#industryadvocates

[pivotalcompliance]

Friends in the Industry - I am super excited, as our most recent interview on the Truck Focus Podcast is now live! In today's episode, I have an excellent conversation with Liz Williamson w/ Truckers Against Trafficking and Ben Stiller w/ National Truck League! During our conversation, we discuss how Truckers Against Trafficking is working diligently within the transportation industry to help end human trafficking. Furthermore, we discuss the different training available that can be taken, to become more aware of the signs of human trafficking and what you can do to help. Check out the episode now! Listen: https://bit.ly/3S7DSmC Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3WO34y_n4M Read more: https://bit.ly/3SbuSNb You can check out our episode on all major podcast players as well. Learn more about Truckers Against Trafficking, and take their free training by visiting: https://truckersagainsttrafficking.org/ Learn more about National Truck League by visiting: https://nationaltruckleague.com/ Thank you Liz and Ben for the incredible work you are doing to help put an end to human trafficking, and for joining me on the Truck Focus Podcast. As always, let's create a pivotal impact! #PVTL #TruckFocus #TruckFocusPodcast #EndHumanTrafficking #TruckersAgainstTrafficking #NationalTruckLeagueInsurance #IndustryAdvocates #IndustryLeaders #CreatingAPivotalImpact (at Calgary, Alberta) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgmj4Rvr3cC/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[amnglobalmedia]

[OUTREACH 🌍📍🏙] United States--(AMNGLOBAL) Need help going over your business plan? Find inspiration, guidance and support in our @amngforums online repository. Stay tuned for online webinars, skills trainings and virtual screenings to be offered weekly to help you get started during our Monumental Mondays exhibitions. Find out how to build a business and secure funding. #shoplocal #b2b #industryadvocate #baltimore #businesscoach #businessplan #fellspoint #federalhill #portcovington #towson #nottinghammd (at Maryland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQ4glT5LvT1/?utm_medium=tumblr

[cannabisbusinessexecutive]

ElixinolWelcomes Hemp IndustryAdvocate Joy Beckerman As Regulatory Officer & Industry Liaison

ElixinolWelcomes Hemp IndustryAdvocate Joy Beckerman As Regulatory Officer & Industry Liaison

PRESS RELEASE

Beckerman will represent Elixinol’s position in hemp industry’s dynamic U.S. regulatory and advocacy environment

DENVER — (January 3, 2019) — Elixinol, a wholly owned subsidiary of Elixinol Global (EXL)(ASX: EXL; OTC: ELLXF), announces Joy Beckerman’s appointment to Elixinol’s team starting January 1, 2019.

In Beckerman’s role as Regulatory Officer and IndustryLiaison, she will…

[researchjunkie]

Text Mining to Investigate Transparency in Healthcare

Background

The Governor of Florida, Rick Scott, created the Commission on Healthcare and Hospital Funding on May 5, 2015. The goal of the Commission was to investigate the extent to which taxpayer funding for healthcare is affecting affordability of healthcare services. The impetus for the creation of the Commission was the federal government’s push to expand the Affordable Care Act and the knowledge that nearly 70% of healthcare expenses in Florida are already covered by taxpayer funding. At the completion of their investigation, the Commission made recommendations to increase price transparency through a variety of hospital reporting mechanisms which resulted in the passage of Florida Law 2016-234. Unfortunately, 73% of hospitals in the state have either utilized reporting exemptions in the law or have seemingly refused to comply.

Access to affordable healthcare continues to be a serious national concern for Americans. As a large and diverse state, the experiences in Florida with the healthcare industry can help to understand the issue at large. The healthcare industry remains protected from real cost revelation and impervious to virtually all cost reduction schemes despite being primarily funded by taxpayer dollars.The goal of this research project is to use text mining to analyze the HCHF Commission meeting transcripts to gain a better understanding of cost transparency from the standpoint of healthcare representatives and their advocates. The healthcare industry is notoriously guarded when it comes to the topic of the actual cost of patient care and the HCHF Commission’s authority to compel hospital reporting and testimony presents a rare opportunity to investigate the industry’s rhetoric. 

Data

The HCHF Commission held 15 meetings between May 5, 2015 - January 19, 2016. The archived meetings consist of approximately 42 hours of audio and video recordings. MP3s and MP4s of the recordings were downloaded and converted into text transcripts using Google’s speech recognition engine VoiceNote II. After removing stop words, punctuation, and stemming the final document feature matrix contained 45 observations and 9,909 features. 

