Cross-Cultural Communication Strategy: Improve Your Health System’s Patient Satisfaction Scores with Training and More Inclusion

// By Jill Mead // With patient experience increasingly recognized as connected to a host of measures, including patient outcomes and your bottom line, it’s essential to reach all of your target populations with education and messaging that resonate with people’s cultural backgrounds and native languages. More than ever before in our history, U.S. hospital Read More

Adopting Practices from Consumer Marketing to Build Patient Loyalty

// By Rich Phillips // The past few years have seen noteworthy transformation within health care strategy and marketing. An important shift is underway from “awareness” marketing focused on brand building to “conversion” marketing focused on patient acquisition. While this shift is necessary, it remains insufficient. The emerging emphasis by health care CEOs on retention Read More

Five Topics for Health Care Marketers to Manage in 2018

// By Linda MacCracken // One of the great pleasures of this journal is tracking the innovative marketing approaches that are key to building consumer engagement. After numerous conversations with providers and technology innovators, and from reviewing trending analytic indicators, I have identified five key factors in building strong customer engagement. How do these topics Read More

How To Navigate The New World of Health Care Cost Transparency

You probably wouldn’t buy an appliance or book a cruise without knowing what it will cost. Yet historically, health care systems have expected patients to undergo various diagnostic tests, procedures, and treatments without any idea of what they will be charged. But times are changing quickly. While most patients are not yet comparison-shopping based on Read More

It’s a Buyer’s Market: What Health Systems Should Know About Cost Transparency

// By Lisa D. Ellis // You probably wouldn’t buy an appliance or book a cruise without knowing what it will cost. Yet historically, health care systems have expected patients to undergo various diagnostic tests, procedures, and treatments without any idea of what they will be charged. But times are changing quickly. Today, as consumers Read More

Do You Know What Your Patients Want? Find Out—and Better Tailor Your Marketing for Their Needs and Preferences

// By Lisa D. Ellis // Health care organizations increasingly focus on improving the patient experience as reimbursement levels are now tied to this essential measurement. Further, when patients aren’t satisfied with their medical care or how office staff treats them, they are apt to shop around for a new provider. Yet all too often, Read More

How Gen X and Boomers Shop for Health Care

“Much has been written about marketing health care products and services to millennials, and for good reason,” says Ken Robbins, CEO and founder of digital agency Response Mine Interactive. “Since millennials are coming into disposable income and are extremely health-conscious, it makes good sense to understand how to reach them. But marketers cannot afford to Read More

Gen X Is All Grown Up: Meet the Patients Driving Health Care Consumerism

// By Ken Robbins // Much has been written about marketing health care products and services to millennials, and for good reason. Since millennials are coming into disposable income and are extremely health-conscious, it makes good sense to understand how to reach them. But marketers cannot afford to overlook other generations. More focus should be Read More

Word of Mouth Remains a Health Care Marketing Imperative

“Here’s important context for health care marketing in 2017: Attention and trust continue to decline across the country,” says Ryan Hanser, APR, who leads Hanser & Associates, a full-service PR firm based in Des Moines, Iowa. “Sure, we still have knowledgeable specialists—doctors, for starters. The trouble is that people increasingly reject the authority of expertise. Read More

Word of Mouth: Harness the Voice of Patients and Staff for Powerful Results

// By Ryan Hanser // Here’s important context for health care marketing in 2017: Attention and trust continue to decline across the country. Year over year, America appears to be witnessing the collapse of expertise and institutional trust. Sure, we still have knowledgeable specialists—doctors, for starters. The trouble is that people increasingly reject the authority Read More

Urgent Care + Uber Transport = Win for Orthopedic Franchise

If you or a family member broke an ankle or dislocated a shoulder, what if you could just use an app on your smartphone to schedule a visit at a nearby orthopedic urgent care center and, at the same time, also arrange for an Uber driver to transport you? That’s the premise of a new Read More

Orthopedic Urgent Care Franchise Goes the Extra Mile to Enhance Patients’ Health Care Journey

// By Lisa D. Ellis // If you or a family member broke an ankle or dislocated a shoulder, what if you could just use an app on your smartphone to schedule a visit at a nearby orthopedic urgent care center and, at the same time, also arrange for an Uber driver to transport you? Read More

10 Health Care Marketing Trends To Watch in 2017

“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

New Year, New Challenges: Prepare for These 10 Health Care Marketing Trends in 2017

// 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 Turn Accountable Care Organizations Into “Hot Brands”

// By Andrea J. Simon, Ph.D. // A colleague called me not long ago to discuss his dilemma. He had the opportunity to join an ACO (Accountable Care Organization) and was perplexed, to say the least. He is a smart guy, but the options before him were overwhelming: Should he look for a hospital-based ACO? Read More

