If you’ve ever received medical care, you’d likely agree the cost of care can be expensive. According to the National Health Expenditure Accounts, U.S. health care spending grew 4.1% in 2022, reaching $4.5 Trillion.
For the fifth episode of our “The Toughest Questions in Health Care” series we're asking the question, "why is the cost of health care so expensive?" ChristianaCare Chief Financial Officer Rob McMurray and ChristianaCare Chief Population Health Officer Dr. Chris Donohue-Henry share insight on health care economics. Hear how challenges are being met with pioneering solutions to reduce cost while simultaneously boosting the quality of care.
Rob McMurray is the Chief Financial Officer, responsible for the direction and oversight of all financial operations at ChristianaCare. He also has oversight of supply chain operations.
Dr. Christine Donohue-Henry, M.D., MBA is the Chief Population Health Officer at Christiana Care. She is also the President and CEO of eBrightHealth ACO. Prior to her current role, Dr. Donohue-Henry was the Chief Medical Officer, Community Care at ChristianaCare from 2017 to 2019
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 3 adults in the United States reported not getting enough rest or sleep every day. Also, an estimated 50 to 70 million Americans have chronic, or ongoing, sleep disorders.
Sleep can impact everything from mental and physical health to our social interactions. In this episode of For the Love of Health, Dr. Shilpa Kauta, Medical Director of the ChristianaCare Sleep Wellness Center discusses how sleep plays an active role in our health and longevity.
Dr. Kauta shares the science behind sleep's healing properties, from hormone regulation to memory consolidation, and why neglecting sleep can lead to a host of serious health issues. Join us for a conversation that could lead to your most restful nights yet.
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Residency can be an incredibly stressful part of the medical education experience. In a 2006 study of first-year residents – also called interns – researchers found 4% met criteria for being burnt out at the start of the year. That number was 55% by the end of the year.
For the fourth episode of our “The Toughest Questions in Health Care” series we’re looking at a challenge that has plagued teaching hospitals – like ChristianaCare – for decades. Dr. Brian Levine, ChristianaCare Associate Chief Academic Officer and Designated Institutional Official, and Dr. Andrew Blake, a second-year emergency medicine resident at ChristianaCare, tackle the question, "why are residents burnt out, and what can be done about it?"
It's a conversation that takes us from the historical grind of residency to today's efforts in creating nurturing environments that still meet the high standards of medical training. We examine the fine line between the stress needed to forge competent physicians and the potential harm of overwhelming pressures.
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Food can play a critical role in someone's health, especially in managing a chronic illness. One approach is helping patients eat better and stay healthier, and it's a concept called Food is Medicine.
The Food is Medicine program at ChristianaCare is called the Delaware Food Farmacy, and it is changing the way that patients eat.
In this week's episode of For the Love of Health, Michelle Axe, program manager of Food and Social Care Initiatives at ChristianaCare, and Rob Gurnee, the executive director of Lutheran Community Services in Wilmington share how the Food is Medicine concept is changing the way we are improving nutrition insecurity in the community.
Learn how the shift from food insecurity to nutrition security can help keep patients healthy at home.
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Lengthy emergency department wait times are nothing new. This has been a national issue since the 1980s. It’s a challenge for every health system – a challenge with no easy solutions.
ChristianaCare is home to America’s 15th busiest ED, and in the third installment of our year-long series, “The Toughest Questions in Health Care,” Dr. Kert Anzilotti, ChristianaCare Chief Medical Officer, and Ric Cuming, ChristianaCare Chief Operating Officer, deliver insightful answers to the question, “Why can ED wait times be so long?”
Together, we walk the complex maze of healthcare efficiency, examining the intricacies behind long queues. Learn how factors like hospital-wide patient volume, case severity prioritization and the ripple effects of post-acute care facility shortages contribute to a significant bottleneck. And explore a data-driven approach to improving patient flow and emergency department functionality.
