BRIAN G. DONLEY, MD, Chief of Staff and Chief of Clinical Enterprise, Cleveland Clinic (Cleveland)
 |
|
“The rise in chronic disease remains the most pressing health concern locally and throughout the country. As a nation, this continues to challenge us in our effort to deliver better health outcomes at a lower cost. It is important for people to become more engaged in their care. That engagement must focus on wellness, preventive care and both inpatient and outpatient healthcare. We need to increase our focus on “health” care rather than “sick” care to reduce this burden of chronic disease.
We created a wellness institute with an emphasis on teaching our patients and employees how to live healthier and giving them tools they need to be successful in controlling their chronic disease. We no longer allow smoking at our facilities and we do not hire smokers. Most importantly, we provide the resources necessary to help people stop smoking. Our employee health plan is focused on wellness and rewards healthy behavior with reduced insurance premiums if they meet their goals. If an employee or their spouse has a chronic disease, we offer programs tailored to their needs and have regular check-in opportunities with a healthcare provider to keep them on the path to success.
We removed sugared beverages from our facilities and encourage and provide healthy food options throughout our organization, including all vending machines. We’ve partnered with local grocery stores to provide the community with healthy recipes and food options. We have also partnered with local fitness facilities for our employees and the community.
Access to care is another an important piece of reducing chronic disease. Access does not mean coming to a hospital like it did 10 years ago; rather it’s about getting a person’s health needs addressed. Today, this can be through a phone call, electronic message, telemedicine visit, Express Care, an in-person appointment or in a variety of other ways. It’s all about having a relationship with a patient and ensuring they have access to care anytime, anywhere so we can together be successful in keeping people healthy. Wellness and prevention are two important initiatives we are passionate about, and this will continue to be a priority for Cleveland Clinic patients and caregivers.”
|
Return to Full List
|
