VNS Health Editorial Quick Start

Note that this page will be updated periodically as necessary, so please don’t print it — always use this live version. 

For more-detailed guidance, see VNS Health Editorial Style Guide.

If you have questions about VNS Health editorial style, please email the rebrand team at rebrand@vnshealth.org.

Last updated November 15, 2024

---

General Guidelines

• Use plain language, simple sentence structures, active voice, and short paragraphs. (Note that there are additional language guidelines for health plan materials.)
• Limit details — tell readers only what they need to know, using bulleted lists whenever possible.
• Organize content so that readers can easily scan for information.
• Before you start writing, ask yourself, Who is going to read this information? Why do they want it? What should they know when they finish reading it?
• For more information, see the Verbal Identity section of the Brand Guidelines.

Specific Guidelines

If you aren’t sure how to spell a word, consult Webster’s New World College Dictionary. For detailed information about our editorial style, see VNS Health Editorial Style Guide.

Referring to VNS Health

• Refer to VNS Health as an organization, not an agency, business, enterprise, health plan, or corporation.
• Don’t allow “VNS Health” to break over two lines of text. You can insert a nonbreaking space between the two words by typing Ctrl+Shift+Spacebar on a PC and Option+Spacebar on a Mac.
• Use “we” rather than “they” or “it” to refer to the organization.

Referring to VNS Health teams

See VNS Health Teams and Terminology Guidance for specific examples of how to refer to teams, as well as programs and services.

Legally binding documents (e.g., contracts) must reflect the appropriate entity’s legal name and d/b/a; for questions, speak with the Legal team.

• Use “teams” rather than “business units,” “lines of business,” or “departments.”
• In the context of any VNS Health website or collateral materials, it’s not always necessary to include “VNS Health” as part of the name of a team. For example, you can write “A team member from Home Care can answer your questions.”
• Don’t use “VNS Health Hospice”; the team is called “VNS Health Hospice Care.”
• Don’t use “Behavioral Health Care”; the team is called “Behavioral Health.”
• Don’t use “VNS Health Behavioral Health” to refer to the  team; instead use “the Behavioral Health team from VNS Health” or just “Behavioral Health.”
• Although “VNS Health Health Plans” is the d/b/a, use it only when there is no other alternative. On the VNS Health Health Plans website, you can use “we” or “our team” because it will be clear who “we” and “our” refer to.
• Don’t use “Health Plans from VNS Health” or “Health Plans” to refer to the organization; this is to prevent anyone from misinterpreting these phrases as d/b/a names. 
• Don’t use “VNS Health Plans.”
• Don’t use “the VNS Health Center for Home Care Policy & Research”; instead use “the Center for Home Care Policy & Research at VNS Health.” You can use “the Research Center” or “the center” on subsequent mentions.
• You can use “Professional Solutions team” as a blanket term to refer to the VNS Health Care Management and VNS Health MSO teams.

Referring to people

• Refer to VNS Health team members as colleagues, employees, or frontline team members. Don’t use “staff.”
• For job titles, generally follow Associated Press style. For detailed guidance, consult VNS Health Editorial Style Guide. Here are a few examples:
  • Dan Savitt is president and chief executive officer of VNS Health.
  • A new video series features VNS Health Chief Executive Officer and President Dan Savitt.
  • Dan Savitt, the president and chief executive officer of VNS Health, is featured in a new video series.
  • Jane Doe, a care manager with VNS Health, will contact you.
  • Please get in touch with the care manager, Jane Doe.
  • VNS Health care manager Jane Doe will contact you.
• Use “people,” “individuals,” “patients,” “clients,” or “members” for the people who use our services (patients, clients, health plan members, and their families).
• Use “partners” for those with whom we do business (vendors, donors, and referral partners).
• Use “they” as a singular pronoun rather than “he” or “she.”

Capitalization of teams, programs, and services

See VNS Health Teams and Terminology Guidance for additional examples of how to capitalize the names of VNS Health teams, programs, and services.

• Capitalize “Home Care,” “Care Management,” etc. when referring to the name of a VNS Health team:
  • A Home Care team member can answer your questions.
  • A member of the Care Management team from VNS Health will contact you.
• Don’t capitalize “home care,” “care management,” “health plans,” etc. when referring to the services or plans offered by VNS Health:
  • Your home care nurse will explain your care plan.
  • The patient is at high risk for rehospitalization, so he receives care management services, including remote monitoring.
  • VNS Health offers a family of health plans that make it easier to live healthier in the comfort of your home and community.
• Don’t capitalize the word “team,” “program,” “services,” or “plan” unless it’s part of an official name:
  • A member of the Home Care team can tell you about our behavioral health services.
  • The Children & Family Support Team (CFST) connects families to community resources.
  • The Gender Affirmation Program addresses the needs of transgender and nonbinary individuals after gender affirmation surgery.
  • The Nurse-Family Partnership program supports first-time parents and their children.
  • The VNS Health Total plan brings together Medicare Advantage and Medicaid Managed Long Term Care.
• Don’t capitalize occupational titles like home health aide, social worker, physical therapist, or nurse.
• Don’t use ALL CAPS for page or article titles, for headings, or for emphasis in running text (OK to use for microcopy such as button text, link text, menu headings).

