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In Firm News, High Stakes

Support for Healthcare Workforce Mission Critical for Provider Organizations to Avoid Brain Drain

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National survey reveals 15 percent of healthcare workers unlikely to remain in the field following pandemic. 

BRENTWOOD, Tenn., and Chicago – The healthcare workforce is in desperate need of attention, according to a new consumer survey released today. 

The study, third in a series from healthcare strategic communications firm Jarrard Phillips Cate & Hancock and Public Opinion Strategies, revealed that as many as one in seven healthcare workers could exit the field following the pandemic, potentially leaving a significant staffing shortage at provider organizations. Age is a factor, with 23 percent of younger healthcare workers (aged 18-34) not likely to remain, compared to only nine percent of those in the 35-64 bracket, according to the January 2021 survey. 

“With no people, it’s mission impossible for healthcare,” said David Jarrard, CEO of Jarrard Inc. “An exodus from this essential industry is a real concern, coming on the heels of caregiver burnout that was raging prior to the pandemic.” 

“That’s why listening to and engaging with physicians and employees enterprise-wide is imperative for healthcare leaders today so they can make adjustments necessary to support and retain their cherished staff.” 

Yet on a positive note, healthcare workers are more willing to be vaccinated than they were last summer: Vaccine hesitancy among healthcare workers and their families has dropped six points since August. Of those who are living in healthcare households and skeptical of COVID-19 vaccines, concern about potential side effects is the biggest barrier to acceptance. That issue can be ameliorated over time as these individuals witness positive outcomes for others who have been vaccinated. 

The survey indicated that public trust in and support of healthcare providers remains high. The public wants to hear from doctors, nurses and hospitals on key healthcare issues, including COVID-19 vaccines. 

Together, the findings suggest that provider organizations are in a moment where workforce support will be critical to weathering ongoing pandemic-driven challenges – and to helping to educate and guide the public toward vaccine acceptance. 

“As we have seen throughout the pandemic, the public trusts healthcare workers and supports hospitals, wanting to hear from these groups on key issues,” Jarrard said. “However, it will be difficult to 

use this trust to promote vaccine acceptance and other health initiatives if those same caregivers are skeptical and burned out.” 

Other key findings revealed by the online survey of 1,002 American adults (credibility interval 3.53 percent), fielded January 12-16, 2021 when vaccination rollouts were well underway, include: 

  • Fear of the virus continues its dominance of American life in 2021: More than one-third of Americans view the pandemic as the most important issue facing the country, and 76 percent remain concerned they or a loved one will contract it. However, Americans feel safer in medical settings than many other public spaces. 
  • The public remains skeptical of vaccines: Barely half say they are highly likely to get vaccinated, with resistance strongest in key groups including women and minorities. Fear of side effects is the most often cited concern, particularly among those communities, underscoring the need for providers to be active vaccine educators. 
  • Providers are trusted and have a mandate to use their voice: Doctors, nurses and hospitals remain the most trusted professionals and institutions in the country and have generally escaped blame for problems in the vaccine rollout. In this moment, people want to hear from providers above all others on healthcare issues, especially about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. 
  • Healthcare workers are at their breaking point: Forty percent of healthcare workers are unlikely or only somewhat likely to remain in the field after living through the pandemic. Since August, concern about side effects has jumped 25 points among healthcare workers skeptical of the vaccine. In contrast, the vast majority of consumers think hospitals should require their staffs to be vaccinated. 
  • Providers have bright spots to leverage: Telehealth use has grown and is well-liked, with 53 percent of respondents saying they had used telehealth (up from 29 percent last April) and three-quarters of those saying they will continue to use it in the future. Meanwhile, virtually everyone feels that price transparency is important and valuable in their pursuit of care. They continue to think hospitals should receive more funding from the federal government. But most important: Respondents feel safer in medical settings and are more likely to return to care sooner than they were in August. 

“The past 12 months have put a spotlight on the work of our healthcare workers, along with hospitals, health systems and so many other provider organizations,” Jarrard said. 

“Though challenges remain, now is a critical moment for these organizations to step back and look at ways to maintain the trust they have earned, create or consolidate programs to improve access and outcomes, and fulfill their mission as we move out of the pandemic. That means continuing to educate about vaccines, but also looking to longer-term partnerships and programs like telehealth, price transparency and even hospital-at-home.” 

About Jarrard Inc. 

