HMPS 2023: Join the Crowd in Austin, April 17-19

This year’s Healthcare Marketing & Physician Strategies Summit is the perfect place to renew, refresh, and recharge with your industry peers. The Summit’s fully-packed program will send you home with plenty of actionable ideas to help your organization succeed.

// By Jane Weber Brubaker //

If you’re ready to roll up your sleeves, unwind, and soak up some inspiration for your biggest challenges, the 2023 Healthcare Marketing & Physician Strategies Summit (HMPS23) is tailor-made for you.

This year’s conference reflects input from a wide range of professionals who helped shape each of the six content tracks. As a result, the program reflects the “voice of the customer,” with sessions that speak directly to the areas of greatest need.

Judy Neiman, president of the Forum for Healthcare Strategists

“With the input of our advisory committees, we were able to develop sessions that will deliver the most value to health care marketers, communicators, digital strategists, and physician relations executives,” says Judy Neiman, president of the Forum for Healthcare Strategists.

Speaking of the six content tracks, Susan Alcorn, president, Alcorn Strategic Communications and counsel, Jarrard, Inc., adds, “One of the things we discovered is that there are no real verticals anymore. Every discipline overlaps with the other disciplines. The value of having all those conversations [with committee members] really ensured that we covered all the bases and knew how they were thinking about things.”

Kriss Barlow, principal at Barlow McCarthy and chair of the Physician Relations & Sales Track, says, “There was a hunger not only to hear the vision of what’s next but how are you getting it done. There’s also a compelling need to better understand operations.”

Terri Goren, principal at Goren & Associates, LLC, and co-chair of the Communications and Strategic Marketing Tracks with Alcorn, emphasizes, “How do you maintain the respect that we were able to gain for those couple of [COVID] years if you don’t understand operations?”

“We’re finding ourselves interacting with departments across the organization that we’ve never worked with before. How do we help them?” says Chris Boyer, vice president of digital strategy and marketing intelligence at Beth Israel Lahey Health.

If you’re looking for new ways to forge connections across your organization, spearhead change, and bring greater value to your organization, read on for highlights of HMPS, now in its 28^th year.

No Mics, No Recorders, Just Frank Discussions

A popular segment of the HMPS lineup, “Let’s Talk,” is back this year with more sessions, across all tracks.

Seven “Let’s Talk” sessions will give attendees open forums to discuss the pressing issues facing health care marketers and strategists. “The reason the doors are closed, and the tape recorders are off during these sessions is because we’ll be talking about very sensitive issues,” says Alcorn. “The sessions give people an opportunity to say, ‘Here’s what’s on my mind. I don’t know what to do. Here’s a roomful of professionals, can you give me some advice?’”

Each “Let’s Talk” session kicks off with a panel discussion by experts grappling with the same problems you’re trying to solve. Here’s a sample:

• In “The Digital Team of the Future” (Interactive & Digital Strategies Track), you’ll hear how digital and marketing executives partner with CIOs and technology leaders as they hire, train, and retain employees.
• “Decoding Your Marketing Technology” (Data Strategies Track) explores how to prioritize technology investments, develop business cases, and leverage digital technologies to support organization-wide strategies.
• In “Stories from the Trenches: What’s Change Got to Do with It?” (Strategic Marketing Track), you’ll hear from leaders who have gone through an upheaval of some kind, such as a new CEO, a merger or acquisition, or a staff reorganization, and learn how to ride the waves.

Other “Let’s Talk” sessions include:

• “Integrate DEI into Your Organizational Culture” (Communication Strategies Track)
• “Personalization vs. Privacy: Balancing Ethics and Compliance” (Engagement Strategies Track)
• “Storm Warnings Ahead: Coping with Controversies” (Communication Strategies Track)
• “Money Is Tight: Challenges & Actions for Your Referral Program” (Physician Strategies & Sales Track)

