January, 2017 vol. 2 - In This Issue:
Regardless of where you stand on "repeal and replace" we know that change in health care is a constant.  Policy makers need to examine next steps, old and new, with careful attention to who it affects the most: the patient. All should take a page from Geisinger's playbook. Keeping the patient at the center requires full commitment, willingness to learn from failure and, sometimes, strategies that everyone else thinks are crazy.

Obamacare Debate: Where GOP Governors Stand on Repeal and Replace

Drew Altman is president and chief executive officer of the Kaiser Family Foundation. He is on Twitter: @drewaltman.  As the Republican Party's debate over repealing and replacing Obamacare focuses on the Senate, the views of Republican governors have received little attention and will be important to watch. This group doesn't like the Affordable Care Act.

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Health Care Starts with Patient Access

The health care  Triple Aim  - high quality, low cost, and positive experience - only matters to a patient if he or she is able to participate in the system. In other words, there can be no Triple Aim unless the patient actually has access to health care services. On the 50th  anniversary of Medicare in 2015, the  New England Journal of  Medicine  cited important survey data on which adults have, and more importantly, do not have,  access to care .

Geisinger's Refund Promise: Where Things Stand After One Year

When Geisinger Health System first proposed an initiative to refund money to patients who reported a poor health care experience, many hospital executives and physicians balked at the idea. As Chief Patient Experience Officer for Geisinger, a position I share with Susan Robel, RN, Chief Nursing Officer, I have had a unique view of how the refund promise rolled out and what we have learned in the year since its inception. For institutions contemplating a similar approach, the Geisinger experience may serve as a useful roadmap. I would not deceive anyone by suggesting that our approach has not been disruptive. However, I maintain that it has been disruptive in a positive sense: it has reoriented the  patient as the center  of the enterprise.

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Geisinger Takes 'Radical' Approach to Improve Population Health

Geisinger Health System will unveil a new "radical" population health initiative this week that aims to transform the health of an entire community.

The Danville, Pennsylvania-based system's new program, called Springboard Health, will kick off in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and targets both patients' chronic conditions and the community's overall socioeconomic health, Geisinger said.


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Communities In Action: Pathways to Health Equity

Health equity is the state in which everyone has the opportunity to attain full health potential and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or any other socially defined circumstance. Health equity and opportunity are inextricably linked. Currently in the United States the burdens of disease and poor health and the benefits of well-being and good health are inequitably distributed. This inequitable distribution is caused by social, environmental, economic, and structural factors that shape health, and are themselves distributed unequally, with pronounced differences in opportunities for health.



Passion + Quality = Change That Matters
  
I embrace the powerful opportunities in our evolving health care landscape. I founded Momentum Health Strategies to be a catalyst for change through continuous learning, diverse engagement and thoughtful policy and practice initiatives. I deliver innovative, strategic thinking and a passion for improving the patient experience. My personal drive and dedication to high-quality results will help you navigate the competitive terrain you face and convert your vision to action.

Momentum Health Strategies

Jennifer L Bright, MPA
(703) 628 - 0534
jennifer@momentumhealthstrategies.com