Physician Referrals

Keys to Effective Health System Service Line Planning for the Future

Amanda Trask, senior vice president, Clinical Institutes and Service Lines for CommonSpirit Health

// By Brian Griffin // CommonSpirit Health’s framework for successfully achieving clinically aligned service line growth. In the evolving health care landscape, developing successful service line strategies is more challenging than ever. Health systems are dealing with a range of issues and trends that affect the process, such as: Mounting financial pressures. Shifting payment models. Read More

Does Your Health System’s Referral Management Process Need an Overhaul?

Angela Pettigrew, director of Provider Connect, Texas Children’s Hospital

For complex health systems with numerous specialties and subspecialties, referrals are their lifeblood — particularly referrals from external providers. Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH), a specialty pediatric hospital, was having difficulty keeping track of referrals. There wasn’t a standard process for sending and receiving referrals or tracking them once they were received, usually by fax, and Read More

Want More Referrals? Build a Better Provider Experience

Jane Weber Brubaker

Texas Children’s Hospital overhauled its referral management process and saw a 23 percent increase in referrals from external providers within two years. // By Jane Weber Brubaker // For complex health systems with numerous specialties and subspecialties, referrals are their lifeblood — particularly referrals from external providers. Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH), a specialty pediatric hospital, Read More

How UAMS Stays in Touch with Referring Providers

Keith Whitworth, director of marketing, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS)

Email has become a powerful tool in UAMS’ physician outreach toolkit. // By Jane Weber Brubaker // Marketing is all about understanding the needs of your market and finding ways to show how your product or service is the best solution for meeting those needs. As marketers, you know that part of your challenge is Read More

Physician Relations: Increasing Referrals and Driving Growth

Kriss Barlow, RN, MBA, principal at Barlow McCarthy

Connections between hospitals and doctors working outside the hospital aren’t as strong as they used to be. “So many organizations have realized we have completely lost touch with our primary care physicians,” says Kriss Barlow, RN, MBA, principal at Barlow McCarthy. “They don’t come to the hospital, they use hospitalists.” The pandemic has added to Read More

The Role of Physician Relations in Driving Growth

Jane Weber Brubaker

While health system marketing departments largely focus on consumers, physician relations professionals, aligned with business development, focus on building relationships with referring physicians, overcoming barriers, and growing referrals. // By Jane Weber Brubaker // Connections between hospitals and doctors working outside the hospital aren’t as strong as they used to be. “So many organizations have Read More

Five Ways to Stop Patient Prospects from Ghosting You

Jessica Walker is founder and CEO of Care Sherpa

If you spend scarce marketing dollars to attract new patients to your high-margin service lines only to have them ghost you, a solution may be within your REACH. // By Jessica Walker // Does your practice invest heavily in generating leads through your marketing channels — social media, website optimization, paid search — only to Read More

Report From the Front: Weathering COVID’s Ongoing Storm

Ann De Los Santos, director of physician relations and strategic growth, Ascension Texas

In spite of the population of Austin, Texas growing by a net of 150 people a day — and with it, an increase in demand for services — surgical volume at Ascension Texas dropped during the pandemic’s early days, when Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order mandating a pause in elective surgeries. “Our leadership Read More

A Strong Retail Presence is a Gamechanger for Summit Health

Summit Health

The story of health care over the past two years is the story of provider organizations adapting to extreme circumstances and constant change, which continues to this day; as of this writing in late December 2021, the U.S. reported 488,000 new COVID-19 infections, breaking its single-day record. But back in August 2019, no one knew Read More

Riding the Waves of COVID and Pushing Progress in Physician Relations

Jennifer Lofgren, regional director of network development, Loyola Medicine

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // The urgent need of health care organizations to make up for lost business during the pandemic creates an opportunity for physician relations teams to become the critical communications link between service-line leaders and high-priority referring physicians. In spite of the population of Austin, Texas growing by a net of Read More

Summit Health: Why a Health System Without a Hospital Makes Sense

Matt Gove, chief marketing officer, Summit Health

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // The story of health care over the past two years is the story of provider organizations adapting to extreme circumstances and constant change, which continues to this day; as of this writing in late December 2021, the U.S. reported 488,000 new COVID-19 infections, breaking its single-day record. But back Read More

Simple Technology Keeps Patients Connected to Care During COVID-19

Matthew Warrens, managing director of innovation at UnityPoint Health

“For the first time, many patients are experiencing what it’s like to be a rural patient where care feels out of reach,” says Blake Marggraff, CEO of CareSignal. “Patients who were once accustomed to frequent health touchpoints now feel the pressure to make do on their own — as providers experience staffing reductions and patients Read More

How Four Words Made a Remarkable Difference to a Struggling Hospital

“The situation seemed dire at Vassar Brothers Medical Center,” writes Peter Hochstein, copywriter and SHCM contributor. “Doctors at a large medical group were under orders to refer patients to a different hospital. Then Vassar launched an ad campaign that empowered patients to defy their doctors. And everything changed.” Here’s an excerpt from Hochstein’s new article: Read More

How To Reverse The Damaging Trend of Physician Burnout

Investing in a physician engagement program may achieve better ROI than traditional consumer-facing mass media marketing efforts. In our new article, John Gonda, senior healthcare account manager at ddm communications & marketing, explains why. Here’s an excerpt: Physician burnout is on the rise. Across the country, the ability of doctors to practice medicine and care Read More

Improving Physician Engagement and Satisfaction — and Why It Matters

// By John Gonda // Investing in a physician engagement program may achieve better ROI than traditional consumer-facing mass media marketing efforts. Physician burnout is on the rise. Across the country, the ability of doctors to practice medicine and care for patients is increasingly affected by ongoing regulations and administrative requirements. As physician burnout increases, Read More

Optimal Marketing Enables the Right Provider Match

“Marketers charged with leading their health systems into the new era of consumerism understand the hard truth about regional markets: They are a zero-sum game,” says Tom White, CEO of Phynd Technologies. Here’s an excerpt from White’s new article for Strategic Health Care Marketing: Marketers and business teams must create and market new networks to Read More