- Reaching Next-Generation Community Health Goals
- Health Administration Press to Be Rebranded ACHE Learn
- Robotics Site-of-Care Strategy Helps Drive Health Equity and Revenue
- Monthly Membership Perk:
Tools and Tactics to Enhance Physician Engagement
Reaching Next-Generation Community Health Goals
As care providers, health systems and health plans are ideally positioned to advance community health, which sometimes requires dismantling and rebuilding existing systems.
Each healthcare sector is critical “to creating a cohesive ecosystem that can truly provide whole person care and curb healthcare costs,” says Karin VanZant, one of the authors of the recently published Socially Determined: The Healthcare Executive’s Role in Health Equity. VanZant notes that in addition to healthcare stakeholders, social and human services should have a voice in working achieve community health.
In Socially Determined, Van Zant, along with Shawn Rossi, DHA, FACHE, and Kina White, DrPH, FACHE, provide the essential elements pertinent to community health and explain its relationship with value-based care and healthcare quality.
Through practical insights, real-world case studies and tools, the authors note that reading this book “will equip healthcare executives with actionable strategies to make community health a core organizational priority, whether they work in a hospital, managed care or public health.”
Health Administration Press to Be Rebranded ACHE Learn
Health Administration Press, the publishing arm of ACHE, is getting a new name. Say hello to ACHE Learn. Our new identity optimizes our publishing division’s unique position to serve at the intersection of higher education and the profession itself. This rebrand will combine all our books, education and events into a single hub to better engage both students and professionals.
Within ACHE Learn will be a new web-based learning platform called ACHE Activate that will bring our books and publications to life and allow learners to keep all their professional titles and textbooks in a single, digital library. The tool is mobile-friendly, accessible from anywhere and designed for busy professionals and students. For higher education, ACHE Activate also hosts additional classroom resources that traditional textbooks cannot offer.
“Aligning our Health Administration Press brand to the rest of our learning portfolio is a great opportunity to expand our reach and impact for both professionals and higher education,” says David N. Bartholomew, FACHE, senior vice president, Learning. “This update will prepare healthcare leaders on day one of their careers by providing learners with a dedicated digital partner to utilize throughout their career journeys—from early careerists and mid-level managers to senior leaders and C-suite executives.”
Previously published titles will become ACHE Learn titles. Watch for more details coming soon.
Robotics Site-of-Care Strategy Helps Drive Health Equity and Revenue
Corewell Health, a 21-hospital health system in Michigan, has made robotic-assisted surgeries integral in its longstanding commitment to providing broad and equitable access to the benefits of minimally invasive surgery. When demand exceeded capacity at two Corewell Health hospitals in Grand Rapids, leaders developed a new site-of-care strategy that included using an ambulatory surgery center for low acuity robotic-assisted procedures. After four years, metrics showed higher capacity, better access to care and solid financial outcomes.
Challenges—At Corewell Health’s Butterworth and Blodgett Hospitals, OR schedules were packed for both high and low acuity robotic-assisted surgeries. High acuity cases took priority, creating long waits for low acuity procedures. To solve this, Corewell Health proposed increasing its rates of minimally invasive surgeries (versus open surgeries), which would reduce patient length of stay and free up beds.
Solutions—Using insights from Intuitive’s Market Access & Custom Analytics team to optimize the site of care, Corewell Health shifted low acuity robotic-assisted procedures to a different location. Demand during the first year prompted the purchase of a second surgical robotic system for the ambulatory surgical center, while newly freed hospital capacity was backfilled with more high acuity cases.
Results—Through this site-of-care strategy, Corewell Health exceeded its goals in the first four years (2019—2023). Results included:
- Additional capacity for 1,101 high acuity procedures.
- $5.6 million in revenue from the incremental increase in high acuity cases.
- A 16% increase in soft-tissue procedures, compounded annual growth rate.
- An 8% decrease in open surgeries, compounded annual growth rate.
Corewell Health's strategy to increase capacity for robotic-assisted surgeries at multiple sites has optimized its program clinically, operationally and financially. Plans are in place to establish similar programs in other locations, including Detroit, to continue expanding patient access to minimally invasive surgery.
Intuitive, a proud supporter of ACHE, provided the content above.
Monthly Membership Perk:
Tools and Tactics to Enhance Physician Engagement
Carson F. Dye, FACHE, selected an assortment of articles for this second volume of Enhanced Physician Engagement to address recent issues directly affecting physicians including burnout, engagement, accountability and more. Dye shares tips, techniques and case studies in each stand-alone chapter to demonstrate successful engagement strategies applicable in a variety of settings.
Chapter nine, titled “Quality: A Cornerstone of Physician Engagement,” looks at how the physician mindset— problem-solving, compassion toward patients, data, and leadership—is drawn to well-designed quality programs. Physicians become more involved and engaged when their voices are heard. Internal motivation is increased when physicians are recognized and acknowledged for their contributions, increasing their loyalty to their organizations—and allowing health systems to reach heights of success not previously achieved.
Chapter nine of Enhanced Physician Engagement is complimentary this month for all ACHE members. We hope you enjoy this Monthly Membership Perk, and thank you for being a part of the ACHE community.