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With children facing tremendous behavioral health struggles, telemedicine offers a chance to provide care to kids who sorely need it, Anthony Sossong says.

Sossong is the chief medical director in behavioral health for Amwell, the telehealth company based in Boston. Amwell has partnered with 2,000 hospitals and health systems. The company recently announced a partnership with CVS to operate the drugstore chain’s virtual care services.

 about children and mental health, the expansion of telehealth and the need to integrate behavioral health with primary care.

“Children’s behavioral health needs are not just staggering but they are growing,” Sossong says. “Technology can play a big role in helping with that.” 

The COVID-19 pandemic has added to the stress on younger kids and teens. Emergency department visits for young people between the ages of 12-17 rose 31%, while ED visits among kids 5-11 rose 24%.

Even before the emergence of COVID-19, many young people were struggling. Roughly one in six youths between the ages of 6 and 17 experience a mental health disorder, Sossong notes.

At the same time, healthcare leaders say many families have trouble finding help. Roughly 60% of U.S. counties don’t have a single practicing psychiatrist.

There’s also a dearth of therapists trained in working with children, Sossong notes. Only 4,000 of the nation’s more than 100,000 psychologists are specifically trained to treat children and adolescents. Rural areas in particular have a dearth of trained clinicians in behavioral health.

“There’s a staggering need in terms of an absolute shortage,” Sossong says.

“Telemedicine can do a lot to alleviate that relative mis-distribution and really bring healthcare out to the rural areas and the areas of the country that are less well resourced.”

Children and teens have experienced much of the same stress and anxiety as adults in the pandemic, Sossong says.

“I think what’s important to remember is the lockdowns, school closures, the social isolation, has really changed the way children are developing and acquiring social and interpersonal skills,” he says.

“Developmentally it has had a profound effect on children just like adults,” he adds. “And kids express their distress in a lot of ways, but in very different ways than adults.”

While the lack of providers is a problem, healthcare leaders note hurdles to expanding virtual care options, including behavioral health. Some families lack high-speed internet, and a federal report this year found 

disparities in access to video telehealth services

 among members of minority groups and those with lower incomes.

“We don’t want to limit the provision of care to those with high-speed internet or fancy mobile devices,” Sossong says. “We want to make sure those children are getting care, regardless of their socioeconomic status.”

Using telehealth to improve equity and access

Amwell’s platform is “technology agnostic,” Sossong says, and the company can provide care through through mobile devices, tablets, computers, kiosks.

To address some of those challenges, many in the healthcare industry are urging the need to 

integrate behavioral health with primary care

. Several healthcare groups, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Family Physicians, have formed the BHI Collaborative to promote combining behavioral health with physical health. Sossong says he supports that effort wholeheartedly.

While some families have a difficult time finding a psychiatrist or a therapist, many kids see pediatricians regularly, and that can be an avenue to spotting mental health needs.

“That’s a good place to start,” he says.

“Pediatricians are really well suited to address the needs of the child and work with the family and make the appropriate referral,” Sossong says.

However, it’s important to see that the referral actually leads to care, as some families don’t actually make appointments.

Amwell is focused on connecting kids to behavioral health, he says.

“We make it easy to connect children, adolescents and teens to telebehavioral health services and allowing for a seamless integration between the in-person encounter and the telemedicine encounter, recognizing that a team-based approach really does produce superior outcomes, Sossong says.

Telemedicine can also help families of children with special needs who find it difficult to get to appointments. “The thought of having a child who has a developmental disorder or problems with getting ready and going out with family, you could see how telemedicine could be a very easy solution to a number of those problems,” Sossong says.

The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic sees big opportunities with virtual second opinions

 since the COVID-19 pandemic, especially as the government relaxed restrictions on providers to expand telehealth services.

Needless to say, Sossong is optimistic about telemedicine’s potential in the coming years.

“Telemedicine has been right around the corner for decades, and suddenly it came, and now people are saying, what’s next,” Sossong says. “

“I think we’re still seeing the benefit and we have yet to recognize the full potential of telemedicine in healthcare,” he explains. “I think that, not just in behavioral healthcare, but in all aspects of healthcare, thinking about an integrated sort of approach, a hybrid approach where you have an extended treatment team, you have many options available. I’m very excited about it and I’m excited to see what’s next.”

