- Program Spotlight:
Join the June Health System Simulation for a Unique, Immersive Experience - Wisdom and Insights for Developing Diverse Leadership Talent
- Share the Value of Membership With Your Colleagues
- An Innovative Approach to Addressing Staffing Challenges: General Operations Associates
- Advancing Health Equity Through the CMS Innovation Center
- Correctional Mental Health Care Conference Convening in Washington, D.C.
Program Spotlight:
Join the June Health System Simulation for a Unique, Immersive Experience
Kiran Dattani, a digital health and life science specialist and healthcare innovation strategist with Enterprise Strategic Architecture at Google, wanted a little more out of his professional development—something that had real-word application. He found this in ACHE’s Health System Simulation program. “This simulation is a ‘mini-MBA,’” Dattani says. The topics covered during the program, including strategy, mission, vision, values, leadership, decision-making, team building, supply chain, finance, people management and crisis management, “generally take up a full-time program to cover,” Dattani adds.
In today’s healthcare environment, leaders must be adept at navigating the changing consumer and regulatory landscapes. Next month, healthcare leaders can experience the challenges of executive leadership and strategic decision-making with the Health System Simulation program, June 22–24.
Offered in collaboration with Columbia University’s prestigious Mailman School of Public Health, this unique learning experience emulates the full breadth and complexity of leadership in today’s competitive marketplace and offers participants the opportunity to earn up to 21 ACHE Face-to-Face Education and Interprofessional Continuing Education credits.
Unfamiliar with simulation education? In this episode of the Healthcare Executive Podcast, John S. Winkleman, a faculty member at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, discusses the innovative Health System Simulation course. He explains why simulation learning is particularly effective for healthcare leaders, as it allows them to see what happens when they’re in the driver’s seat. And, check out this ACHE Blog post that lists the many benefits of simulation education such as real-time feedback and the freedom to make mistakes.
If you can’t make the June program, virtual sessions are also scheduled Aug. 17–19, Oct. 19–21 and Dec. 7–9. Learn more and register today.
Wisdom and Insights for Developing Diverse Leadership Talent
“Although the starting places for their careers were different, these executives shared many similarities with regard to the importance of education and a strong work ethic,” writes author Diane L. Dixon, EdD, managing principal, D. Dixon & Associates LLC, and educator, University of Maryland School of Public Health. In her book, Diversity on the Executive Path: Wisdom and Insights for Navigating to the Highest Levels of Healthcare Leadership, Dixon explores why racially and ethnically diverse leaders are still significantly underrepresented in today’s C-suites. In Chapter 1, available as an excerpt, Dixon shares her findings about the enduring impact of an individual’s background and how it serves as the foundation of an executive career.
Browse the book’s table of contents, preface and foreword to learn more, and order your copy today.
Share the Value of Membership With Your Colleagues
Earn points that you can redeem for items when you refer colleagues to join ACHE through the Leader-to-Leader Rewards Program. This program recognizes ACHE Members, Fellows and Faculty Associates with reward points when they recruit colleagues and encourage current Members to advance to Fellow. These points can be redeemed for items such as $25 discount coupons or ACHE merchandise, including a UV phone sanitizer with a wireless charging pad, a one-year CEO Circle membership (for CEOs or equivalent only), ACHE face masks and more. Members can redeem points as soon as they earn them and up to Dec. 31 in the year after points were earned.
More importantly, by referring colleagues to join ACHE, members are introducing individuals to benefits such as:
- Access to ACHE’s unique array of programs and activities, content and research.
- The opportunity to earn the distinction of board certification as a Fellow of ACHE.
- Exclusive career resources such as ACHE’s online Job Center.
Visit ache.org/L2L today to learn more and start recruiting new members and earning rewards. If you have any questions, please contact the Customer Service Center at (312) 434-9400 or contact@ache.org.
An Innovative Approach to Addressing Staffing Challenges: General Operations Associates
“It is no secret that the COVID-19 pandemic made a profound impact on the healthcare industry, especially its workforce. Healthcare systems across the country struggled with addressing critical staffing needs in key operational departments, which contributed to employee burnout and dissatisfaction. Something had to be done to address the employee shortages and alleviate the burden it was causing existing colleagues.”
In a recent ACHE Blog post, leaders of Hartford Healthcare Central Region share how the organization developed a Regional Operations Command Center to combat these vacancies and ensure adequate staffing and support to various departments during the height of the pandemic.
“However, we understood that this was not a sustainable solution as we slowly returned to pre-pandemic operations. We began looking ahead to see how we could increase staffing as part of a long-term strategy. Our focus turned to developing an internal staffing agency to focus on the departments of Food and Nutrition (dietary), Environmental Services (housekeeping) and Transport. To give you an idea of what we were up against, these departments saw a turnover rate of about 35% nationally. Here’s a breakdown of how we operationally addressed this issue with what we call a general operations associate.”
Visit ache.org/Blog to learn more about the development of this role in a blog post written by Hartford Healthcare Central Region leaders Garrett C. Havican, FACHE, president; the Rev. Kristoffer Popovitch, senior director of operations; and Robert M. Weiss, regional business operations manager.
Advancing Health Equity Through the CMS Innovation Center
“The CMS Innovation Center has made meaningful progress … , which we believe will help mitigate health inequities within CMS’s beneficiary populations,” writes Dora Lynn Hughes, MD, chief medical officer at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, also known as the Innovation Center, at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In a recent Health Affairs blog post, Hughes outlines the Innovation Center’s health equity strategy, progress made over the last year in meeting CMS’s objective of advancing health equity, and additional areas of focus in the future.
In 2021, the Innovation Center released its new 2030 vision and five strategic objectives to achieve it, one of which is to “advance health equity.” To meet this objective, the Innovation Center launched a new health equity initiative in 2022 that proposed to:
- Develop new models and revise existing models and promote and incentivize equitable care.
- Increase participation of safety net providers.
- Increase collection and analysis of equity data.
- Monitor and evaluate models for health equity impact.
In the blog post, Hughes shares accomplishments in each of these areas. For example, the Innovation Center has announced three revised models and one new model, all of which have a prominent focus on addressing health equity.
She also outlines what to expect in 2023, writing “We will continue to focus our health equity work in each of the four areas …, while working to refine and improve upon current efforts. For example, we have prepared detailed guidance for optimizing screening and referrals for addressing beneficiary health-related social needs (HRSNs), with expectations that new models will include HRSN screening and referral components when feasible.”
Correctional Mental Health Care Conference Convening in Washington, D.C.
Mental health issues and substance use disorders are up throughout the country, along with staffing shortages and compassion fatigue. July 15–16, join the National Commission on Correctional Health Care’s Correctional Mental Health Care Conference in the District of Columbia.
During this year’s conference, titled “Shining a Light on Mental Health Care,” clinicians and administrators with a variety of backgrounds will gather to focus on correctional mental healthcare issues such as how to:
- Be more effective with patients.
- Search for benchmarks and new ideas to improve patient care.
- Maximize the effectiveness of mental healthcare with a limited budget.
- Transform systems, morale and policies.
Learn more and register today—early bird registration ends June 16.
ACHE is a supporting organization of the NCCHC.