Across the industry, health system leaders face many common issues and challenges, from preparing for a winter COVID-19 surge to reestablishing patient confidence that will enable the rebuilding of service lines affected by the pandemic. Our experience tells us the best solutions come from real-time discussion and collaboration with peers and industry experts.
Enter Vizient’s Expert Chats, a unique new opportunity for members to exchange insights with Vizient experts about the challenges and opportunities in today’s health care environment. These virtual roundtable discussions connect our member hospital leaders on a peer-to-peer basis to support collaboration and improvement. The Expert Chats are highly interactive, so space is limited to ensure each participant has a voice in the conversation.
“What we want to do is create intimate moments where our subject matter experts can share perspectives on challenges that our members are facing. These small group conversations allow members to engage with us and each other at a deeper level,” says Marty Lucenti, MD, PhD, Vizient senior vice president, chief medical officer, solutions architecture.
Vizient’s first Expert Chats took place this month. The topics related to preparing for a winter COVID-19 surge, with three different events geared to supply chain, clinical and C-suite audiences. The conversations last about 45 minutes and attendance is capped at 20 participants.
Expert Chats Augment Vizient Webinars
Throughout the evolving COVID-19 pandemic, Vizient has hosted a popular webinar series featuring members and Vizient experts. These events have been invaluable in providing perspective on the evolving situation, proposed treatment plans for COVID-19 patients and emerging practices to mitigate the spread. Unlike the presentation modality of webinars, Expert Chats offer a more interactive communication model.
“There’s a lot of utility in webinars to get members up to speed on core knowledge. As a next step, our Expert Chats allow members to talk with experts and peers in a much more detailed fashion to address their individual organizational circumstances and challenges,” says Lucenti. “Change management interventions and process improvement are local endeavors. This forum allows us to talk about that local context so that we can get to that next level of discussion and problem-solving.”
Lucenti adds that a lot of learning occurs when members facing similar challenges come together to raise issues, ask questions and collaborate. “You’re getting Vizient’s expertise, but you are also getting the expertise of other members. There’s a great deal of benefit to hearing members share their approach to some of the same issues,” he says.
Through this format, members gain ideas that can be operationalized within their organizations to drive rapid improvement. Expert Chats are also a springboard for members to continue conversations and problem-solving with peers through Vizient Member Networks, which connect leaders through discipline-specific and segment-based communities.
Member-driven Topics
Upcoming Expert Chats include strengthening hospital-physician partnerships, getting underperforming service lines back up to capacity, and adaptive workforce strategies to manage fall and winter COVID-19 surges.
Expert Chat topics are based on member feedback about issues that are important to them. Due to the highly interactive, discussion format, Expert Chat recordings will not be available for replay. However, Vizient will share insights from each event with the broader membership via a guide or other piece of content.
Attendance is limited to ensure everyone can speak up in these highly interactive sessions, so make sure to register early, and contact us to suggest a topic you’d like Vizient to cover in a future event.