Text in title case (such as headings)

• Capitalize all words except “a,” “an,” “the”; prepositions of four or fewer letters (“for,” “with” but “About”); and conjunctions of three or fewer letters (“and,” “or” but “Because”), unless any of these words start or end the capitalized text.
• Capitalize both parts of a two-word verb: e.g., “What to Look For When Choosing …”
• Don’t capitalize “to” when it precedes a verb: e.g., “How to Find Hospice Care.”
• Always capitalize verbs, pronouns, adverbs, and adjectives including “Is,” “It,” “This,” and “That.”

Bulleted lists

• Capitalize the first letter of each list item.
• Try not to mix sentence fragments and complete sentences in lists.
• Don’t use punctuation at the end of list items unless they are complete sentences.
• Generally, use a colon after a complete sentence that introduces a list: e.g., “These signs suggest it’s time to think about hospice: …”
• It’s also acceptable to use a colon even if the introductory text is a sentence fragment: e.g., “It may be time to think about hospice if: …”

Numbers, dates, and times

Generally follow Associated Press style for anything not listed here.

• one through nine, 10 and up, 1 million, 1,000, 40%
• $5, not $5 dollars
• 98.6°F (no space before degree symbol)
• 11 am, 1 pm, 3:30 pm, 9–11 am (note en dash), from 9 am to 5 pm, 9 am–5 pm (AM and PM are OK in the Community Calendar and in title-case text)
• 21st century, 1920s, not 1920’s
• February 2021, not February, 2021
• Use a comma after the year: e.g., “On March 21, 2020, we will …”.
• Use an en dash for date ranges: e.g., March 1–5, 2022.
• When space is tight, 3/21 or 3/21/2022 can be used.
• Don’t use March 21st (don’t mix letters and numbers in dates).
• For phone/fax numbers, use the following format: 1-646-555-1234.

Addresses

Use the following formats for addresses:

VNS Health
[Team/program/plan name – department: e.g., Health Plans – MEU]
220 East 42nd Street
New York, NY 10017

or

VNS Health, [team/program/plan name – department e.g., Health Plans – MEU], 220 East 42nd Street, New York, NY 10017

Punctuation

• Use the serial comma, but not with &.
• Use spaces around em dashes: e.g., “…where you feel most comfortable — in your own home.”
• Don’t use spaces around en dashes: e.g., “2–3 weeks.”
• Generally don’t hyphenate common prefixes: e.g., “non,” “pre,” “post,” “bi“. There will be exceptions: e.g., “pre-enrollment,” “post-operative,” “co-investigator.” See VNS Health Editorial Style Guide for additional guidance and examples.
• Don’t hyphenate “-ly” adverbs: e.g., “highly skilled clinicians,” not “highly-skilled clinicians.”

---

Alphabetical Word List

See VNS Health Editorial Style Guide for a more extensive word list.

A–F

activities of daily living (ADLs)

acute care (n), acute-care (a): e.g., acute-care setting

advance care plan(ning), advance directive, advance care directive

advanced illness management expert

advanced patient monitoring

advanced practice nurse, not advance practice nurse

advisor not adviser (deviation from AP style)

annual enrollment period (AEP)

anti constructions, generally don’t hyphenate (departure from AP style): e.g., antihistamine, antiviral, but anti-trans, anti-bias, anti-wandering

Article 31 Outpatient Clinic

at-risk (a), at risk (pa)

bedbound

behavioral health (n, a; generic descriptive phrase): e.g., behavioral health care, behavioral health nurse, behavioral health services

Behavioral Health (uppercase when referring to the Behavioral Health team)

benefit management (a, n), not benefits management

bereavement program, the VNS Health; grief support groups

board of directors, the VNS Health

board-certified (a), board certified (pa)

Care Management (uppercase when referring to VNS Health team)

care management (n, a; lowercase when referring to the services)

care management model (n)

care management organization (generic descriptive phrase, CMO)

Care Team (capitalize in health plans contexts): e.g., “If you have questions about your plan, contact your Care Team.”

caregiver support services (lowercase when referring to the suite of services, treat as a plural noun)

Caregiver Support Services (uppercase when referring to the team, treat as a singular noun: e.g., “Caregiver Support Services is working on it.”)

caregiver, caregiving (n, a)

Center for Home Care Policy & Research at VNS Health; the Research Center at VNS Health, the Research Center, the Research Center team, the center, not CHCPR

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, treat as a singular noun)

