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.
The traditional view at many hospitals and health systems is that marketing departments are an operating expense called in after strategy has been established and budgets allocated. But that view has been changing at Providence, the Seattle-based nonprofit healthcare system that operates 51 hospitals in seven states. When Providence separated its marketing and communication functions Read More
As marketers, we spend time and resources to take full advantage of the internet. We want our content to show up at the top of the search results page. We want our brand to be trusted. We want our physicians to be the ones patients find and choose. But as we’ve seen over the past Read More
The Lloyd F. Moss Free Clinic in Fredericksburg, Virginia is in a state-of-the-art building opened in 2007 on the campus of Mary Washington Healthcare. “I can see the hospital out my window,” says Karen Dulaney, executive director of the clinic. The strong connection between the hospital and the clinic is based on more than geography. Read More
Marketing budgets were already starting to tighten for some health systems at the beginning of last year. But when the coronavirus pandemic hit, some of those budget cuts became even more severe. Other systems saw budgets remain the same, but marketing departments had to be ready to quickly shift their strategy, messaging, tactics, and media Read More
Do you read billboards when you’re driving? If you do, you’re not alone. According to the 2019 Nielsen out-of-home advertising study, eight out of 10 Americans consciously look at billboard messages. As technology evolves, more and more advertisers turn to digital billboards — a computer-controlled display that shows advertisements on a rotating basis — to Read More
The coronavirus continues its rampage throughout the country, sickening people, taking lives, devastating the economy, and overwhelming our health systems. Even if we are not sick, COVID-19 wears down our will to keep fighting until vaccines are widely available. That includes abiding by public health guidance: avoiding large group gatherings, social distancing, handwashing, and wearing Read More
At the Deborah Heart and Lung Center in southern New Jersey, the task of letting patients know it was safe and even wise to return evolved into a multimedia effort. The campaign has been paying off with a substantial increase in patient visits. In Peter Hochstein’s new story, he explains how they’re doing it. Here’s Read More
Marketing has played a key role in the growth and success of one of the nation’s largest regional networks focused on population health and value-based care. Vanderbilt Health Affiliate Network (VHAN) is a physician-led clinically integrated network that coordinates care for 300,000 patients across the state of Tennessee and in several bordering states. Launched in Read More
CHI Memorial Health System had a robust physician communications platform in place before COVID-19 came along. But the pandemic created new urgency among providers to acquire and absorb the latest knowledge about the disease and how to treat it. The content platform MedNews Plus, powers CHI Memorial’s physician newsletter Physician e-News. This publication, already a Read More
“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
“Hey, there’s a pandemic going on!” writes Peter Hochstein, crackerjack copywriter and regular SHCM contributor. “Hospital workers are supposed to look harassed, grave, and ready to collapse from exhaustion, right? That’s not quite the way the communicators and staff at Johns Hopkins Medicine saw it. Result? Internet views by the — no, not by the Read More
When Bettina Tweardy Riveros joined ChristianaCare as chief health equity officer in 2016, she assumed responsibility for engaging community stakeholders in partnerships that advance ChristianaCare’s vision for a healthy Delaware. According to Riveros, the guiding principles of building strong community partnerships can be summed up in the phrase “nothing about us, without us.” This method Read More
As the marketing communications function has grown in health care over the years, many hospital systems find their MarCom organizations continually growing in responsibility and staff size, with no master plan for how everyone will work together. David Feinberg, senior vice president and chief marketing and communications officer of Mount Sinai Health System, and Karen Read More
Jason Reminick, MD, MBA, MS was stranded. In the fall of 2012, the then fourth-year medical student was gearing up for a series of residency interviews when Hurricane Sandy, a Category 3 hurricane, came barreling through the Northeast, making it impossible for him to attend his in-person interviews in New York City. “All the bridges Read More
Suicide rates in the United States have increased substantially over the past two decades, according to the American Psychological Association. Since 1999, the rate has jumped 35 percent. For teens, the suicide rate is also on the rise. The rate of suicide rose 50 percent between 2000 and 2016 for women and girls, and 21 Read More
Trust. Respect. Transparency. These are the words that describe how a good relationship between the CMO and CEO can lead to effective investment in marketing communications. “It is important to listen and ask questions of the CEO and other C-suite members to discover what is important to their stakeholders,” says Christine Albert, senior vice president, Read More
See those retailers in your rearview mirror? They are the health care disruptors you’ve been hearing about — Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Amazon, Google — and they are coming for you. They are closer than they appear, and they will steal your customers — if you don’t disrupt back. “The retailers have already nailed positive customer Read More
Google is often the place people look first when seeking health information online. Assuming your health care system has done all the right things to optimize discoverability, the patient’s next step is to access care, most often by making a phone call. That first impression determines the course for a potentially long-term relationship. For a Read More
“We’ve been exposed!” exclaims Lindsay Resnick, executive vice president at Wunderman Thompson Health. “COVID shined a bright light on American health care — the best and the worst: gaps in its value chain, disparities in communities, advances in technology, changes in consumer behavior, and a culture of collaboration in crisis.” Resnick says health care consumers Read More
“The repercussions of consumers putting off both routine and essential care (most likely a result of both the voluntary shutdown of elective procedures around the country by many health systems as well as growing concerns over being exposed to the virus) are significant,” says Daniel Fell of Optum. “From both a public health and a Read More
Telemedicine came to the rescue when COVID-19 first rattled the capacity and safety of health care delivery. It didn’t take long for hospitals, providers, and patients to embrace the conveniences, especially when federal waivers allowed for expanded access to virtual care services, and payers relaxed their reimbursement guidelines. But there’s a problem: The pandemic shed Read More
Los Angeles is home to many world-class health care organizations, and they compete vigorously for the same patients. But even in a competitive market, joining together for the greater good may be the best way to get an important message across to the community. “It became apparent early on that people were not accessing health Read More
In this topsy-turvy world we’re living in, everything familiar has had to change to accommodate the new normal, and conferences are no exception. The Society for Health Care Strategy & Market Development annual conference, SHSMD Connections, will now be held virtually as two conferences, “Navigating a New Reality” on September 14-16, and “SHSMD Connections Bytes” Read More
“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
“People will remember how they’re treated,” says Rob Klein, founder and CEO of Klein & Partners. “And how you treat them will determine whether your brand comes out of this with momentum.” Klein & Partners and The DRG recently released the results of the third wave of an online national survey measuring consumer reactions to Read More