5. Ebola. Don’t get us wrong, Ebola is a global tragedy. However, fear of the disease has been disproportionate to its effects in the U.S. The Ebola hype may originate more from the media than from healthcare providers, but then healthcare providers read what the media writes, and the media likes to make money, so…you see where this is going? This is how we end up with problems like the one summarized by the Wall Street Journal: “U.S. Buys up Ebola Gear, Leaving Little for Africa,” or this man, profiled in The Washington Post, who profits from selling web domains named after diseases.
6. Obamacare. Americans like the healthcare law, but they hate Obamacare. Turns out they’re the same thing. With its mostly negative connotations, this term has no place in a productive discussion about healthcare and generates a healthy dose of confusion. Regardless of our ideas on how to get there, we should all be headed toward the same goal: Creating value in care.
7. The uninsured. The (fill-in-the-blank-here) tactic is a sneaky linguistic strategy to talk about groups to which a stigma is attached in American society. “The uninsured” is a simplified fix for referencing a complicated problem, and using it is more hurtful than helpful.
8. Excellence. Everyone wants to be excellent, and that’s great. But, we’d rather hear the specifics than the generic term itself. Otherwise, it’s a fine line between pursuit of excellence and unproductive, self-congratulatory motions. We’re glad you’re excellent. Now tell us why.
9. State-of-the-art. A sly way of saying excellent, this term could mean anything. It’s applied so liberally that it ends up being a throwaway half of the time. Not everything can be state-of-the-art, and that’s okay. If something works, even if it’s not state-of-the-art, we’d settle (No one in the office has the iPhone 6 yet, and we’re doing just fine).
10. Bottom line. The goal of every business is to have a healthy bottom line. In healthcare, it’s not so simple anymore. Making the bottom line is supposed to be a product of providing the best care, not the other way around. As such, this term could use a snazzy update. We’re taking nominations.
Note: All entries are for fun and sport! The team recognizes the importance of homogenous communication in healthcare. On a lighter note, check out TIME’s poll for the worst words of 2014 here.
