Provider Marketing Recovery: What Do We Need to Do to Get Ready for Business Development Marketing?

// By David Marlowe //

“Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning” (Winston Churchill, November 1942)

As I write this article (April 16, 2020), the United States has experienced more than 625,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Thousands have been hospitalized and, sadly, more than 28,000 have died. On the economic side, millions have been furloughed or have lost their jobs. And we are not anywhere near done yet.

The health care system has been hit hard by this situation. Frontline providers are under tremendous strain, and a number of hospitals have become virtual 100 percent ICU centers. Nearly all elective work has stopped to free up capacity — and the result has been an unprecedented financial hit to provider organizations.

As of today, hundreds of hospitals and systems have furloughed significant percentages of their staff; close to half of the group practices in the country have done the same, and most organizations are experiencing losses that if not corrected or supported soon will likely result in closures. Marketing departments have virtually stopped all business development-oriented marketing efforts and out of necessity have become almost exclusively crisis communications functions.