Like many in the telehealth field and across healthcare, Sossong is anxious to see Washington approve telehealth reforms beyond the pandemic, since federal waivers are tied to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. President Biden and Congress approved a provision in the 2022 spending package that would allow telehealth waivers to continue about five months after the end of the public health emergency.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a 

 in July that would allow Medicare patients to use telehealth through 2024; the bill passed with a 416-12 vote, winning unusually strong bipartisan support in a divided Congress. The Senate must still approve the measure.

Sossong says he’s cautiously optimistic about telehealth reforms.

“What happens in the next 12 months is going to set the stage for the next 10 years of treatment,” he says.

Articles

Sossong, who leads the company’s behavioral health efforts, spoke with us about the stress of the pandemic, expanding services to rural areas and integrating mental health with primary care.



Amwell’s Anthony Sossong talks about telemedicine, kids and mental health

Hospitals and healthcare organizations hailed the Senate spending measure for its inclusion of key provisions, including measures that will help Americans buy health insurance and cap prescription drug costs.

The House of Representatives is expected to approve the $740 billion package this week, sending it to President Joe Biden. The Senate narrowly passed the measure over the weekend, which pours big investments into climate change and includes new corporate taxes aimed at reducing the deficit.

Hospital and health system leaders hailed the bill’s health provisions and the efforts to tackle climate change, which is viewed by top health officials as a public health threat. For the first time, Medicare would be given the ability to negotiate prices on some prescription drugs. However, some hoped the legislation would offer more aid for hospitals.

Rachel Levine urges hospital leaders to curb emissions

Bruce Siegel, president and CEO of America’s Essential Hospitals, praised lawmakers and the Biden administration “for finding common ground on legislation to preserve access to affordable health care coverage and mitigate climate change, which disproportionately harms marginalized people and communities.”

In a statement, Siegel urged the House to pass the measure and get it to the president’s desk.

“By extending Affordable Care Act subsidies, the Inflation Reduction Act would safeguard access to care for millions of individuals and families — a critically important outcome, given the ongoing threat of COVID-19 and emerging public health challenges, such as monkeypox,” Siegel said in a 

However, Siegel said his organization is “disappointed it lacks funding for hospital workforce and infrastructure needs.” 

 for not offering more aid to deal with surges of COVID-19 patients, including those affected by the Delta and Omicron variants. 

“Essential hospitals face persistent staffing shortages, high labor costs, and infrastructure constraints,” Siegel said. “They need more funding from Congress to meet these challenges as the impacts of the pandemic continue.”

David J. Skorton, president and CEO of the Association of American Medical College, issued a 

 saying the package “would benefit patients, communities, and families by increasing access to care nationwide by extending Affordable Care Act (ACA) premium tax credits and helping to address the issue of high prescription drug prices.”

“As the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted many disparities in access to coverage and care, we commend senators for agreeing on a bill that will allow patients and families to maintain access to affordable coverage, empowering them to seek care before treatable conditions become more complicated and costly,” he added. Skorton also urged the House to approve the measure and get it to Biden without delay.

The American Public Health Association said in a 

 the legislation “will protect the public from the health threats associated with climate change and expand access to comprehensive and affordable health coverage.”

Manish Bapna, president and CEO of the Natural Resources Defense Council said the Senate “made climate history.”

“This is the most significant action the U.S. has ever taken to combat climate change,” Bapna said in a 

. “It will benefit the people of all 50 states—their health, their wallets, their homes and their future. And it will help the U.S. deliver on its undeniable responsibility to the rest of the world to do its part to address this global crisis.”

The package directs $64 billion to expand tax credits to help Americans pay for health insurance. The bill would extend the Affordable Care Tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of the year, through 2025.

The legislation would cap out-of-pocket drug costs for Medicare beneficiaries buying their drugs from pharmacies at $2,000 annually, the Associated Press reports. 

The package also directs $375 billion over the next decade in efforts to reduce the impact of climate change, with new investments in renewable energy and rebates for wind and solar energy.

Some patient advocates weren’t happy that a provision capping insulin prices at $35 per dose was eliminated from the final Senate bill.

The package will be financed by new corporate taxes and the anticipated savings on prescription drug costs. 

The measure would help Americans pay for health insurance and also lower some prescription drug costs. The House is expected to vote this week, sending it to President Biden.

Hospitals, health groups praise Senate spending bill

The Biden administration says better data will boost health equity.

To that end, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services announced Monday it is distributing nearly $90 million in grants to community health centers to improve their data collection efforts. More than 1,300 health centers are receiving the grants.

