media relations

Expansion Facilitates Cancer Treatment for Orange County Residents

City of Hope

Getting a cancer diagnosis is bad enough. Having to jump on the freeway and drive two hours each way to access care adds significantly to the stress. But that’s what many residents of Orange County, California did when they needed highly specialized cancer care. “Your first shot is your best shot, because it’s really important Read More

City of Hope Expands to Orange County

Nisha Morris, vice president of marketing communications, City of Hope Orange County

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // To meet the expected demand for highly specialized cancer services in Orange County, City of Hope has opened four cancer treatment sites and is currently building a 190,000-square-foot cancer center, scheduled to open next year. A separate specialty hospital will be ready to open its doors in 2025. The Read More

What’s Next for Health Care Marketing Post-COVID?

Dalal Haldeman, PhD, chief executive officer, Haldeman Marketing, LLC

COVID forced organizations to adapt quickly. Communicators’ skills were essential in navigating the crisis, and marketing led the way, meeting the extraordinary demand for information. Over the past year-plus, health system marketing departments radically shifted their priorities. The question is: Which COVID-era changes actually moved the industry forward and should remain? Which strategic initiatives have Read More

Reshaping Marketing After COVID: What’s the New Normal?

Catherine Harrell, chief marketing officer, Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System

// By Marlene Kurban // Top health system marketing executives weigh in on how COVID forced organizations to adapt quickly. Communicators’ skills were essential in navigating the crisis, and marketing led the way, meeting the extraordinary demand for information. Were greater flexibility and agility unexpected byproducts of a challenging year? Will they propel health care Read More

Optimize Your Website and the World May Beat a Path to Your Door — Plus Other PR Wisdom from a Not-So-Little Hospital System on the Prairie

Peter Hochstein

// By Peter Hochstein // Whether it’s a national news network on the phone, or a triple-header of a tornado, some of the biggest PR opportunities are unplanned. Even Lindsey Meyers, vice president of public relations and communications for Avera Health, sounds just a tad surprised that there’s such sophisticated medical research going on in Read More

Understanding the People Behind the Data Helps Drive Engagement

Brent Morris, CEO of NDP

“If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it” is the motto at Richmond-based NDP. Last year, the full-service marketing and advertising agency added a media planning division — Neathawk360. As the name implies, this new service embraces a 360-degree approach to the many and diverse forms of media that can impact a consumer’s engagement Read More

Taking a Data-Driven Approach to Health Care Marketing

Wendy Stark Healy

// By Wendy Stark Healy // “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it” is the motto at Richmond-based NDP. Last year, the full-service marketing and advertising agency added a media planning division — Neathawk360. As the name implies, this new service embraces a 360-degree approach to the many and diverse forms of media Read More

A New Advertising Twist: What the Patients Do for Us

Joshua Cowen, vice president for strategy and communications, Adventist Health

“[A]s part of an ongoing rebranding effort, Adventist Health in Roseville, California has found a powerful technique for getting across a message of caring,” writes SHCM contributor and veteran copywriter Peter Hochstein. “Notably, the subject of the advertising is neither the hospital, nor the technology, nor what the doctors and staff do for the patients. Instead, Read More

How Can You Get Potential Patients to Pay More Attention to Your Hospital’s Advertising? Try Telling Them What They Do for You

Peter Hochstein

Here’s a new approach to hospital advertising that turns an old technique on its head. // By Peter Hochstein // It’s difficult to sift through hospital advertising month after month without regularly coming across some variation of the phrase “We care about you.” Little wonder. As hospital systems grow larger and busier, they also can Read More

Case Study: How One Hospital Survived a Ransomware Attack

The evening of January 11, 2018, Steve Long, president and CEO of Hancock Health and Hancock Regional Hospital, got a call he’s not likely to soon forget. “Our administrator on call had received a call from the lab. They said there is something wrong with our computers,” says Long. Not long after, the nursing staff Read More

Want Headlines? Create Your Own Newsroom.

