Concise, relevant, accurate health care communications that your target audience will easily understand. Have this task taken off your to-do list and have it done well and on time.

Services – Writing

Clear thinking, a clinical background, and 20-plus years as a professional health care writer

Health care today is incredibly complex and ever-changing: MACRA, MIPS, value-based payment, health reform…what’s next? And, how do you accurately and concisely explain the implications of these changes to your target audience?

That’s where I come in. I absorb health care information, quickly make sense of it, and present it in a concise, coherent, audience-specific way. When you work with me, you have the support of an expert communicator who can:

  • Invest the time needed to condense, organize, and present information clearly.
  • Come up to speed quickly on health care policy and clinical topics.
  • Catch blind spots in your communications by seeing through the eyes of an objective observer.
  • Recommend written formats that best suit your audience, your goals, and the content.

I am:

  • An award-winning writer—I have more than 20 years of experience in medical and health care communications, with expertise in performance improvement, patient safety, teamwork, communications, and patient experience.
  • A health reform expert—I understand the implications of health reform and changes in the health care system on various stakeholders.
  • A skillful translator—I speak the language of organizational leaders, clinicians, and consumers. I can translate your communication messaging no matter how complex or nuanced.
  • A former practicing physician—Having worked as a clinician in my first career, I can astutely interview both administrators and frontline clinicians because I understand the clinical world.

My clinical background and years of writing experience translate into rapid subject uptake, accuracy, clarity, and turnaround times that will keep your project on schedule. 

I’d love to chat to see if I can help you. Contact me to set up a conversation.

Preventing Physician Burnout: Curing the Chaos and Returning Joy to the Practice of Medicine

My co-author and I describe what burnout is and what it isn’t, the key factors that drive it, and what physicians, teams, and leaders can do about it. And to show that change is possible, we include 12 vignettes of health care organizations that have taken proactive, often innovative, steps to address burnout. Find out more here.

“DeChant and Shannon have addressed one of the central issues of health care today: physician burnout. It is hard to see how we can create the health care system we want and need on the backs of joyless and unengaged doctors. This well-written, practical book offers the prescription we need to address this crisis.”

– Robert Wachter, MD, Professor and Chair, Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, Author of The Digital Doctor: Hope, Hype, and Harm at the Dawn of Medicine’s Computer Age

“In her writing, Diane blends her knowledge of health care improvement with her understanding of how clinicians and patients and their families experience safety and quality. She’s a top-notch professional writer—skilled and reliable—whose articles are effective for my broad health care audience.”

– Susan Carr, Editor, Patient Safety Beat, Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety

Here are some samples of my writing.

​Advancing the Safety of Acute Pain Management. Institute for Healthcare Improvement, 2019

Reducing burnout tops the to-do list of health care orgs. Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety, 2019

The Road to Eliminating Pediatric Harm. Solutions for Patient Safety, 2018

No Place Like Home: Advancing the Safety of Care in the Home. Institute for Healthcare Improvement/National Patient Safety Foundation, ​2018

​Closing the Loop: A Guide to Safer Ambulatory Referrals in the EHR Era. Institute for Healthcare Improvement, 2017

Free from Harm: Accelerating Patient Safety Improvement Fifteen Years after To Err Is Human. National Patient Safety Foundation, 2015 

Shining a Light: Safer Health Care Through Transparency. National Patient Safety Foundation, 2015 

An Invisible Barrier to Compassionate Care: The Implications of Physician Burnout on Patient & Family Experience. The Beryl Institute, 2014

Managing the Critical Transition from Volume to Value. Physician Executive Journal, 2011 

Why I Left Medicine: A Burnt Out Doctor’s Decision to Quit. WBUR CommonHealth, 2013; Will Solimene Award for Excellence, 2014

“Diane is a very talented, knowledgeable, and skilled medical and health care writer with an ability to succinctly communicate complex health care issues in an understandable way. She always meets her timelines and targets and is a pleasure to work with on projects.”

Joseph F. Damore, Vice President, Premier Consulting Solutions, Premier, Inc. Healthcare Alliance

Yes! Send me my free ebook:

The Challenges Women Physicians Face: What’s Needed to Shift from Striving to Thriving.

Learn what women physicians across the country told me about the barriers they face--and about potential solutions. You'll also receive my biweekly newsletter. You can unsubscribe at any time.

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Diane W. Shannon, MD, MPH, PCC

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