With offices in Nashville, Tenn. and Chicago, Jarrard Phillips Cate & Hancock, Inc. is a U.S. top 10 strategic communications consulting firm for the nation’s leading healthcare providers experiencing significant change, challenge or opportunity. Founded in 2006, the firm has worked with more than 500 clients in 45 states. Jarrard Inc. specializes in M&A, change management, issue navigation and strategic positioning, and has recently worked with more than 60 healthcare organizations on communications initiatives revolving around the coronavirus pandemic. Jarrard Inc. is a division of The Chartis Group. 

For more information, visit jarrardinc.com or follow us @JarrardInc. 

In Change Management, High Stakes, Kaleidoscope

Vaccine Case Study: Understanding and Encouraging the Reluctant

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The pandemic has rocked California. And Cedars-Sinai provides care for over a million people annually across 40 locations in the incredibly diverse Los Angeles area.

Today, as vaccine distribution is underway, Cedars-Sinai is faced with a common challenge: how to encourage vaccination among Black and Latino communities.

We asked Dorian Harriston, associate director of brand strategy, to explain how Cedars-Sinai is tackling this challenge. The answer lies in the organization’s longstanding commitment to community partnerships.

photo courtesy of Cedars-Sinai

Jarrard Inc: The issue of vaccine hesitancy among the Black community is well-documented and something many providers are struggling with right now. What does it look like in Los Angeles?

Dorian Harriston: Vaccine hesitancy appears to be as prevalent here as anywhere else – especially in Black and brown communities.

From my experience, the level of education, income or job doesn’t factor into whether an individual is hesitant to get the vaccine. It’s a deeply rooted effect of historical medical mistreatment that has caused distrust. I hear the same things from family and friends as I do on social media and even colleagues in healthcare: People are afraid, and the conspiracy theories and misconstrued testimonies posted online are not helping. This is a serious issue.

How is Cedars-Sinai addressing the hesitancy?

We’ve prepared an overall strategy to strengthen our relationship with these communities. It starts by partnering with organizations that cater to the needs of Black and brown communities. We hope to be a true partner, amplifying their messages and providing support – and not just monetary support – to increase and sustain resources while conducting outreach to show commitment to our community.

What does that strategy look like in practice?

Initially, we’re doing a series of virtual talks and engaging faith, community and healthcare partners to discuss the issue in various formats. We’re enabling our clinicians and researchers to answer FAQs and attempt to ease fears by responding with facts.

We have to be honest about barriers that cause hesitancy to address them and help determine culturally relevant and satisfactory solutions. Transparency, honesty and commitment are paramount to changing longstanding thoughts and behaviors. We need to regain the Black community’s trust, and we must prepare for a long-term commitment.

Talk more about the role of your team members.

It’s essential that we take as much care internally as we do externally. We’re creating internal conversations around vaccine hesitancy and trust, taking the time to tackle this initiative collectively because it affects all aspects of the programs and services we provide as an institution. Employees must be ambassadors that carry factual and positive messages to their circles of influence. It will take a village to make headway.

How is it going?

We’re just getting started. The first step is to find out what Black and brown communities want and need. We’re doing this through our partners and stakeholders. Partnership is the key to expanding outreach and ensuring the message is reaching every audience within these communities. We need to communicate with influencers – whether that’s the internal family circle (caretakers responsible for multi-generational households, children that bring new information and technology, etc.) or external relationships (faith leaders, clinicians, community and civic leaders and friends). Organizations have provided what they believe this demographic needs for far too long without doing the research to back it up. We want to be sure we are addressing needs in a way that helps build trust and establish a consistent path to preventive care.

Healthcare is local. How do you, as a large system with a significant geographic footprint and diverse patient population, present messages that will resonate with each community while remaining consistent across the system?

The pandemic has forced our team to review our current practices for efficiency and align messages across channels. I see us working together more as a team due to COVID-19 than before the pandemic. Although we have a lot more meetings, being able to divide and conquer and form special project teams has allowed us to refine our messaging and reach a larger audience while promoting significant but often overlooked areas – in particular, research, education, and community engagement. These areas create a trifecta with clinical care vital to defining needs, breaking down barriers to vaccine acceptance, and promoting health equity. We also want to ensure that Black faculty and staff are included and visible so that these communities know there are people who look like them working on their behalf.

What advice do you have for other providers? Are there best practices that that apply across the board?

