially to help aging loved ones stay at home longer.
Home care (or house calls) is also a key component in population health strategies. This article from AAMCNews captures the importance of going to where patients are and the surprising benefits of doing so. In the article, K. Eric De Jonge MD executive director and cofounder of the MedStar House Call Program at MedStar Health and president of the American Academy of Home Care Medicine, puts it succinctly:
“The important thing is getting good medical staff into the home, where they see the patient, the family, and the environment,”
De Jonge’s program served 10,000 homebound patients and saved $33 million over two years. That’s something that’s working.
Join the #HCLDR community on Tuesday March 26th at 8:30pm ET (for your local time click here) as we talk about what’s working in healthcare:
- T1 In your opinion, what’s working in healthcare today – from purely a medical/clinical perspective?
- T2 What’s working today in primary care? Are there delivery models that have worked well for you (ie: telemedicine, text-based communication or retail clinics) Share examples.
- T3 What healthcare technologies are working today? Which have you tried that work well?
- T4 What health or healthcare related advancements are you most excited about?
References
Warshaw, Robin. “House Call Medicine Makes a Comeback”, AAMCNews, 6 February 2018, https://news.aamc.org/patient-care/article/house-calls-make-comeback/, accessed 26 March 2019
Bernstein, Robert. “How telehealth can bring back the intimacy of house calls”, KevinMD.com, 26 March 2018, https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2018/03/telehealth-can-bring-back-intimacy-house-calls.html, accessed 26 March 2019
Bridle-Fitzpatrick, Susan. “Hospital – Food Bank Partnerships: A Recipe for Community Health”, Hunger + Health, 25 April 2018, https://hungerandhealth.feedingamerica.org/2018/04/hospital-food-bank-partnerships-recipe-community-health/, accessed 26 March 2019
Morgan, Blake. “10 Examples of Customer Experience Innovation in Healthcare”, Forbes, 21 August 2018, https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2018/08/21/10-examples-of-customer-experience-innovation-in-healthcare/#12423ab171ec, accessed 26 March 2019
Copeland, Bill and Raynor, Michael. “Top 10 health care innovations”, Deloitte Blog, https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/pages/life-sciences-and-healthcare/articles/top-10-health-care-innovations.html, accessed 26 March 2019
Crawfor, Charles. “7 Life-Saving Technologies Of the Modern World”, Lifehack, https://www.lifehack.org/491040/7-life-saving-technologies-of-the-modern-world, accessed 26 March 2019
Image Credit
L’Arc-en-Ciel – Giovani Racca https://flic.kr/p/nPyrzV
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