Xavier Becerra, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary

The community health centers deliver primary care to 30 million Americans, mostly in underserved communities. The centers are financed by the Health Resources and Services Administration, a division of the HHS.

U.S. Health & Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the grants reflect the Biden administration’s focus on 

"We have prioritized advancing equity in our COVID-19 response and throughout all of our work," Becerra said in a statement. "Community health centers have played a pivotal role in the nation's COVID-19 response, and now serve more than 30 million people across the country. Today's investments will help ensure that all patients have equitable access to the high-quality health care they deserve."

Bryan Stevenson says ‘health equity is health justice’

The money finances data modernization efforts to get better information on the health needs of patients and their communities. In addition, the grants will also support efforts in battling the COVID-19 pandemic and help centers prepare for health emergencies in the future.

"Time and again, the COVID pandemic has demonstrated the vital role of trusted community leaders in delivering health care services," HRSA Administrator Carole Johnson said in a statement.

"Health centers are that trusted resource in the highest risk and hardest hit communities in the country," Johnson said. "As we recognize the heroic work of the frontline health care workers who make health centers what they are, today we also are investing in the tools they need to help them continue to best serve their communities."

The department is looking to get better information not only on the patients coming to the centers but on their social determinants of health. With that information, those centers can more precisely develop programs and services to improve the health of patients in those communities.

Federally Qualified Health Centers battling issues with staffing, digital technology

The federal community health centers serve Americans living in urban and rural areas. The centers operate programs aimed at patients in public housing, those who are homeless, and agricultural workers.

One in five rural Americans go to those centers for their healthcare needs, according to the health department. Overall, community health centers care for one in 11 Americans.

An interactive map showing the grant recipients in each state can be found 

More than 1,300 centers nationwide are getting grants to improve data reporting, which should also improve health equity, the Health and Human Services Department says.

HHS awards nearly $90M to community health centers to get better data

Health leaders discuss sustainability at the American Hospital Association Leadership Summit in San Diego on July 19. From left, Simrit Sandhu, Vizient executive vice president; Shelly L. Schlenker, CommonSpirit, executive vice president and chief advocacy officer; Mark Howell, AHA's associate director, policy and patient safety; and Nancy Foster, AHA, vice president for quality and patient safety policy.

Hospitals and health systems are facing more demands to reduce their environmental impact, and the pressure is coming from several areas.

The federal government is taking a greater interest in seeing hospitals reduce their emissions. The healthcare industry is responsible for 

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., sent a 

 to hospital systems asking them what they are doing to reduce emissions. In addition, health system boards, employees, environmental advocates, and bond rating agencies want to know what hospitals are doing to address sustainability.

Health leaders addressed sustainability during a panel discussion at the American Hospital Association Leadership Summit last month.

The health ecosystem must be built around making the right decisions from an environmental and sustainability perspective, said Simrit Sandhu, Vizient’s executive vice president for strategic transformation and clinical supply solutions.

“This cannot be an initiative,” Sandhu said. “This has to be the new normal.” 

(Shelly Schlenker of CommonSpirit Health spoke to Chief Healthcare Executive at the AHA Leadership Summit. The story continues after the video.)

Hospitals and health companies vow to reach Biden’s goal to cut emissions. See who took the pledge.

Shelly L. Schlenker, CommonSpirit Health’s executive vice president and chief advocacy officer, stressed the importance of getting health leaders to see the financial benefits of sustainability efforts.

“In every instance, you can make the business case,” she said.

By reducing energy costs, Schlenker said, “That’s money in your pocket.”

She pointed to Dignity Health switching to LED lighting. The bulbs are more expensive, but they use much less energy and the system saves substantially in the long run. By investing a couple million dollars in LED bulbs, the system saved $10 million, Schlenker said.

Health system boards are increasingly interested in tackling sustainability, but they need to see the savings, panel members said.

The board “is going to want to see that financial benefit,” Sandhu said.

Why hospitals should emulate Coca-Cola in sustainability reporting

Perhaps the most complex challenge facing hospitals in improving their sustainability involves dealing with the scores of vendors in their supply chains, health system leaders said.

The supply chain may be the most difficult to mitigate because it is the most challenging to measure for environmental impacts, said Mark Howell, the AHA’s senior associate director of policy and patient safety.

Hospitals have dealt with a host of supply challenges throughout the pandemic, from personal protective equipment to the 

. The pandemic has shown the need to look for more sustainable supply solutions, including developing more supply sources domestically or at least closer to America, Howell said.