  1. It’s important to align strategy around your organization’s health equity and diversity and inclusion goals. Creating tactics is easy, but it’s essential to have a definitive strategy that speaks to who the organization is and provides a roadmap to inclusively provide for your community’s health.
  2. Ensure that your communication is honest and transparent. There’s no shame in admitting you don’t have a piece of information or don’t know something. Also, remember that one message may not be sufficient. There are varied audiences within each targeted demographic, and having a single message isn’t enough. Having multiple messages and communications vehicles could be the difference between being heard or ignored.
  3. Before beginning any outreach, know that there are no quick fixes. If your organization isn’t willing to invest budget, time and resources, don’t proceed. To battle the distrust and inequity that Black and brown communities have experienced, you must consistently engage and work to understand unique needs, health disparities and cultural norms. Have BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) on your team or as advisors to vet advertising and messaging and provide communication vehicles such as unique media outlets and preferred ways in which the target demographic seeks and digests information. One wrong message or misstep could injure an already fragile relationship with communities of color.
  4. When crafting a call to action, ensure you have the capacity and resources to engage and execute in a manner that will make it easier on your audience. Right now, individuals are afraid, anxious, angry and burned out. Anything that appears to be unclear or complicated will cause frustration, dismissal and possibly a negative perception of your organization. Ensure that your strategy allows for flexibility and resources that will help everyone within the community – even if you cannot provide those services.
In COVID-19, High Stakes, Issue Navigation

This Isn’t a Church Potluck

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Sometimes the title of a podcast picks itself. Today, our two favorite outspoken insiders, Kim Fox, and Tim Stewart, take on the vaccine rollout. It’s been rocky, and there’s plenty of blame to go around, but there’s still time for hospitals, health systems and other healthcare providers to swerve around the potholes.

Be sure to listen and subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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In COVID-19, High Stakes, Issue Navigation

Now’s Your Shot: Boosting Hospital Employee Vaccination Rates

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It’s true: Some members of your clinical staff are reluctant to take the vaccine for COVID-19 they’re being offered.

What can you do about it? How do you respond when your caregivers – so influential to your patients — are hesitating to take what most healthcare authorities say is the very solution to protect our community health and lead us out of this pandemic mess?

Almost one-third of people living in households with someone working in healthcare are on the fence or unlikely to get the vaccine, per a new Jarrard Inc. national survey. The Wall Street Journal has also highlighted this issue, calling skeptical healthcare workers “an unexpected obstacle” to vaccine distribution. Meanwhile, the vast majority of Americans (79%) think hospital workers should be required to be vaccinated, according to our study.

Why the reluctance? Healthcare workers told us they’re worried most about potential side effects. But they’re also concerned they could catch the coronavirus from a vaccine or, simply, that the vaccines aren’t effective. They aren’t alone. Of the nearly half of Americans worried about COVID-19 vaccines, six in ten are concerned about side effects.

With the public overwhelmingly agreeing that the vaccine should be mandated for hospital workers and a notable proportion of healthcare workers skeptical themselves, the risk of tension between employee and employer and public is real. Will it matter when it comes to public perception of your organization or willingness for people to come in to receive care? Can public expectations be used to help encourage hesitant employees to get the vaccine?

Ideally, we can reduce the number of employees who opt out of vaccination through education and highlighting the positive outcomes. To get further, faster, consider these tactics for driving COVID-19 vaccine acceptance rates within your organization.

  • Listen first. Before developing any additional strategies, check in with your caregivers to learn more about what’s preventing them from receiving a vaccine. Some employees may still not understand how the mRNA vaccine works. Or they may have concerns about side effects. Quick due diligence through a pulse poll or leader rounding will give you valuable insight to better inform your plans.
  • Take another look at your process. While hesitancy is real, it’s also possible that your logistics are getting in the way of simple access. Is it hard for caregivers to register for the vaccine? Is it being offered in a convenient location? We spend so much time talking about access for patients, but in this instance, it’s important for our team as well. Make it easier.
  • Create a safe space for employees to get more information. By facilitating dialogue, you can provide employees with facts about the vaccine and answer their questions. Engage trusted members of your medical staff to lend credible, clinical voices to the conversation.
  • Celebrate caregivers who have opted in. As is the case with many organizational initiatives, your employees can be your best advocates. Highlight employees who have gotten vaccinated in internal communications or on social media. Sharing their stories and testimonials (including honest assessments of side effects, such as, “I felt lousy for a couple of days but I’m ok…”) can be influential for their peers.
  • Consider when it’s time to move on. At some point, providers who aren’t requiring their staffs to get vaccinated might need to stop putting resources into cajoling a resistant staff and applying that energy to others in the community. There is risk in pushing those remaining holdouts to opt in – risk in using valuable time and resources, risk in damaged trust within your workforce. Each provider needs to consider if and when a refocusing of effort should take place. Even before this happens, prepare to explain why you aren’t requiring employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 (assuming that’s the case). Be ready to tell a public – who wants to see hospitals require vaccination – why you’re letting people opt out.

