How We Think

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?

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.

Femtech data and the women who provide it have new privacy concerns with Roe v. Wade overturned. Learn what digital technology companies can do to protect reproductive health data voluntarily shared by their users, which—unlike medical records—is not protected by HIPAA.

Medical researchers say that even more than COVID-19, climate change is global public health’s greatest threat right now. Some hospitals and health systems are already on the road to eliminating their carbon footprint. Learn more about the importance of sharing your sustainability story.

False information in the time of coronavirus often travels as fast as the virus itself. The World Health Organization (WHO) has called the deluge of information – often misinformation – an “infodemic.” The spread of false information has become so prolific that the WHO set up webpages to raise awareness of common myths about the virus and to educate the public on how to sift through information to avoid falling victim to potentially dangerous and false information.

This year health care organizations are managing crises on multiple fronts: COVID-19, a national reckoning on racial justice and a series of deadly storms and wildfires across the country. When confronted with multiple challenges, how can organizations communicate effectively with crisis-weary team members and the general public?

Since the Unites States declared a national emergency over the coronavirus pandemic, numerous reports have shown a surge in internet activity as people have sheltered in their homes. Social media and video streaming consumption are up, as are searches related to symptoms, treatment and government response to the pandemic.

We have a favorite expression on this blog: communicate early and often. While it’s of value in normal circumstances and during an average crisis, it’s never been more important than during the pandemic we face now.

Hospitals are increasingly finding it necessary to make tough decisions to close or scale back services. In an environment of changing care delivery models, these decisions are the result of many factors including regulatory upheaval, shifting market dynamics, changes in community demographics, recruitment difficulties, volume fluctuations or unsustainable financial challenges.