The shortage of contrast dye in the spring largely stemmed from the lack of production from a plant in Shanghai, which was on lockdown for weeks.

“COVID has forced our hand on revamping the supply chain,” Howell said, adding, “I’m not sure we have another chance than right now to take those steps.”

Health systems can work gradually with vendors to move toward more sustainable products, first by educating them and then eventually putting it in contract language, Schlenker said.

How the healthcare industry can help the environment

Health systems looking to improve sustainability should form a green team.

Rather than relying on the CEO, systems should embed a green team in the organization to lead sustainability efforts.

“The younger workforce is passionate about climate work,” Howell said. “If they are engaged and involved in a team, it’s a win-win.”

CommonSpirit has green teams at its hospitals, Schlenker said. Members volunteer to serve on green teams that meet monthly, and the system offers time on their regular shift for meetings.

Many hospitals say they don’t have the resources to design green buildings, Howell said, but health systems can start with manageable remedies.

Health systems can go with one easy fix by making sure workers power down their computers before they go home. Moving to LED bulbs is another step that pays off from a business perspective, he said.

Health systems can start by using anesthesia that’s less harmful to the environment. “It’s not only better for the patient’s health but it’s less expensive,” Schlenker said.

The American Society for Health Care Engineering’s 

 program helps health systems track their electricity spending, emissions and offers mitigation strategies, even for limited budgets.

After building some initial steps to make progress and build confidence, Howell said, then it’s possible to “have the conversation about the bigger investments.”

Investors are more commonly associated with a different kind of green, but they are interested in how hospitals are tackling sustainability.

“If your CFO hasn’t spoken to you about this, they will,” Sandhu said.

Investors are increasingly worried about the business impact of climate change, she said.

“This is a business risk, so the conversation’s changing,” Sandhu said.

“You’re seeing the investment community speak up, you’re seeing the bond rating community speak up,” she added. “That’s going to be a major driver.”

Bond rating agencies, Schlenker said, “are looking at what we’re doing.”

Health systems need to understand clean air and water are social determinants of health, and pollutants have a direct impact on health outcomes, Sandhu said.

“Our argument is this is about patient safety,” she said.

, the assistant U.S. secretary for health, hammered that point home in a speech delivered for the AHA Leadership Summit. Speaking via video, Levine said some sustainability measures will save money.

“The more money you’re going to save and the better you’re going to be able to take care of patients and communities,” Levine said.

Health leaders have focused on the tie between reducing environmental impacts and improving health equity. As panelists noted at the AHA summit, members of minority groups and those in less affluent areas suffer greater impacts of emissions and pollutants.

“It is the poor and the vulnerable that suffer,” Sandhu said.

President Biden’s administration has been focused on the healthcare industry and climate change. Biden established an Office of Climate Change and Health Equity within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, although Congress has yet to provide funding, 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has been reaching out to healthcare groups to determine the challenges and barriers for hospitals in addressing climate change, Howell said.

The American Hospital Association would have concerns about the government tying federal aid to sustainability initiatives, Howell said. Hospitals need “helpful information and support,” he said.

Members of Congress are interested in what health systems are doing on sustainability, but Howell said it’s unclear if any legislation will emerge. “There’s a lot of potential for something to happen on the Hill. It’s unclear if something will yet,” Howell said.

Schlenker said health systems should voluntarily decide on ways to measure progress in sustainability and work to reduce environmental impacts, before government mandates are imposed.

“If we don’t do it together, the government is going to do it to us,” Schlenker said.

Health systems are facing growing pressure to address climate change. A panel at the American Hospital Association Leadership Summit outlined strategies to move forward.

How hospitals can improve their sustainability, and why they should get moving

In the world of academic medicine, women faculty have suffered sexual harassment for years, and it continues to be a problem.

One out of three women faculty members (34%) have experienced sexual harrassment within the previous 12 months, according to a recent 

 from the Association of American Medical Colleges.

More than half (52.6%) of the women faculty in two departments, emergency medicine and anesthesiology, said they experienced sexual harassment. Those departments had the highest rates of harassment. Nearly half of the women faculty in pharmacology (47.7%) said they experienced sexual harassment.

At a time when healthcare leaders have said 

, the AAMC report’s findings are beyond troubling.

“We cannot deliver the best education, medical care, and scientific advancements while harmful, often illegal, behaviors are tolerated — and we need the best of academic medicine in our current environment,” the report stated.

