September 2006 RAM Campaign E-Newsletter
Want the latest news on what is happening with Remaking American Medicine? The bi-monthly RAM Campaign Newsletter features stories about the latest things happening with local coalitions, the campaign and the production series. All previous RAM Campaign Newsletters are also available.
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A Message from Crosskeys Media
In the summer of 2001, we were invited by Paul Tarini, senior directorof Communications of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Dr. Donald Berwick, president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, to create a television program documenting efforts to improve the quality of American health care. Five years later, we are about to see the results of our labor realized with the PBS broadcast of the four-part series, Remaking American Medicine, beginning on October 5. KQED in San Francisco is the presenting station for the series.
Thanks to the efforts of all of you who have been involved in the national outreach campaign, public television stations across the nation are enthusiastically signaling a commitment to broadcast the series. We anticipate that most PBS stations will air Remaking American Medicine in the intended primetime slot: Thursday evenings at 10 p.m. (9 p.m. Central Time). Please check your local television listings to confirm the date and time the series will be broadcast in your community.
In addition to the four one-hour segments, the national outreach campaign will generate local television programs and community events that use the national series to shine a light on local efforts to improve the quality of health care. We are proud to have been part of this ambitious effort to raise national awareness about the need to improve dramatically the quality of health care for all Americans.
Frank Christopher Matthew Eisen
Executive Producer Co-Executive Producer
Campaign News
National Symposium is Set - Watch via Webcast or at a PBS Station
“Champions of Change: A National Symposium on Improving Health Care” will serve as the culmination of the outreach campaign for Remaking American Medicine™….Health care for the 21st Century. It will take place at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) in Washington, D.C. on September 27, 2006 from l0:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., ET.
The Symposium, presented by the Amgen Foundation, will feature national leaders in the quality movement and salute the outstanding work of Champions of Change, individuals and institutions that are transforming American health care in communities across the country. Peabody and Emmy Award-winning journalist John Hockenberry will serve as host. The symposium will focus on the following themes:
- Patient Empowerment
- Patient- and Family-Centered Care
- Collaboration
- Transparency
Dr. Mark McClellan, administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS); Dr. Donald Berwick, president and CEO, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI); and Dr. Carolyn Clancy, director, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) are serving as keynote speakers.
The Symposium will also feature three panel discussions with Champions of Change. Panel moderators will be Susan Dentzer, health correspondent for The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, Avery Comarow, senior health writer for U.S. News & World Report and John Hockenberry. Crosskeys Media will present series clips, which in turn will set the stage for each panel.
We encourage you to alert your members, colleagues and constituents about this important event.
Viewers will be encouraged to send in their questions. The Symposium will be Webcast, and distributed via satellite to PBS stations. For those who wish to watch on the Web, please log on the Webcast landing page at www.kaisernetwork.org/ram2006, which is in the "HealthCast” section at www.kaisernetwork.org. Information and links will also be avialable at RAMcampaign.org. The Symposium will be archived on the Kaiser Web site for a year. For a complete agenda, log on to RAMcampaign.org.
A number of PBS stations and RAM coalitions are promoting and participating in the National Symposium. For example:
WHYY/Philadelphia
WHYY/Philadelphia is hosting a daylong open house using both the PBS satellite feed and Webcast. Among the guests will be RAM coalition members; local policy-makers; and representatives from city and teaching hospitals, local and state public health agencies and insurance firms. The goal is to leverage the issues being addressed by the Symposium while focusing on local subjects to discuss their importance to the Philadelphia community.Leaders will conduct follow-up discussions throughout the day. Coalition members are also galvanizing support around the issues of medical education and patient- and family-centered care.
KETC/St. Louis
KETC/St. Louis is working closely with Primaris Health, the state Quality Improvement Organization, to convene a live studio event. Approximately 125 guests including statewide coalition members, quality health care experts and other community activists are expected to attend. Dovetailing with the National Symposium, the station will focus on health care issues of interest to Missourians. Guests will receive DVD copies of KETC’s series "Remaking Missouri Medicine" and copies of a new community health guide.
RAM Campaign Announces Two National Partners
Two more organizations have officially signed on as National Partners – now bringing the total to 49 prestigious organizations - and have become engaged in the campaign. The Amgen Foundation has played a significant and leading role in funding both the series and elements of the outreach campaign including the PBS Incentive Grants Program and the National Symposium.
The Amgen Foundation seeks to advance science education, improve patient access to quality care, and strengthen the communities where Amgen staff members live and work. Since 1991, the Foundation has made $70 million in grants to local, regional and national nonprofit organizations that impact society in inspiring and innovative ways. It has also supported disaster relief efforts both domestically and internationally.
The National Alliance for Hispanic Health is helping spread the word about the series and quality health care to the Hispanic community. The Alliance is the nation's oldest and largest network of Hispanic health professionals.As the nation's action forum for Hispanic health, Alliance members deliver caring services to over 14 million persons every year making a daily difference in the lives of Hispanic communities.
For more information, visit the Alliance's Web site: www.hispanichealth.org or call 1-866-SU-FAMILIA.
