by Deborah Borfitz In light of the Affordable Care Act and mounting pressure to reduce costs, most health systems are now either actively engaged in the health plan business or contemplating how to make their entry. In fact, they will be hard pressed to survive without taking on some level of risk for a significant Read More
by Sheryl S. Jackson The simultaneous unveiling of exterior signs on eight hospitals across the 29-county area signified the launch of “Vidant Health” as the new name of the health system previously known as University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina. But the name change was just an outward symbol of the rebranding process that began Read More
by Diane Atwood For people who try to eat a heart healthy diet, dining out can be a challenge. They rarely know exactly what ingredients are going into their meal or how it is really being cooked. In any case, many items on restaurant menus tend not to be heart healthy. Three years ago, The Read More
Not too long ago, a keen observer might have compared the facilities that make up Carondelet Health Network in southern Arizona to a group of distant relatives. Closely knit families in their individual environments, they lacked a cohesive image in the larger community. The network’s biggest facilities are three hospitals – one on the east Read More
by Sheryl S. Jackson The principles of lean management are ideal for health care organizations. With the core idea of maximizing customer value while minimizing waste, it might seem that marketing staff members don’t even have to make changes when their organization undergoes a lean transformation. After all, they are the organization’s experts on communicating Read More
// By Susan Dubuque // This article is the second in a series on the role of marketing in the face of a changing health care environment. Part one looked at a new way to define “wellness” and explored what hospitals and health systems around the country are doing to prepare for the transition from Read More
by Ritch K. Eich, PhD On the morning of December 12, 1941, just five days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, newly minted Brigadier General Dwight D. Eisenhower was summoned from Texas to meet with Army Chief of Staff General George Marshall. He was directed to present Marshall with a strategy within just a few Read More
by Peter Hochstein Quick, who’s your target audience? Some health care marketers might say, “Adult women. They’re the primary decision makers when it comes to family health care.” Or “I’m building traffic for our pediatric unit. So it’s young mothers.” Or “Couples who’ve had trouble conceiving – for our fertility center.” But if you’re selling Read More
by Michele von Dambrowski “Every little thing matters,” says Megan Yore, referring to Lakeland HealthCare’s uncompromising focus on internal communications efforts. Yore, who is director of marketing for the St. Joseph, MI-based health system of 4,500 employees, observes, “Our associates deserve the best brand experience that we can give them – equal to that of Read More
by Deborah Borfitz For a great many hospitals, a cancer service line is a top financial priority. Programs grow in varied directions and often against the marketing din of one another. The service line reaps returns on investment based on intelligent marketing moves in addition to the quality of the program itself. When Vero Beach, Read More
by Peter Hochstein Just as the advertising agency and its client intended, some new animated TV spots created for the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance limit use of doctors, white coats, and hospital corridors. Some would consider this treatment a departure from “typical” hospital advertising campaigns. But something else makes the campaign even more of an Read More
// By Susan Dubuque // This article is the first in a series on the role of marketing in the face of a changing health care environment. As one of the keynote speakers at the recent Society for Healthcare Strategy & Market Development annual conference so aptly put it, “Today’s health care marketers are standing Read More
by Diane Atwood On the banks of a picturesque pond in the backyard of Henry Ford West Bloomfield (MI) Hospital sits a 1,500-square-foot greenhouse. The $1 million facility, which was funded by an anonymous donor, officially opened in September. It supplies organic produce for patient meals, an in-house café that is open to the public, Read More