Connect. Inspire. Lead.
The nation’s only essential conference
Track: Innovations in Health Care
- Expanding Mental Health Services, Reducing Workplace Violence Amid a Pandemic
- Trauma-Informed Care: Creating Safe and Supportive Environments
- A Culturally Competent Approach to Improve COVID-19 Vaccine Confidence
- Automating a Patient Medication Assistance Program in the EHR
- Listening to Moms about Perinatal Health
Following the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, a surge of psychiatric patients hit NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County. These patients presented with an increase in overall anger and mental destabilization, and inpatient units experienced a burst in physically aggressive, assaultive, and destructive behaviors. In this session, learn how this essential hospital expanded mental health services—both inpatient and via telehealth—and revamped its infrastructure for violence prevention and safety in the psychiatric setting, all while dealing with an unprecedented public health emergency. Presenters also will discuss how to create a data collection and analysis system to examine patient aggression and workplace violence.
Presenter(s):
Renuka Ananthamoorthy, MD
Chief of Behavioral Health Services
NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County
Christina Hutchins, PsyD
Clinical Director of Inpatient Services
NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County
Jennifer Morrison-Diallo, PhD
Director of Mental Health Services
NYC Health + Hospitals/Kings County
An estimated 70 percent of adults in the United States have experienced a traumatic event. Trauma can occur at any life stage and can be experienced physically, emotionally, psychologically, and across generations. The impact of trauma is far-reaching and often linked with chronic health and social problems. Experiencing trauma, especially during childhood, significantly increases the risk of heart and lung disease, depression, and substance misuse. Learn how one essential hospital, in San Antonio, integrated trauma-informed approaches into policies, practices, and physical environments while actively reducing re-traumatization to provide compassionate, person-centered care.
Presenter(s):
Sarah Sebton, MPA, MPH
Director of Trauma-Informed Care
University Health
Vaccine hesitancy might be the biggest obstacle to widespread uptake of the COVID-19 vaccine. In addition, the pandemic has exposed longstanding racial inequities that could further exacerbate vaccine acceptance. Findings suggest a culturally tailored approach is needed to achieve sufficient vaccine uptake. In this session, learn how association member Cambridge Health Alliance used data-driven collaborative engagement and strategic partnerships to improve vaccine access and confidence in its community.
Presenter(s):
Vanessa Doleyres-Nazaire, MPH
Director of Population Health and Contract Quality Performance
Cambridge Health Alliance
LouAnn Bruno-Murtha, DO
Medical Director
Division Chief, Infectious Disease
Cambridge Health Alliance
Learn how Harris Health System, an essential hospital in Houston, uses an automated patient medication assistance program in the electronic health record to expand access to pharmaceutical-sponsored medications for its indigent population. Session attendees will learn how to maximize medication access for all indigent patients that qualify for patient assistance programs and how an automated program can help improve medication compliance.
Presenter(s):
Shahana Quadri, PharmD, MS
Pharmacy Operations Manager
Harris Health System
Maternal health and birth outcomes for people of color are worsening—in particular, adverse maternal outcomes, such as preterm birth, disproportionately affect Black people. In 2020, association member St. Josephs Health, in New Jersey, set out to understand root causes of these disparities and identify how to advance equity in maternal health. This session will highlight innovative research techniques and tools to help health care workers learn from and empathize with patients, as well as restructure power dynamics to elevate patients’ voices to develop systemic change.
Presenter(s):
Jerome Wang
Innovation Strategist
St. Joseph’s Health
Rober Kierce, MD
Chair, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
St. Joseph’s Health
About Our Tracks
Sessions will focus on solutions to current public policy and financial issues unique to essential hospitals. Past topics have included Medicaid supplemental payments, waiver initiatives, telehealth policy, graduate medical education, and state-level 340B Drug Pricing Program policies.
Sessions will showcase new and promising programs that demonstrate groundbreaking initiatives in caring for vulnerable populations and ensuring equitable access to high-value care. Sessions may focus on innovative programs that integrate clinical practice into the health system’s overarching mission and goals, quality improvement, managing operations during a pandemic or other public health threat, and patient-centered care.
Sessions will target the hard and soft skills necessary to lead complex and evolving hospitals and health systems dedicated to serving their communities. Sessions may focus on lessons learned from leadership experiences and the importance of strategic partnerships, combating structural racism, culture change, reducing employee burnout, and climate resilience.
Sessions will offer expertise on improving the health outcomes for a group of individuals by engaging internal and external stakeholders to serve community needs. Sessions may focus on leveraging policies and procedures at the hospital, local, state, and federal levels to support community well-being; innovative financing models; cross-sector partnerships; and aligning community benefit investment with population health efforts. Programs and practices that address social determinants of health and ultimately aim to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care will be highlighted.
Questions?
Contact us at events@essentialhospitals.org
America’s Essential Hospitals
401 Ninth St. NW, Suite 900,
Washington, DC 20004
202.585.0100