"This is an important achievement and recognition that highlights the city of Chicago’s ongoing commitment to health and wellness on the part of all of our residents,” said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in a statement issued by PHAB. Click here to read the full article.
Chicago Public Health: Q&A with Bechara Choucair
Last week the Public Health Accreditation Board (PHAB) awarded five-year national accreditation status to five public health departments, bringing the number of health departments now accredited to 19 since the credential was launched two years ago. Hundreds more health departments are currently preparing to apply for accreditation, which includes a peer-reviewed assessment process to ensure it meets or exceeds a set of public health quality standards and measures. Among the newly accredited is the Chicago Department of Public Health.
"This is an important achievement and recognition that highlights the city of Chicago’s ongoing commitment to health and wellness on the part of all of our residents,” said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in a statement issued by PHAB. Click here to read the full article.
"This is an important achievement and recognition that highlights the city of Chicago’s ongoing commitment to health and wellness on the part of all of our residents,” said Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel in a statement issued by PHAB. Click here to read the full article.
To promote wellness, Public Health Departments are launching apps. Will they work?
The Alabama Department of Public Health is venturing into the mobile universe as the first state with a health app for residents.
“Normally Alabama comes in last when it comes to health indicators, but we were one of the first states to be on Facebook and Twitter and YouTube. This is just another goal for us,” says Jennifer Pratt Sumner, the director of the digital media branch of the department.
The app, which is free to download from Google Play or iTunes, brings all of the social media feeds put out by the various public health divisions into one place. It also provides health news alerts and information about wellness events, such as the annual Alabama Youth Rally. Some recent tips included educational conferences open to the public, and tips on safely consuming shellfish in the state. Click here to read more.
“Normally Alabama comes in last when it comes to health indicators, but we were one of the first states to be on Facebook and Twitter and YouTube. This is just another goal for us,” says Jennifer Pratt Sumner, the director of the digital media branch of the department.
The app, which is free to download from Google Play or iTunes, brings all of the social media feeds put out by the various public health divisions into one place. It also provides health news alerts and information about wellness events, such as the annual Alabama Youth Rally. Some recent tips included educational conferences open to the public, and tips on safely consuming shellfish in the state. Click here to read more.
4 Technology strategies required for population health management success
As healthcare moves toward value-based care and ultimately an at-risk payment environment, population health management is emerging as the delivery model required for success. Born before health reform, population health management is fundamental to the new system's "triple aim" — to improve health outcomes, lower costs and enhance the patient's care experience.
Population health management strives to achieve the triple aim "one patient at a time" by ensuring that people receive appropriate and timely preventive and chronic care, assistance navigating the system and resources to help them become more informed and engaged in caring for themselves. Click here to read more.
Population health management strives to achieve the triple aim "one patient at a time" by ensuring that people receive appropriate and timely preventive and chronic care, assistance navigating the system and resources to help them become more informed and engaged in caring for themselves. Click here to read more.
The value of pediatric symptom-checkers
A common pediatric injury is a tear in the tissue connecting the upper lip to the gum, usually the result of a fall. It's also a minor injury and will heal on its own without stitches.
It can seem anything but minor to parents, however, as the injured site will bleed every time the lip is pulled out to examine it.
"That's why in the symptom-checker, if you go to 'mouth trauma' it's all spelled out for them," says Barton Schmitt, MD, the creator of one of the world's first online symptom-checker platforms currently used on more than 200 hospitals' and physicians' websites. "It tells parents, just stop looking at it, it always heals." Click here to read more.
It can seem anything but minor to parents, however, as the injured site will bleed every time the lip is pulled out to examine it.
"That's why in the symptom-checker, if you go to 'mouth trauma' it's all spelled out for them," says Barton Schmitt, MD, the creator of one of the world's first online symptom-checker platforms currently used on more than 200 hospitals' and physicians' websites. "It tells parents, just stop looking at it, it always heals." Click here to read more.
New Report: Enumeration and Characterization of the Public Health Nurse Workforce
Report finds high job satisfaction among public health nurses, but many state health departments struggle to fill vacancies.
