For two days in October of 2019, eight health care innovators and change agents converged in Duluth to share with others how they’re making health care better for all. The Believe in Better Project is an event designed to encourage conversation, community, and breakthroughs. Each of the eight diverse speakers shared how they are making health care better, and then engaged the audience with spirited Q&A.
Hailey Sault hosts the annual conference because our mission is to create a healthier world. We do this in our work as marketers with leading health care brands, and by hosting the Believe in Better Project conference. The Believe in Better Project is designed to facilitate needed discussions and bring forth important solutions to make health care better for all.
Stay tuned for complete videos of the speeches and Q&A sessions. In the meantime, here are highlights from Believe in Better Project 2019. Get ready to believe in better—and do better.
1 person dies every 62 minutes from an eating disorder. Isn’t it time we made peace with food?
Shame only motivates more negative behavior. Let’s bring compassion to our plates.
What you can do: Practice mindful eating. Don’t eat out of a bag or take-out container. Sit, eat and connect with food.
75% of physicians would NOT recommend their profession to their children. 30% of primary care physicians ages 35-49 expect to leave the industry.
Health care has a crisis of provider burnout. We’ve spent billions to improve quality and patient experience, but have only seen small improvements in HCAHPS.
What you can do: Reconnect with your appreciation and gratitude for your work and purpose. Connect with your patients and teams. Apply appreciative inquiry and debriefings. Address culture for true transformation.
We have a moral imperative to co-design health care with the people and communities we serve. To move beyond sick-care into proactive health care, we must work outside of the hospital and in the communities to engage, understand and collaborate to help people be healthy and well.
What you can do: Start with listening to your communities. Empower community members as experts to help co-design health care. Prioritize community needs and community benefits.
Your biography is your biology. Illness comes from unresolved conflict. To heal, we must address emotions—in both the root cause of disease and throughout the healing journey.
What you can do: Investigate your past to see what unresolved conflict should be addressed. Talk about the conflict directly so you can claim it. Then, let it go. Once your body knows what could be connected to your illness at the emotional level, your body is able to heal.
Too often in health care we tell people what is wrong with them. But what would happen if we really listened to our patients? What would we hear? What would we do differently to help our patients?
What you can do: Use “First Voice” interviews with patients to better identify how we can treat the whole needs of our patients.
U.S. health care is a sick-care system. 75% of health care dollars are spent on chronic health conditions, but only 1% of dollars are spent on preventive health. Our cars tell us when it’s time to get them serviced. But our health care system isn’t set up to be alert BEFORE a health catastrophe strikes.
What you can do: Leverage technology to give patients and providers proactive insights on health conditions and needs for proactive health care.
Emergency room care is increasingly being delivered in the home. This provides a safe, comfortable environment for the patient, and cost savings.
What you can do: Learn about companies like Dispatch Health that are partnering with insurance payors and health care providers to reduce the cost of unnecessary ER visits and to help treat patients in their homes.
According to a 2016 study in Health Affairs, spending on Part D medications decreased in states where medical marijuana was accessible. Schools like UC Davis and The University of Maryland School of Pharmacy have launched new classes and degrees in cannabis, and UCLA hosts public grand rounds on cannabis issues. There are now 15+ cannabis clinical trials. Cannabis in health care is here to stay.
What you can do: Educate yourself on the trends in cannabis in health care. Be ready for your patients’ questions and how cannabis may be part of treatment protocols.