Finally, we provide guidance on choosing the most suitable venue of care for a variety of medical needs, a major way the public can be part of helping hospitals reduce wait times in the ED.
Ric. Cuming is chief operating officer of ChristianaCare. In this role, Ric oversees the delivery of efficient and fiscally responsible system operations. He also works with other leaders to ensure high-quality and safe patient care. Ric joined ChristianaCare in 2016 as the system’s first chief nurse executive.
Dr. Kert Anzilotti is chief medical officer for ChristianaCare. His work focuses on the optimization of care delivery across the health care system through strategic visioning, network development, clinical technology implementation and leveraging medical informatics.
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- Should I Go To the Emergency Room, Urgent Care or Primary Care?
- Emergency Care at ChristianaCare
- ER visits are getting longer amid hospital staffing shortages
- The Complexities Of Emergency Medicine And Prolonged ER Wait Times
Every minute that a brain is not getting blood flow during a stroke millions of neurons are dying. So, every minute, every second counts when treating a stroke patient.
That is why ChristianaCare’s stroke team has been on a multi-year journey of exploring every element, every step of the initial treatment process and the amount of time it takes to get a patient from coming in the door to getting IV blood thinners – known as Door To Needle (DTN) time.
We take a deep dive into how expert stroke teams bring clarity to chaos in a race against a ticking clock with Dr. Kim Gannon, medical director of ChristianaCare’s Comprehensive Stroke Program. We explore where opportunities to reduce DTN have been found and where they are still available in the high-stakes decisions and protocols that swing the pendulum between recovery and lasting impact. And we understand the impact of the first rule of medicine – do no harm.
Learn how a drive to be exceptional today and even better tomorrow is leading to drastically better outcomes for patients who come to one of the nation’s highest volume stroke programs.
Dr. Kim Gannon, an active vascular neurologist, oversees ChristianaCare's stroke program, one of the busiest stroke programs nationwide. She combines the expertise of a clinician with doctorate research to improve both patient and population health in neurological care. Dr. Gannon oversees ChristianaCare’s inpatient neurology consultative service, neurocritical care, and neurointerventional surgical services.
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Health care providers have a lot of information on their patients – medical histories, demographics, identity and financial data. That means those providers have a responsibility to appropriately use and protect patient data.
In the second installment of our year-long series, “The Toughest Questions in Health Care,” Dr. Ed Ewen, Director of Clinical Data and Analytics for ChristianaCare, and ChristianaCare’s Chief Information Security Officer Anahi Santiago help answer the question, “How do we use and protect patient data?”
We journey through the evolution of collecting patient data and examine how health systems use data to improve individual and community care. And we consider the complexity and scope of the challenge of thwarting cybercriminals, especially as more care moves outside the digital safety of the hospital or doctor’s office.
Dr. Edward Ewen is Director of Clinical Data and Analytics for ChristianaCare. He leads the organization’s enterprise information management program and is responsible for coordinating and setting strategy for its data warehousing, data governance, and business analytics activities. He has over 25 years’ experience in health care data warehousing and analytics.
Anahi Santiago is Chief Information Security Officer at ChristianaCare and one of the nation's foremost cybersecurity experts. She has overall responsibility for the organization’s information security program and strategic direction. Winner of the prestigious Routhy Award, Santiago has extensive experience in areas of cybersecurity, privacy, regulatory compliance, program management and infrastructure services.
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According to the World Health Organization, worldwide obesity has nearly tripled since 1975. Obesity is a serious and chronic health condition. Weight management can be complicated. It’s not always just about willpower and poor food choices.
This week Drs. Caitlin Halbert and Lisa Breslow join us for a frank and enlightening discussion of obesity and the immense but important journey toward better health. We explore the bariatric surgery process – from determining if surgery is right for a patient to the operating room to the incredible results that are possible in the following days, weeks and months. Learn how ChristianaCare’s comprehensive approach to weight loss surgery sets it apart from similar programs in treating the whole patient every step along the way.