Women doctors have suffered bigger career setbacks in pandemic

Disturbingly, the AAMC report concluded that some academic faculty who are harassed didn’t feel safe reporting it and weren’t confident the institution would resolve the issue.

Even in the academic departments with the most female faculty - OB-GYN and pediatrics - roughly a third of women faculty said they experienced sexual harassment, the AAMC report stated.

“Academic institutions must be bold and brave in eliminating harassment by addressing the foundational cultural traits at their institutions that continue to allow it to persist, such as tolerance for harmful behavior, acts of retribution, rigid hierarchy, and dominating behavior, often by men,” the report stated.

The findings suggest there has been little progress since a 2018 report from the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine found sexual harassment was rampant in academic medicine.

Even in the two departments with the lowest rates of harassment, urology and radiology, roughly one in five women said they have experienced sexual harassment. In radiology, 21.6% of women faculty have been sexually harassed, while 20.7% of women faculty in urology reported harassment.

While women experience the brunt of the sexual harassment in academic medicine, male faculty suffer harassment as well, the study found. The report found 12.5% of male faculty reported sexual harassment within the past year. Overall, 22% of faculty said they have been sexually harassed.

Faculty participating in the AAMC survey were asked several questions about harassment. They include:

Hearing sexist stories or jokes they found offensive (19.7% of women, 9.6% of men)

Offensive remarks about their appearance or sexual activities (7.4% of women, 3.0% of men)

Insulted or treated with condescension because of their gender (24% of women, 2.8% of men).

Female and male victims of sexual harassment in academic medicine say it takes a steep toll.

“Faculty of all genders who experienced harassment were less engaged, less satisfied with their medical school as a place to work, and less likely to stay at their institution,” the report stated.

Faculty identified as LGB+ were more likely to experience sexual harassment than heterosexual faculty, the report found. About 42% of LGB+ women and 21% of LGB+ men reported sexual harassment. Among heterosexuals, 33% of women and 12% of men said they were sexually harassed. (The report uses “LGB+”, the authors said, because questions focused on sexual orientation and not gender identity).

Academic institutions should implement zero tolerance policies to address sexual harassment, and recruits should be notified that previous employers will be asked about any prior incidents, the report suggests.

Institutions should also assemble multi-disciplinary teams to prevent sexual harassment. The teams should include the chief medical officer and members from the legal, human resources and faculty affairs teams, among others.

Department chairs must also be held accountable and required to provide plans to prevent sexual harassment and how those efforts mesh with promoting diversity, equity and inclusion, the report stated. New department chairs should be trained on sexual harassment prevention.

Institutions must spend the money on hiring trained investigators to deal with reports of sexual harassment and other forms of discrimination, the report stated. Those investigators should be empowered to find and report on common themes or repeat offenders in harassment complaints.

Institutions with parent universities should also coordinate efforts on preventing sexual harassment. Medical colleges should also examine the university policies that could be adapted.

Half of the women faculty in some departments are harassed, according to a report from the Association of American Medical Colleges. Some don’t feel safe reporting harassment.

One in three women faculty in academic medicine experience sexual harassment

Dr. David Hoover, MD, is chief medical officer at Proficient Health and a practicing pediatric surgeon.

Better communication between hospitals and outpatient services is imperative for most organizations. Electronic health records were supposed to allow for seamless provider-to-provider communication, and many of them do — for some services and for certain providers in the same facility.

But provider-to-provider communication between different entities (i.e., between a hospital and a long-term care facility or another outpatient service) is often fragile, at best. There are several major reasons for this.

Communication tools in the healthcare industry, such as SMS texting, originated in the military, in banking, or in other industries. They weren’t designed for the unique needs of healthcare. Many hospitals still rely on faxed information, one-way paging, or telephone operators to facilitate provider-to-provider communications. Healthcare has been notoriously slow to adopt new technologies. For every service line that’s using state-of-the-art communication tools integrated with an EHR, there are others that still rely on pagers, or whose providers prefer to be called on their cellphones.

Organizations have invested heavily in expensive EHR systems, which have modernized many aspects of care. For example, ordering a consult for a hospitalized patient is fairly straightforward in an EHR. However, getting that order to the right person isn’t always simple. It can require multiple resources and take hours because EHR communication tools aren’t geared for the entire continuum of care. Outpatient providers are left on the sidelines because they don’t have privileges, or they can’t access the medical records. And even when multiple EHRs can communicate, there’s no guarantee the communication will continue: Software updates can cause platforms to get out of sync.

