Brand Means Business

Business Development

Subtopics: Partnering, Mergers, Acquisitions, Referrals, etc.

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Want More Referrals? Build a Better Provider Experience

February 27, 2023
Jane Weber Brubaker

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // For complex health systems with numerous specialties and subspecialties, referrals are their lifeblood — particularly referrals from external providers. Texas Children’s Hospital (TCH), a specialty pediatric hospital, was having difficulty keeping track of referrals. There wasn’t a standard process for sending and receiving referrals or tracking them once they were received, usually by fax, and sent to individual departments. The number-one complaint from referring physicians was that they had to resubmit them multiple times. Feedback included statements like:

How UAMS Stays in Touch with Referring Providers

February 20, 2023
Keith Whitworth, director of marketing, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS)

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // Marketing is all about understanding the needs of your market and finding ways to show how your product or service is the best solution for meeting those needs. As marketers, you know that part of your challenge is keeping your solution top of mind when people are in the consideration phase. If your service is not visible, chances are you won’t be considered.

Physician Relations Management and Market Analytics Platform Accelerates Strategic Business Plans and Drives Growth

February 6, 2023
Michael Suk, MD, JD, MPH, MBA, FACS, chair, Musculoskeletal Institute and Department of Orthopaedic Surgery & Chief Physician Officer, Geisinger

// By Jane Weber Brubaker // If your organization is investing in highly compensated specialists to grow your service lines and provide needed care for patients, you want those physicians to be as productive as possible as soon as possible, and you want them to be the first choice of referring physicians. Doctivity, a novel physician relations management (PRM) platform using proprietary algorithms, which launched in March 2022, is making it easier to achieve these critical goals.

How Data Modeling Can Improve Your Health Care Marketing Strategy

January 26, 2023
George Danner Endeavor Mgmt

Sometimes, the best input on health care marketing comes from an outside party. In a new article, George Danner, chief data scientist at Endeavor Management, offers a fresh insight on how data modeling can help improve the health care marketing process. He puts it like this: “I am not a marketer, but I have listened Read More

Maybe It’s Not Marketing’s Fault

January 24, 2023

// By George Danner // I am not a marketer, but I have listened to conversations among our marketing team members and their clients about the difficulty of the marketing role in health care. When patient volumes and/or market share are down, the organization’s reflex is to push a single lever — marketing — in hopes of re-establishing normal business activity that the system depends upon for survival. “If we had more billboards…” “Competitor X is marketing more than we are…”

6 Key Strategies for Health Care Marketing Success in 2023

January 19, 2023
Amalia Stanton, Memorial Hermann Health System

Health care marketing has entered a new “era of change,” according to Amalia Stanton, senior vice president and chief strategic communications & marketing officer at Memorial Hermann Health System. It has been 34 months since the COVID-19 pandemic uprooted our lives and altered the way we work — perhaps forever. This time period has been Read More

Era of Change for Health Care Marketing: 6 Key Strategies for Future Success

January 11, 2023

// By Amalia Stanton // It has been 34 months since the COVID-19 pandemic uprooted our lives and altered the way we work — perhaps forever. This time period has been like no other for individuals working in the health care field, including the marketing and communications professionals who play a critical role in supporting operations, strategy, and the overall success of a health delivery organization. Similarly changed, consumers became less loyal to their health care brands, had higher expectations for ease of access and shorter wait times, and became increasingly less patient and forgiving.

Physician Relations: Increasing Referrals and Driving Growth

January 5, 2023
Kriss Barlow, RN, MBA, principal at Barlow McCarthy

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 Read More

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.”

Tips for Effective Service-Line Marketing at Your Health Care Organization

December 8, 2022
Dara Krueger, executive director of international marketing and marketing account services, Cleveland Clinic

As a health care marketer, you’re acutely aware of how important it is to not only acquire patients and drive patient volume, but also to engage and retain those patients in order to establish long-term brand loyalty and improve ROI. The history of service-line promotion dates back to the early 1980s when marketers built brand Read More

Marketers from Three Leading Organizations Weigh In on Patient Acquisition and Retention and What It Takes to Succeed

December 5, 2022
John Marzano

// By John Marzano // The history of service-line promotion dates back to the early 1980s when marketers built brand awareness of their organizations’ high-end specialty care using visual and emotional imagery to display the prowess of their services, physicians, and organizations. Marketing terminology referenced centers of excellence, and promoted an organization’s distinction as the largest, highest quality, best, or first program in almost all health care marketing and advertising.