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS, treat as a singular noun)

certified home health agency (CHHA), Medicare-certified home health agency, not Medicare-certified Home Health Agency

Contact Center; Contact Center Shared Service, VNS Health

• Use “Contact Center” for consumer-facing content
• Use “Contact Center Shared Service” or “CCSS” for internal content

Core Values, VNS Health: empathy, integrity, and agility

dietitian, not dietician

front line(s) (n), frontline (a)

G–M

gender affirmation surgery, not gender reassignment surgery

Gender Affirmation Program (GAP), not GAP Program or GAP program

gender-affirming (a), gender affirming (pa)

gender-nonconforming (a), gender nonconforming (pa)

geriatric care management, geriatric care management services, geriatric care manager

health care (n, a), never healthcare: e.g., health care proxy, health care innovation, health care agent

• “Healthcare” should be retained when it appears in a brand name or a direct quotation.

health plan (a): e.g., health plan information, not health plans information

health plans from VNS Health (n, lowercase when referring to the plans)

home and community health industry, home and community health care

home- and community-based (a): e.g., home- and community-based health care

home care (a, n; lowercase when referring to the services): e.g., home care nursing, home care delivery

Home Care (uppercase when referring to VNS Health team)

home care (lowercase when referring to the services; prefer over “home health care”)

HOPE (Hospice Outreach Patient and Provider Education) Program (a VNS Health program)

HOPE tool (Hospice Outcomes & Patient Evaluation tool, a CMS tool)

Hospice Care (uppercase when referring to VNS Health team)

hospice care (a, lowercase when referring to the services): e.g., hospice care services, hospice care liaison, hospice care admissions nurse, hospice care home health aide

hospice care nurse, your VNS Health; not your VNS Health Hospice Care nurse

hospice care services (lowercase when referring to the services)

hospice care team, your; hospice care nurse; hospice care physician (lowercase when referring to field teams and their members)

hospice care, hospice care at home (lowercase when referring to the services)

hyphenated Americans, don’t use a hyphen: e.g., African American (n, a), Chinese American (n, a)

LGBTQIA+ friendly (a), not LGBTQIA+-friendly (a)

licensed health care services agency (LHCSA)

licensed master social worker (LMSW)

licensed practical nurse (LPN)

licensed social worker (LSW)

long-term care insurance

Managed Long Term Care (name of health plan)

Medicaid HIV/AIDS Special Needs Plan (SNP)

N–U

payer, not payor

personal care services

population health (n, a): e.g., population health management

Population Health team (VNS Health)

preventive, not preventative: e.g., preventive care screening

private nursing care, private nurse; avoid “private-duty” and “private care nursing”

private-pay (a): e.g., private-pay care, private-pay home health aide, private-pay nursing, private-pay services

Professional Solutions, Professional Solutions team: blanket term that can be used to refer to the VNS Health Care Management and VNS Health MSO teams

professional solutions (generic descriptive phrase)

referral center, the VNS Health

substance use (a, n), prefer over substance abuse

V–Z

Veterans Home Care program (home care for veterans)

veterans liaison

Veterans Outreach, the Veterans Outreach program (VNS Health program)

veterans programs, VNS Health

• Veterans Hospice Care program, hospice care for veterans
• Veterans Outreach program
• Veterans Home Care program (home care for veterans)

VNS Health Care Management, Care Management, the Care Management team

VNS Health community centers, the; the VNS Health Community Center in Chinatown/Flushing/Sunset Park; the community center in Chinatown/Flushing/Sunset Park

VNS Health Health Plans: Although “VNS Health Health Plans” is the d/b/a, use it only when there is no other alternative. On the VNS Health Health Plans website, you can use “we” or “our team” because it will be clear who “we” and “our” refer to. Don’t use “Health Plans from VNS Health” or “Health Plans” to refer to the organization; this is to prevent anyone from misinterpreting these phrases as d/b/a names. Don’t use “VNS Health Plans.”

VNS Health Home Care, Home Care, the Home Care team

VNS Health Hospice Care, Hospice Care, the Hospice Care team

VNS Health Hospice Care programs

• Cancer Hospice Care program (includes specialized Oncology Hospice Care program); hospice care for people with cancer
• Cardiac Hospice Care program, hospice care for people with advanced heart failure
• COPD Hospice Care program, hospice care for people with COPD
• Veterans Hospice Care program, hospice care for veterans
• HOPE (Hospice Outreach Patient and Provider Education) Program
• Hospice Fellowship Training Program

VNS Health Management Services Organization, VNS Health MSO

VNS Health Personal Care, Personal Care, the Personal Care team

VNS Health veterans programs

• Veterans Hospice Care program, hospice care for veterans
• Veterans Outreach program
• Veterans Home Care program (home care for veterans)

we honor veterans (generic descriptive phrase)

We Honor Veterans (use when referring to https://www.wehonorveterans.org/)