How We Think

The need for talent in health care continues to ebb and flow, but it’s not going away anytime soon. To improve recruitment, retention and engagement, you need to tell your total reward story – and the first step is to create a comprehensive communications strategy.

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) in health care is critical, and there are plenty of data points to prove it: According to recent research from Monigle and the Society for Health Care Strategy and Marketing Development (SHSMD), 55% of people are more likely to choose an inclusive health care organization over others that don’t prioritize #DEI – and the language, images and communication tactics organizations use play a pivotal role in these decisions.

Better, relevant, experienced, valuable. This is how patients, customers, and decision makers with purchasing power view organizations that use thought leadership effectively. Whether their subject matter experts are relaying health information in a magazine, opining about an industry forecast on a podcast or they’re included on a top ten list, organizations that position themselves as industry leaders have invested in positive perception.

Hospitals and health systems are duty-bound to serve their communities. In the world of nonprofit health care, that duty is also a legal obligation.

The latest monkeypox outbreak is now a public health emergency. More than two years into the COVID-19 pandemic, what lessons have communicators learned that apply now?

Over a century before the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law on July 26, 1990, Louis Braille recognized the importance of disability inclusion in the way people communicate, stating simply, “We must be treated as equals, and communication is the way we can bring this about." Today, disability awareness is more important than ever – especially online, where the average person spends nearly seven hours of their day working, learning, connecting and communicating.

Labor unions are amplifying the national narrative, and labor organizing has increased measurably since the start of the pandemic. As organizations struggle to recruit and retain health care talent, fostering effective communications with labor unions remains an important priority.

Before stepping into your facility, many patients research you online. Investing in an online reputation strategy can help leverage your digital assets to showcase what your health care business has to offer.

This month, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will refresh the Overall Hospital Star Ratings on its Care Compare website. The update follows a recent delay due to a calculation error, but the system has been challenged with years of methodology tweaks.

“Writing for the Harvard Business Review, Jeff Levin-Scherz, Patricia Toro, Siupo Becker, and Meg Alexander of WTW detail six considerations for employers to create effective policies that help protect workers from monkeypox.”