Strategic Marketing’s Response to Rising Health Care Consumerism

// By Bill Tourlas // Historically, consumers have played a relatively limited role in their health care decisions, especially as it relates to selecting an insurance plan. People had little concern for price or health plan comparison since employers dominated consumer choice, paying most, if not all, of the premium and typically offering employees plans Read More

How Your Community’s Data on Consumer Health Decision-Making Can Drive Organizational Excellence

// By Keith Schneider // As a health care marketer or leader, you know your health care system doesn’t specialize in everything. By pairing the needs of your market with your unique differentiators, your team has chosen its investments wisely. This intelligent approach allows you to focus on excellence. Yet you might be surprised that, Read More

Online Bill Pay Saves Health System Money, Frees Resources, and Satisfies Patients

It’s common today for people to buy their food and clothing online, and to arrange their travel reservations through web-based services. Now many health systems also allow patients to view and pay their health care bills online. In addition to increasing patient satisfaction with this offering, health care systems can also save valuable staff time Read More

Predictive Analytics Facilitate a Successful Health System Growth Strategy

Placing your service lines, retail clinics, and outpatient facilities in optimal locations may mean the difference between success and failure in today’s competitive marketplace. These days, it’s no longer enough to make decisions about where to locate new offerings based on available sites or what an organization “thinks” might work. Rather, the savviest organizations are Read More

New Online Billing/Payment System Pays Off for Patients and Staff at a Pennsylvania Health System

// By Lisa Ellis // It’s common today for people to buy their food and clothing online, and to arrange their travel reservations through web-based services. Now many health systems also allow patients to view and pay their health care bills online. But this process can be complicated if it isn’t managed well, and can Read More

How One Health Care Organization Uses Predictive Analytics to Avoid Growing Pains

// By Lisa Ellis // Placing your service lines, retail clinics, and outpatient facilities in optimal locations may mean the difference between success and failure in today’s competitive marketplace. These days, it’s no longer enough to make decisions about where to locate new offerings based on available sites or what an organization “thinks” might work. Read More

Retail Health Care: Meet Your Customers Where They Are—Literally

It used to be that if you built a good health system, people would come. But in today’s hectic world, many organizations find it necessary to extend their services to places their patients frequent instead. In fact, these days, organizations providing the highest-quality care are a given, but how that care is delivered—and where—have become the Read More

Making That Sale: Taking a Retail Approach to Health Care

// By Lisa D. Ellis // It used to be that if you built a good health system, people would come. But in today’s hectic world, many organizations find it necessary to extend their services to places their patients frequent instead. In fact, these days, organizations providing the highest-quality care are a given, but how that Read More

Thrive in the Brave New World of Health Care Consumerism

4 Keys to Creating Patient Connections—and How Carolinas HealthCare System Is Making it Happen

[Webinar on Demand]

Your Presenters:

• Pamela DeSalvo Landis, Vice President, Information Services, Carolinas HealthCare System
• Lindsay Resnick, MHA, Chief Marketing Officer, Wunderman Health

You’ll learn:

• 4 ways you should evaluate your organization’s market position today—and where you want to be in 18-24 months
• How an omnichannel marketing approach broadens your reach and improves engagement—and what it will take for your marketing team to make it happen
• Strategies to understand health care consumers better than your competitors do
• Keys to linking your technology innovation and investment strategy to corporate goals and consumer realities
• The resources and support you need to provide to consumers to help them to make smart, value-based health care decisions
• A real-life example of how Carolinas HealthCare System’s mobile app enhances the consumer experience and how a mobile app can be integrated into traditional marketing and data channels
• Plus much more.

View now »

Thrive in the Brave New World of Health Care Consumerism [Webinar]

4 Keys to Creating Patient Connections—and How Carolinas HealthCare System Is Making it Happen

// An SHCM webinar on March 30, 2016 //

Patients are transforming health care as they demand that health care organizations provide them with a consumer experience. They expect the immediacy of a Google search, the personalization of Amazon, the convenience of Uber, the value of Target, and the ubiquity of Facebook.

And the changes are happening fast. Most health care organizations understand they must embrace change or be left behind.

But what does this mean in practical terms for your organization? How can we make health care access easier, more valuable, and more efficient? What tools can we use to improve delivery of care and empower patients to manage and improve their health?

What will it take for your organization to build a consumer-centric health care system based on wellness and prevention? How will the ability to collect, measure, and analyze customer data translate to competitive advantage?

Join us on March 30 for a webinar presented by Pamela DeSalvo Landis, Vice President, Information Services, Carolinas HealthCare System and Lindsay Resnick, MHA, Chief Marketing Officer, Wunderman Health. Learn more »