Today, a care team includes not only physicians and advanced practitioners, but also nurses, specialists, residents, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, alternative providers, front-office staff, and providers aligned with other physicians. This makes it difficult for providers to answerthe question, “Who are you trying to reach?”

Furthermore, a physician might not see any members of a patient’s care team because he or she never goes to the hospital. Or the practitioner might get a list of 20 people who are on call at that point for a service line in the hospital. Scheduling and on-call hours might fall to one office manager, which can be overwhelming.

The results? Delays in patient care, longer hospital lengths of stay, frustrated consulting providers, and burned-out front-office staff.

As hospitals and health systems realize they need better communication across the care continuum, they’re searching for a way to connect all providers — even community providers — with one clinical communication solution.

Here are 5 things to look for in a provider-to-provider communication toolset.

With so much already invested in an EHR, it’s vital for any solution to work with the existing system as much as possible. Look for tools that integrate with the EHR and allow communication with outside systems while streamlining the administrative and clinical workflows that are already in use.

2.) Secure HIPAA-compliant communication.

A critical part of the provider-to-provider communication process is managing provider call schedules that are maintained on different platforms. A cross-continuum communications solution has to work with disparate systems, each with myriad moving parts and different modalities. But patient privacy regulations — and bad actors — aren’t going away. Make sure your P2P solution secures all communications from end to end through strong encryption and authentication features.

3.) Successful communication the first time

As with any technology, first impressions count. If providers have a bad early experience, they lose faith in the platform. By the third failure, they’re back to their old way of doing things, and you’ve lost the opportunity for buy in. It’s important to select tools that can consistently connect providers every time, any time, and anywhere.

The solutions must ensure that a consult is automatically delivered to the right person — the first time. Look for automated message routing based on factors such as clinical service resource availability (residents, physician assistants, etc.) time of day, or consulting physician workflow and preferences. The system should support preferred workflows for not only the consulting provider, but also for the ordering physician. In addition, the solution should enable providers to queue messages as appropriate, prioritizing urgent needs ahead of consults that can wait.

In addition to providers, care teams include nurses, front-office staff, receptionists, and referral specialists. Look for a communications platform that accommodates these team members and streamlines their workflows as well. Streamlined workflows produce more timely care, which can reduce patients’ length of stay.

Implementing provider-to-provider communication that spans the care continuum is challenging, but health systems and hospitals that embrace the challenge are realizing important benefits. The most immediate is improved communication, and more of it, among more providers. 

An effective P2P communication tool can expedite administrative and clinical workflows across the care continuum by providing accurate orders and ensuring the orders go to the right providers. This reduces provider frustration, which can reduce burnout. The streamlined process doesn’t require additional access or more on-call time for providers. Rather, it hones workflows already in use and optimizes provider availability with the right message at the right time. When a provider is not on call, none of the messages go to that provider.

Most importantly, optimized provider-to-provider communication provides better patient care and outcomes, because patients are getting the care they need with less waiting and fewer communication gaps. Transparent communication enables real-time tracking of new consults. And faster consults improve patient throughput. Providers can make care decisions quickly and efficiently because they don’t have to go through three or four on-call providers to talk to the correct expert.

Better communication is vital for improving patient outcomes and provider workflows. Make sure your provider-to-provider solution can deliver better communication across the care continuum.

Dr. David Hoover, MD, is chief medical officer at 

An effective communication tool can expedite administrative and clinical workflows and improve patient care.

How to align provider-to-provider communication across the care continuum | David Hoover

Susan Parisi has been named the first chief wellness officer of Geisinger in central Pennsylvania.

In this new role, Parisi, a physician, will lead the implementation of a systemwide strategy to improve the mental health and overall well-being of the staff at Geisinger. She’ll also oversee initiatives designed to improve professional satisfaction and promote a culture of professionalism and respect, Geisinger said.

Janet Tomcavage, Geisinger executive vice president and chief nursing officer, said she’s confident Parisi is ideally suited for the role and will help Geisinger improve its focus on staff well-being.

“As we strive to make better health easier for those we serve, we will continue to invest in our employees and create an engaging, supportive employee experience where every person feels motivated and connected to their professional purpose,” Tomcavage said in a statement.

Wright Lassiter takes over as CEO of CommonSpirit Health, Northwell Health appoints a new CIO, and Novant Health Enterprises names a chief physician innovation officer.