The good news is public opinion on the COVID-19 vaccination is increasing, and more Americans are expressing their intention to get vaccinated once eligible. By listening to your caregivers and meeting them where they are with the information they need, you can be in a better position to empower them to make the best decisions for themselves, their families and their community.

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In High Stakes, Strategic Positioning

Provider Profile: Glens Falls Hospital

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A Workforce Vaccination Success Story

Eighty-seven percent.

That’s the acceptance rate for the COVID-19 vaccine at Glens Falls Hospital in Upstate New York. Moreover, the organization has already completed its administration of first doses. Remarkable milestones, certainly.

Glens Falls has some advantages – most significant being that it’s a small hospital with 400 beds and 2,500 employees. Even so, the level of vaccine acceptance among the employee base is stunning – especially in comparison to nearby hospitals that are sitting at 50 to 60 percent.

We wanted to know how they did it, so we chatted with Ray Agnew, vice president of hospital and community engagement, who explained his organization’s secret sauce. (See video for full conversation). Here are his top takes:

  1. Find a champion. Agnew and the Glens Falls team looked to Hillary Alycon, their director of infectious disease prevention and control, as a key messenger to explain the value of the vaccine. Alycon is known for connecting with people. “She’s incredibly articulate and fun to be around,” said Agnew, adding that she has a gift for explaining complex issues in understandable ways.
  2. Educate, don’t tell. The team has featured Alycon in two vaccine education videos. The first was for employees to understand why accepting the vaccination would be good for them and their patients. The second was for the community itself. Communications also puts out a weekly bulletin to help people understand what the vaccine is all about. Agnew emphasized that offering the same basic content in multiple formats and styles has been vital to helping each audience understand it and be more likely to accept it.
  3. Be transparent. It’s pretty straightforward. “We let people know that when we got information, they’d get information,” Agnew noted. Honesty about what is known and unknown helps people feel confident in the information they do receive, especially when dealing with a challenging situation like a disjointed vaccine rollout.
  4. Plan for simplicity. Made every effort for the vaccination process itself to be as easy as possible, Agnew said. “That’s been a big part of our success,” he said. When you’re talking about a fearful situation – fear of the disease and some fear of the vaccine as well – focus on simple messaging, process and directions.  Do that, and the communications will resonate.

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In High Stakes, Strategic Positioning

Price Transparency: An Experience, Not Just a Rule

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When the clock ticked over to January 1, the new CMS price transparency rule came into effect.

While its implementation may have been largely overshadowed by other issues, the rule is in place and providers should be thinking about it.

Whatever your plans were for the rule beforehand – list your prices, implement user-friendly price estimator tools, ignore the rule for now and pay the fine – it’s worth considering how your approach can affect your reputation and, potentially, bottom line going forward.

We spoke with James Cervantes, associate vice president and leader of the price transparency work here at Jarrard Inc., and Prashant Karamchandani, director in the revenue cycle practice at The Chartis Group, about key considerations for providers now that the rule is off and running. Watch the video or read the transcript below.

Read the Transcript

PK: CMS has put out there the regulation around price transparency and wanting organizations – healthcare organizations – to start to list the rates that they have with insurance companies, as well as,  they want patients to have visibility into what they’re charging and then what the reimbursement is and have an opportunity to do some comparisons.

And I think that’s the letter of the law and regulation. You have to have some level of viewing your shoppable services, but I think organizations that look at the regulation as just the only thing they need to do to be compliant are missing a key opportunity to use this regulation as a catalyst for change.

Which is aligning more to a more enhanced and better patient experience across the enterprise. And by that we mean starting to look at this to bring patients in. So if patients are coming to your website, looking at your rates, looking at your service offerings, you should be hooking them into a better workflow to continue them through that entire process.

Meaning, once they look at that information, they should then have an opportunity to identify what’s their actual estimate going to be for those services, start to think through, ‘How do I schedule for those services?’ And then if they can make payment or cannot make payments, start to engage in a conversation with the organization as to how they can address some of that.

So, yeah,there’s more you can do. And the more you can do with it is a different strategy. And it’s where folks should be spending that time right now – on that strategy – as well as complying with the letter of the law. So it’s a combination of both.

JC: So once you’ve created the program and you created your workflows and you operationalize that program, the next step is really to then communicate and share those tools and information with your patients and your community. So, how are you guiding patients to the front door of your health system or your hospital?

