September 2020 | Volume 1
MOVING INTELLIGENT CHANGE FORWARD
INNOVATION DIGEST
The daily news in healthcare alone is overwhelming and it’s difficult to sift the promotional noise and positioning from the news with real, sustaining power. We should be paying attention to the higher themes that will define the work in healthcare delivery and policy in the months and years ahead. These include the need to create simpler, transparent systems for communicating information, especially to patients; the long-overdue need to eliminate disparities in research and in systems and settings for delivery; the importance of public health capability to our nation’s health; and the power of thinking differently - with patients as partners - about how to define, deliver and pay for better healthcare. There are signals of enlightened leadership and commitment to think and act beyond the status quo. Are you reading between the lines?
It’s time to stop using skin color and race in medicine and see patients for who they really are
My parents fell in love at a time when their union was illegal in 16 states. My father, who is white and who was a priest at the time, married my mother, who later became one of the first black women college presidents.
The Science Behind Women Leaders’ Success In Fighting Covid-19
They have been observed, scrutinized, and then applauded. Women leaders around the world have had considerably more success in slowing the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic and its general outcomes, and two economists based in the United Kingdom can now explain why.
COVID-19 Underscores The Need For Digital Quality Measurement
As science races to address COVID-19, among the weaknesses highlighted by the pandemic is our inability to rapidly develop clinical guidelines, related decision supports, and quality measures to assess their implementation. Building such a learning measurement system requires the ability to retrieve data from an array of electronic sources, including electronic health records (EHRs), health information exchanges (HIEs), and registries.
Could COVID-19 'Inflammatory Signature' Predict Disease Course?
An inflammatory signature may hold a clue to predicting both COVID-19 severity and poor clinical outcomes, researchers found.
A laboratory study that took serum samples of nearly 1,500 COVID-19 patients at hospital admission found that interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α levels predicted both COVID-19 severity and death, after adjusting for other laboratory inflammation markers, as well as hypoxia and disease severity, reported Sacha Gnjatic, PhD, of Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City, and colleagues.
The Fine Line Between Choice and Confusion in Health Care
American opponents of proposed government-run health systems have long used the word “choice” as a weapon.
One reason “Medicare for all” met its end this year has been the decades-long priming of the public that a health system should preserve choice — of plans and doctors and hospitals. To have choice is to be free, according to many.
Lessons from the London Stroke Initiative: How Pathway Improvement Is Discovered, Designed, and Deployed
In describing his experience with the London stroke initiative, Lord Ara Darzi, MD, a UK-based surgeon, professor, and Director of the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College London, emphasizes the importance of stepping back from one’s own clinical work to consider the larger structure of the clinical pathways at issue, relying on research and evidence, involving patients in care redesign considerations, and creating social capital.
The Plan That Could Give Us Our Lives Back
Michael Mina is a professor of epidemiology at Harvard, where he studies the diagnostic testing of infectious diseases. He has watched, with disgust and disbelief, as the United States has struggled for months to obtain enough tests to fight the coronavirus. In January, he assured a newspaper reporter that he had “absolute faith” in the ability of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to contain the virus. By early March, that conviction was in crisis. “The incompetence has really exceeded what anyone would expect,” he told The New York Times. His astonishment has only intensified since.
Recommended Reading:
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Education
The PFANetwork has put together this great reading and resources list for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion education. 


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
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