Many Iowans are still unsure how exactly federal health reform and other recent health policy changes will impact their families, businesses and communities. As state and federal congressional races start to heat up, people are getting the chance to address these questions directly with the candidates.

On July 8-9, Senator Charles Grassley will be hosting the following open public town meetings in four different Iowa communities; each event is planned for one hour:

Thursday, July 8, 2010
Guthrie County Town Meeting	Audubon County Town Meeting
Guthrie County Courthouse	Exira Public Library
Public Meeting Room	114 West Washington, Exira
200 North 5th Street, Guthrie Center	4:00 p.m.
2:15 p.m.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Union County Town meeting	Madison County Town Meeting
City Hall/Restored Depot	Earlham Community Building
Council Chambers	150 East 1stStreet, Earlham
116 West Adams Street, Creston	4:30 p.m.
9:15 a.m.

It has only been a few weeks since the IHA Social Media and Health Care conference was held and already the internet is buzzing with some interesting discussion pertinent to the event’s topic. On Monday, Advertising Age published an article focusing on the role of social media in hospitals in light of the passing of federal health care reform.

While the article tries to point out that recent increases in hospital marketing dollars and social media tactics can be attributed to hospitals vying for market position in anticipation of reform changes, certain social media experts in the health care industry have raised a red flag.

Lee Aase, manager of syndication and social media at Mayo Clinic, recently spoke at the IHA Social Media and Health Care conference. Aase was prompted to post on his blog some thoughts on how his quotes were interpreted and what he thinks is the true relationship between health care social media and health reform. Aase defends Mayo Clinic’s social media efforts as not being in reaction to health reform, stating that the hospital’s efforts date back to 2005. He also states that health reform is likely a non-factor in the reason for why hospitals are beginning to embrace social media.

It can be expected that this debate on how social media will be used in the wake of health reform will be carried out for years to come. For now, Lee Aase and the Iowa Hospital Association both feel that it is premature to determine whether or not hospitals have been incorporating social media for the purpose of proactive marketing. It’s more likely that hospitals have been implementing social media in order to stay current on what has become a new era in marketing and communications.

A realistic scenario is to assume that the bright marketing individuals working in Iowa’s hospitals are more interested in testing these waters to see what sort of return on community engagement can be realized as opposed to jumping into a turf war, fighting for impression in a realm that’s still largely undefined.

What are your thoughts? Are your hospitals currently incorporating health reform into your marketing tactics? Discuss in the comments below or on Twitter by using hashtag: #ihahealthreform.

On June 10, IHA hosted the Social Media and Health Care conference in Des Moines. First up to present for the day was Lava Row, a Des Moines-based social media consulting firm that specializes in helping its clients understand the ins and outs of social media and how to drive results in this emerging realm of marketing and communications.

Nathan Wright, founder of Lava Row, took a few minutes to chat with IHA about some of the hot topics involving social media and health care as well as provide some tips hospitals can use as they begin the process of implementing social media as part of their full marketing strategy.

YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gPO8CefR6Y

It was great to see both good people and good things in Iowa celebrated as front-page news this week. 

The subject was volunteerism in America and the big news was Iowa ranking second in the nation, with almost 40 percent of Iowans providing volunteer time.  Only Utah, at 44 percent, ranked higher.  The source of all this is the Corporation for National and Community Service, a program of the federal government that promotes and provides information about volunteering, and the results of its Volunteering in America survey and report.

Individual Iowa communities were also leaders, with Iowa City (second), Des Moines (sixth) and Cedar Rapids (15^th) among the top mid-sized cities.  This is significant, because one of the more interesting facts from the data is that the smaller the community, the more people tend to volunteer.  So the competition among the mid-sized cities was particularly strong. 

Hospitals, of course, provide a huge opportunity for anyone who wants to serve their community. Keeping in mind that the vast majority of Iowa hospitals are small (fewer than 25 beds), Regional Health Services of Howard County in Cresco is a typical example, with a corps of 85 active volunteers. That main group is supplemented by many others who contribute time, particularly to the hospitals hugely successful quilt auction.  All told, the hospital benefits from more than 27,600 hours of volunteer service.  Similarly, a group of about 70 volunteers at Wright Medical Center in Clarion donated more than 6,700 hours to the hospital. 

Iowa City’s high ranking certainly has something to do with the two hospitals there. University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has about 1,200 volunteers, many of them full-time college students, who put in 98,000 hours of service.  At Mercy Iowa City, 440 volunteers contribute about 26,000 hours a year. 

Hospital volunteers are also energetic fundraisers who often run the hospital gift shops.  That revenue, along with separate fundraising efforts by the volunteers, provides money to buy new equipment and make other improvements. For example, at Mary Greeley Medical Center (MGMC) in Ames, one of the auxiliary’s special projects is to update the hospital guest house, which provides nearby lodging for families of MGMC patients.  Volunteers also help fund hundreds of scholarships given by their hospitals (and IHA) each year. 

And though it is difficult to quantify because, like most businesses, Iowa hospitals don’t formally track employee volunteer time, IHA firmly believes Iowa hospitals give as good as they get when it comes to volunteering.  This anecdotal example is likely very typical: 

Last summer, employees at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cedar Rapids committed to fill every slot for one week of work on the local Habitat for Humanity project, and they did it – 30 slots, eight hours a day for five straight days.  The response was so great and the Habitat people were so pleased that the St. Luke’s employees have pledged to do it again this year.

Consumers want safe and effective health care, but they don’t talk about it that way; consumers tend to simply say they want “the best.”  Just what that means was clarified in a recent study published in the current issue of Health Affairs.

What the scientists found as they were gauging consumer understanding of evidence-based medicine was that many consumers follow a conventional wisdom, believing the best care is provided in large, expensive and shiny new doses.  As one focus group participant put it, “I don’t see how extra care can be harmful to your health. Care would only benefit you.” 

Fully one-third of the study participants agreed with this view.  Telling them that not all care meets accepted quality standards and that more or new (and therefore unproven) care could actually be harmful simply did not compute.  (The Associated Press took on this issue in a six-part series last week).

The good news (sort of) is that 40 percent of consumers weren’t sure either way, meaning that they are open to the concepts of comparative effectiveness and evidence-based medicine.  Most consumers trust their providers implicitly and generally believe that what their physician prescribes is best for them. 

However, this kind of passivity also means they may not be prepared to challenge or even engage a provider – most don’t bring any kind of research to appointments or even take notes.  Forty percent said they didn’t ask questions because the physician seemed rush or they were unsure how to talk to him or her.

Confused or intimidated consumers could also be swayed another direction, toward those who couch evidence-based health care as “rationing” or worse.  More than a few consumers in the Health Affairs study were already in that camp:  “Using medical guidelines sounds like…your doctor can’t give you other treatment without approval,” one said.  “It’s taking away your choice and putting the decision in somebody else’s hands.”

Such is the double-edged sword of empowered consumers and their role in high-value health care.  But with transparency, patience and well-planned outreach (the researchers have produced a communications toolkit for providers), health care consumers will embrace evidence-based medicine and join high-value hospitals, like those in Iowa, as allies in assuring that they receive the right care, in the right place and at the right time.