Findings

Latent Dirichlet allocation was used to generate topics for the HCHF corpus. Below is a chart of the generated topics along with a histogram of the topic frequency.

Figure 1. Latent Dirichlet allocation generated topics

Figure 2. Latient Dirichlet allocation frequency histogram of most likely topics

Although the stated purpose of the Commission was to investigate the role of taxpayer dollars in healthcare, the results from the LDA generated topic model tell us the subject that was actually most frequently discussed was knowledge of healthcare costs or more plainly, transparency. 

Next, I ran a model using structural topic modeling (STM) in order to capture the presenter information housed in the HCHF corpus as metadata. Below are a list of the topics generated from the STM model.

Figure 3. Top topics chart generated from structural topic model  

As can be seen from the top topics graph the Commission discussed a great variety of healthcare issues. To dig deeper into the topic of transparency from the standpoint of the hospital industry a comparison of effect estimates for various speakers was completed on the categories most relevant to cost transparency (Topic 33, Topic 48, Topic 25). For reference “HospitalRepresentative” refers to a presenter from a medical facility, “AHCA” refers to staff employed by the Agency for Healthcare Administration, “IndustryAdvocate” refers to coalitions lobbying to advance the interest of the healthcare industry, “Watchdog” refers to organizations seeking to reform healthcare accountability. 

Figure 4. Effect estimates comparison of hospital representatives and AHCA staff

Figure 5. Effect estimates comparison of hospital representatives and presenters from watchdog organizations

Figure 6. Effect estimates comparison of hospital industry advocates and AHCA staff

Figure 7. Effect estimates comparison of hospital industry advocates and watchdog organizations.

The effect estimate comparison of presenters shows little deviation with regard to Topic 25 (”might”, “look”, “inform”). On the topic of pricing (Topic 33: “price”, “hospit”, “healthcar”), the hospital representatives and industry advocates differed slightly from AHCA staff and greatly from the watchdog organizations. Regarding transparency (Topic 48: “transpar”, “stat”, “peopl”), AHCA staff and the watchdog groups differed the most from the industry advocates and to a lesser extent from the healthcare representatives. The reasoning behind this could be the greater latitude the industry advocates and watchdog groups enjoy when speaking before the Commission, a flexibility likely not realistic for the AHCA staff and healthcare reps. 

Figure 8. Word cloud comparison of AHCA staff and hospital representatives on Topic 12

Figure 9. Word cloud comparison of AHCA staff and hospital representatives on Topic 6

Figure 10. Word cloud comparison of AHCA staff and hospital representatives on Topic 4

Word cloud comparisons between AHCA staff and hospital representatives (seen in Figures 8, 9, and 10) show a more detailed differentiation between the rhetoric of the two presenter groups. As can be seen above, on topics where AHCA emphasizes transparency concepts, hospital representatives emphasize patient care.

Figure 11. Results of naive Bayes classification model

Finally, a naive Bayes classifier was ran on the corpus to text its predictive capability. The model showed an accuracy rate of 70%, with the strongest categories being for hospital representatives and AHCA staff.

Figure 12. Dendrogram of HCHF corpus

Interestingly, a dendrogram of the corpus showed the presenters grouped accurately together in all but four branches. The text number corresponds with the chronological meeting dates, therefore further emphasizing the differentiation between the speakers and strength of that differentiation.  

Conclusion

The goal of this project was to investigate the rhetoric of the hospital industry regarding the issue of cost transparency. While the use of a bag-of-words assumption may prevent text mining from revealing the exact phrases used by industry representatives, it does tell us that the industry and its advocates use definitely different language from government officials and watchdog groups. Results from the estimate effects and word clouds underline this point and are further reinforced by the predictive strength of the naive Bayes classifier model. We also know from our results that when the topic of transparency is part of discussion the industry emphasizes various aspects of patient care instead of costs. 

In the future, text mining of this subject matter could be extended to legislative meetings for other states and on the federal level. Such an effort could further pinpoint the industry’s stance on price transparency and help the government craft meaningful policy in order to prompt actual cost revelation.

