Novant Health receives ‘Innovation Award,’ presented by athenahealth, at HIMSS19

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Novant Health recently received the Innovation Award by athenahealth, Inc. for its leadership development program at the HIMSS19 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, Florida. Novant Health’s leadership development program, which focuses on physician resiliency and burnout, has had a significant impact on physician engagement and alignment since it began in 2013. The program has been completed by more than 800 Novant Health physicians and has been recognized by the North Carolina Medical Board.

“It is an honor for Novant Health to receive this award and be recognized as a health care innovator,” said Dr. Tom Jenike, senior vice president and chief human experience officer at Novant Health. “At Novant Health, we are passionate about people. We recognized that in order to care for our patients, we first needed to care for our providers and address the ever growing trend of burnout. Our leadership development program is a commitment to help our physicians honor their professional oath of providing remarkable patient care. We’ve found it has helped our physicians effectively lead their teams, and we’re thrilled to showcase and share our program with other health care organizations.”

Jenike pioneered the program from its inception and accepted the award on behalf of Novant Health. The program consists of a multiday wellness retreat, one-on-one coaching and a mentoring program that allows providers to explore who they are and where they want to go in their life.

“Physicians are at the heart of health care, and athenahealth understands it is critical to care for the caregivers to ensure patients receive the best outcomes possible. And Novant Health’s Leadership Development Program does just that,” said Jessica Sweeney-Platt, executive director, enterprise strategy, athenahealth. “There is a current health care crisis amongst physicians regarding burnout, and we know with programs like this, there is an important and authentic opportunity to share effective innovations that can be replicated at other organizations, regardless of scope, size or location.”

athenahealth is a network-enabled, results-oriented services company that offers medical record, revenue cycle, patient engagement, care coordination, and population health services for hospital and ambulatory clients. The company’s vision is to build a national health information backbone to help make health care work as it should.