Brand Means Business

Physician Referrals

The Role of Physician Relations in Driving Growth

January 3, 2023
Jane Weber Brubaker

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Connections between hospitals and doctors working outside the hospital aren’t as strong as they used to be. “So many organizations have realized we have completely lost touch with our primary care physicians,” says Kriss Barlow, RN, MBA, principal at Barlow McCarthy. “They don’t come to the hospital, they use hospitalists.” The pandemic has added to the challenges. “Everything changed with COVID,” she says. “Now, if a liaison sees the same office person two visits in a row, it’s a surprise, so you’re starting over with relationship building, even to get in.”

Five Ways to Stop Patient Prospects from Ghosting You

October 11, 2022
Jessica Walker is founder and CEO of Care Sherpa

If you spend scarce marketing dollars to attract new patients to your high-margin service lines only to have them ghost you, a solution may be within your REACH. // By Jessica Walker // Does your practice invest heavily in generating leads through your marketing channels — social media, website optimization, paid search — only to Read More

Report From the Front: Weathering COVID’s Ongoing Storm

February 24, 2022
Ann De Los Santos, director of physician relations and strategic growth, Ascension Texas

In spite of the population of Austin, Texas growing by a net of 150 people a day — and with it, an increase in demand for services — surgical volume at Ascension Texas dropped during the pandemic’s early days, when Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order mandating a pause in elective surgeries. “Our leadership Read More

A Strong Retail Presence is a Gamechanger for Summit Health

February 10, 2022
Summit Health

The story of health care over the past two years is the story of provider organizations adapting to extreme circumstances and constant change, which continues to this day; as of this writing in late December 2021, the U.S. reported 488,000 new COVID-19 infections, breaking its single-day record. But back in August 2019, no one knew Read More

Riding the Waves of COVID and Pushing Progress in Physician Relations

February 4, 2022
Jennifer Lofgren, regional director of network development, Loyola Medicine

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // The urgent need of health care organizations to make up for lost business during the pandemic creates an opportunity for physician relations teams to become the critical communications link between service-line leaders and high-priority referring physicians. In spite of the population of Austin, Texas growing by a net of Read More

Summit Health: Why a Health System Without a Hospital Makes Sense

February 2, 2022
Matt Gove, chief marketing officer, Summit Health

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // The story of health care over the past two years is the story of provider organizations adapting to extreme circumstances and constant change, which continues to this day; as of this writing in late December 2021, the U.S. reported 488,000 new COVID-19 infections, breaking its single-day record. But back Read More

Simple Technology Keeps Patients Connected to Care During COVID-19

November 26, 2020
Matthew Warrens, managing director of innovation at UnityPoint Health

“For the first time, many patients are experiencing what it’s like to be a rural patient where care feels out of reach,” says Blake Marggraff, CEO of CareSignal. “Patients who were once accustomed to frequent health touchpoints now feel the pressure to make do on their own — as providers experience staffing reductions and patients Read More

How Four Words Made a Remarkable Difference to a Struggling Hospital

August 20, 2020

“The situation seemed dire at Vassar Brothers Medical Center,” writes Peter Hochstein, copywriter and SHCM contributor. “Doctors at a large medical group were under orders to refer patients to a different hospital. Then Vassar launched an ad campaign that empowered patients to defy their doctors. And everything changed.” Here’s an excerpt from Hochstein’s new article: Read More

How To Reverse The Damaging Trend of Physician Burnout

March 19, 2020

Investing in a physician engagement program may achieve better ROI than traditional consumer-facing mass media marketing efforts. In our new article, John Gonda, senior healthcare account manager at ddm communications & marketing, explains why. Here’s an excerpt: Physician burnout is on the rise. Across the country, the ability of doctors to practice medicine and care Read More

Improving Physician Engagement and Satisfaction — and Why It Matters

February 17, 2020

// By John Gonda // Investing in a physician engagement program may achieve better ROI than traditional consumer-facing mass media marketing efforts. Physician burnout is on the rise. Across the country, the ability of doctors to practice medicine and care for patients is increasingly affected by ongoing regulations and administrative requirements. As physician burnout increases, Read More

Optimal Marketing Enables the Right Provider Match

August 15, 2019

“Marketers charged with leading their health systems into the new era of consumerism understand the hard truth about regional markets: They are a zero-sum game,” says Tom White, CEO of Phynd Technologies. Here’s an excerpt from White’s new article for Strategic Health Care Marketing: Marketers and business teams must create and market new networks to Read More

How Effective Is Your Provider Information Management Platform?

August 1, 2019

// By Tom White // Marketers charged with leading their health systems into the new era of consumerism understand the hard truth about regional markets: They are a zero-sum game. Every covered life gained is a win over the competition, and the stakes are high: CMS pegs healthcare spending per person at nearly $10,800 annually, Read More

A New (and Effective) Spin on Health Care Testimonials

January 24, 2019
Dawn French, senior vice president, marketing and community outreach at White Plains Hospital

In the testimonial-heavy world of hospital advertising, is there a fresh way of doing a testimonial campaign? How well can it perform for you? And what can you do to increase the impact of the advertising? In our new article, SHCM contributor and veteran copywriter Peter Hochstein looks at a new type of testimonial that Read More

Ambulatory Pricing: Transform Your Pricing Strategy to Protect and Grow Market Share

October 8, 2018
Craig Ahrens, managing director, health solutions, Ankura

// By Craig Allan Ahrens and Sarah Hull // Hospital systems will be required to publish their chargemaster “list pricing” online by January 1, 2019, with the finalization of the Fiscal Year 2019 Medicare Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) and Long-Term Acute Care Hospital (LTCH) Prospective Payment System Final Rule (CMS-1694-F). Many states have Read More

Referral Patterns Can Point a Path To Success

November 23, 2017
Tampa General Hospital

Close examination of your referral patterns may bring to light some surprising gaps in your current practices that could be impacting your revenues. That was recently the case at Tampa General Hospital (TGH), says Katie Alexander, director of physician relations at TGH. But once her organization identified the problem using a Physician Relationship Management (PRM) Read More

Align With Your Medical Staff for Optimal Results

November 9, 2017
Roger Kaiser Jr., MD, managing director, Berkeley Research Group, LLC

Is your organization truly on the same page as your physicians? If not, you may be missing important opportunities to maximize the quality and costs of the care you provide. Poor alignment among management and medical staff can cost you greatly—in lower patient satisfaction, lower physician retention, and reduced profit margins. “The relationship between physicians Read More

Physician Relations: The Secret to Keeping Patients in Your Network

October 31, 2017
Katie Alexander, Tampa General Hospital

// By Lisa D. Ellis // Close examination of your referral patterns may bring to light some surprising gaps in your current practices that could be impacting your revenues. That was recently the case at Tampa General Hospital (TGH), says Katie Alexander, director of physician relations at TGH. But once her organization identified the problem Read More

How to Map Consumer and Patient Behavior to Deliver More Marketing Impact

May 14, 2015

“In health care, it isn’t just the care that’s changing,” notes Claire Hovis, Vice President and Account Director of Capstrat, an agency that helps health care clients and others tell their stories with power and persuasion. “Power is changing.” She says “expert-driven” communications—which in the past have given providers and large corporations a strong position Read More

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