Go Big or Go Home: 5 Trends to Embrace in 2020

Linda MacCracken, senior principal at Accenture

// By Linda MacCracken // As health marketing strategists, we find ourselves on a frantic pace to reinvent. The new mantra for 2020 is to find, reach, and engage a higher purpose — that of unleashing trapped value. Trapped value is the common challenge where digital and related technologies are creating value faster than companies Read More

Shifting From an Internal Communications Focus To Strategic Marketing

Carla Bryant, executive vice president at Corrigan Consulting

As the only children’s hospital in the state of Arkansas, with greater than 90 percent awareness, Arkansas Children’s had historically not prioritized marketing, says Carla Bryant, executive vice president of Corrigan Consulting. “While they had a marketing department, it was more focused on internal communications than strategic marketing,” Bryant says. New leadership brought a new Read More

Arkansas Children’s Leverages Strategic Marketing to Support Growth

Jeff House, vice president of strategic marketing at Arkansas Children’s

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // What should a high-performing marketing function in a health system look like? And how do you leverage marketing to support growth? As the only children’s hospital in the state of Arkansas, with greater than 90 percent awareness, Arkansas Children’s had historically not prioritized marketing, says Carla Bryant, executive vice Read More

The Surprising Success of a Health Care Spokes-Puppet

Ely Thurmond, Patient Plus director of strategic initiatives

“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

Looking at Population Health Through a Marketing Lens

Susan Dubuque, principal at NDP Agency

“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

Health Care Organizations Succeeding with Medicare Advantage Plans

John Lovelace, president of government programs at UPMC Health Plan

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

Is a Hospital-Sponsored Medicare Advantage Plan Right for Your Organization?

Wendy Stark Healy

// By Wendy Stark Healy // Medicare Advantage Plans have become a popular choice among Medicare recipients, and health systems are staking their claim to the market. Some health systems have had insurance arms for years, and others are just launching their plans. Done correctly, hospital-sponsored Medicare Advantage plans offer an attractive opportunity for health Read More

The Key to Solving Patient Throughput Efficiency: Process Visibility

Scott Opitz, president of ABBYY Process Intelligence

// By Scott Opitz // What’s the best way to improve a process? In complex organizations like health care systems with countless interdependent processes, tracing the root of a problem back to its source and fixing it may not be a straightforward proposition. What if there was an always-on technology solution running in the background Read More

New Research: Exploring the State of Population Health

Susan Dubuque, principal at NDP Agency

Marketers envision playing a leading role in population health activities. // By Susan Dubuque // Population health is a hot topic in our industry. 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 Read More

NYC Transgender Program Offers Comprehensive, Customized Care

Joshua D. Safer, MD, FACP, an endocrinologist and the executive director of the Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery at Mount Sinai Health System

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

Mount Sinai, Visiting Nurse Service of New York Create Niche Program to Better Serve Transgender Population

Althea Fung

// By Althea Fung // Care of transgender patients is complex, cutting across multiple medical specialties and requiring an integrated, coordinated approach — including care at home. Mount Sinai’s Center for Transgender Medicine and Surgery (CTMS) offers gender-affirming care to trans men and women. Approximately 0.6 percent (about 1.4 million) of American adults identify as Read More

Looking for a Memorable Symbol for Your Health Care Services? Here’s What Happened When a Chain of Urgent Care Clinics Got a Spokes-Puppet

Peter Hochstein

// By Peter Hochstein // Meet Bebo. He’s preposterous. He’s orange. He’s always sick or injured. And he’s helping Patient Plus clinics in Baton Rouge, Louisiana carve out a strong identity in a highly competitive market. You can do terrible things to a puppet for popular amusement that aren’t funny when they happen to real Read More

Ascension’s Nick Ragone Supports the Community at All Levels

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 Is Now HIPAA-Compliant. It’s a Game-Changer.

Charles Gaddy, director of mHealth at Atrium Health

“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

A Physician Communication System Doctors Actually Like — and Use

Hackensack Meridian Health Logo

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

Want to Engage Physicians? Listen to Them

Jim Blazar, executive vice president and chief strategy officer, Hackensack Meridian Health

// By Marcia Simon, APR // 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 Read More

Virtual Voice Assistants Deliver in Ways That Websites Can’t

William Gagnon, senior director of digital engagement at Boston Children’s Hospital

// By Marcia Simon, APR // Boston Children’s Hospital and Atrium Health are among the pioneers of Alexa “skills,” similar to apps on a mobile device. Alexa’s HIPAA compliance has been a game changer, making it easier for users to quickly gain access to information they need. “Alexa, what is rotator cuff tendinitis?” “Alexa, where’s Read More

The One Vital Element Your Messaging Must Include

Ross K. Goldberg is president of Kevin/Ross Public Relations

“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 Case for the Why

Ross K. Goldberg is president of Kevin/Ross Public Relations

// By Ross K. Goldberg // 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. Who, what, where, when, and why became the Bible Read More

A New Advertising Twist: What the Patients Do for Us

Joshua Cowen, vice president for strategy and communications, Adventist Health

“[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

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