Transcript Slide 1
Strengthening Coverage of Health
and Health Care
Matters of life and death in ethnic communities
Richard Quartarone
Public Health Liaison Coordinator
Georgia Division of Public Health
Taking Health from Marketplace to
Consumers
• Healthcare Marketplace
• Health Coverage
• Health Consumers
Healthcare Marketplace
• The basics
– Population
– Demographics
• Healthcare brands
• The Business of health
The Market’s Basics
The Market’s Basics
The Market’s Basics
Adding Value to the Brand
Healthcare is a Business
• All healthcare providers want:
– Loyal well-insured patients who can pay
– Patients who want elective procedures
– Patients who know how to use the system (educated
health consumers)
– Coverage that supports their brand, market, and
core services
• Academic medical centers want
– National, international recognition
– Awe of local community
– Donations from corporations and individuals
• Community hospitals want
– Brand loyalty of community
– Donations from corporations and individuals
Health Coverage:
Moving health from neglected commodity
to core value
• What’s killing your
community?
– The burden of disease
– Making data and science
relevant
• Finding trusted, relevant,
and responsive sources
What’s killing your community?
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Every local and state health department has data
Encourage policy change, prevention messages
Connect to national issues and studies
Personal stories add relevance and impact
Sources:
Trusted, relevant, responsive
• Academia
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Specialize in “expertise”
Stroke their ego
Follow their passion
If all else fails, go directly to the source
• Public health
– Often dry, but trusted and credible
– Must consider political sensitivities
• Community hospitals
– How can your coverage improve patient mix?
– Expect a more scripted “corporate” response
• Advocates/Special Interest Groups
– Focus on a single issue
Sources:
Why should they care about you?
• Make sure your “reach” matches their
market
– Will your article be on the wire or shown
abroad – ex. Emory and China
– Do you have an “influencer” audience
• Business, political, cultural
• Show that you care
– Be heard - Respond to their releases
– Be seen - Attend their events, meetings
Health Consumer
• Start with the basics
• Which services/resources to use when?
• Training and trusting your instincts
Start with the Basics
• Keep a thermostat and first aid
kit at home
• Practice hand washing and
respiratory etiquette
• Take your medicine – even if you
don’t feel sick (TB)
• Get vaccinated – school shots,
flu shots at grocery stores
• Get checked – regular
screenings are critical
Which services/resources to use
when?
• Address health issues before they get out of hand
• Reactive medicine costs more
• Save emergency rooms for emergencies
– Car wreck, broken bone, heart attack, child dehydration
• Clinic options
– Urgent care
– Rapid clinics in drug stores, Wal Mart
– Low-cost, non-profit community clinics
• Find primary care providers that you trust
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OB/Gyn
Pediatrician
Get care as a family
Go through advocacy groups to find providers
Training and trusting your instincts
as a consumer
• Everyone is their own advocate for their
health
• Read books, brochure, and websites
• Reporters are the gatekeepers of health
information
– Become your audience’s trusted source
– Avoid “over reaction” of excessive risk or
over promising cures
Additional Resources
• Georgia Data
– oasis.state.ga.us
• GA Public Health
– health.state.ga.us
• Emory Health Sciences
– whsc.emory.edu
• Assn. of Healthcare Journalists
– healthjournalism.org
Thanks!
Richard Quartarone
State Program Coordinator
Public Health Liaisons
:: 678-618-4468
:: [email protected]
Healthcare Providers Common to Georgia
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Academic Medical Centers
Attracts physicians who are driven to advance medicine, publish, and help people
Part of an academic institution, many physicians are tenured
Want the most complex patients and cases
Physicians have a great deal of freedom because of tenure
Physicians often separate from hospital operations
Teach next generation of physicians
Often motivated by national and international recognition for being on cutting edge of medicine
Want to be associated with “ground-breaking” studies
Examples – Emory University Hospital, Emory Crawford Long Hospital, The Emory Clinic, Mercer Medical
School, Medical College of Georgia, Morehouse School of Medicine
Community Hospitals
Usually private non-profits, but may include public hospitals and for-profit hospitals
Marketing to attract local or regional customers
Often focus of particular specialty areas – heart, cancer, surgery, maternity
Medical and operations more integrated
Most hospitals in Georgia are Community/Private Hospitals
Examples – DeKalb Medical Center, Piedmont Hospital, Northside Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Northeast
Georgia Medical Center, WellStar Health System
“Hybrids”
Community Hospitals partnering with Academic Medical Centers to provide physicians
Examples – Emory Johns Creek Hospital, Grady Memorial Hospital, Children's at Egleston
Trauma Centers
Part of a state-wide system to provide care to individuals involved in a traumatic injury such as a gunshot, car
wreck, fall, burn, etc.