How are you directing them to the cost assessment or price estimator tool that you have? How are you reminding them of any financial or personal assistance programs that you have? Reminding them that if you’re providing estimates to procedures or surgeries, where to go for that information. So this is really in many ways a great time to remind patients and those that are seeking care at your organization of all the tools and information that they’ll have access to as they make their financial decisions about receiving care.

PK: I think there’s some key tangible benefits. So patient acquisition and patient retention, you’re going to instill trust within your patient population by providing this information out there and also continue having them coming back because you’ve created a whole new experience and level of transparency that they’re not used to today.

So it’s more than just listing pricing online, which is, I think, why we want to view it as a broader strategy. It’s really getting them into that better enabled and self-service workflow, which is how you want to be engaged with your patients and with all kinds of technology out there that you have, different things you can do to build that ecosystem. But I think that’s a key thing from an acquisition and retention perspective.

I think additionally, it helps from a patient financial experience for both not only the patient, but also for the organization. You can start to have more upfront conversations, easily, around expected out of pocket costs, how they might be able to pay for it, providing the mechanisms in which they can pay with all different types of technology, whether it be credit card or Google Pay, Apple Pay, the various things that are out there. That’s a key opportunity as well.

And then I think there’s a handful of patients out there – and it’s continuing to increase – where we’re seeing larger deductibles and out of pocket costs be placed on patients. So, we call under-insured and even the uninsured where you want to have a more upfront financial assistance conversation and creating that tightly knit workflow to help identify that through the price transparency and estimation will enable patients to better know, ‘can we afford it? Can we not? If we can’t afford it, what are my options?’ So they don’t feel reluctant to get care, but they feel like the provider organizations are really working with them to be helpful. And helping them find a solution so they can get care, but they also don’t create an extra financial burden on themselves.

JC: As providers share this information and communicate with patients. I think it’s really important to make it very clear and in a concise way using language that patients understand. So we’re talking a lot about price transparency. That doesn’t necessarily mean that price transparency needs to be the way that you refer to this program.

It’s really making sure that patients… it’s communicating very clearly all the tools and information and resources that they have access to. And for most patients that might just mean connecting them with your financial services team or your personal assistance program and having that really be a dialogue.

I think it’s important to make sure that the information is clear. It’s concise. You’re not using language that is a legal term that patients wouldn’t understand. So sort of putting it at their level and making sure that it’s just very clear and easy to access if they’re going through a website or if they’re calling the phone number to talk with someone.

PK: So I think there’s some key considerations you’re looking for. And some fall in the realm of the operations side of the house and some fall in the realm of technology and digitally enabling patients to have this experience. So first, I think it’s creating a strategy around the patient financial experience or the patient experience overall and using the price transparency component as a large initiative underneath it.

And then once you do that, you start to identify creating a much more refined and streamlined workflow for patients to enter into. So really it’s on an operational side, you’re mapping it out. And these are the functions that are going to hit scheduling departments, departments that do key revenue cycle functions around patient access.

So, pre-registration registration, insurance verification, et cetera, financial counseling, like we talked about. And then you have your component on the back end, which is the actual collections, which might happen at times. So you’re really looking at a more holistic view in terms of how you need to operationalize this.

And it’s more than just within the revenue cycle. If you’re a large provider organization, you need to get your clinics involved, your key departments involved, providers have to be integrally involved in these conversations. And then I think technically you need to evaluate your ecosystem and say, ‘within our core systems that we have today, can I do these things like provide an estimate? Can I do these things like collect payments ahead of time or pre-service  based off of the estimate? And can I do it in such a way that’s engaging with the patient to enable a level of self-service and customization so it’s not a generic experience? And I think those are the key things. So, defining the strategy, working with those departments to create that operational workflow, but making sure that workflow is supplemented with the right technology, both within your organization – and that might be infrastructure-related – as well as more patient-facing to get them in there. But really, when you think about it, that means it’s more than just a revenue cycle issue or a clinic issue. We’re talking about several different departments working in an integrated fashion to create that seamless experience.

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In High Stakes, Strategic Positioning

What Democrat-Controlled Washington Could Mean for Healthcare Providers

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For the first time since 2008, Democrats are poised to control both chambers of Congress and the White House once Joe Biden is sworn into office. The last time Democrats had complete control of Washington they used their political capital to pass the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

So, should we expect more sweeping change now that Democrats can once again run the field? Probably not.

There are two big differences between 2008 and now: Democrats razor-thin majorities in Congress and the COVID-19 pandemic that will continue to dominate DC.