HMPS 2023 Committee Chairs

	Susan Alcorn, president, Alcorn Strategic Communications and counsel, Jarrard, Inc., co-chair Communication Strategies, and Strategic Marketing
	Kriss Barlow, principal at Barlow McCarthy, chair, Physician Relations & Sales
	Chris Boyer, vice president of digital strategy and marketing intelligence at Beth Israel Lahey Health, chair, Data Strategies, and Interactive & Digital Strategies
	Terri Goren, principal at Goren & Associates, LLC, co-chair Communication Strategies, and Strategic Marketing

Sessions Address Hot Issues

There are 60 concurrent sessions this year, covering the latest industry trends and best practices. You’ll learn how industry leaders are making progress with patient engagement, recruiting, growth, and more. Here’s a sample:

• Solving the great divide between EHRs and CRMs is the subject of a session featuring Sam Seering, product manager at Epic, which unveiled its CRM system, Cheers, in 2022; Don Stanziano, chief marketing and communications officer at Geisinger; Reed Smith, vice president of digital and innovation at Ardent Health Services; and Ben Texter, co-CEO and co-founder of Digital Health Strategies. In “EHR Powered Marketing: Supercharge Your Marketing Game” (Strategic Marketing Track) you’ll hear how integrated delivery networks engage their patients and increase loyalty.
• Short-staffed? You’re certainly not alone. Why not leverage all the tools in your organization’s toolbox to attract and retain the talent you need? In “Unify Brand & Recruitment Marketing” (Communication Strategies Track) you’ll learn why recruitment marketing and brand marketing belong together. Rian Brooks, manager of workforce planning and talent acquisition, and Rebecca Priest, director of marketing at Michigan Medicine, and J. L. Grayson, director of brand strategy at Moffitt Cancer Center, will share lessons learned — and results.
• If growth is your priority, a good place to start is by having the right sales team in place. In “Hire, Train, Develop & Retain the Right Team,” Christy Stallings-Shoemake, corporate senior director of provider relations at Community Health Systems, will share how working closely with leadership and human resources can help you determine the right skills and address the gaps.

Get Expert Advice on Your Career-Related Questions

Attendees can sign up ahead of time to meet with advisors from the Ward Group, one of the nation’s most respected organizational consulting, executive coaching, and search firms, for 20-minute one-on-one meetings. “Ward Group works with people on coaching, leadership, and strategies for dealing with stress, so this is really a wonderful opportunity for attendees,” Neiman says.

Keynotes Speak to Need to Embrace Change

“We want our attendees to leave the Summit feeling energized and encouraged,” says Neiman, discussing this year’s keynote lineup of dynamic speakers.

• Kelly McDonald’s keynote, Wow, Work With, and Win Customers Now, will make the case that understanding and catering to customers based on racial, ethnic, generational, and lifestyle differences is key to exceeding expectations.
• Erik Qualman, bestselling author of Digital Leader: 5 Simple Keys to Success and Influence, and Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business, explains why our choice is not whether to digitally transform, but how to do it well in his keynote, Digital Transformation: Design Your Future.
• Labor shortages and employee burnout. Hyperinflation. Economic pressures from powerful commercial payers and grossly underfunded government reimbursement. Yep, that’s our industry. What can you change? And what can’t you change? Knowing the difference is key. In Nathan Kaufman’s keynote, You Can’t Fight Gravity, So Use It to Your Advantage, you’ll learn to focus on the strategies you can impact. 

Best of All…

Finally, let’s not forget one of the most important functions of an industry gathering — to be in the same room with your colleagues. “Now more than ever, we need to be together with our industry peers to compare notes, share ideas, and build supportive and lasting relationships,” says Neiman. So, if you’re itching to get out of your remote office and grab a coffee or a beer with a friend or colleague between sessions, or meet with new vendors face to face in the exhibit hall — with 60+ booths and growing — head down to Austin for HMPS23 — April 17-19 at the JW Marriott.

Jane Weber Brubaker is executive editor of Plain-English Health Care, a division of Plain-English Media. She directs editorial content for eHealthcare Strategy & Trends and Strategic Health Care Marketing, and is past chair of the eHealthcare Leadership Awards. Email her at jane@plainenglishmedia.com.