Examples – Grady Memorial Hospital (level 1), Floyd Medical Center (level 2), Gwinnett Medical Center (level
2), DeKalb Medical Center (level 3)
Independent Private Providers
Single or multi-physician practices
Provide primary care and/or specialty care
Often have “admitting rights” to hospitals
Operate much like a small, community-focused business
Urgent Cares/ “Doc-in-a-Box”
Low cost, walk-up clinics
No appointment needed, often offer extended hours
Care often provided by PA or NP
Popular among individuals without a regular primary care provider
Richard Quartarone
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Richard Quartarone is the director of the Georgia Division of Public Health’s Public Health Liaison
Program, where he uses his unique background in marketing/communications, public health and
academic medicine to engage healthcare community in the state’s emergency preparedness
efforts.
As a senior account executive at MS&L Atlanta, Richard served clients such
as Merial, the Georgia Pharmacy Association’s Academy of Independent Pharmacy and BioSouth.
Richard’s specialties include media relations, public affairs, public health, stakeholder outreach,
risk communications and social and traditional marketing.
Prior to joining MS&L, Richard was director of media relations for Emory University’s Woodruff
Health Sciences Center. He coordinated the media activities for Emory’s consumer and scientific
health programs. While at Emory, Richard was involved in seasonal and pandemic influenza
response and preparedness, response to Hurricane Katrina, and strategic planning to increase
Emory’s prominence in cardiology.
The core of Richard’s healthcare experience is in public health. For two years, he was the Georgia
Division of Public Health’s director of communications, where he was the state’s point person for
all of the most important public health issues of the past several years, including bioterrorism
preparedness, West Nile virus, smallpox vaccination of health workers, SARS, and many other
infectious and chronic diseases. In addition to supervising a small central staff, he managed 19
district communication officers across the state.Richard first entered public health at the DeKalb
County Board of Health in Atlanta, where he was responsible for developing and launching the
agency’s website, developing and managing its graphic image, and coordinating media response
and strategy. At DeKalb, Richard was also the project leader for metro Atlanta’s West Nile virus
communications. He earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Berry College in Rome,
Ga., where he served as editor of the award winning student newspaper.
Richard Quartarone is the director of the Georgia Division of Public Health’s Public Health
Liaison Program, where he uses his unique background in marketing/communications,
public health and academic medicine to engage healthcare community in the state’s
emergency preparedness efforts.
As a senior account executive at MS&L Atlanta, Richard served clients such as Merial, the
Georgia Pharmacy Association’s Academy of Independent Pharmacy and BioSouth.
Richard’s specialties include media relations, public affairs, public health, stakeholder
outreach, risk communications and social and traditional marketing. Prior to joining MS&L,
Richard was director of media relations for Emory University’s Woodruff Health Sciences
Center. He coordinated the media activities for Emory’s consumer and scientific health
programs. While at Emory, Richard was involved in seasonal and pandemic influenza
response and preparedness, response to Hurricane Katrina, and strategic planning to
increase Emory’s prominence in cardiology. The core of Richard’s healthcare experience
is in public health. For two years, he was the Georgia Division of Public Health’s director
of communications, where he was the state’s point person for all of the most important
public health issues of the past several years, including bioterrorism preparedness, West
Nile virus, smallpox vaccination of health workers, SARS, and many other infectious and
chronic diseases. In addition to supervising a small central staff, he managed 19 district
communication officers across the state.Richard first entered public health at the DeKalb
County Board of Health in Atlanta, where he was responsible for developing and
launching the agency’s website, developing and managing its graphic image, and
coordinating media response and strategy. At DeKalb, Richard was also the project leader
for metro Atlanta’s West Nile virus communications. He earned a bachelor’s degree in
political science from Berry College in Rome, Ga., where he served as editor of the award
winning student newspaper.