Accountability

Four Challenges Facing Health Care Marketers in COVID Recovery

Lindsay Resnick

// By Lindsay R. Resnick // Consumers want to know, “Who’s going to do the right thing when it comes to my health?” We’ve been exposed! COVID shined a bright light on American health care — the best and the worst: gaps in its value chain, disparities in communities, advances in technology, changes in consumer Read More

Industry Leaders In Specialized Care for Older Adults

Leslie Pelton, senior director of innovation, Institute for Health Improvement (IHI)

Health care spending for older adults is disproportionately higher than for other age groups. According to 2016 research from the Kaiser Family Foundation, the 65 and older group — 16 percent of the population — consumes 36 percent of health spending. The cost of care for older adults is higher, but reimbursements are lower. “It Read More

Is Your Health System Age-Friendly? Join the Movement

Lil Banchero, MSN, RN, senior director, Anne Arundel Medical Center’s Institute on Healthy Aging

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Health care spending for older adults is disproportionately higher than for other age groups. According to 2016 research from the Kaiser Family Foundation, the 65 and older group — 16 percent of the population — consumes 36 percent of health spending. The cost of care for older adults is Read More

Why Health Systems Must Tackle Behavioral Health

Howard Gershon, Principal, New Heights Group

With the shift toward value-based care and the assumption of risk, many health care organizations are beginning to understand that they must address behavioral health in conjunction with physical care for patients. In our new story, Howard Gershon, a founding principal of New Heights Group, discusses the business case. Here’s an excerpt. Behavioral health issues Read More

The Business Case for Behavioral Health

Howard Gershon, Principal, New Heights Group

// By Howard Gershon, LFACHE // With the shift toward value-based care and the assumption of risk, many health care organizations are beginning to understand that they must address behavioral health in conjunction with physical care for patients. Behavioral health issues are in the news every day, whether it’s a national sports figure who has Read More

Value-Based Care: A Win-Win Integrated Approach

Jordan Pisarcik is vice president of growth and customer engagement at DocASAP

“Value-based care models are on the rise, and health care providers and payers are increasingly aligning to control costs while providing quality care,” says Jordan Pisarcik, vice president of growth and customer engagement at DocASAP. Here’s an excerpt from Pisarcik’s new article: According to a recent report by Humana, value-based care initiatives are proving to Read More

Looking at Population Health Through a Marketing Lens

Susan Dubuque, principal at NDP Agency

“Population health is a hot topic in our industry,” says Susan Dubuque of ndp. “But let’s be honest. As health care marketing professionals, we may have a difficult time getting our heads around this complex, multifaceted concept. There is lack of clarity about even the most basic issues like: What is population health? Who is Read More

New Research: Exploring the State of Population Health

Susan Dubuque, principal at NDP Agency

Marketers envision playing a leading role in population health activities. // By Susan Dubuque // Population health is a hot topic in our industry. But let’s be honest. As health care marketing professionals, we may have a difficult time getting our heads around this complex, multifaceted concept. There is lack of clarity about even the Read More

Technology, Community are Keys to Solving Opioid Epidemic

“There are about 2.5 million people addicted to opioids, but only 10 to 20 percent of them get help,” says Andrey Ostrovsky, MD, chief medical officer at Solera Health (and former CMO of Medicaid). Solera Health is an “integrated health network” that “connects patients, providers, and physicians to a network of partners who are preventing Read More

5 Key Dynamics for Health Care Marketers in 2019

Linda MacCracken, senior principal at Accenture

“In my ongoing conversations with industry leaders about what’s shifting in health care, five factors rose to the top of the list for 2019, as marketing moves to new dimensions, and closer to health system collaborative scaling of smart pilots.” In our new article, Linda MacCracken, senior principal, customer engagement at Accenture Health, and Strategic Read More

