The Backstory

The moment has arrived. With the UK granting emergency use authorization and Europe and the US FDA close behind, doses of Covid vaccines will be rolling through healthcare providers’ doors in the blink of an eye. And, with healthcare workers at or near the top of the priority list, providers must lay the groundwork now with the media, the public and employees about how they will distribute the vac...

We got a great response from on the last podcast featuring Kim Fox and Tim Stewart, so we asked them to come back for another round. In both healthcare and society we felt like there's been a strange tension between moments of optimism/hope and pessimism thanks to the slog of ongoing bad news and now the third surge of COVID-19. So, we asked Kim and Tim to talk about that. They are never people to...

A few weeks ago, we got a group together to spitball about the election with less than a week ago. We figured we'd do it again, putting ourselves on record, talking about what might happen when anything could happen. We'll know soon enough, or maybe we won't. In order of appearance the conversation included Tim Stewart, VP in our National and Academic Health System. Practice Justin Gibbs, VP in ou...

When people feel helpless, they try to control whatever they can. That's what we're seeing today through the pandemic. Jarrard Inc. Partner Kim Fox and Senior VP Tim Stewart talk about this issue and where healthcare providers can offer some hope. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The election is looming. There’s so much uncertainty, and if you’re listening to this on Wednesday, September 30, then you’re still probably like us, sitting on the couch, motionless, staring at your now switched off TV and some kind of empty glass in your hand trying to figure out what the crap happened last night. If anyone was hoping for clear answers to the uncertainty… that wasn’t it. And yet...

Health disparities faced by communities of color across the country are no secret. Black and Latino populations face higher prevalence of and worse outcomes for many conditions. COVID-19 disproportionately affects people of color. The interplay between socioeconomic status and health is well-documented, access to care is challenge and bias – implicit and explicit – damages trust and creates barrie...

This year, acceleration of existing trends happened across healthcare. Which, in turn, opened up the opportunity for providers to consolidate some of the positive steps they've taken and also reevaluate some things that still need improving That positions marketers of healthcare provider organizations to step in and lead the charge towards creating a new, better healthcare experience. In this epis...

Angie Caldwell is the Managing Principal of PYA's Tampa office. A significant amount of her work is around physician compensation, a topic that is right at the top of many, if not most or all, healthcare providers' lists of critical issues today as we sort through the financial fallout of the past few months. Here, Caldwell speaks with Jarrard Inc. CEO David Jarrard about physician compensation re...

Warner Thomas is president and CEO of Ochsner Health based in New Orleans, Louisiana, and he recently completed a six-year term on MedPAC. He has been with Ochsner for over 20 years, previously serving as president and COO. Between hurricane Katrina, the COVID-19 pandemic, and sitting at the table for discussions about Medicare and other federal healthcare policies, Thomas has comprehensive perspe...

We just released the latest volume of Art of Change, our publication dedicated to unpacking how and why organizations change... or don't. In this volume, we explore healthcare mergers, acquisitions and partnerships for hospitals, health systems and health services companies. After speaking with almost 20 healthcare experts in law, finance, management consulting, investment and communications, we p...

We're back in another serious moment as COVID-19 cases continue to ramp up. And the controversy and noise and frustration in so many areas of society and healthcare have ramped up right alongside the coronavirus pandemic. But at the same time, we're beginning to look back on those first three or four months. Two, three, even four months ago, we - and several of our partners across the industry - w...

The challenges for healthcare providers continue and they continue to evolve the messages that need to be delivered by hospitals and health systems are confusing, even counterintuitive. The public is asking questions about furloughs are taking place even as hospitals receive federal relief funds. Volumes are returning but operations are still altered. In short, traditional messaging has broken dow...

There’s a lot of discussion about the long-term future of healthcare. But so much of our work is in and for the moment – next week, next month, next 90 days. Industry leaders are asking, “What do we have to do today?” To bridge the gap between what the industry practically needs today so it can fulfil its mission for the future, we convened four Jarrard Inc. partners who’ve been in the weeds to ta...

