Addressing healthcare leaders at the American Hospital Association's Annual Membership Meeting in Washington, D.C., this week, John G. King, the AHA's new chairman identified five core areas for improving community healthcare and sustaining the public's trust in health systems.
The recommendations underscore the need for strategic marketing/PR input and direction especially in areas of community image building and quality of care. "
To strengthen community relationships, King recommended:
- Creating user-friendly systems of care. Providers cannot assume that patients will come to them simply because the facilities are there. Patients will go to providers that offer efficient service and attention where their concerns will be listened to and considered.
- Improving quality of care via individualized patient-based educational programs.
- Making communities healthier. King urged healthcare leaders to collaborate with other community providers as well as churches, businesses and schools to identify specific health problems and pool resources.
- Being ethical in healthcare and conduct by forming integrated ethics committees with stakeholders, board members, physicians, management and payors in the community. (AHA, Alicia Mitchell, 202/626-2339)