// 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
Notable Health Care Advertising // By Peter Hochstein // In 2013, three hospitals, along with various satellite practices and facilities in the western suburbs of Chicago, merged. Edward Hospital in Naperville, Illinois, with 309 beds, all in private rooms; Elmhurst Memorial Hospital in Elmhurst, Illinois, with 259 beds, also all in private rooms; and Linden Read More
// By Robin Snow // Call centers in health care used to be treated like the ugly stepchild of the health system, banished to the basement of some administrative building and populated with low-performing employees. Because it was seen as a necessary evil, most executives treated the call center as a cost center. Under this Read More
They say breaking up is hard to do—but merging isn’t always so easy, either. When two health care organizations in New Jersey joined to create one larger, more comprehensive system called Hackensack Meridian Health last summer, there were numerous challenges in addition to opportunities. For instance, the CEOs of both legacy organizations decided to share Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // When two health care organizations in New Jersey merged to create one larger, more comprehensive system called Hackensack Meridian Health last summer, there were many opportunities and challenges. For instance, the CEOs of both legacy organizations decided to share the top leadership role in the new system, pooling their Read More
“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
// 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
// By Lisa D. Ellis // While staff members at Rosen Hotels & Resorts in Orlando work hard to meet the needs of their guests, Harris Rosen, the founder and president of this seven-hotel (close to 6,500 guestrooms) company, also goes to great lengths to take care of the health care needs of his “associates,” Read More
“It has been said that all motion is relative,” notes Ross K. Goldberg. “If that is indeed true, then it’s entirely possible to go backward by simply standing still if the world around you is changing.” Goldberg, President of Kevin/Ross Public Relations in Southern California, says that “[o]ver the past half-dozen years, those entrusted with Read More
If you had a suspicious mole or rash on your leg, what if you could have it evaluated by a dermatologist tomorrow without having to miss any work or activities and could find out quickly whether the area is cause for concern? You’d probably find this approach invaluable. And so might many of your health Read More
// By Lisa D. Ellis // If you had a suspicious mole or rash on your leg, what if you could have it evaluated by a dermatologist tomorrow without having to miss any work or activities and could find out quickly whether the area is cause for concern? You’d probably find this approach invaluable. And Read More
“The concept of measuring the metrics associated with health care marketing and communications efforts is far from new,” notes David Marlowe, Principal of Strategic Marketing Concepts in Ellicott City, Maryland (and member of the Strategic Health Care Marketing Editorial Advisory Board). “When I entered the field in 1980, one of the first questions asked by Read More
“As a health care marketer or leader, you know your health care system doesn’t specialize in everything,” Keith Schneider notes. “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, despite service Read More
“As the Affordable Care Act continues to alter the profile of health care in America, hospitals are challenged to meet the objectives of the Triple Aim and offer access, quality, and affordability in their care delivery even while reimbursement continues to be ratcheted back,” says Dennis Knox, Chief Executive Officer of Aethena Healthcare Holding Company. Read More
// By David Marlowe // Albert Einstein is famously quoted as saying “everything that can be counted does not necessarily count and everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted”—probably an apt philosophy for the challenges facing marketers in health care provider settings relative to the area of “metrics.” These days we often refer to these Read More
// 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
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
// By Ross K. Goldberg // It has been said that all motion is relative. If that is indeed true, then it’s entirely possible to go backward by simply standing still if the world around you is changing. Over the past half-dozen years, those entrusted with health care communications have pushed forward by focusing a Read More
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
“Until recently, health care businesses often did little or no marketing as a general rule,” says Ken Robbins, CEO of award-winning digital agency Response Mine Interactive (RMI). “Now, we are experiencing a seismic shift to the point where online marketing such as paid and organic search have helped it become a clear and distinctive focus in health care. Read More
// 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
When new CEO David Feinberg, M.D., arrived at Geisinger Health System in May 2015, he saw a large system with a great reputation for medical innovation and outcomes. “But its reputation among its patients based on their hospital experiences? Not so great,” says copywriter and regular SHCM contributor Peter Hochstein. Hochstein notes that the hospital regularly surveys employees, patients, Read More
// 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
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
“Health care is changing—and so are health care brand campaigns,” says Daniel P. Stevens. “Building a strong health care brand in an environment that is undergoing drastic change is challenging: the switch from fee for service to value-based care; the emergence of accountable care organizations; the consolidation of hospitals—the list goes on. Sure, these shifts Read More