Github link to code: https://github.com/eldonsdata/textmining/blob/master/hchf

[pivotalcompliance]

Friends in the Industry - Our newest episode on the Truck Focus Podcast, which is part of our Youthful Take on Transportation Series, is now live! In today's episode, Avery, my 12-year-old son, interviews Chris and John, hosts of the Trucking Risk and Insurance Podcast! During their conversation, they dive into "what does the future of transportation look like", and highlight some exciting technologies and best practices our industry is adapting to help improve how professional drivers can operate safely. Check out the episode now! Listen: https://bit.ly/3OONqQM Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBq1cjxa3nQ Read more: https://bit.ly/3vp0m8V Their episode can be listened to on all major podcast players as well. I highly recommend checking out the Trucking Risk and Insurance podcast by visiting: https://truckingriskandinsurance.com/ Thank you Chris and John for joining Avery for a conversation today, and for the leadership, you bring to our industry. As always, let's create a pivotal impact! #PVTL #TruckFocus #TruckFocusPodcast #YouthfulTakeOnTransportation #TruckingRiskandInsurancePodcast #TruckingInCanada #OpportunitiesInTransportation #TransportationLeaders #IndustryAdvocates #ThankATrucker #IfYouGotItATruckBroughtIt (at Calgary, Alberta) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgj5NjxL8Ll/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[pivotalcompliance]

Friends in the Industry - I'm super excited as our newest episode on the Truck Focus Podcast is now live! In today's episode, I have a super impactful conversation with Stephanie and Maren, hosts of The Soulful Leader Podcast and The Mindful Trucker, as we complete part 3 of 3 in our shifting the focus in transportation series! Part 3 of our series is about understanding stress, and how to manage stress appropriately. Collectively, Dana, Stephanie, and Maren communicate how we can choose to look at stress differently, and instead view it as excitement and an opportunity to get out of our comfort zones and grow! Check out the episode now! Listen: https://bit.ly/3oCMAfb Read more: https://bit.ly/3oA8VtG Our interview is also live on all major podcast platforms. I encourage you to check out The Soulful Leader Podcast here: https://thesoulfulleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about The Mindful Trucker here: https://themindfultrucker.com/ As always, let's create a pivotal impact! #PVTL #TruckFocus #TruckFocusPodcast #TheMindfulTrucker #TheSoulfulLeaderPodcast #IndustryAdvocates #PivotalImpact #ImpactingOurIndustry #Transportation #Logistics #SupplyChainManagement #SupplyChain #LeadersInIndustry (at Calgary, Alberta) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cgh1Z8hP9Xb/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[pivotalcompliance]

Friends in the Industry - I want to give a huge shoutout to Liz Williamson w/ Truckers Against Trafficking, and Ben Stiller w/ National Truck League for joining me on the Truck Focus Podcast! During our conversation, we discuss how Truckers Against Trafficking is working diligently within the transportation industry to help end human trafficking. Furthermore, we discuss the different pieces of training available that can be taken, to become more aware of the signs of human trafficking and what you can do to help. Stay tuned, as our interview goes live in the coming weeks! Learn more about Truckers Against Trafficking, and take their free training by visiting: https://truckersagainsttrafficking.org/ Learn more about National Truck League by visiting: https://nationaltruckleague.com/ Thank you Liz and Ben for the incredible work you are doing to help put an end to human trafficking, and for joining me on the Truck Focus Podcast. As always, let's create a pivotal impact! #PVTL #TruckFocus #TruckFocusPodcast #EndHumanTrafficking #TruckersAgainstTrafficking #NationalTruckLeagueInsurance #IndustryAdvocates #IndustryLeaders #CreatingAPivotalImpact (at Calgary, Alberta) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf66YCjLM9A/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[pivotalcompliance]

Friends in the Industry - I want to give a huge shoutout to Chris and John, hosts of the Trucking Risk and Insurance Podcast, for joining my 12-year-old son Avery on an episode of the Youthful Take On Transportation Series, brought to you by the Truck Focus Podcast! During their conversation, they dive into "what does the future of transportation look like", and highlight some exciting technologies and best practices our industry is adapting to help improve how professional drivers can operate safely. Stay tuned, as this excellent interview goes live in the coming weeks! I highly recommend checking out the Trucking Risk and Insurance podcast by visiting: https://truckingriskandinsurance.com/ Thank you Chris and John for joining Avery for a conversation today, and for the leadership you bring to our industry. As always, let's create a pivotal impact! #PVTL #TruckFocus #TruckFocusPodcast #YouthfulTakeOnTransportation #TruckingRiskandInsurancePodcast #TruckingInCanada #OpportunitiesInTransportation #TransportationLeaders #IndustryAdvocates #ThankATrucker #IfYouGotItATruckBroughtIt (at Calgary, Alberta) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf4fpI2PEhg/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[pivotalcompliance]