Cape Cod Health News Home Page

Many great stories exist at Cape Cod Healthcare (CCHC), just waiting to be told. Yet until recently, there was a shortage of opportunities and avenues to share most of them, says Patrick Kane, senior vice president, communications and business development of CCHC. This prompted Kane to take matters into his own hands to create a Read More

How Brand Journalism Puts Cape Cod Healthcare in the Headlines

Patrick Kane, senior vice president, communications and business development of Cape Cod Healthcare

// By Lisa D. Ellis // Many great stories exist at Cape Cod Healthcare (CCHC), just waiting to be told. Yet until recently, there was a shortage of opportunities and avenues to share most of them, says Patrick Kane, senior vice president, communications and business development of CCHC. This prompted Kane to take matters into Read More

Bringing Health Care Marketing and PR Together

Don Stanziano, chief marketing and communications officer at Geisinger

More and more, health care marketing and PR are coming together with a common goal of advancing organizational objectives. Gone are the days when marketing and public relations functions competed for funding, worked in silos, or thought that one side of the house was more creative than the other. Truth is, there’s plenty of creativity to Read More

Marketing & Public Relations: Why Reaching Across the Aisle Works

Don Stanziano, chief marketing and communications officer at Geisinger

// By Wendy Stark Healy // One less silo would be welcome news for any health care organization. More and more, marketing and PR are coming together with a common goal of advancing organizational objectives. In this article, we hear from three marketing and PR leaders who share their perspectives on how the landscape has Read More

How Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Handled Unthinkable Human and PR Crisis

This may not be what hospital communicators signed on to deal with, but it can — and did — happen. How would you handle the ensuing human and PR crisis? On September 12, 2017, a Rhode Island man drove up to Lebanon, New Hampshire, and entered the intensive care unit at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, where his mother was recovering from an aneurysm. According to news reports and indictments filed against him, the man asked for some time alone with his mother. Once they were alone, he allegedly pulled out a handgun and shot her four times, killing her.

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Murder in the ICU: How To Manage a Crisis from a Human and PR Perspective

This may not be what hospital communicators signed on to deal with, but it can — and did — happen. How would you handle the ensuing human and PR crisis? On September 12, 2017, a Rhode Island man drove up to Lebanon, New Hampshire, and entered the intensive care unit at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, where his mother was recovering from an aneurysm. According to news reports and indictments filed against him, the man asked for some time alone with his mother. Once they were alone, he allegedly pulled out a handgun and shot her four times, killing her.

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How To Turn a Clinic Opening Into a PR Windfall

chnola-logo

In today’s hectic world, it’s the little things that matter, especially when it comes to making life a bit more convenient. And when this convenience brings tangible benefits to families with young kids, including those with chronic medical needs, it can be enough to spark a compelling public relations angle that has real traction. When Children’s Read More

Leverage Current Events To Promote Your Health Care Organization’s Offerings

Wonder Movie Poster

When the movie Wonder was released in fall 2017, sharing the fictional story of a fifth-grader named Auggie coping with a facial difference called Treacher Collins syndrome (TCS), Dayton Children’s Hospital saw this as an exciting opportunity to raise awareness about groundbreaking treatments offered for children with TCS through its own Craniofacial Center. “We do Read More

National Happenings Open the Door to Promote Dayton Children’s Local Offerings

Dayton Children’s Logo

// By Lisa D. Ellis // When the movie Wonder was released in fall 2017, sharing the fictional story of a fifth-grader named Auggie coping with a facial difference called Treacher Collins syndrome (TCS), Dayton Children’s Hospital saw this as an exciting opportunity to raise awareness about groundbreaking treatments offered for children with TCS through Read More

Don’t Let Media Visits Trigger a HIPAA Violation

Jennifer Perry

Health care marketers today face many conflicting priorities, such as: Promote your organization widely. Protect patient privacy. Develop strong relationships with the media. Prevent journalists from coming into protected areas. Personalize your service lines. Don’t share patient names and details. Can all of these goals happen simultaneously without violating the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Read More

Social Media Rules: Think Before You Share — or Risk a HIPAA Violation

Jay Hodes, founder and president of Colington Consulting

Recent Case with Financial Payout Underscores Risks of Noncompliance // By Lisa D. Ellis // How can you make sure your organization’s formal social media sharing doesn’t violate HIPAA regulations? A privacy expert offers advice on how to avoid shooting yourself in the foot when marketing via social channels. He also points to a new Read More