Key Findings:
- There is significant need to strengthen the education and training of public health nurses.
- Providing clinical services is part of the work done by RNs in state and local health departments, but these nurses assume a wide variety of roles.
- The national public health nurse workforce in state and local health departments is not as racially and ethnically diverse as the country’s population. Further, few minority public health nurses serve in leadership positions.
- The public health nurse workforce is aging; however, most RNs do not intend to retire within the next five years.
- Public health nurses report high levels of job satisfaction, despite reporting high levels of dissatisfaction with salary compensation.
Top 20 most-recruited physician specialties
Family medicine and general internal medicine are the top two most-recruited medical specialties, according Merritt Hawkins' 2013 Review of Physician and Advanced Practitioner Recruiting Incentives.
This trend is not new — primary care physicians have topped Merritt Hawkins' list for the past seven years. The demand for primary care physicians is driven in part by the growth of healthcare sites across the country. "The new mantra in healthcare is to be 'everywhere, all the time.' This means reaching into communities with a growing number of free-standing facilities or other sites that are convenient and accessible," Mark Smith, president of Merritt Hawkins, said in a news release. "These facilities have one thing in common — they all need primary care physicians." Click here for more information.
This trend is not new — primary care physicians have topped Merritt Hawkins' list for the past seven years. The demand for primary care physicians is driven in part by the growth of healthcare sites across the country. "The new mantra in healthcare is to be 'everywhere, all the time.' This means reaching into communities with a growing number of free-standing facilities or other sites that are convenient and accessible," Mark Smith, president of Merritt Hawkins, said in a news release. "These facilities have one thing in common — they all need primary care physicians." Click here for more information.
Salaries offered to the top 20 recruited physician specialties: 42 statistics
Of the 20 most-recruited physician and advanced practitioner specialties, 13 had higher average base salary offers in 2012-13 compared with the year before, according to a report from physician staffing firm Merritt Hawkins.
Merritt Hawkins based its data on nearly 3,100 physician and advanced practitioner search assignments from April 2012 through March 2013.
Hospitals, health systems, accountable care organizations and other healthcare organizations heavily recruited primary care physicians — like those in family medicine or internal medicine — the most in the past year. However, their salary offers only increased marginally, and for some, such as family physicians and pediatricians, their starting salary offers were actually down year-over-year.
Orthopedic surgeons continue to command the highest salary offers, though their average salary offer dropped 7 percent in 2012-13 to $483,000 compared with the year prior.
Here are 42 statistics on average base salary offers to the 20 most heavily recruited physician specialties and advanced practitioners over the past year. Note: Figures only represent base salaries or guaranteed income. They do not include production bonuses or benefits. Data is sorted by highest average salary offer from last year. Click here to see which specialties are in high demand.
Orthopedic surgeons continue to command the highest salary offers, though their average salary offer dropped 7 percent in 2012-13 to $483,000 compared with the year prior.
Here are 42 statistics on average base salary offers to the 20 most heavily recruited physician specialties and advanced practitioners over the past year. Note: Figures only represent base salaries or guaranteed income. They do not include production bonuses or benefits. Data is sorted by highest average salary offer from last year. Click here to see which specialties are in high demand.
3 Tips for Hospitals to Improve Employee Recruitment
Although many hospitals and healthcare systems have recently instituted layoffs to stay afloat, some healthcare organizations are still having trouble filling their open positions. According to a recent CareerBuilder survey, 48 percent of nursing jobs and 39 percent of allied health jobs go unfilled on average for six weeks or longer.
Vacant positions in healthcare organizations can lead to a myriad of issues, including lower employee moral and higher voluntary turnover. So why are so many positions remaining vacant? According CareerBuilder, the most common reason is that organizations are getting applicants who do not have relevant or enough experience for the position.
Fortunately, there are several things hospitals and health systems can do to either build up or bring in candidates with more experience and improve their employee recruitment efforts as a whole. Jason Lovelace, president of CareerBuilder Healthcare, shares three tips here.
