// By Susan Dubuque // Last year, Strategic Health Care Marketing published a series of three articles on Racing to Wellness. This year, we delve further into the evolution of our profession in a rapidly changing environment. As we move away from conventional promotions intended to drive volumes, we will explore the reinvention of marketing Read More
by Peter Hochstein It all starts with mysterious-sounding music, images of equipment and people you can find at any hospital, and a young child’s voice. All together, they make magic. There’s a picture of a hospital bed with a teddy bear lying on it. “Secret lair,” confides a little girl’s voice, barely above a whisper. Read More
by Patricia Chaney With reimbursement cuts, increasingly price-sensitive consumers and payers, and the development of accountable care organizations, independent outpatient facilities stand to take market share from hospitals. Outpatient imaging and ambulatory surgery centers pose steep competition for hospitals in certain markets, but with all providers struggling to balance reimbursements and payer negotiations, there’s more Read More
by Cheryl Haas Whether the cause is super-sized portions, pedestrian-unfriendly suburbs, or too many hours in front of the computer (or some combination of the above), Americans are becoming bigger at an alarming rate. The growing numbers of morbidly obese adults and children are fueling an increase in weight-loss surgery and medical weight-loss management services Read More
by Sheryl S. Jackson Since its humble beginnings in 1895, the 20-bed Macon (GA) Hospital has grown to become the Central Georgia Health System. It comprises the Medical Center of Central Georgia, a 637-bed, full-service, acute care hospital, along with 30 entities that include other clinics, specialty-care centers, and community hospitals. In September 2014, the Read More
by Jane Weber Brubaker In October, a nurse who had extensive contact with Thomas Eric Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas became infected with Ebola. Although the worker had worn protective gear, the Centers for Disease Control confirmed the infection was caused by a “breach in safety protocol.” (AP) Shortly thereafter, a second Read More
// By Susan Dubuque // Last year, Strategic Health Care Marketing published a series of three articles on Racing to Wellness. This year, we will delve further into the evolution of our profession in a rapidly changing environment. As we move away from conventional promotions intended to drive volumes, we will explore the reinvention of Read More
by Peter Hochstein Imagine you live in Aurora, CO. One attraction in this third-most-populous city in the state is the rich availability of recreational sports activities, including soccer fields, ice hockey mountain biking, and—well, you get the idea. While taking the kids to soccer practice, you suddenly see an alarming sight. A soccer player behind Read More
by Jennifer Redmond Implementation of the Affordable Care Act has created an equal share of opportunity and difficulty for health care providers. In an evergrowing market, providers are vying for the attention of consumers in creative ways, but some, in an effort to edge out the competition, are met with vehement criticism. This pressure to Read More
by Sandra Marchetti Backups and delays are a common, but always unwelcome, part of the health care process. Patient flow problems are a source of anxiety and long waits for patients, as well as frustration and inefficiency for providers. According to the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, many U.S. hospitals have problems with achieving optimal patient Read More
by Cheryl Haas Devi Shetty, MD, is out to change the world of health care delivery through compassion, quality, and affordability. India’s most renowned heart surgeon and Chairman of Narayana Health has built a chain of 21 medical centers that cut costs so substantially that they can provide clinical excellence at a fraction of the Read More
by Cynthia King, PhD, and Daniel King, MS No longer is it enough to have satisfied employees who just want to “get by.” Instead, it is essential that hospitals and health systems cultivate a working environment that promotes and sustains highly engaged employees who are loyal to their organization. Highly engaged individuals are not only Read More
by Gloria Sanchez-Rico, RN, BSN, MBA, NEA-BC Old stereotypes die hard, and nowhere is this more true than when it comes to nursing. For while nurses continue to provide exceptional bedside care and remain the single greatest contributor to a good or bad patient experience, anyone who thinks their contribution ends there should think again. Read More
by Joan Trezek For more than 100 years, Children’s Hospital and Research Center in Oakland, CA, has been the go-to facility for tertiary pediatric care in San Francisco’s East Bay. That hasn’t changed, but a great deal about the hospital today is very different from how it was positioned even 10 years ago. One significant Read More
by Colleen Sweeney In 2007, I developed the Medical Apprentice Program (MAP) for high school students in my community who were interested in medical careers but wanted on-site guidance and exposure—to caregivers, to patients, and to like-minded peers—before choosing a college major. Back in my day, unless you had volunteered or worked as a paramedic, Read More
by Maureen Scullin, CCWS When St. Joseph Healthcare of Nashua, NH, launched the third year of Lighten Up Nashua in January 2014, the hospital decided to throw a party. The event celebrated the launch of the program’s latest weight-loss challenge. And despite the fact that it was January in New England, a time when many Read More
by Ritch K. Eich, PhD Special events have been an integral part of health care organizations for centuries. For example, back when Catherine McAuley founded the Sisters of Mercy religious order in Dublin, Ireland, in 1831, charity functions—sermons, bazaars, and other appeals—were an integral part of social life. In his 1955 book about that period, Read More
by Ansuya Bijur In a memorable scene in the best-selling novel Cutting for Stone, a doctor asks his medical students, “What treatment is offered by ear in an emergency?” One of the students replies, “Words of comfort, sir.” Most often, patients meet clinicians under extremely difficult circumstances. Typically clinicians treat a disease—what ails the body. Read More
by Cheryl L. Serra Sure, you want the world to know about the snazzy new piece of equipment your hospital has purchased. And of course you want to sound the bugle about the big-name doc who’s joined your staff. There are ads to buy and PSAs to write, for sure. But what about what some Read More
// By Cheryl L. Serra // If you market health care, you know a cookie-cutter approach just doesn’t cut it. You need to determine a number of factors: Who makes health care decisions in the family? What does your audience believe about health care and health care providers? Increasingly, you also need to consider how Read More
by Jared Kebbell Mobile health clinics are becoming an increasingly important part of the American health care system. They represent a move toward a more proactive public health strategy, seeking to bring care to those in need and the uninsured rather than waiting for them to seek it themselves in expensive emergency rooms. To many Read More
by Nancy Vessell When a Midwest supermarket chain began offering chemotherapy and other infusion services, a few heads were turned. “When I first learned about it, it did catch me by surprise. To my knowledge, I haven’t heard about other grocery chains getting into this [medical area],” says Michael Abrams, managing partner of Numerof & Read More
by Cheryl Haas In American culture, we joke about superstition but we hedge our bets: We don’t walk under a ladder, don’t let a black cat cross our collective path, and don’t include a 13th floor on high-rise buildings. But in a hospital setting, we often unwittingly expose people from other cultures to elements that Read More
by Sheryl S. Jackson Everyone agrees that in today’s health care environment physician engagement is critical to the success of collaborative care models as well as the successful retention of physicians. But how does a health care leader define, identify, and quantify physician engagement? What is physician engagement? “There is a lot of talk about Read More
// By Peter Hochstein // Despite specializing in kids exclusively, Boston Children’s Hospital confronts a wall of competition that hospitals elsewhere might find daunting. Liz Vanzura, chief marketing officer for Boston Children’s advertising agency, MMB, can list 10 other local hospitals that treat children—among them such formidable names as Mass General, Tufts Medical Center, and Read More