Friends in the Industry - I want to give a huge shoutout to Stephanie and Maren, hosts of The Soulful Leader Podcast and The Mindful Trucker for coming back on the Truck Focus Podcast today, as we completed part 3 of 3 in our shifting the focus in transportation series! Part 3 of our series is about understanding stress, and how to manage stress appropriately. Collectively, Dana, Stephanie, and Maren communicate how we can choose to look at stress differently, and instead view it as excitement and an opportunity to get out of our comfort zones and grow! A highlight of today's conversation is the blissfulness in the guidance shared, as I personally needed to hear it. I am extremely grateful for their empathic leadership, and I believe if you are navigating through a stressful season, this is a must-listen conversation for you too! Stay tuned, as our episode goes live in the coming weeks! I encourage you to check out The Soulful Leader Podcast here: https://thesoulfulleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about The Mindful Trucker here: https://themindfultrucker.com/ As always, let's create a pivotal impact! #PVTL #TruckFocus #TruckFocusPodcast #TheMindfulTrucker #TheSoulfulLeaderPodcast #IndustryAdvocates #PivotalImpact #ImpactingOurIndustry #Transportation #Logistics #SupplyChainManagement #SupplyChain #LeadersInIndustry (at Calgary, Alberta) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cf1x5SjpvLd/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[pivotalcompliance]

Friends in the Industry - I'm excited to announce we have just released episode #133 on the Truck Focus Podcast! In today's episode, I have a great conversation with Marc Moncion, Vice President of Safety, Compliance & Regulatory Affairs with FleetComplete. During our conversation, we dive into the benefits telematics and ELDs can provide professional drivers and carriers when utilized, and discussed the opportunities our industry has to really progress as we gain a deeper understanding of what the telematics data is showing us. Check out the episode now! Listen: https://bit.ly/3uoM7jQ Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHHlaIVk87g Read more: https://bit.ly/3yFZY8b I highly recommend connecting with Marc, if you have regulatory questions surrounding hours of service, or are looking to learn more about the benefits of telematics and ELDs. Visit: https://blog.fleetcomplete.com/safety-corner Thank you Marc for joining me on the podcast! As always, let's create a pivotal impact! #PVTL #TruckFocus #TruckFocusPodcast #FleetComplete #Telematics #ELDs #BenefitsOfData #IndustryAdvocates #PeertoPeerCoaching #SuccessInTransportation #FleetComplete #BigRoad #TransportationCanada #TruckingCanada (at Calgary, Alberta) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfmGYgCLnmU/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[pivotalcompliance]

Friends in the Industry - I want to give a huge shoutout to Danielle Spaar, Area Manager with Benefits For Trucking, for recently joining me on the Truck Focus Podcast! During our conversation, we dive into Danielle's journey, and how her lifelong appreciation for the transportation industry and the professionals operating within, has really influenced how she's able to serve our industry at Benefits For Trucking with a people-first approach. Stay tuned, as our interview goes live in the coming weeks! I highly recommend connecting with Danielle directly and learning more about Benefits For Trucking by visiting: https://www.benefitsfortrucking.com/ Thank you Danielle for joining me on the Truck Focus Podcast! As always, let's create a pivotal impact! #PVTL #TruckFocus #TruckFocusPodcast #BenefitsForTrucking #IndustryAdvocates #ProfessionalDriverAdvocacy #IndustrySupport #Benefits #Insurance #ProgressiveApproachToServeIndustry #TruckingProfessionals #TransportationIndustry (at Calgary, Alberta) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfaCBBNvnvi/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[pivotalcompliance]

Friends in the Industry - Episode #132 on the Truck Focus Podcast is now live! In today's episode, I'm super excited as I have a great conversation with Jamie Irvine, Host of The Heavy-Duty Parts Report! During our conversation, we dive into why businesses really need to take their businesses online, to help improve their efficiencies, and ultimately create a better experience for their teams, and their customers. Additionally, I'd like to state again just how grateful I am for Jamie, and his mentorship in my journey. I really appreciate it! Check out the episode now! Listen: https://bit.ly/3u7C42r Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48DEkFmIgHI Read more: https://bit.ly/3NwHtXZ A huge takeaway from our conversation is when Jamie breaks down the importance of quality and consistency when creating and sharing content online. I highly recommend checking out The Heavy-Duty Parts Report by visiting: https://heavydutypartsreport.com/ Thank you Jamie for joining me on the podcast, and for the impact you're having on my journey! As always, let's create a pivotal impact! #PVTL #TruckFocus #TruckFocusPodcast #TheHeavyDutyPartsReport #HeavyDutyParts #Podcasting #TransportationIndustryAdvocates #GrowingYourBusinessOnline #HowToMarketYourBusiness #Serve #LeadWithIntentionality #IndustryAdvocates (at Calgary, Alberta) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfZPJ9NrkGS/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[pivotalcompliance]

