{"title":"Stony Brook University Hospital: Working Cleaner, Smarter.","authors":"Carol A Gomes","doi":"10.1097/HAP.0000000000000152","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/HAP.0000000000000152","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>To protect the well-being of their communities and the planet, healthcare organizations must take the lead in correcting the negative impacts of their business on the environment by finding new ways to work cleaner and smarter. Stony Brook University Hospital has been recognized for making the commitment to develop and maintain sustainable practices-from the elimination of mercury to the efficient design of new facilities-that are good for the environment and good for business. With the participation of the entire organization, from the C-suites to the front lines, the results are measurably impressive.</p>","PeriodicalId":39916,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Health Services Management","volume":"39 1","pages":"33-37"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40352519","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Impact of Environmental Factors on Credit Ratings in Healthcare.","authors":"Emily E Wadhwani","doi":"10.1097/HAP.0000000000000146","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/HAP.0000000000000146","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>At their core, credit ratings are holistic assessments of relative credit risk, inclusive of both quantitative and qualitative factors. Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) considerations have always been implicitly incorporated in credit rating methodology as components of a hospital or health system's wider performance. More recently, however, ESG effects have been explicitly identified. While social and governance considerations are important to credit ratings, the impact of environmental factors on rating outcomes in the healthcare sector continues to expand exponentially. This movement reflects the varied ways in which climate change, resource and materials management, energy management, and water management can affect credit profiles. The shift to a lower carbon-dependent economy also presents opportunities for issuers that make meaningful transitions toward renewable energy sources.</p>","PeriodicalId":39916,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Health Services Management","volume":"39 1","pages":"26-32"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40352518","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Moving Past Business as Usual to Meet Future Hospital Staffing Needs","authors":"Darlene Stromstad","doi":"10.1097/HAP.0000000000000143","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/HAP.0000000000000143","url":null,"abstract":"Summary Workforce shortages, a dark reality for healthcare organizations even before the arrival of COVID-19, are being exacerbated by the persistent side effects of the pandemic. Burnout, more retirements, opposition to vaccination mandates, and intense competition from other industries are adding to the challenge. Those factors are keenly felt by hospitals and healthcare systems that are located beyond better-resourced major metropolitan areas. Many years will be required to resolve staffing shortfalls, and that work must begin now. Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) is making some noteworthy responses to the healthcare workforce crisis in the Utica, New York, area. Employing a mix of deep appreciation for workers' personal and professional needs—backed by additional financial investment and development of a diverse talent pipeline— MVHS leadership is working to ensure that it will be able to safely deliver care to patients in its communities now and for years to come.","PeriodicalId":39916,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Health Services Management","volume":"38 1","pages":"4 - 8"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48415492","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Deploying Advanced Practice Practitioners in Response to the Healthcare Workforce Crisis in the Ambulatory Setting.","authors":"Paul E Neagle","doi":"10.1097/HAP.0000000000000142","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/HAP.0000000000000142","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Summary: </strong>The clinical staffing shortages that the US healthcare sector is experiencing are sure to become even more profound as the general population continues to grow and age. With more people living well beyond age 65, more physicians will be needed to provide care.A solution to help fill the gaps in physician coverage is centered on the use of advanced practice practitioners, especially in the ambulatory setting. The growing shortage of primary care physicians could be significantly reduced or eliminated if the appropriate contributions of advanced practice practitioners-including physician assistants/physician associates (PAs) and nurse practitioners (NPs)-are considered when calculating financial costs.My organization uses a model in the ambulatory setting that emphasizes the use of PAs and NPs who are supported by physician oversight in their clinical practice. Throughout the critical challenges of the recent past, the model has served us well. Other organizations may also see important benefits with this strategy.</p>","PeriodicalId":39916,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Health Services Management","volume":"38 4","pages":"15-20"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9984334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ethical Challenges in Staffing: The Importance of Building Moral Muscle.","authors":"Jason Lesandrini, David Reis","doi":"10.1097/HAP.0000000000000140","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/HAP.0000000000000140","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Summary: </strong>Addressing ethics issues in healthcare is essential to living out an organization's mission, vision, and values. In addition to exacerbating existing ethical dilemmas, the COVID-19 pandemic raised many new and complex questions for leaders and their organizations. Ethical issues related to the workforce require a deliberate and comprehensive consideration of values. The case study scenarios presented here demonstrate examples of common ethical staffing challenges that healthcare leaders have faced, notably the allocation of care providers among COVID-19 patients and the balancing of care quality with staff and patient safety. With access to expert resources and a decision-making framework, leaders can build the moral muscle to meet these challenges and reach ethically justifiable resolutions. These staffing issues highlight the need for increased access to ethics resources for organizational leaders, including moral development support and assistance from experts to resolve complex ethical matters.