And dive into the space where pop culture and medicine collide. Hear how shows like My 600-lb Life and 1,000-lb Sisters compare to the reality of bariatric surgeries. And get the low down on the true usefulness and safety of medications, including Ozempic and Wegovy, that have gotten so much attention recently.
Caitlin Halbert, D.O., MS, is a board-certified general surgeon with a focus in Bariatric and Foregut surgery. She practices at ChristianaCare and is the Assistant Program Director for the General Surgery Residency Program. She is the Medical Director of the ChristianaCare Bariatric Surgery Program.
Dr. Lisa Breslow, D.O., is a family medicine physician with over 15 years of experience and is dual board certified as an obesity medicine specialist. Her appointments are exclusively for patients with health and wellness goals related to weight loss. She believes in encouraging patient self-education while partnering with each patient to create a comprehensive health and wellness plan structured to meet their needs. She is committed to providing evidence-based education and treatment for obesity.
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Health care in the US is nothing if not complex – for patients, providers and health system leaders. Over the course of 2024 For the Love of Health is going to have a series of monthly conversations with some of the top minds in health care about a variety of difficult questions and challenges facing the industry.
In the first episode of “The Toughest Questions in Health Care,” we tackle the question – What is the future of health care? – with Dr. Janice Nevin, president and CEO of ChristianaCare.
Dr. Nevin shares her wisdom, optimism and profound insights on the metamorphosis of health care in recent years and in years to come. In the wake of a years-long, global pandemic, she talks about some of the industry’s most pressing issues, including workforce shortages, deep-seated inequities and financial struggles. Dr. Nevin explores the bold strides being made towards more accessible, affordable health care and a more technologically supported workforce.
Join us for an episode about more than forecasting; it's about action.
Dr. Janice Nevin is a visionary, collaborative leader and one of Modern Healthcare's Most Influential People in Healthcare, Janice E. Nevin, M.D., MPH, has served as president and CEO of ChristianaCare since 2014, leading a transformation from a health care system to a system that truly impacts health. She is nationally recognized as a pioneer and thought leader in value-based care and population health, and for her assertion that truly great health care is built on the values of love and excellence.
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Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women in America – accounting for 1 in 3 new cancer diagnoses each year. And while there isn’t a big difference across races in terms of rates of getting breast cancer – there are huge gaps in what happens after diagnosis.
In this episode we sit down with Scott Siegel, Ph.D., director of cancer control and population sciences at ChristianaCare, and Dr. Dawn Leonard, chief of ChristianaCare’s division of breast surgery, to discuss that alarming disparity.
They shed light on the urgent issues at play, including higher rates of advanced breast cancer and the aggressive triple negative breast cancer prevalent in Delaware. They explain how a victory in eliminating a racial disparity for a completely different form of cancer is spurring the call to action to address breast cancer. And we discuss how success in Delaware could apply nationwide.
Scott Siegel, Ph.D., is a psychologist and director of Population Health Research at ChristianaCare. In this role Siegel works collaboratively with multidisciplinary teams in the health system and with governments, universities, and community-based organizations to improve population health.
Dawn Leonard, MD, FACS, specializes in breast surgery at ChristianaCare. Dr. Leonard joined ChristianaCare with more than 17 years of practice and leadership experience, most recently at Georgetown University Hospital and as the site director at a community hospital with a Regional Breast Health Program. Dr. Leonard has earned multiple recognitions as a “Top Doc” in Breast Surgery and awards for excellence in healthcare, service and scholarship.
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- Researchers Find Disparities in Breast Cancer Screening in Delaware Linked to Race and Geography
- ‘Getting the Village Back Together’: ChristianaCare’s Plan for Reducing Breast Cancer Disparities in Delaware
- Searching for the Roots of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Where Women Live
- Basic Information About Breast Cancer (CDC)
