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The Delta blues

So much for hot vaxxed summer – the Delta blues are here, and the now-prevalent COVID-19 variant is wreaking havoc on communities across the country. Even with the US finally hitting the goal of getting at least one shot into the arms of 70% of American adults, new cases have increased sixfold in the past month, with upwards of 96% of hospitalized COVID-19 patients reporting they are unvaccinated. As we read heartbreaking stories from the frontline of counties ravaged by the new variant, there seems to be only one central question: why aren’t more people getting vaccinated?

Outside of new masking rules rolling out again, healthcare leaders are pulling out all the stops to slow the spread of Delta by increasing the vaccination rate. The White House has recruited an “influencer army” on TikTok to create pro-vaccine campaigns, and more health systems across the country, including many AVIA Members, are mandating vaccines for healthcare workers. Hospitals are also turning their digital tools into weapons against vaccine hesitancy – one study found sending text messages with language to induce psychological ownership in the receiver increased vaccinations rates by over 4%. We’re in this fight against COVID together – let’s do everything we can to beat it.

Industry insights

• [Download] Healthcare Digitized: Building a Digital Transformation Strategy at Your Health System [AVIA]: Digital solutions can support the fight against COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, and organizations that create an organization-wide digital transformation strategy are setting themselves up for success in the short and long term.
• Seven in Seven: Digital Solutions for Perinatal Care [AHA]: Join Sarah Carroll, Senior Director of AVIA’s Center for Care Transformation, as she explores emerging trends in perinatal digital solutions and shares success factors in the American Hospital Association’s new podcast.
• To Fight Vaccine Lies, Authorities Recruit an ‘Influencer Army’ [NYT]: Fewer than half of all Americans aged 18 to 39 are fully vaccinated, so the White House brought the pro-vaccine message to their digital clubhouses. Over 50 Twitch streamers, YouTubers, TikTokers, and Gen Z musicians were recruited as a counterattack against the vaccine misinformation that has flooded the internet.
• Text Message Nudges Encourage COVID Vaccination [Nature]: Texting works! A trial of 93,000 people found that text message nudges that were prompt and enabled and motivated action were effective in increasing the number of vaccines scheduled by over 4% compared to the control group.

AVIA events

• Recording – Health Equity in the Spotlight: A Conversation with HonorHealth and ChristianaCare |  View the recording and access the slides
• Recording – 4 Big Moves to Emerge Stronger with Digital |  View the recording and access the slides

See all events

Visual of the week

7% of consumers switch healthcare providers because of a poor experience, translating into an average of $100 million in revenue losses per hospital annually. Creating a hyper-personalized care strategy that treats consumers as individuals can increase loyalty, improve care, and prevent revenue losses. These three interconnected building blocks – know me, connect with me, and orchestrate my care – should be at the center of any hyper-personalized care infrastructure.

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What we’re into this week

Thanks for reading to the bottom of the newsletter! We’re highlighting some non-healthcare-related items that the AVIA team is into this week. Share your recs with us at contact@avia.health.

• Read (and cook): from In Bibi’s Kitchen, a collection of delicious recipes and beautiful stories from grandmothers of eight African countries that touch the Indian Ocean.
• Listen: to the wildly successful country-soul-disco-R&B mashup that is Yola’s second album, Stand for Myself.
• Watch: The White Lotus on HBOMax for a darkly comedic and satirical journey to Hawaiian “paradise”, starring the inimitable Jennifer Coolidge.