On June 4, I was fortunate enough to be the special guest on a record-breaking Health Care Leadership Twitter Chat (#HCLDR ) that reached more than 2 million people on Twitter and was the number one trending topic in the twittersphere.
As the guest, I was charged with designing the chat, choosing the topic and questions, and contributing a blog to be referenced on the Health Care Leadership homepage. What was the topic that had the social media hive buzzing? We explored the issues surrounding person-centered care and patient activation, and talked about the role of people supporting their health within the context of health care delivery.
So many of us spend our lives dedicated to improving health care. As a senior program officer working for The John A. Hartford Foundation in NYC, I peruse endless data quantifying the problems, poor quality care, and needless harm to our nation’s frail and vulnerable older adults. For example, 20 percent of our nations’ older adults return to the hospital within 30 days after being discharged. The cost for this debacle is estimated at more than $17 billion dollars per year in avoidable readmissions. If this were a car dealership—and the rate of repaired cars returning needlessly to the shop—they would go out of business.
In response to poor quality, health care providers are grappling with redesign aimed at bending the cost curve. Yet, many leaders in health care delivery and policy think of health as medicine-centric. They leave people—and their families—out of the equation.
So I ask you: “What if health care has it all wrong?”
The Health Care Leadership Twitter Chat, or #HCLDR, is a gathering every Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. ET where health care leaders across the U.S. and around the world dive into big issues affecting cost, care, and quality. The #HCLDR Chat is led by one of my favorite social media gurus, Lisa Fields (@practical wisdom), along with her ever brilliant co-founder, Colin Hung (colin_hung).
Lisa posted a superb blog in preparation for the big day that included background information on the topic and speaker, as well as the questions that would be posed to #HCLDR participants. And the Tweets flew at a pace of 690 per hour! (You can read the full transcript.)
For those still standing in the social media “wings”—unsure of the value of Twitter—I strongly suggest you dip your toe in the water or, better yet, dive right in. A warm and welcoming community of health care leadership awaits you.