How To Market When Your Specialists Are Booked Out

David Marlowe, author of Marketing Plans That Work

In our new article, David Marlowe, principal, Strategic Marketing Concepts, and Strategic Health Care Marketing Editorial Advisory Board member, shares results from five recent nationwide studies he’s conducted of what consumers consider to be “reasonable” wait times for routine, non-urgent visits. Will this type of information give marketers the hard evidence they need to stand Read More

Health Care Value: Moving Toward Affordable, Sustainable Care Delivery Models

Jane Weber Brubaker

We recently sat down with Priya Bathija, vice president of AHA’s Value Initiative, and Brian Griffin, SHSMD’s senior editorial specialist, to learn about the program, its scope, and its goals. Launched in December 2017, the Value Initiative’s mission is to be a change agent and provide thought leadership to the hospital industry as it moves Read More

Position Your Health System for Success in 2019

Linda MacCracken, senior principal at Accenture

Five Key Market Dynamics for Marketers to Manage  // By Linda MacCracken // “In my ongoing conversations with industry leaders about what’s shifting in health care, five factors rose to the top of the list for 2019, as marketing moves to new dimensions, and closer to health system collaborative scaling of smart pilots.” In this Read More

AHA’s Value Initiative: Convener and Catalyst for Change

Jane Weber Brubaker

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // At the 2018 SHSMD conference in Seattle, we sat down with Priya Bathija, vice president of AHA’s Value Initiative, and Brian Griffin, SHSMD’s senior editorial specialist, to learn about the program, its scope, and its goals. Launched in December 2017, the Value Initiative’s mission is to be a change Read More

The Three R’s of Using Internal Advertising to Create a Cultural Change in a Health Care Organization: Repetition, Refreshment, and Recognition

Peter Hochstein

Notable Health Care Advertising In a hospital setting, changing employee routines and behaviors can save lives — but the change may call for altering the entire institutional culture. A memo to staff likely won’t work. What will? Signature Healthcare discovered some of the answers, involving an internal advertising campaign that began in 2015 and is Read More

Length of Stay: An Increasingly Obsolete Metric?

Jessica Farrar, director of strategic planning and decision support, Anne Arundel Medical Center

Length of stay (LOS) is the duration of an inpatient episode of care, calculated from day of admission to day of discharge, and based on the number of nights spent in hospital. By tracking LOS, hospitals seek to improve processes and prevent errors, which ultimately lowers costs. But for Anne Arundel Medical Center, a 350-bed Read More

Is Length of Stay Still a Valid Measure in a Value-Based World?

Althea Fung

// By Althea Fung // At the 2018 SHSMD Connections conference in Seattle, SHSMD convened a series of presentations on value as part of its “Value Initiative.” What does value mean for health care organizations? How can they achieve it? One of the presenters, Jessica Farrar, director of strategic planning and decision support at Anne Read More

Tackle Physician Burnout with Proactive Solutions

Stamford Health Logo

Physician burnout is a hot topic, but effective solutions have been more elusive. In March 2017, 10 CEOs of the nation’s most prominent health systems examined physician burnout, proposing an 11-item call to action (Health Affairs). In a new article, Susan Emerson, senior vice president of strategic planning and business development at Private Health News/MedNews Read More

Physician Well-Being — Moving from Whispers in the Hallway to Support

Sharon C. Kiely, MD, senior vice president, medical affairs, and chief medical officer at Stamford Health

// By Susan Emerson // Physician burnout is a hot topic, but effective solutions have been more elusive. In March 2017, 10 CEOs of the nation’s most prominent health systems examined physician burnout, proposing an 11-item call to action (Health Affairs). The Collaborative for Healing and Renewal in Medicine published an eight-step framework this year Read More

Could an Alliance with Local Employers Work for You?

David Lansky, PhD, president and CEO of the Pacific Business Group on Health

Have you considered contracting your services directly with large employers in your area? There is a growing movement to bring employers and health care organizations together to provide high-quality care for patients while managing costs and making them more predictable. Changing forces in the health care field are leading organizations to implement a variety of Read More