NRC Health’s Human Understanding Beyond | HUB23 inspires and invigorates in Boston

NRC Health’s HUB23 conference just wrapped up in Boston, where the nation’s top healthcare organizations, industry leaders, and innovators gathered to engage and strategize around improving experiences for patients, providers, care teams, and health systems with a human-centered approach.   

On Wednesday, attendees participated in a variety of opening workshops before sitting in on an inspirational keynote presentation from Jason A. Wolf, Ph.D., CPXP, President and CEO of the Beryl Institute. In his keynote address, Wolf summed up the important role of Human Understanding: “We can never care well for others without first caring well for each other.”  

This signature event brought together hundreds of the best hearts and minds in healthcare to share proven best practices, emerging trends, and forward-thinking innovations. On Wednesday evening, guests mingled at the New England Aquarium, where NRC Health acknowledged the 2023 Consumer Loyalty and Excellence in Patient Experience award winners. 

“Hospitals and health systems have needed to adjust at warp speed in recent years,” said Helen Hrdy, Chief Growth Officer at NRC Health. “We commend these winning organizations for building and sustaining consumer loyalty through individualized care during unprecedented times.” 

Engaging workshops and breakout sessions

Participants enjoyed learning from various speakers, including Toya Gorley, Improvement Advisor at NRC Health. Her presentation about “Experience Leadership: Structures & Investments that Positively Impact You, Your Team, and Your Patients” resounded with many attendees. 

“By incorporating experience philosophies and standards into job descriptions, we elevate a person’s role from ‘tasks’ to ‘purpose,’” she said. 

The high-energy event focused on returning joy to the practice of medicine while moving healthcare beyond scores and benchmarks.  

Joseph Snipp, Vice President of Patient Experience and Consumerism for Aspirus Health, talked about how data is not just for dashboards and how to best operationalize data for improved patient experiences. 

“A culture of positivity is not about fixing problems,” he emphasized. “It is about consistency with small but significant things.” 

For presenter Michael Giuliano, Chief Operating Officer at Planetree International, building on a culture of positivity includes the ideal combination of Human Understanding and quality and safety. 

“Person Centered Care (PCC) is care focused on the needs of individuals, guided by peoples’ preferences and values, and includes supporting structures, policies, and practices that create a culture of quality, compassion, and partnership across the continuum of care,” he said. 

Keynote speaker Hannah Fry, Professor in the Mathematics of Cities at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London, delighted the audience with her talk on the power of accepting uncertainty. 

“Ultimately, I think the really big message is that uncertainty is unavoidable,” she said. “There is irreducible randomness, and it places limitations on what we will ever be able to do.”