Healthcare Harmony

Northwell Health in New York City and Long Island Embraces Change, Drives Innovation Across Technology, Community, Patient Experiences

Elaine Brennan, Head of the Global Strategic Partnership, Northwell Health

A symphonic choir is sometimes referenced as a perfect manifestation of a system — each contributor working elegantly and collaboratively to achieve harmony. That holistic, harmonious mindset and approach also applies to building and evolving a healthcare system — a network of hospitals, clinics, ambulatory centers and other facilities supported and led by informed, intelligent caregivers and administrators. It’s something the leaders of Northwell Health are successfully achieving in New York City and neighboring Long Island.

“Northwell Health continuously delivers a consistent quality of care across the entire patient continuum, from birth all of the way through to end of life for one of the most diverse patient populations in the United States” explains Elaine Brennan, Head of the Global Strategic Partnership, Northwell Health. “We have entire teams dedicated to patient experience, often bringing in expertise from other industries such as hospitality, media and entertainment”.

Patient experience has long been appreciated as an opportunity to advance care. A patient with a more comprehensive and positive experience is more likely to be engaged, more likely to be informed and more likely to be prepared.

Patient portals and telemedicine seek to advance the patient experience by facilitating greater personalization in and out of hospitals. Northwell Health and other leading systems had implemented telemedicine initiatives with HIPAA compliant platforms well in advance of the Covid-19 pandemic but saw a significant uptick in adoption during and since lockdown. Patient engagement systems include those deployed over televisions in hospital rooms that personalize the in-patient experience as well as portals that patients access at home once released.

“Telehealth has proven to be more beneficial for certain conditions and populations. For example, patients with serious wound issues can have a telehealth consult from the comfort of their home minimizing the risk of further infections. It also advanced equity in the sense that access to care was not limited to those who had transportation or the time to go to a visit. And it reduced some of the anxiety of a visit and, most importantly, enabled patients to get care when they needed it most,” Brennan says. “Having our systems in place allowed us to mobilize in record time!”

To be a premier healthcare provider Northwell Health strives to have a workforce that reflects the diversity of the communities it serves. To achieve that goal, CEO Michael Dowling and Northwell leadership has implemented different initiatives to raise awareness about the various roles in healthcare and different career paths. Brennan references a specific initiative by Northwell Health to increase scholarships for Hispanic nurses so they can serve the community with more personalized care with an innate connection.

She also speaks to Northwell Health’s purposeful program to improve women’s healthcare.

“Our CEO appointed Dr. Stacey Rosen to spearhead the transformation of women’s healthcare,” Brennan explains. “Traditionally, women and men are treated the same, but we’re not the same. And Dr. Rosen is probably one of the leaders in the United States in this specific area. We take a women-centered approach to treating women through the various stages of their life, for example the issues at age 20 are very different than at age 50. It’s not just about coming in, getting treated for a specific condition; it’s prevention and a holistic approach to women’s health”.

Northwell Health takes its partnership with the community and responsibility to the community very seriously. Brennan explains that Northwell Health’s foundation donates millions back into the community through community groups, schools, churches across the spectrum of families and also promotes specialized programs in the community and she specifically references diabetes programs.

Brennan is quick to point out that Northwell Health’s definition of community most definitely extends to its employee community. “We have 80,000 staff in Northwell Health. And those staff members and their families can become patients, too. One of the things that Northwell Health emphasizes is staff empowerment. So, when the staff is taken care of and empowered by the employer, it’s going to trickle into the patient population.”

Underscoring this commitment and as an example of creativity and empathy that Northwell Health sought to channel at the peak of Covid-19.

“During covid many of us worked remotely and were able to engage a group of philanthropists to deliver engaging programs for our frontline staff. One such program resulted in we “The Northwell Health nurse hero choir” that made it to number two in America’s Got Talent. They sang Stand By Me in the concert with guests such as Celine Dion, Oprah, Josh Groban and many more. This brought much joy to the nursing communities and caused a trickle-down effect of other nurse choirs being formed.”

“My role is head of the Global Strategic Partnership Group, and in that capacity, I create the strategic partnerships with businesses, universities, organizations and governments to source the ideas, technologies and service providers that will enable Northwell Health’s long-term strategy. Looking at the international program and partnering with countries has given us access to innovation around the world and this is especially exciting given this is a new way for healthcare to source such innovation.”

Just as Brennan and her team carefully monitor change and how it will impact the care that Northwell Health provides, she is also focused on leveraging external partnerships to enhance improvements. “How we’re doing that now is changing, too. Whether it’s a pen, whether it’s dictation, we’re upskilling ourselves with respect to that all the time. It’s a huge overhaul for a health system our size to do that across the board and not compromise quality or care in the process.”

It seems that it is more than just the nurses at Northwell Health that are singing from the same songbook. Northwell Health, from CEO Dowling to Brennan to the other 79,998+ employees, appears to be on a mission to transform healthcare, improve lives and create a culture that embraces innovation, mutual respect and the patient experience! And they’re doing so in perfect harmony.

*The opinions and thoughts expressed here are solely of the author/speaker and not that of LG or its affiliates.