AHA Stat Blog

Health care is about human connection: people taking care of people. The people of America’s hospitals and health systems do this each and every day, and the COVID-19 pandemic has shone a spotlight on the vital role they play in our nation’s health and safety. 

The incredible job that hospitals and caregivers have done over the past year saving lives, treating very sick patients and protecting their communities has been acknowledged and enabled by Congress through relief aid several times since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

AHA launches the first in a new series of toolkits designed to help hospitals and health systems make progress in advancing their health equity agenda.

One way to demonstrate respect and not stigmatize when discussing people with mental health diagnoses is to use person-first language, writes Kelly Ryan, director of social services and doctoral training at Linden Oaks at Edward Hospital and Health Services in Illinois, and Gina Sharp, president and CEO of Linden Oaks Behavioral Health.

At hospitals and health systems across the country, patient safety is a priority every single day. Each year as AHA marks Patient Safety Awareness Week, we recognize the work of health care teams and promote discussions about patient safety. It’s a time when we also mark the progress we’ve made as a field, which is more important than ever as we look toward recovery from the pandemic.

Patients should expect that any drugs or medications they require are safe, administered effectively and available when needed. But, some commercial health insurance companies are changing the rules about how drugs are handled and administered, with serious consequences for patient care.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forever changed many of the things that shape our lives: our relationships, our work, our interactions with technology and one another. And although it has undoubtedly changed leaders, it hasn’t changed what we know about leadership.

Health care systems must partner in effective community-based approaches in caring for populations, write three leaders from Providence. Using evidence from more than four decades of place-based investments, the authors write that comprehensive, multi-dimensional community investment strategies can measurably advance human health and well-being. Read more about the seven Standards of Excellence in Community Health Investments for consideration by health care systems and partners.

Today is International Women's Day, a celebration of women’s achievements and a way to raise awareness against bias and take action for equality.

In the 55 years since Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke those words, our nation has made some progress to ensure all individuals have an equal opportunity to reach their healthiest life — but we still have a long way to go.

1.5 million people. That’s the approximate number of people that hospitals and health systems have treated for COVID-19 since the pandemic began. To put that in perspective, that would mean filling Chicago’s Soldier Field to capacity 24 times.

A recent report from RAND misses the mark on solutions to the cost of health care and draws its conclusions from the same recycled and incomplete studies.

During our rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals and health systems have developed new ways of collecting, evaluating and sharing data to improve patient care. It’s one way the pandemic is reshaping health care now and into the future.

A recent JAMA article, recycles old and tired arguments about hospital consolidation without any examination of the impact of consolidation in the commercial health insurance industry or related health care sectors that promise to have a profound impact on the cost, quality and accessibility of health care for consumers.

For the last few weeks, we’ve used this space to highlight the need for the next COVID-19 relief package to provide hospitals and health systems with additional resources and support so they can continue to care for patients and protect communities.

Hospitals and health systems should embrace opportunities to work with other stakeholders in the health care ecosystem, such as tech data companies, on new combinations of services. Leaders should see this as an opportunity to work together with health care disruptors, if they are not doing so already, by sharing their tacit knowledge and expertise in health care.

Nearly 55 years ago, during the 1966 Medical Committee of Human Rights Convention, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. declared, “Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.” Although there has been incremental progress toward achieving a more just health care system, Dr. King’s words still ring true today.

Join me on this episode of Leadership Rounds with Consuelo Wilkins, M.D., vice president of health equity at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, based in Nashville.

With our nation’s COVID-19 vaccine administration rollout underway, policy influencers and advocacy groups are focusing on communities of color that have been disproportionately impacted by the fluctuating pandemic.

Congress returns to Washington, D.C., next week, and its top focus will be passing President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief legislation.