Two New Web sites for Remaking American Medicine
The Amgen Foundation has provided underwriting to launch two new Web sites: www.remakingamericanmedicine.org and www.pbs.org/remakingamericanmedicine. Both sites are consumer-oriented and were developed to support the broadcast of the PBS series. In addition, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts has provided underwriting for continued support for RAMcampaign.org, which has served as the nerve center for the outreach campaign since January 2005. The grant makes it possible for all three sites to provide resources, tools and information to health care providers, patients and families through September 2007. Both consumer sites (www.remakingamericanmedicine.org and www.pbs.org/remakingamericanmedicine) are scheduled to launch on Thursday, September 14.
Watch Series Preview Clips
You can now watch a two-and-a-halfminute series overview clip, as well as brief clips of each of the four Remaking American Medicine programs on RAMcampaign.org. You can find the link on both the Home Page and in the “Press Room.”
RAM Coalitions Continue to Flourish
Community engagement is a key element of the RAM campaign. Here are a few examples of how groups are working to promote health care quality and the series.
Salt Lake City, Utah
KUED, the public television station, is working in partnership withHealthInsight Nevada, the Quality Improvement Organization, on a statewide campaign that addresses chronic disease management and how at-risk and lowincome populations can access quality health care.
As part of this effort, KUED is hosting a communitywide screeningevent and panel discussion focusing on Program Three, “The Stealth Epidemic." Utah Now, the PBS station's local public affairs series is also
featuring local Champions of Change, providers who are committed to chronic disease management.
A special kit, “RAM Workshops in a Box,” focuses on consumer issues. It will be available on the station Web site and distributed to hospitals and medical colleges throughout Utah.Contacts:
Jacqui Voland, Outreach Coordinator, KUED,
(801) 585-3523, jvoland@kued.org
Christie North, Project Coordinator, HealthInsight,
(801) 892-0155, cnorth@healthinsight.org
Indianapolis, Indiana
WFYI, the local PBS station is partnering with Health Care Excel, the state Quality Improvement Organization, encouraging patients and families to become stronger advocates for their own health care. The campaign is focusing on medication management, communication with health care providers, patient safety in hospitals and chronic disease management.
Other RAM Coalition members are: the Indiana School of Medicine; Butler University; the University of Indianapolis School of Nursing; the Riley Children’s Hospital; and the Central Indiana Council on Aging.
RAM Coalition members are conducting health care forums including ata variety of venues including statewide conferences. Community-wide screening events will be held at the Citizen’s Healthcare Forum, Butler University and Riley Hospital. They are promoting Remaking American Medicine on their respective Web sites and in their publications.
The WFYI site features several Champions of Change from the Indiana School of Medicine. They are considered pioneers in electronic medical records management. Champions will be featured in local television and radio programming, online and in coalition partner publications. In addition, coalition members have provided monthly consumer Healthcare Tips that appear on the station Web site and in its "Member Magazine.” WFYI is also producing four television spots
around the series.
Julie Moretz, a National Champion of Change and director of Family Services Development at the MCG Children’s Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia, appears in Program Four “Hand in Hand.” She was interviewed on WFYI's local sister NPR station.
Contacts:
Ellen Murphy, Public Relations Director, Health Care Excel,
(812) 234-1499, emurphy@inqio.sdps.org
Gail Strong, Outreach Director, WFYI,
(317) 636-2020, gstrong@wfyi.org
Get your members involved
It’s not too late to introduce your members and affiliates to Remaking
American Medicine. Send them a copy of this newsletter and encourage them to visit RAMcampaign,org. Or use your listserv(s) to distribute this newsletter and encourage your colleagues and friends
to tune in to Remaking American Medicine.
Who to call
Please note new address and phone numbers for Devillier and Crosskeys contacts:
Devillier Communications, Inc. (DCI)
5335 Wisconsin Ave., NW, Suite 440
Washington, DC 20015
Linda Devillier, President: Strategic Counsel, PBS Stations and
National Partnership.
(202) 885-5544 ext. 461,, ldevillier@devillier.com or lbdevillier@aol.com
Barbara Lohman, Senior Vice President: Campaign management, National
Partnership, media relations and QIO
support. (951) 340-0010, blohman1@aol.com
Lee Allen, Project Director: RAM Coalitions and PBS Incentive Grants
Program. (202) 885-5544 ext. 459, lallen@devillier.com
Gail Rubin, Sr. Account Supervisor:
Media Relations Campaign.
(505) 265-7215, grpr@flash.net
Allan Childers, Webmaster: Remaking
American Medicine campaign Web site.
(202) 885-5544 ext. 460, achilders@devillier.com
Peggy Warkentin, Sr. Vice President: RAM Symposium.
(202) 885-5544 ext. 457, pwarkentin@devillier.com
Crosskeys Media:
800 Garden Street, Suite B
Santa Barbara, CA 93101
(805) 966-3700
(805) 966-3744 (Fax)
Frank Christopher, Executive Producer: Remaking American Medicine
(805) 966-3700, fc@crosskeysmedia.com
Matthew Eisen, Co-Executive Producer: Remaking American Medicine
(619) 283-0480, me@crosskeysmedia.com
