Tag: healthcare

Change is inevitable. When your hospital has a new CEO or president, the communications department has an important role in the leadership transition. Here are five tips for making it go as smoothly as possible.

1. Be open during the hiring process. You don’t have to release names of candidates, but you should include updates on the hiring process on the intranet site or in weekly emails to hospital staff. This gives them a sense of inclusion and helps to remove uncertainty.
2. Get the new leader up-to-speed. Give your hospital’s new CEO or president a top-level summary about any ongoing branding/marketing campaigns, and present a copy of your crisis communications plan.
3. Plan meetings for the new CEO to meet with individuals in the hospital’s external and internal network. This can be stakeholders, community leaders and each department in the hospital. Your staff should conduct media training with the CEO and then set up interviews with local media, too.
4. Have CEO share vision with hospital staff. You should write a welcome letter on behalf of the CEO and/or plan numerous meet-and-greet sessions, including shifts outside 8 a.m. – 5 p.m. Also, consider hosting a Facebook Live chat with questions from hospital staff.
5. Establish a communications protocol. Every leader has their own preferences. Don’t expect the new CEO to accept your procedures for handling media requests, etc. Find the right balance between making your recommendations and accepting your new CEO’s.

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Does your hospital have a cybersecurity crisis management plan? According to the 2015 Data Breach Industry Forecast, data breaches cost the healthcare industry $5.6 billion each year. Having a plan could be the difference between a costly and time-consuming ordeal that hurts your reputation or having your valuable information saved.

Your communications team should establish clear protocols for departments to report security breaches to top management. When putting together the protocols, think about answering the following questions: What level of information is at risk? How many people are affected? What steps should be taken to secure remaining data?

Another important step is monitoring the media (traditional or social). You also should keep a running spreadsheet to share with management. If reporters contact your hospital, respond promptly (e.g. acknowledge you received request).

Once the cybersecurity plan is completed, you should add it to your overall crisis communications plan and keep it updated every quarter. Having this plan in place also can be a talking point to patients to reassure them that the hospital is doing everything it can to protect against and mitigate a breach.

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INTRODUCTION

Is your hospital or clinic providing the highest quality care to every patient regardless of race, socioeconomic status, ethnicity, culture or language proficiency?

A report on cultural competence concluded that “a framework of organizational, structural and clinical cultural competence interventions can facilitate the elimination of these disparities and improve care for all Americans.”

Following are tips for how your hospital staff can work with diverse populations, whether internally or as part of community relations campaigns. Continue reading “Working with Diverse Populations” →