1. Develop pathways to build employee experience.
2. Attract more experienced candidates.
Vacant positions in healthcare organizations can lead to a myriad of issues, including lower employee moral and higher voluntary turnover. So why are so many positions remaining vacant? According CareerBuilder, the most common reason is that organizations are getting applicants who do not have relevant or enough experience for the position.
Fortunately, there are several things hospitals and health systems can do to either build up or bring in candidates with more experience and improve their employee recruitment efforts as a whole. Jason Lovelace, president of CareerBuilder Healthcare, shares three tips here.
1. Develop pathways to build employee experience.
2. Attract more experienced candidates.
Click here to read the third tip.
Update from the CEO: Inspiration, engagement and change
Last week, along with many readers of our Special
Delivery, I attended the Colorado Health Foundation’s Symposium. During three full days I was captivated by
the speakers’ insights and re-awakened by the energy of my fellow
attendees. On the way home, three
sentiments stayed with me – inspiration, engagement and change. How can we raise the rural voice to navigate
our future?
Dolly Parton was born and raised in Sevierville,
TN, population 14,807. We’ve learned
that some of the greatest scientists, artists, and general minds have rural
roots. In regards to inspiration, Parton
has said “when I’m inspired, I get excited because I can’t wait to see what
I’ll come up with next.” The phrase is
simple, yet it holds true for all of us.
Whether we’re introverted and gain inspiration internally, or extroverted
and gain inspiration from absorbing the energy of our peers, inspiration causes
excitement. Excitement then leads to
motivation which results in engagement.
Many great minds have commented on the impact of
engagement, including Robert Nozick, a prominent American political philosopher
in the 1970s and 1980s. He stated that
“through the evolutionary process, those who are able to engage in social
cooperation of various sorts do better in survival and reproduction.” His comment is particularly timely because of
the Symposium’s Rebecca Costa, a sociobiologist, who spoke about the keys to success in a world that has out-grown the human brain’s capacity. She uses evolution to illustrate that the
growth of technology is now beyond our immediate understanding and we are in a
period of adaptation. To survive the
next cycle of evolution, we must be able to engage others around us who are
inspired by the same topics – in our case this would be rural healthcare.
The third sentiment that has lingered in my mind
is change and how the rural voice must be raised to engage healthcare leaders,
whether urban or rural. With a
collective voice of advocates, the best ideas will be inspired and motivation
for engagement will follow. Although
Colorado is undoubtedly a leader in healthcare innovation, we can see that
others, even across the world, are engaging in the same thoughts. In 2012 there was an initiative, financially
supported by the United States government that hoped to result in 10,000 new
inventions from rural residents living in India. Many of these inventions have direct correlations
to healthcare and only needed a nudge to bring the inspired creations to our
globalized market through “frugal innovation.”
Included among the products is the refrigerator made out of terracotta
that does not need electricity and a hand pump that purifies water from any
source.
In our own rural backyards we can also discover
actions of engagement. The National
Rural Health Association recently hosted March for Rural Hospitals in Washington
D.C. This event shows the strength of
the rural voice which has been proven to engage congressional leaders in
supporting rural healthcare. Next week
is Safety Net Clinic Week where the work of safety net facilities and providers
will be celebrated throughout Colorado.
The celebrations will be happening all over the state and clinic stories
are sure to inspire any listener. Please
listen and help spread the rural voice.
More information about the events can be found on CRHC’s website.
To close, we must all remember to act upon our
inspirations by telling others and developing new innovation that will lead us
into the next generation of healthcare.
The remarkable inventions, whether organizational, conceptual, systemic,
or simply a new gadget, are what drive progress. Inspire others through your voice and get
engaged by through their inspirations.
The Forum 2014
Save the Date
The 14th Annual Forum Conference
Co-hosted by Colorado Rural Health Center and ClinicNET will again be held at the Denver Sheraton West in Lakewood.
April 9-11, 2014
Check back for updates at www.coruralhealth.org
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