Academic medical centers have a reputation for innovation in education and research, but aren't necessarily considered to be the most nimble of organizations in terms of operations. Dr. Arick Forrest has shown that doesn't have to be the case. Forrest is the Vice Dean of Clinical Affairs and President of OSU Physicians at the Ohio State University. Here, he joins Jarrard Inc. CEO David Jarrard to...

A few weeks ago, Nancy Gibbs wrote a column in the Washington Post titled, Forget swabs. We all need to take a character test.. It caught the attention of our CEO, David Jarrard - so much so that more than two weeks later we were still discussing it. Here, we talk about the clarifying nature of crises and the way we're entering a time of testing for healthcare organizations...and the individuals l...

Healthcare providers of all types are under pressure - financial and, in some cases, social and political - to restart elective procedures and get back to "normal" operations after COVID-19. But there are risks to that process if it's not handled well. In this conversation, Lauren McConville, partner at Jarrard Inc., and Sandra DiVarco, partner at McDermott Will & Emery, overlay some of the legal/...

You could argue that AVIA exists for a moment like this. COVID-19 brought about a sea change in healthcare. After years of slow adoption, tools like telehealth saw exponential growth in days. The way health systems thought about delivering care changed out of necessity. It has been incredibly difficult on many levels, yet it has also opened up a massive opportunity for healthcare to shift into a n...

Cision just released their 2020 state of the media report. Between that, and the fact that there's always something to talk about when it comes to the media - especially in these days of COVID-19 - we decided to do exactly that. Tim Stewart - and a small bird outside Tim's home office - joined Jarrard Inc. editorial manager David Shifrin to look at trends in journalism and the relationship between...

What does online reputation management look like as the initial, acute phase of the coronavirus crisis recedes? Reed Smith is the VP of digital strategy at Jarrard Inc., and he's looking closely at the online reviews and feedback providers are receiving today. There are questions about safety, messages about PPE, things that providers did not see before COVID-19. And, while some of that feedback i...

Jarrard Inc. just completed a survey in partnership with Public Opinion Strategies, surveying, American adults across the country to get a sense of their perception of the healthcare industry and how they will interact with it going forward. One of the major findings is that people are scared to go back to hospitals. That's not particularly surprising. But what is surprising is that healthcare pro...

The COVID-19 pandemic has put a massive financial crunch on healthcare providers across the board. Many rural and community facilities, struggling before coronavirus, are now on the edge. The decline in ED volume, the cancellation of electives, and the rise of telehealth have changed both models of care and the finances of rural providers. It'll be a tough road ahead, but there are some ways for t...

Difficult as it is, now is an important moment for healthcare leaders to begin examining what the future - of the industry and their organization - could look like. Dr. David Pate, recently retired CEO of St. Luke's Health System and of counsel at Jarrard Inc., and David Jarrard, go in depth on several topics that will help leaders prepare. It's an important conversation, as it provides vision abo...

Healthcare providers have been faced with difficult decisions regarding staffing throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Many hospitals, health systems and health services companies have pursued furloughs, layoffs and pay cuts in order to help ensure the viability of the organization going forward. When making these changes, ensuring the appropriate legal approach has been taken is necessary to minim...

Dr. Tony Briningstool is an emergency room physician and the Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at American Physician Partners. A huge area of focus for Dr. Briningstool is on what we call caring for the caregiver – how to support clinical staff and build teams to reduce the incredible problem of burnout and moral injury among physicians. Those issues, of course, are of even greater c...

Questions and concerns about how stimulus funds are being distributed – and spent – are growing, changing with each new announcement from the government. How do hospitals keep up with a situation that seemingly evolves by the hour, especially when the situation isn’t just the medical realities of an evolving viral pandemic but also the response to it? We recently talked to Martie Ross, Office Mana...