by Peter Hochstein A few years ago, it became clear to the marketing people at St. Vincent’s HealthCare, a 903-bed, three-campus hospital system in Jacksonville, FL, that their institution’s brand image could do with some strengthening. Little wonder. The organization’s awareness and reputation was in fourth place compared with the competition. That competition, in a Read More
by Nancy Vessell The key to spotting and stemming leakage of physician referrals at Texas Health Resources (THR) doesn’t hinge on expensive data collection. Certainly, data showing where patients are going in the large north Texas market is helpful to this health system of 25 hospitals and 5,500 affiliated physicians. But the data only serves Read More
by Sheryl S. Jackson U.S. News & World Report Best Hospitals, Healthgrades, Leapfrog, Hospital Compare, Top Doctors – the list of third-party sources that rank hospitals seems to grow each year. While it is exciting to be named “best” in the city, region, or specialty, what does this information mean to consumers and to health Read More
// By Jane Weber Brubaker // In July 2010, Strategic Health Care Marketing covered a story about Intermountain Healthcare’s innovative and successful childhood obesity campaign, “LiVe.” Since then, the Salt Lake City-based system of 22 hospitals, more than 185 clinics, and a health plan has relaunched the campaign, renaming it “LiVe Well” and expanding it Read More
// By Ross K. Goldberg // As sure as Disney, Apple, and Coca-Cola have brand identities, so too does every physician in practice today. The difference is that many physicians don’t know it. Individually or in a group, all physicians have brands. Some have been deliberately developed with an eye on marketplace differentiation, attracting specific Read More
Brands still struggle with Twitter as a marketing tool According to a survey conducted in March by Social Media Marketing University, 45 percent of brands report that measuring results and ascertaining an ROI is the biggest challenge when using Twitter for marketing. Other significant challenges are building an audience (42 percent), engagement (37 percent), learning Read More
by Nancy Vessell With 40 to 60 new physicians arriving every year to serve an eight-hospital system and its medical group, where 40 people are involved in physician recruitment, onboarding, orientation, and retention, the opportunity for “dropped balls” measures in the tons. That’s according to Jim Zache, vice president of physician recruiting and physician relations Read More
Workplace programs cut chronic disease costs, but savings from lifestyle change efforts elusive According to a new Rand Corporation study, workplace wellness programs can lower costs for employees with chronic diseases, but components of the programs that encourage adoption of healthier lifestyles may not reduce health care costs or lead to lower net savings. Examining Read More
by Mark S. Gothberg Why would the City of Hope, a Los Angeles area research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes, and other life-threatening diseases, participate in the 125th Rose Parade on New Year’s Day? For pretty much the same reasons it has been involved in this world-famous parade, held in Pasadena, CA, for the Read More
by Dan Dunlop The best marketers have always been accomplished storytellers, and that is still the case today. The stories they craft are meaningful and connect with the audience in a manner that meets some fundamental need – educational, informational, emotional, or entertaining. The most effective stories allow the audience members to become part of Read More
by Michele von Dambrowski “The big bad wolf is accountable care and it makes … your primary care practices more important than they ever have been in the past,” points out Phyllis Marino, vice president of integrated marketing for University Hospitals in Cleveland. “The bottom line for us as marketers,” Marino told attendees of the Read More
by Ritch K. Eich, PhD In the game of professional baseball there are two levels of contest and two levels of play: the World Series and everything else. This model translates now and again to organizational management – though hardly as often as business authors would like us to believe – and under extreme circumstances Read More
by Cheryl L. Serra Members of the Spirit of Women in Springfield, MA, recently had the opportunity to see and hear humorist and work-life balance expert Juliet Funt, daughter of Allen Funt, host of the 1970s TV show “Candid Camera.” They may also take advantage of a discount on the cost of mini-med school, an Read More
by Peter Hochstein So there it was, a sprawling health care behemoth, at first glance scarcely recognizable as a single entity. It was named Novant Health, created in 1997 by the merger of two North Carolina organizations, Carolina Medicorp and Presbyterian Healthcare, into a single system. Over time, other organizations joined Novant Health until the Read More
by Michele von Dambrowski Among the many roles of marketers is the job of chief marketing integration officer, which usually involves the subject of brand. “It’s a subject we all know and love,” says Susan Solomon, vice president of marketing and communications for St. Joseph Health, an integrated health system based in Irvine, CA. In Read More
by Cheryl Haas On March 18, 2013 at precisely 11 a.m., employees of Greenville Hospital System University Medical Center unveiled their organization’s new name and logo. In a special ceremony, a group of employees – accompanied by a dramatic drum roll – revealed a 40-by-10-foot logo and a new visual identity, and the largest hospital Read More
by Jane Weber Brubaker A helicopter hovers over a concrete embankment, floodwaters rising rapidly around the target of the rescue operation, a black lab, alone and struggling to keep his head above water. “Does everyone matter?” asks the TV commercial. The chopper drops a line and a rescue worker lifts the dog to safety. “Yes” Read More
by Peter Hochstein As hospitals continue to merge or in some cases drop their partners, marketers for those institutions find themselves challenged to explain what’s new and what’s the same about their organizations – even to their own constituencies. It was just such a need that led The Christ Hospital Health Network in Cincinnati to Read More
by Candace A. Quinn Marketers have spent the past 10 to 15 years focusing on emerging brand development initiatives for their organizations. Marketers want the brand equity of a Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, or Johns Hopkins Medicine, yet most of them represent the typical community-based hospital or health system that is slugging it out with Read More
by Michele von Dambrowski “We had relatively low patient engagement … outside of the clinic setting,” says Mark Rothwell, vice president of marketing and communications for Dean Clinic, giving one reason why the 107-year-old Madison, WI, organization began an online patient community. Patient engagement, including a two-way dialogue, is critical to Dean Clinic’s brand value, Read More
by Sheryl S. Jackson The simultaneous unveiling of exterior signs on eight hospitals across the 29-county area signified the launch of “Vidant Health” as the new name of the health system previously known as University Health Systems of Eastern Carolina. But the name change was just an outward symbol of the rebranding process that began Read More