What can healthcare leaders expect from a Democratic-controlled Washington? Here are a few thoughts:

More and bigger COVID-19 relief. While the idea of $2,000 stimulus checks for most Americans has grabbed headlines, Biden and congressional Democrats are certain to push for a new round of federal COVID-19 relief. That means additional dollars to support cash-strapped healthcare providers and more money to boost the sluggish vaccine rollout. Knowing this, now is the time for healthcare leaders to be in contact with their federal elected representatives to discuss the impact COVID-19 has had on their organization, team and community.

Shoring up the ACA. The thin majorities in the House and the Senate limit Democrats’ ability for large-scale healthcare reform like a public option or Medicare for all. However, expect Biden and congressional Democrats to restore ACA funding that was cut by the Trump administration and push for new exchange subsidies that would lower the overall consumer cost to purchase plans through the exchange.

Additional scrutiny on (some) healthcare consolidation. For months, experts have predicted that the financial challenges created by the pandemic will accelerate health system consolidation. At the same time, president-elect Biden has suggested healthcare mergers, especially mega-mergers, will receive additional scrutiny. Acquisitions of rural hospitals and smaller health systems are unlikely to receive the same attention from federal regulators as the mega-mergers.

Friendlier environment for unions. President-elect Biden has promised to be “the strongest labor president” ever. Additionally, Biden has chosen Boston Mayor Marty Walsh, a former labor union leader, as his Labor secretary. With Biden in the White House and Democrats controlling Congress, look for movement on the PRO Act, a rewrite of the National Labor Relations Act, that would make union organizing easier and weaken right-to-work laws.

With changes expected on both the legislative and regulatory fronts, now is the time for healthcare executives to have a thoughtful conversation with their leadership team about how change in Washington will impact their organizations. And, it never hurts to establish or renew relationships with your elected representatives to ensure your organization’s point of view is known.

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In High Stakes, Strategic Positioning

Haven: From Manhattan Project to Side Project

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What to make of Haven’s demise?

The partnership of Amazon, JPMorgan Chase and Berkshire Hathaway was launched in 2018 to credulous fawning, despite the announcement being utterly devoid of anything.

Turns out, all the money in the world can’t buy a clear vision for success in healthcare. The industry is immune to half-hearted, drive-by attempts at big change, no matter your brand. It’s all or nothing, and without total buy-in from leadership (and deep pocketed backers), you end up where Haven did: What could have been a Manhattan Project turning out to be a side project.

It’s as easy today to mock Haven’s failure as it was to be skeptical at its creation – so we won’t judge if you do some mocking, because it’s fun. And fun can be hard to come by these days.

But once we’re done laughing and enjoying some self-righteous “told-you-so’s”, we face the same reality this industry has faced for decades: Who’s going to get healthcare costs under control?

We’re 11 years out from the passage of the ACA, which was successful in expanding coverage and unsuccessful in reining in costs. The cool kid “disruptors” have been narrowly focused on disrupting the wheelbarrows of healthcare money long enough to scoop some up for themselves, not on changing the market dynamics in a way that pays off for patients.

Big employers may yet unlock the vault with instructions for bending the cost curve, and it would still be dumb to bet against the world’s richest person and Amazon Care. But as costs continue to rise and many patients are forced to rely on having the best GoFundMe story in order to pay for their medical expenses, demands for substantive change will only increase.

This line, from one of the many Haven postmortems, stands out: “Healthcare providers and insurers have significant market leverage, and that’s difficult to overcome in trying to control costs,” said Kaiser Family Foundation’s Larry Levitt. To put another way: Providers and insurers are the reason healthcare costs are high.

For the moment, and as we have detailed throughout the last year, healthcare providers enjoy a considerable amount of trust, along with favorability ratings that we haven’t seen this century. Hospitals and health systems should view that positivity as ephemeral, a byproduct of the heroism displayed by frontline clinicians throughout the pandemic. As insurers continue, uh, let’s call it throwing their weight around, providers can leverage the current landscape to draw sharp contrasts with them – keeping in mind that the public goodwill might not extend indefinitely.

As we move through 2021 and the pandemic begins to recede, other elements are likely to come into sharper focus and scrutiny, including issues like price transparency and hospital consolidation. Now is the time to lead on these issues. You may not like the price transparency rule (ok, I know you don’t), because of the context it lacks. If that’s the case, then get to work providing that context. Get out ahead of the regulators and your consumers. Maybe you have a great partnership opportunity on the horizon – now is the time to start building a comprehensive story beyond “uh, scale?” for why it is great for the people you serve.

