« October 2016 Issue

Advocates in the Twittersphere: A (Social) Media Digest

Our September 2016 Annual Advocate Convening brought together more than 200 advocates from dozens of states. The workshop topics ranged from strategies to keep up the momentum to close the Medicaid coverage gap, to broader discussions on Health System Transformation and imagining a person-centered health system. The workshops offered opportunities for many advocates to connect with each other and share successful strategies they use to accomplish their goals. While the topics may have seemed distinctly different at times, a common theme that united the conversation was the desire to change the health system to be more equitable and person-centered.

This year, we made a special effort to integrate Twitter and social media into the convening and workshops. Workshops aimed to help advocates improve their social media outreach and strategy, including how to use Twitter effectively for digital advocacy, how to engage members of the media and policymakers using social media, and more. Throughout the convening we also encouraged participants to post questions and takeaways on Twitter with the hashtag #AdvocatesInATL.

This was a great opportunity to see how Twitter and social media added to our experience of being in Atlanta in the presence of so many talented and inspiring individuals. Specifically, the keynote address led by Byllye Avery, founder of Black Women’s Health Imperative, took off on Twitter, sparking conversations between the attendees about how our identities influence and shape our health outcomes. During our “Nothing About Us, Without Us” plenary on the need for active and authentic consumer engagement in efforts to transform the health system, Twitter became an avenue for persons with disabilities and advocates to speak up and engage with each other about why this is so crucial. These conversations were catalyzed by their presence on Twitter, enabling attendees to use the platform as a megaphone for the important issues under discussion.

We got so much engagement that we thought that we should highlight some of our favorites:

It all started with a lot of planning and organizing...

 

We made some changes for the better, like including preferred pronouns on all of our nametags!

 

Finally, we arrived in Atlanta, Georgia to begin the convening.

 

And with that, #AdvocatesInATL was off! Enjoy some of our favorite Twitter Highlights from the 2016 Convening (also these are some amazing people worth following):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So that’s it for this year! Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for updates on health advocacy, Medicaid, children’s health, coverage and access, and more. Also, make sure you stay on the lookout for the hashtag for next year’s advocate convening so that you, too, can join the important conversations at next year’s conference.

Dan Frost, Digital Communications Specialist

O N   T H E   W I R E

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Follow the Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation on Twitter at @CCEHI for health system transformation updates!

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Community Catalyst issued Hospitals Investing in Health: Community Benefit in Massachusetts, which takes an in-depth look at the state of hospital community benefit in Massachusetts and finds there’s little evidence that millions of dollars in hospital investments are impacting community health. The report findings and recommendations are instructive for other states.

Michael Miller, strategic policy director, was quoted in a New York Times article about whether the Affordable Care Act’s tax penalty is motivating people to sign up for coverage.

Kimá Taylor, MD, has joined the Community Catalyst Board of Directors. Dr. Taylor is the founder of Anka Consulting LLC, a health care consulting company. She previously served as director of the National Drug Addiction and Harm Reduction program at Open Society Foundations.

Susan Sherry, deputy director, spoke to Modern Healthcare about new principles for patient-centered care developed by the Healthcare Transformation Task Force, of which Susan is a member.

The Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation launched its new website and received coverage in Fierce Healthcare and Becker’s Hospital Review for its report on Medicaid Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs).

Hospital Accountability Project Program Director Phillip Gonzalez and Senior Advisor Jessica Curtis were quoted in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article about charity care at Pennsylvania hospitals.

Join us in welcoming new staff members. Helen Hendrickson, state advocacy manager, Dental Access Project; John Morgan, senior accountant; Celeste Davis, state advocacy manager, Children’s Health Initiative; Danielle Garrett, strategic policy manager, Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation, and Marc Cohen, PhD, research director, Center for Consumer Engagement in Health Innovation.

Media Contact

Jack Cardinal
Deputy Director of Communications
617-275-2923 
jcardinal@communitycatalyst.org

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