Are your marketing messages living up to their full potential? If not, you may need to think more about the concept of health literacy and how to reach your target audience on a deeper and more personal level, by talking about things they care about in a simple, direct language that they can understand. Health Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // When its market share began dwindling recently, Tanner Health System turned to micro-targeted data to step up its marketing efforts and make them more efficient. Using Data to Hone Marketing Efforts As a nonprofit health system serving nine counties in rural west Georgia and east Alabama, Tanner has more Read More
// By Robin Snow // Call centers in health care used to be treated like the ugly stepchild of the health system, banished to the basement of some administrative building and populated with low-performing employees. Because it was seen as a necessary evil, most executives treated the call center as a cost center. Under this Read More
Who says print is dead? That’s far from the case in the health care field, where “publishing magazines is starting to seem as commonplace in many hospitals as taking patients’ temperatures. Well, almost,” says veteran copywriter and SHCM contributor Peter Hochstein. “The data collected over the last ten years shows that approximately 60 to 70 Read More
They say breaking up is hard to do—but merging isn’t always so easy, either. When two health care organizations in New Jersey joined to create one larger, more comprehensive system called Hackensack Meridian Health last summer, there were numerous challenges in addition to opportunities. For instance, the CEOs of both legacy organizations decided to share Read More
What if you were in a foreign country and needed emergency medical care but couldn’t communicate effectively with the health care providers there? This could put your life at risk, if you and your provider couldn’t understand each other fully. While this might sound like a nightmare, it’s a scenario that’s also all too common Read More
“On July 18, 2016, the long-awaited final rule implementing Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) Nondiscrimination in Health Programs and Activities went into effect. The new rule provides a comprehensive framework of what it means to provide effective communication and meaningful access to health care for Limited English Proficient (“LEP”) and disabled patients, Read More
How to Overcome 5 Common Challenges to Health Care Organizations’ Cultural Outreach Efforts // By Lisa D. Ellis // What if you were in a foreign country and needed emergency medical care but couldn’t communicate effectively with the health care providers there? This could put your life at risk, if you and your provider couldn’t Read More
// By Jill Mead // Many organizations have been struggling to understand and meet the language access requirements imposed by the Affordable Care Act. But will the requirements change once the new President takes office? This two-part series explores what organizations can expect moving forward. In this first column, we’ll look at the requirements for Read More
You go to great lengths to develop strong messages that will resonate with your target audience and reinforce your brand. But what your spokespeople don’t say may come across louder than their actual words. This is because body language is essential when it comes to establishing trust and connecting with viewers on television and video. Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // When two health care organizations in New Jersey merged to create one larger, more comprehensive system called Hackensack Meridian Health last summer, there were many opportunities and challenges. For instance, the CEOs of both legacy organizations decided to share the top leadership role in the new system, pooling their Read More
Notable Healthcare Advertising // By Peter Hochstein // It’s getting to the point where publishing magazines is starting to seem as commonplace in many hospitals as taking patients’ temperatures. Well, almost. “The data collected over the last ten years shows that approximately 60 to 70 percent of all hospitals send out a printed magazine or Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // Are your marketing messages living up to their full potential? If not, you may need to think more about the concept of health literacy and how to reach your target audience on a deeper and more personal level, by talking about things they care about in a simple, direct Read More
“Sickness, pain, and mortality, the matters that hospitals deal with, are pretty grim stuff. Yet every so often, hospitals find an opportunity to do humorous ads. And while this can raise eyebrows, it also can raise awareness and patient traffic,” notes SHCM writer and master copywriter Peter Hochstein. “[One] success story worth exploring is a TV Read More
“If what we’ve seen over the past year is any indication, 2017 won’t be for the faint of heart,” says Lindsay R. Resnick, Executive Vice President at ReviveHealth, a Weber Shandwick company. “Combine the dynamics of socioeconomic-political tensions with the massive transformation happening across health care’s ecosystem—regulatory, technology, competition, innovation, finance, clinical—and you get an Read More
// By Lindsay R. Resnick // The new year is just around the corner and with it comes many challenges, along with many opportunities, for health care marketers. If what we’ve seen over the past year is any indication, 2017 won’t be for the faint of heart. Combine the dynamics of socioeconomic-political tensions with the Read More
How to Address the Problem and Connect with More Potential Patients // By Lisa D. Ellis // You go to great lengths to develop strong messages that will resonate with your target audience and reinforce your brand. But what your spokespeople don’t say may come across louder than their actual words. This is because body Read More
How satisfied are your patients with the care they receive in your facility? Your answer may be based on the latest HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) data, which provides an important way to track key measures from the patient perspective. This can provide valuable insight into your strengths and weaknesses. But Read More
Notable Healthcare Advertising // By Peter Hochstein // Sickness, pain, and mortality, the matters that hospitals deal with, are pretty grim stuff. Yet every so often, hospitals find an opportunity to do humorous ads. And while this can raise eyebrows, it also can raise awareness and patient traffic. In my last column we looked at Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // While staff members at Rosen Hotels & Resorts in Orlando work hard to meet the needs of their guests, Harris Rosen, the founder and president of this seven-hotel (close to 6,500 guestrooms) company, also goes to great lengths to take care of the health care needs of his “associates,” Read More
“It has been said that all motion is relative,” notes Ross K. Goldberg. “If that is indeed true, then it’s entirely possible to go backward by simply standing still if the world around you is changing.” Goldberg, President of Kevin/Ross Public Relations in Southern California, says that “[o]ver the past half-dozen years, those entrusted with Read More
“As physicians are evaluating whether to participate in Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), they are facing a new reality, one that demands they change their practice processes, reduce health care utilization, and improve wellness for the patients they care for,” says Andrea J. Simon, Ph.D., President of Simon Associates Management Consultants. “They must now refer to Read More
If you had a suspicious mole or rash on your leg, what if you could have it evaluated by a dermatologist tomorrow without having to miss any work or activities and could find out quickly whether the area is cause for concern? You’d probably find this approach invaluable. And so might many of your health Read More
“As the health sciences have advanced, pressure to see more patients in less time has also grown. Little wonder that doctor-patient relationships often seem less personal—and consequently less satisfying—than they once were,” notes veteran copywriter and regular SHCM columnist Peter Hochstein. “It was just this kind of society-wide malaise that provided a branding opportunity for Read More
An Interview with William Maples, M.D. // By Lisa D. Ellis // How satisfied are your patients with the care they receive in your facility? Your answer may be based on the latest HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) data, which provides an important way to track key measures from the patient Read More