If the “incumbents” in healthcare aren’t going to change, and even the biggest disruptors can’t shake up care delivery in a meaningful (read: cheaper) way, then it is only a matter of time (and polling trends) before a broad coalition across this country views greater federal involvement in the delivery of healthcare as their only hope. If that bothers you, you’ve got time to change course. But not much.

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In Firm News

Jarrard Phillips Cate & Hancock, Inc. Grows Team by 20 Percent

Firm News

Firm expands across all practices as healthcare providers endure significant communications challenges

National healthcare communications consultancy Jarrard Phillips Cate & Hancock, Inc., expanded its full-time team by 20 percent over the course of 2020, President and CEO David Jarrard announced in a year-end recap. With 12 new hires, plus the addition of five of-counsel professionals, the firm’s growth and acquisition by The Chartis Group highlighted the critical communications needs hospitals, health systems and health services companies experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two vice presidents and two associate vice presidents headline the new team members. They are:

Emily Shirden

Emily Shirden
Vice President, National & Academic Health System Practice

Shirden joined Jarrard from Finn Partners, where she led thought leadership, issues management and integrated communications programs with a strong focus on analytics and measurement.

Kristen Nicholson
Vice President of Business Development, Growth Services Team

Nicholson has 20-plus years in the healthcare industry where she has focused on growth and development for an array of companies. Immediately prior to joining Jarrard Inc., she was senior vice president of account management for Shearwater Health.

Teresa Hicks

Teresa Hicks
Associate Vice President, National & Academic Health System Practice

Hicks is a former journalist who most recently led communications strategy for Ballad Health, taking the organization through a groundbreaking health system merger and subsequent integration, helping achieve regulatory approval in two states and marshalling community support.

Dan Schlacter

Dan Schlacter
Associate Vice President, Health Services Practice

Schlacter has more than 15 years of integrated marketing and communications agency experience. His background includes work with clients in health IT, life sciences, healthcare consultancies, provider services, industry organizations and patient advocate groups. Prior to joining Jarrard Inc., Schacter was a senior account supervisor with MP&F Strategic Communications.

“This year, perhaps more than any other, has reinforced the value of clear and strategic communications for healthcare providers of all types,” Jarrard said.

“We know how difficult it has been for executives and Marcom teams as they’ve been faced with relentless pressure and questions from policy-makers, the media and an often-skeptical public, all while working to fulfill their mission of delivering care under extraordinarily challenging circumstances. We have been proud to work alongside so many of these organizations to develop the strategies needed to bring people together as society confronts the coronavirus.”

Expansion occurred across the firm’s National & Academic Health System Practice, Regional Health Systems Practice and Health Services Practice as well as its Growth Services Team and client-focused Digital Services Team.

“Healthcare has changed in so many ways this year, and yet, our experience indicates that the foundational principles and underlying trends have not – they’ve simply accelerated,” said Jarrard. “Our new colleagues bring a wealth of experience in everything from marketing strategy to crisis communications, allowing us to help clients lead and shape the future of healthcare as we emerge from the pandemic and take stock of the many lessons learned.”

Additional New Team Members:

  • Jon Hughes, Senior Managing Advisor, National & Academic Health System Practice. Hughes is a licensed psychotherapist and change management expert who most recently led the workforce health and safety team at Northwestern Medicine.
  • Yolanda James, Senior Managing Advisor, National & Academic Health System Practice. James has a deep background in issue navigation and public relations. A veteran of several hospitals and health systems, she joined Jarrard Inc. following time as director of the Nashville Health Care Council’s Fellows program and PR director for the Tennessee Hospital Association.
  • Kristen Stocker Holder, Managing Advisor, National & Academic Health System Practice. Stocker Holder is a change management specialist who came to Jarrard Inc. from roles in community advocacy.
  • Josh Byrd, Senior Graphic Designer, Growth Services Team. Byrd is a digital communications specialist who brings videos, websites and designs to life for Jarrard Inc. and its clients. Byrd previously served as an art director and director of media production at advertising firm Maris, West & Baker.
  • Will Roberts, Senior Advisor, Regional Practice. Having represented academic medical institutions, community-based healthcare providers and health policy strategists, Roberts brings a strong background in policy and regulation to his work in change management and media relations. Prior to joining Jarrard Inc., he worked in the health practice of DVL Seigenthaler/ Finn Partners.
  • Allie Gross, Advisor, National & Academic Health System Practice. An award-winning journalist, Gross applies her background in media, writing and communications to help steer national and academic health systems through challenging transitions and change management initiatives. Gross most recently worked as a reporter at the Jackson Hole News&Guide.
  • Chelsea Schulz, Advisor, National & Academic Health System Practice. Schulz focuses on strategic planning and content development. She comes to Jarrard Inc. from several competitive internships, including HCA’s Sarah Cannon Cancer Research Institute, where she worked on strategic implementation plans and process improvement initiatives.
  • Hilary Sloan, Advisor, Health Services Practice / Digital Services. Sloan brings a media background to her role coordinating digital projects for the firm and its clients. Prior to joining Jarrard Inc., Sloan served as the operations intern for Velocity Collective LLC, a leadership business consultancy in Nashville, Tennessee.

