Getting Health Care Right

When it comes to population health initiatives, nurses and other non-physician frontline caregivers are helping lead the way. It’s these team members who often excel at engaging patients and implementing new treatment models or tools to drive better outcomes and experiences.

As care moves from episodic to proactive, new opportunities and roles arise for these team members to help improve patient throughput and access across an integrated health care system, according to Jennifer Skinner, MSN, BSN, RN, senior vice president and chief nurse executive for TriHealth, in this episode of Getting Health Care Right.

One such role is the care manager. “Typically, this role is filled by a registered nurse. They help patients navigate along the continuum of their care. That’s particularly helpful when a patient is seeing a number of providers, crossing different care settings, and if they have any socioeconomic or other barriers preventing them from their care journey or achieving health or wellness,” says Skinner.

Listen to the episode, hosted by Cincinnati Business Courier Publisher Jamie Smith, to hear about:

· Staffing challenges in health systems today — and how TriHealth is able to retain its most valuable team members.

· How motivations for entering a nursing career have changed over the years.

· Skinner’s experience with implementing the TriHealth Way, a journey she calls “one of the highlights of my career.”

· The evolving role of nurses in the future of population health.

There’s a connection between issues like race and ethnicity and how well chronic conditions are managed, according to Terri Hanlon-Bremer, COO of TriHealth, in this episode of the Getting Health Care Right podcast.

“When you look at typical chronic conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and COPD, where people of color are not having the same outcomes as Caucasian (patients), we can actually pinpoint where we have those variances in our own organization,” Hanlon-Bremer says. “What that allows us to do is work directly with that provider and team member so we can understand (whether) there is an education issue going on. Is there an access issue going on? Is there something else we need to adjust?”

Hanlon-Bremer talks candidly with Tashawna Otabil, chief diversity officer with TriHealth, about the hospital system’s goal of ensuring a sense of belonging among team members, patients and physicians. Their conversation is hosted by Jamie Smith, president and publisher of the Cincinnati Business Courier. Listen to hear about:

· How TriHealth works to do its part as a community leader in equity and inclusivity.

· Why health care organizations should be concerned about diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging.

· Recruitment for diverse candidates, especially among leadership roles.

· The intention behind TriHealth’s BOLD program and the success of its inaugural graduates.

· Ways TriHealth promotes healthier behaviors in the community, including partnering with Local 12 News and area churches to offer education and screenings.

· How TriHealth leaders are “checking their bias” to ask whether things should be done differently in their policies and procedures.
Learn more about diversity and inclusion at TriHealth.

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Women experiencing menopause are a fast-growing U.S. workforce demographic, but the topic of women’s health is often stigmatized.

In the latest episode of the Getting Health Care Right podcast, Dr. Betsy LeRoy, a TriHealth OB-GYN, and her patient, Dr. Kristen DeMarco, a TriHealth pediatrician, discuss the symptoms of menopause and the conversations that need to be had in the workplace to ensure women are supported at every health stage.

“We need to make sure we give menopausal women the space they need to be a productive part of the workforce,” LeRoy said. “Everybody is encountering a menopausal or perimenopausal woman in their workday every day. It's not a unique thing. When employers recognize that, they retain and they keep a very valuable part of the workforce that offers a great energy, a great knowledge set.”

Listen to this episode of Getting Health Care Right to hear more about:

· How the health care needs of women differ from those of men (1:43).

· The specific health factors that menopausal women face (5:14).

· Why a stigma exists around openly discussing menopause (6:26).

· One TriHealth physician’s experience with perimenopause and menopause (7:56).

· Advice and resources for employers to provide a more accommodating workplace for those experiencing menopause (16:25).

· TriHealth’s new menopause program and the services it will provide (28:51).

Learn more about menopause care at TriHealth.

In the U.S., chronic pain is the most common symptom leading patients to their physicians, according to Dr. Sara Nashi, a TriHealth physician who specializes in pain management, in this podcast episode of Getting Health Care Right.

“Actually, 25% of the population will have back pain in a given year, and up to 80% of the population will have low back pain during their lifetime,” Nashi says.

In the episode, Nashi’s patient, Brenda White, shares her challenges with back pain in recent years and how she was able to overcome those challenges with Nashi’s help — and with a new therapy called a basivertebral nerve ablation.

Listen to their discussion with Jamie Smith, publisher of the Cincinnati Business Courier, to learn about:

• Various treatments White tested to address her pain.
• When a patient is a candidate for basivertebral nerve ablation — and how it differs from other pain treatment procedures.
• White’s life now that she is living without pain and without opioid medication.
• Advice for people who are suffering from back issues.

Learn more about pain management at TriHealth.

A heart failure diagnosis can be frightening for many patients. But TriHealth’s Advanced Heart Failure program is in the business of offering hope for that diagnosis, according to Dr. Sateesh Kesari, advanced heart failure transplant cardiologist with TriHealth, in this episode of the Getting Health Care Right podcast.

“The reality is, there’s a 50%, five-year mortality associated with that (diagnosis), similar to what we see with cancer,” says Kesari. “But there are a lot of great therapies that can help you live many, many years and feel a lot better.”

TriHealth patient Brian Smith can attest to that, as he shares in this episode. He was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy several years ago and has come a long way in his treatment journey.

Listen to the episode to hear about:

• Programs that have been successful in helping TriHealth patients recover their heart function.
• Risk factors that can lead to cardiomyopathy.
• How a multidisciplinary TriHealth team helps heart patients develop a care plan.
• The hard choice Smith had to make to prolong his life — and what his prognosis looks like now.
• Lifestyle modifications and medications that benefit heart failure patients alongside medical therapies.
• How people can tell whether they’re at risk for potential cardiac issues.

TriHealth’s Advanced Heart Failure program, located in the Harold and Eugenia Thomas Comprehensive Care Center on the campus of Bethesda North Hospital, is a recognized a leader in quality and outcomes. Learn more.

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