Ep. 84: Preparing for the Next Health Crisis

[00:00:00] Carina Clawson: One of the many lessons to learn from the Covid 19 pandemic is the value and importance of building partnerships from vaccine production to mass distribution. Partnerships proved essential across the public and private sector, as well as within federal, state, and local systems and will. It may be too early to call the end of this pandemic. It’s never too early to think about how to prepare for the next health crisis. For this episode, we compiled insights from leaders previously interviewed on her story. They explore the power of partnerships. We will begin with Dora Mills, md, the Chief Health Improvement Officer of Maine Health. Next, we will turn to Seema Verma, the former administrator for the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid service. And to wrap up, we’ll hear from Denise Cardo, M.D.. She’s the director of the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the cdc. Let’s hear Dr. Mills talk about the unique actions the state of Maine took during the pandemic.

[00:01:07] Dr. Dora Mills: But we also had interesting partnerships including, for instance, with our major employers in this state. So LL Beans, for instance Unum, some other major employers, gave us employees. For several months, we had employees who directly reported to us every day. They were on loan to us for several months at a time to help us with the vaccine clinics. Yeah, so we had a workforce that we, tripled overnight just by having these partnerships with our major employers. And that was about May and June of last year, we started partnering with a number of other businesses. I contacted somebody who’s very involved with our breweries. Maine is known as a big brewery state, and she thought, Oh my goodness, that’s a great idea. Can we partner with you? When I reached out to her, So we did a lots of, we did about 50 vaccine clinics last spring and summer in in breweries across the. And they usually gave out free beer and sometimes meals for people to come in, young people to come in and get vaccinated. And we also partnered with a number of restaurants diners who also provided free muffins and coffee, for instance, or free meal if people came in and got vaccinated. And we went employer, on site with employer, large employers as well, and small employers for that matter too. So it was really about partnership and helping to figure out those connections, connecting the dots that aren’t always obvious.

[00:02:23] Carina Clawson: LL Bean. And public health may seem like an unlikely combination, but it was the right choice for Maine. Next is Seema Verma. She shares her experience as administrator of CMS during the pandemic.

[00:02:36] Seema Verma: I was constantly on the call on calls with the hospital association and they would say, Here’s what we need, or, Okay, you gave us that waiver, not quite working. We need you to change this, that, and the other thing with telehealth, we started with telehealth and they said, actually we need to be able to make phone calls. Like we need to be able to reimburse to be able to communicate with somebody over a call. And so we did that on the second round. So there was a lot of back and forth. And the healthcare system, whether it was a nursing home or a dialysis facility or home health, a hospital, Doctor’s offices, they were on the front lines. And so we sought them out. Tell us what you’re going through, tell us the challenges that you’re facing. And that’s how we put together the waivers. So we did a lot of our own thinking, but it was informed by that discussion that real, what I’d say, true public private partnership and making quick decisions, not under, we should we do this, we. This may cause X, Y, and Z program. It was like, no, we’re in a crisis. This is what they need. We’re gonna give it to them. We can figure this out on the back end. If there’s.

[00:03:41] Carina Clawson: The relationship between public and private entities was a vital. Source to wrap up, let’s hear from Dr. Carter.

[00:03:49] Dr. Denise Cardo: One thing I learned is that there is a kind of a process that is no and trust. It’s not because you know somebody you can trust and it’s not because you you can trust and vice versa with people regarding to trust. So I, many of the partners came because of opportunities but also because of us being open to challenges and have an impact. So I feel partnerships is like a partnership. Being alive is, don’t take anything for granted, always listen. And the main thing is to. Common goals and and clear expectations of what to do. And this is, you need to de develop this prior to any crisis. And when people say to me, Why you guys worked so well with cms, doing Covid response is not because. I called them and they said, Oh, we like you. It’s because it was a work that we’ve been built for a long time. So even when was something that they were not comfortable with, we were able to sit down and talk and say, Okay, so how do we move forward so we can really protect people in this situation?

[00:05:17] Carina Clawson: Dr. Cardo hits on the skills leaders. Listening, Setting clear expectations and creating an environment of trust are fundamental to developing effective partnerships. Solidifying those partnerships before a crisis makes it easier to face the uncertainty of an emergency. When it comes to developing effective partnerships, there are three key takeaways for leaders. First is to explore new and creative potential relat. Second is to understand that collaborations aren’t set in stone. The need to adapt and evolve as situations change. And lastly, partnerships are built on trust. Trust takes time and an investment from leadership as we look ahead and prepare for the next health crisis, whether that be a variant, a chronic disease, or something totally new. Partnerships are fundamental to success. We should reaffirm the partnerships made during this pandemic and proactively seek out new ones before the next crisis.