</p>","PeriodicalId":39916,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Health Services Management","volume":"38 4","pages":"33-38"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9984337","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Rural Perspective: Wisconsin Hospitals Share Workforce Solutions.","authors":"Jo Anne Preston","doi":"10.1097/HAP.0000000000000138","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/HAP.0000000000000138","url":null,"abstract":"Summary The healthcare workforce crisis is daunting, and there are no quick fixes. However, intentional actions—taken one step at a time and skillfully led—can keep healthcare organizations moving forward to face the challenge. Six members of the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative, a 45-hospital collaborative network, are taking a strategic approach to meet the crisis head-on. This article shares their best ideas, along with supporting leadership tips, to address three questions:1. How do you retain the employees you want to keep? They have options, and they are choosing the options that are best for them.2. What can be done to enhance recruitment efforts and attract new employees? This is of particular importance with regard to frontline technical roles in competitive rural job markets.3. What do innovative partnerships with those who prepare the healthcare workforce look like? Organizations need to build career ladders for today and into the future.","PeriodicalId":39916,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Health Services Management","volume":"38 4","pages":"9-14"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9984333","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How Healthcare Can Find Its Way Through the Workforce Crisis.","authors":"Tresha D Moreland","doi":"10.1097/HAP.0000000000000139","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/HAP.0000000000000139","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Summary: </strong>\"Using a blindfold, I want you to find your way to the front door of the school building,\" our elementary schoolteacher instructed. This was to teach us what it would be like to live without vision. We lined up on one side of the schoolyard and took turns when the teacher called our name. I watched as my fellow students, one by one, wandered about, never getting close to the school's front door. They eventually were guided along by other teachers. Then came my turn.As I pulled the blindfold over my eyes, I noticed it was windy. I could hear the flag snap in the wind. Recalling that the flagpole was only a few feet away from the door, I followed the sound the flag made. As soon as I touched the flagpole, I turned and walked directly to the door, and excitedly grasped the handle. Our teacher approached me, astonished. \"Tresha, how did you do it? How did you find the door so quickly?\" he asked. \"It was as if you could see.\" I explained that I used my ears instead of my eyes. In effect, I reimagined my approach.Today, healthcare leaders must reimagine their approach to navigating workforce shortages. Indeed, many methods used prior to the pandemic seem ineffective now. Relying on policymakers or education institutions and simply investing more money in the same solutions may not yield the desired turnaround. Increasing sign-on bonuses may entice potential candidates, but it cannot stem the tide of the Great Resignation.I will describe three workforce practices that have rapidly become ineffective over the duration of the pandemic, then explore ways to rethink the practice and develop a new approach to navigating the workforce shortage.</p>","PeriodicalId":39916,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Health Services Management","volume":"38 4","pages":"21-25"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9984335","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Healthcare Compensation Plans: Current Challenges and Novel Approaches.","authors":"Todd A Zigrang","doi":"10.1097/HAP.0000000000000141","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/HAP.0000000000000141","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Summary: </strong>The US healthcare sector differs from others, particularly with regard to how its workforce is compensated. In healthcare's third-party payer system, the consumer (i.e., the patient) typically is not the one paying for the service. Moreover, the payment for a given service is negotiated by the provider and the third-party payer before the patient ever seeks care-and the payment for the same service may differ among payers and patients. To further complicate matters, myriad overlapping federal, state, and local statutes and regulations govern how providers interact with patients and each other. The challenges with compensating physicians have been amplified by the healthcare workforce shortage that was looming even before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In light of these various forces in the healthcare industry, this article reviews the current ways healthcare providers are compensated and the challenges with those compensation plans. Potential approaches to remedy those challenges are described, both broadly and with specific real-world examples related to primary care and surgical specialties. Lessons learned from these approaches include ways that healthcare organizations may measure the success of a compensation plan.</p>","PeriodicalId":39916,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Health Services Management","volume":"38 4","pages":"26-32"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9984336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Digital Transformation of a Metropolitan New York Health System.","authors":"Adrin Mammen","doi":"10.1097/HAP.0000000000000134","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1097/HAP.0000000000000134","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Summary: </strong>Digital transformation strategies in healthcare are presenting unique ways to support patient acquisition and retention efforts. Montefiore Health System is on a multiyear, multipronged digital transformation journey with interventions centered on improving access to care.Our patients can search for a provider, schedule a visit, get details about their visit, and check in through a welcoming digital front door. Asynchronous e-communication and video visits have also been implemented, and these added options are optimized by technologies including a new provider data management tool to support an enhanced provider directory, electronic health record system integration with online scheduling, telehealth/virtual care, and text message communications. Combined, these tactics support a positive patient experience. Happier patients are more likely to return for the care they need to improve their health and maintain wellness. In addition, digital solutions can alleviate administrative burdens, which can improve employee engagement and satisfaction.While the lack of access to technology as a social determinant of health can present challenges in our diverse market, Montefiore has developed a respectful process to meet patients where they are in an era of consumer-driven healthcare. The process sets forth various approaches to bridge healthcare's digital divide. The route is sequenced in a digital transformation road map to ensure that Montefiore remains competitive, provides value with operational efficiencies, and delivers the innovative care that is necessary in today's healthcare landscape.</p>","PeriodicalId":39916,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers of Health Services Management","volume":"38 3","pages":"10-15"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9990567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}