Friends in the Industry - I want to give a huge shoutout to Francesca Sebastian, CEO at Acumen Clinic for joining me on the Truck Focus Podcast! During our conversation, Francesca shares her perspective on leadership, and how she leads with curiosity and highlights the necessity of constant communication with her team to be agile as they positively impact their community! A huge highlight of our conversation is when Francesca explains how "Acumen is for everyone" Stay tuned, as our interview goes live in the coming weeks! I encourage you to learn more about Acumen Clinic by visiting: https://acumensportsandshoulder.com/ Thank you Francesca for joining me on the podcast! Learn more about our mission by visiting: https://www.pvtlindustry.com/truckfocus As always, let's create a pivotal impact! #PVTL #TruckFocus #TruckFocusPodcast #AcumenClinic #Recovery #SuccessInYourCommunity #Leadership #LeadingForABetterTomorrow #Teamwork #TransportationSuccess #ImprovingYourHealth #SuccessfulLeaders #IndustryAdvocates (at Calgary, Alberta) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfUzxQfPmqS/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[pivotalcompliance]

Friends in the Industry - I want to give a huge shoutout to Colin Foster, owner of Silverback Transport and Hot Shot for recently joining me on the Truck Focus Podcast! During our conversation, Colin does an excellent job explaining the necessity of having a solutions-focused mindset when working with client partners, and how this mindset and approach have really helped his company succeed over the last few years. Stay tuned, as our episode goes live in the coming weeks! I highly recommend learning more about Colin, and Silverback Transport by visiting: https://www.silverbacktransport.com/ Thank you Colin for joining me on the Truck Focus Podcast, and for the impact, you are having on our industry! Learn more about our mission: https://www.pvtlindustry.com/truckfocus As always, let's create a pivotal impact! #PVTL #TruckFocus #TruckFocusPodcast #SilverbackTransport #HotShot #Trucking #BritishColumbiaTrucking #Mindset #SuccessInTransportation #IndustryAdvocates #IndustrySuccess (at Calgary, Alberta) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfITCO6Jv3R/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[pivotalcompliance]

Friends in the Industry - I am super excited, as the Truck Focus Podcast has released episode #130! In today's episode, I am excited to speak with Stephanie and Maren, hosts of The Soulful Leader Podcast and The Mindful Trucker, as we complete part 2 of the 3 series, Shifting the Focus in Transportation! In today's episode, we dive into 4 major challenges trucking companies are experiencing right now with respect to their culture and people, and how they are working with such companies to help overcome them. Check out the episode now! Listen: https://bit.ly/3xK6oBr Read more: https://bit.ly/3Oe9AMx I encourage you to check out The Soulful Leader Podcast here: https://thesoulfulleaderpodcast.com/ Learn more about The Mindful Trucker here: https://themindfultrucker.com/ As always, let's create a pivotal impact! #PVTL #TruckFocus #TruckFocusPodcast #TheMindfulTrucker #TheSoulfulLeaderPodcast #IndustryAdvocates #PivotalImpact #ImpactingOurIndustry #Transportation #Logistics #SupplyChainManagement #SupplyChain #LeadersInIndustry (at Calgary, Alberta) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfIC0GQpWRd/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[pivotalcompliance]

Friends in the Industry - I want to give a huge shoutout to David Rosenbluth, National Sales Manager with Utility Pro Wear for recently joining me on the Truck Focus Podcast! During our conversation, we dive into what it takes to build successful, long-term customer relationships, in markets that are constantly changing. Additionally, David walks us through his perspective on the importance of operating with integrity. Stay tuned, as our conversation goes live in the coming weeks! I highly recommend learning more about Utility Pro Wear by visiting: https://www.utilityprowear.com/ Thank you David for joining me on the Truck Focus Podcast! Learn more about our mission by visiting: https://www.pvtlindustry.com/truckfocus As always, let's create a pivotal impact! #PVTL #TruckFocus #TruckFocusPodcast #SafetyWear #UtilityWear #PPE #SalesLeader #SuccessfulBusinessRelationships #LearningHowToGrowYourBookOfBusiness #EmpoweringYourPeople #LeadingWithIntegrity #IndustryAdvocates #Transportation #Trucking (at Calgary, Alberta) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfDFMECpyJ3/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=