Each week we email a tip or news that we are covering in Strategic Health Care Marketing. You can view the archives of this weekly ezine below.
“If you didn’t know the whole story, you’d think last October 20 was a less-than-glorious Sunday in Seattle,” writes SHCM contributor Peter Hochstein. “It was a football day, of course, and the Seattle Seahawks lost to the Baltimore Ravens 30-16. But for two local hospitals, Virginia Mason Health System, with about 600 licensed beds, and Read More
“Not that many years ago, you would commonly find ‘senior services’ programs in almost every hospital across the country,” says Daniel Fell, a senior strategist at Optum. “But somewhere along the way, despite the demographic trends confronting the health care industry that clearly point to a seismic shift among the health care population — mainly Read More
Hospital marketers have to be active on social media and online review sites, right? We know the answer is ‘yes,’ but who is it for and how do you do it well? A recent national consumer survey conducted by Wax Custom Communications showed surprising results about who follows social media channels and to what extent Read More
If you’re a big, distributed health network with multiple locations and thousands of employees, how do you make sure your employees keep you top of mind when they’re out in the community? “We’re a large 10-hospital network — soon to be 12 — with over 15,500 employees,” says Mary Beth Golab, director of internal communications Read More
“You can do terrible things to a puppet for popular amusement that aren’t funny when they happen to real people,” says veteran copywriter and SHCM contributor Peter Hochstein. “You can make him horribly ill. You can afflict him with a swarm of bees. You can break off his leg, or worse. Almost no matter what Read More
“Population health is a hot topic in our industry,” says Susan Dubuque of ndp. “But let’s be honest. As health care marketing professionals, we may have a difficult time getting our heads around this complex, multifaceted concept. There is lack of clarity about even the most basic issues like: What is population health? Who is Read More
Hospital and physician-owned Medicare Advantage (MA) plans have seen double-digit growth since 2015. Axios, which tracks membership data from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), reports that the largest organization in this category, Kaiser Permanente, grew 23 percent from 2015 to 2018, to almost 1.6 million members. The other 40 or so hospital- and Read More
Approximately 0.6 percent (about 1.4 million) of American adults identify as transgender, according to a report from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law. Like all people, transgender individuals — people who have a gender identity or expression that differs from their assigned sex at birth — need access to health care. Many Read More
Health care organizations play an important role in their communities that goes beyond providing health care services within the four walls of a hospital, clinic, or urgent care center. Outreach and community-based programs target specific populations to improve health and quality of life with a goal of keeping people out of the hospital. At Ascension, Read More
“Alexa, what is rotator cuff tendinitis?” “Alexa, where’s the nearest urgent care center?” “Alexa, what’s my glucose level?” Amazon’s voice assistant can now answer all these questions through the new HIPAA-compliant Alexa Skills Kit for developers. The new kit enables developers at medical organizations to build Alexa skills capable of transferring and receiving protected health Read More
Your communications team works hard to produce content that engages physicians. The problem is that your clinicians may completely ignore it. How do you get them to pay attention? Recruiting, retaining, and communicating effectively with your attending physicians affects everything from patient satisfaction and operating costs to hospital reputation and safety. As health care networks Read More
“Many of the people practicing health care public relations or marketing communications owe their educational roots to journalism school where they were taught, in no uncertain terms, that the elements of a good story are found in the five W’s,” says Ross K. Goldberg, president of Kevin/Ross Public Relations and a member of the SHCM Read More
“[A]s part of an ongoing rebranding effort, Adventist Health in Roseville, California has found a powerful technique for getting across a message of caring,” writes SHCM contributor and veteran copywriter Peter Hochstein. “Notably, the subject of the advertising is neither the hospital, nor the technology, nor what the doctors and staff do for the patients. Instead, Read More
“With today’s constant stream of digital health tools, it’s never been easier or faster for customers to take charge,” says Lindsay Resnick, executive vice president of Wunderman Thompson Health. “They’re following a path to care where they feel important and are treated well — and they’ll avoid hospitals that fall short.” Here’s an excerpt from Read More
Measles cases are on the rise. All six regions of the World Health Organization (WHO) are experiencing large outbreaks of measles. In the U.S., health officials recorded 1,109 new cases of measles in 30 states in the first six months of 2019, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s the greatest number Read More
In the wake of three shootings in Texas and Ohio in August and September, Strategic Health Care Marketing reached out to Kena Lewis, APR, director, public affairs and media relations at Orlando Health in Orlando, Florida. Lewis managed communications after the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting that killed 49 and wounded more than 50. We asked Read More
“Faced with competitors who may have bigger marketing budgets and more resources, many health care marketers feel powerless in the battle for market growth,” says Jessica Walker, founder and CEO of Care Sherpa. “Thinking like a hacker may help you outsmart the competition. Five proven hacks for market share growth require little to no money Read More
Treating illness is important, but that is only a part of overall health. Social determinants of health (SDoH) — the conditions under which people are born, live, and work — are increasingly recognized as strong influences on health. Conditions like poverty, education level, and lack of social support contribute to more than half of premature Read More
Are your providers losing patients because of access issues? A robust telemedicine program that offers convenient care for patients is one way to protect market share. Our new article by Marcia Simon, APR, explores how telemedicine brings subspecialties to outlying communities. Here’s an excerpt: Most of Gundersen Health System’s patients live at least 25 miles Read More
Facing a nursing shortage projected to increase in coming years, hospitals need to know how to hire and retain top talent — and marketing has a key role in this critical objective. Here’s an excerpt from Kathy Selker‘s new article for us on this topic; Selker is the president and CEO of Northlich. Health care needs Read More
“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
The evening of January 11, 2018, Steve Long, president and CEO of Hancock Health and Hancock Regional Hospital, got a call he’s not likely to soon forget. “Our administrator on call had received a call from the lab. They said there is something wrong with our computers,” says Long. Not long after, the nursing staff Read More
Consumerism is driving all industries to innovate, and health care is no exception. The ideal state is a digitally enabled, frictionless consumer experience. But in a highly complex industry like health care that has traditionally operated with a command-and-control vs. consumer-centric mindset, it’s a massive change. Adding to the cultural challenges, the pain points on Read More
“Health consumerism continues to revolutionize the health care industry,” says Ken Robbins, founder and president of Response Mine Interactive (RMI). “The days when patients blindly followed their doctors’ recommendations — often without a single question asked — are long gone. Today, physicians and health care organizations face a much more engaged and empowered population. Patients are playing Read More
“In the occupational medicine business, quality service delivery is the differentiator,” says Terri Hanlon-Bremer, vice president of employer solutions at TriHealth in Cincinnati. “If a company is not happy with your service, they will quickly change to another provider.” Health care marketers are always looking for new ways to reach consumers through social media platforms, Read More