Communication Science for Health Professionals
Mission
We’re on a mission to use the power of communication to radically improve health outcomes. Because everyone has a right to their health.
Health equity is in our DNA. "Amah" means "grandma" in Taiwanese. Our team strives to improve the health and well-being of our grandparents, parents, children, friends, neighbors, and those we love - no matter who they are and where they are from.
We're now running a fundraiser to offer FREE health communication training to VOLUNTEER clinicians at CHARITABLE clinics to scale patient-centric care among DIVERSE POPULATIONS. Join us and donate today!
News and Awards
Yi-an Yang is proud to be a board member at the Int'l Medical Translators and Interpreters Association (IMTIA), a nonprofit dedicated to promoting exchanges and cooperation among medical institutions
Amah Health was selected to present our pilot study at the American Medical Association's 2022 Health Systems Science Summit
Amah Health was selected to be a member company of Matter and YWCA Chicago’s Health Equity Innovation Accelerator
Amah Health won the 2nd place of the national BCBSIL/Matter Health Equity Challenge
Check out our CME courses, short mini-series, digital downloadables, and informational videos to enhance your understanding of health communication for better patient outcomes and health team well-being
Team
Human-centered innovation in healthcare
Yi-an Yang, MS, MA
Stephanie Willding, MPA
Dr. Daniel O'Keefe, PhD
Dr. Kasia Hein-Peters, MD
Daniel Luff, MA
Learn more about evidence-based communication science
FAQ
-Yes! For our course, Influencing Health Behaviors in Chronic Care Visits, we're approved to issue 3 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™, 3 contact hours of Continuing Nursing Education activity, and 3 AAPA Category 1 CME credits.
I’m a good communicator already. Will Amah help me?
-We certainly hope so! Amah is not designed for “bad communicators” to learn the basics. These are communication strategies specific to a healthcare setting that are designed to help healthcare teams and patients better see eye to eye, especially across diverse groups.
“Persuasion” and “behavior change” sound a bit controlling. Shouldn’t we support what patients want?
-We are NOT in the business of coercing anyone into something they don’t want to do. The form of persuasion/behavior change we teach and believe in involves meeting patients where they are and discussing their beliefs in a non-condescending, non-lecturing way. This builds greater empathy and improves relationships among patients and their care teams. Our work is to positively influence patient behaviors, but the patient always has free will about what they do and don’t want to do.
Has Amah been tested in a randomized controlled trial?
-Not yet, but this is definitely our goal — it’s important to us to make research- and data-guided improvements so that over time, we see greater and greater impact on patients’ lives, as well as the lives of their healthcare teams. Once we get more users and early feedback, we will be in a better position to conduct research on our product. (You can tell your friends and colleagues about us to speed that along!)
How does Amah support health equity?
-When a healthcare team member sees patients of a different cultural or linguistic background, it can be even harder to develop the mutual understanding needed to get patients on board with their treatment plans. Using a systematic, research-backed communication procedure and method can help level the playing field for cultural and ethnic minorities to have similar health outcomes as other populations. For example, Amah’s strategies can help healthcare teams effectively explore barriers to treatment adherence that have to do with religious beliefs, cultural eating habits, or community beliefs about medicine. Amah’s programming also supports healthcare teams in becoming aware of social determinants of health.
Copyright © 2023 AMAH Health Inc. All rights reserved.