New Of-Counsels:

  • David C. Pate, M.D., J.D.: Pate is an accomplished internist, lawyer and health system executive who is the immediate past president and chief executive officer of St. Luke’s Health System in Boise, Idaho where he led the evolution to clinical integration, accountable care and a physician-led delivery system. He joined St. Luke’s in 2009, following executive positions with St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System in Houston.
  • Denise Venditti, DNP, RN: Venditti joined Jarrard Inc. with 25 years in patient experience, nursing leadership and hospital operations. Prior to joining the firm, she served as the vice president of patient experience for Geisinger Health System. In her time at Geisinger, she also worked as associate vice president of nursing, direction of operations, and operations manager.
  • Pete Lawson: Lawson has spent four decades in healthcare and served as CEO at multiple hospitals. Prior to founding his own healthcare operations consultancy and joining Jarrard Inc., he was managing director and co-lead of hospital M&A for Raymond James.
  • Ryder McNeal: McNeal is a 30-year veteran of healthcare sales. Prior to his affiliation with the firm, he served as chief growth officer for Physicians Equity Resource Advisors, LLC., a boutique consulting firm headquartered in New York, and had roles in development with TeamHealth, DaVita and Sound Physicians.
  • Eric Hoffman: Hoffman is an award-winning public affairs professional with a career that includes more than 20 years at Edelman and Weber Shandwick, plus time on Capitol Hill working for political candidates and at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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In COVID-19, High Stakes, Issue Navigation

Vaccines: Do you Know Any Sixth-Graders?

Large text that reads "Third Wave" with smaller text beneath that reads "vaccinations" on an orange background with a yellow wave

Why you should practice your communications on a kid.

Situation: As shipments of COVID-19 vaccines roll out across the country and healthcare workers start rolling up their sleeves to receive the shot we’ve hoped and prayed for all year, there’s never been a more important time for hospitals to keep lines of communication open with the public. Providers have an opportunity and responsibility to be a visible source of truth in this critical phase of the pandemic. And the media can be a powerful ally for reaching the masses. Here are a few tips for engaging with reporters right now.

Quick Counsel:

  • Be comfortable getting technical. Mainstream media is now avidly covering topics tackled only by select trade journals just one year ago – such as vaccine storage and transport requirements, the differences between vaccines from various pharmaceutical companies and the particulars of double-blind studies. Be prepared to answer questions about the technical aspects of your vaccine supply and offer to show reporters the specialized freezers and other equipment you’re using to ensure a safe and timely rollout. Ideally, tap a clinical leader as your spokesperson for these interviews – a CMO, infectious disease specialist, pharmacy lead or infection prevention professional.
  • Make the technical more comfortable. Even though vaccine science is now a household topic, keep in mind we’re still communicating highly specialized scientific information with a lay audience. In general, reporters try to write for a sixth-grade reading level, so make sure your clinical spokespeople have received message training to keep things understandable. If you happen to have a sixth-grader handy, practice your messaging with them. If you can 1) keep their attention and 2) get them to explain the message back to you, you’ll know you’re right on target.
  • Set clear expectations. Without a doubt, this is a moment to celebrate. We’re ending an extremely difficult year with a glimmer of hope, and we want our patients to know that real help is on the way. But it’s important to be clear about what this joyous milestone does – and doesn’t – mean for our communities’ safety over the next several months. Don’t miss the opportunity to remind your audience about the ongoing importance of masking and social distancing. Help them set realistic expectations for when life might return to “normal.”
  • Start planning now for second-dose communication. We know we’ll need to convince our patients to show up for the vaccine not once but twice in 2021. So when working with news outlets about this first round of vaccines, talk to them about their important role in communicating that second dose later in the year. Reach out to your local editors and news directors to set a tickler on their editorial calendars for the spring. And do be sure to thank the  newsroom for their hard work this year.
Learn about our Vaccine Communication Roadmap

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