Healthcare Strategic Growth Blog

A Look At the Healthiest and Unhealthiest ZIPs in the US

By Gavin Chance 

As we begin a new year, health and wellness are top of mind for many. Americans everywhere are setting New Year’s resolutions to amend bad habits and to lead a healthier, happier lifestyle in 2020.

It can be beneficial to understand the current state of our health as we collectively look to the future and make plans for improvement. This infographic shares statistics and trends about our health as a country, focusing on the following information from 2018:

• The average amount spent on health

• The average number of visits to the doctor

• The number of cigarettes smoked

• The average amount spent on prescription drugs

We hope it’s been an incredible year of learning through Stratasan's Strategic Growth blog series. We said goodbye to a dear friend, learned the secrets of the DIKW pyramid, uncovered innovative solutions to the healthcare revenue crisis, and much more.

As we close out the year, we thought it would be helpful to share the five most popular blog posts from 2019. These posts received the most views and seemed to provide useful growth guidance to you, our readers. If you’re traveling over the holidays or just enjoying some downtime before the new year begins, check out these posts that you may have missed or revisit your favorites for fresh insight.

By Jason Moore

Yesterday was tough. The funeral service and visitation for Melissa “Isse” Waddey, former President of LifePoint Health and my dear friend, was held in Nashville. My best estimate is that between 1,200 - 1,500 people were in attendance to pay their respects. As I listened to story after story about how she affected people in a variety of ways, consistent themes emerged.

A very large group of people who I’ve interacted with over the years had heard of Melissa. When her name would come up in conversation with this group, there were always questions around how she was “skyrocketing” through her career or statements of respect from seeing her speak on various topics. “What is her secret?” was a common follow up question.

Increase Productivity and Achieve More as a Team

By Morgan Atkins

For teams looking to create more innovative products and services, it’s key to establish an environment that unites the best thinking from every team. Rather than assigning innovation to one department, open the door for anyone to contribute, especially those with direct access to your customers. Then, for these new ideas to come to life, your organization must also embrace strategies that facilitate cross-department collaboration. 

Here are a few key reasons why cross-department project work is so important:

• Cross-department collaboration fosters a culture of continuous improvement, where employees take ownership of problems and work together to bring about solutions. (KaiNexus) This mentality lessens the opportunity for finger-pointing as everyone is responsible for resolving issues.  
• New ideas are more likely to be embraced when there are key shareholders throughout the company involved in the decision-making process.
• Every team interacts with your customers and product offerings in a unique way, so every perspective is valuable. Feedback from various angles allows for all areas of your company to make ongoing improvements and course corrections.

Understanding, Trust, and Transparency are Three Keys to Success

By Brian Dailey

I recently finished David McCullough's "The Path Between The Seas," an overview of the planning and construction of the Panama Canal. The scale of the human effort put into this project is incomprehensible, but there is much to be learned from it about leadership, organizational alignment, and the importance of communication.

One way to think about alignment and communication is partnership. In the lead up to the construction of the canal, William Gorgas was sent to Panama to deal with the problem of malaria and yellow fever. At the turn of the 20th century, many were still skeptical of the connection between these diseases and mosquitoes. When Gorgas tried to advocate for resources to reduce the mosquito population, he was constantly met with resistance and skepticism. Even though it was his job to reduce the tropical diseases that ravaged the canal worker population, he was unable to do so because his peers viewed him as a challenge to be overcome, not a partner in the construction of the canal.

The first Chief Engineer of the canal, John Wallace, saw Gorgas as an annoyance. As an engineer, he was concentrating on "making the dirt fly" and did not consider Gorgas's medical background to be helpful with this effort. It wasn't until John Stevens became Chief Engineer that Gorgas was taken seriously. Stevens viewed Gorgas as a partner in a humanitarian effort. Once Gorgas was given the requested resources he was able to quickly eliminate cases of yellow fever.

Partnership—among individuals, departments, and other organizations—is pivotal to the success of any venture, whether it's placing a new outpatient clinic or connecting the Pacific to the Atlantic over fifty miles of mosquito-infested jungle. So how do we cultivate partnerships?

Why a Shift in Terminology is Needed for More Effective Strategic Growth

By Lee Ann Lambdin

The title of this post is inspired by a quote from Dr. John Boornazian, Medical Director for Huggins Hospital. I worked with him and others at Huggins to develop their strategic plan in just six months. During their planning process, the team wrestled with how to describe the people they served—were they customers or patients? The executive team at Huggins was comfortable with the word customer, but the staff wanted to use the term patient. 

In the end, it was Dr. Boornazian who persuaded the staff to use the word customer, a word he had previously detested. His change of heart occurred when he came to terms with the new reality of patient choice and mobility. If a patient determines that better quality or service can be obtained elsewhere, they will travel past your hospital to a provider they deem more worthy of their loyalty. In today’s healthcare world, patients expect to be treated with a certain level of customer service, and a shift in mindset is needed to meet these new patient expectations.

Takeaways from Our Partnership with McKissack Middle School

By Stephanie Johnson and Lisa French

The Stratasan team was honored to partner with McKissack Middle School and the Nashville Technology Council (NTC) for a “Traveling Tech Day.” Pictured below are members of the Stratasan team with the McKissack teachers and students who participated.

During their four hour visit with our team, students were able to engage in the following:

• Office tour and team introductions
• Improv icebreaker that demonstrated how better products and services are created when we listen to and build upon the ideas of others
• Exercise in turning ideas into sellable and supportable products
• Lunch where members of the Stratasan team joined and shared what they do and how they got to where they are

In this post, we’ll share our key learnings and the takeaways that make us hopeful for a more diverse future in tech.

Why This Relationship is Critical for the Success of Both Organizations

By Megan Reeves

Most hospital associations identify as the principal advocate for their respective state's hospitals and healthcare systems. While they exist to serve and support, their essential value is sometimes overlooked or taken for granted. In this post, we’ll cover some of the top reasons hospitals need their state associations and how this partnership can be crucial to growth. We’ll also touch on why hospitals are critical to the associations as well. It’s a symbiotic relationship, and its value increases the more each partner invests in the other.

Become Your Own Best Advocate with Trackable, Data-Based Reporting

By Jennifer Keller

As with any area in business, marketers and strategic planners must be able to prove the value of their work to leadership. Yet with their reputation as a cost center, these teams feel more pressure to demonstrate positive financial impact. Essentially, marketers and planners must be adept at marketing their own achievements if they want to gain approval for new initiatives and see their budgets grow year over year. This is particularly true in healthcare, where budgets are tightening and facing closer scrutiny.

In this post, we’ll discuss tools and strategies that healthcare marketers and planners can employ to show they are valuable contributors to growth. We’ll also cover some real-world examples of teams facing common challenges finding success, proving their worth, and driving growth. Let’s dig into two key ways to make your team indispensable.

Facts and Trends You Need to Know

By Daniel Dreaden

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, providing an opportunity for everyone to become familiar with the facts and prevention methods associated with this disease. Consider this: more than 3.8 million people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with breast cancer and it kills more than 42,000 people each year. How can we all work together to reduce the incidents of this disease in the years to come? 

Extensive research has been done to determine the actual factors that increase risk. (For more information on that research, see Factors That Affect Breast Cancer Risk at Susan G. Komen®.) Some of the risk factors that have been studied include: weight gain, race and ethnicity, inherited gene mutations, menopausal hormone therapy, and exercise.

Take some time this month to learn more, including reviewing and sharing our infographic below. Then consider donating to research efforts aimed at reducing the incidents of this disease.