How to Set Your Health System Apart From Competitors? Try Niche Marketing

November 10, 2022
Jeff Bean, vice president for system marketing & brand, Geisinger

If niche marketing is defined as the business of promoting and selling a product or service to a specialized segment of a market, then Geisinger has powered its expertise for a specific population and area that is expected to grow going forward. Northeast Pennsylvania (NEPA) is rapidly becoming a distribution and shipping hub for e-commerce Read More

Geisinger 65 Forward Senior-Focused Primary Care Is Pure Niche Marketing

November 7, 2022
John Marzano

The over-65 population in northeast Pennsylvania is expected to double in the next decade. Geisinger is ready. // By John Marzano // Northeast Pennsylvania (NEPA) is rapidly becoming a distribution and shipping hub for e-commerce to reach roughly 60 percent of the U.S. within a day’s drive. Think Amazon Prime for a 1-to-2 day delivery Read More

Health Care Brand Positioning: Going From Good to Great

November 3, 2022
Chrisie Scott, senior vice president and chief marketing officer, Virtua Health

Health care brand positioning requires more than a clever tagline or slogan. It requires a strategy and rallying cry that inspires an organization and connects a community. It’s rare in marketing that you get to start from scratch on anything. Wherever you jump on the moving train, that’s your starting point, complete with legacy systems Read More

Virtua Health Has a Message for South Jersey: We Are “Here for Good”

October 31, 2022
Jane Weber Brubaker

Brand positioning is more than a clever tagline or slogan. It’s a strategy and rallying cry that inspires an organization and connects a community. // By Jane Weber Brubaker // It’s rare in marketing that you get to start from scratch on anything. Wherever you jump on the moving train, that’s your starting point, complete Read More

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

It’s a SHSMD Celebration — and You’re Invited!

August 18, 2022
Jane Weber Brubaker

SHSMD Connections 2022 will inspire, challenge, and empower health care professionals to reclaim their resilience, roll up their sleeves, and get creative in solving the industry’s biggest challenges today and in the future. // By Jane Weber Brubaker // When the Society for Health Care Strategy & Market Development’s SHSMD Connections 2022 conference convenes September Read More

VCU Health Proves Non-Traditional Marketing Methods Can Pay Off

August 11, 2022
Cynthia Schmidt, director of marketing, VCU Health

As a health care marketer, how do you get a consumer to care about where she goes for her mammogram? About one in eight women will develop invasive breast cancer in her lifetime. Studies have found that having screening mammography reduces breast cancer mortality by 40 percent in women of average risk between the ages Read More

How VCU Cancer Center Used Napkins to Promote Mammography

August 5, 2022
Althea Fung

A message on a pink napkin delivered with your food truck order highlights convenience for workers in downtown Richmond. // By Althea Fung // About one in eight women will develop invasive breast cancer in her lifetime. Studies have found that having screening mammography reduces breast cancer mortality by 40 percent in women of average Read More

Behavioral Nudges Can Move Patients Forward in the Care Journey

July 28, 2022
Cathy Turner, director of health promotion and senior health, VHC Health

With new tools for rolling out the welcome mat at the digital front door, health care organizations today have the opportunity to provide frictionless online interactions and guided, personalized user experiences to acquire and engage patients. Using digital conversion tools and marketing tactics that influence consumer behavior, health care organizations can prompt individuals to take Read More

What is the Role of Marketing in Driving Growth for a Health Care Organization?

July 21, 2022
Sandra Mackey, Chief Marketing Officer, Bon Secours Mercy Health

“Growth means different things to different organizations at different times,” says Daniel Fell of Optum. “One thing is very clear, though. The role of marketing has never been more critical.” Here’s an excerpt from Fell’s new article: We recently turned to several leading health care marketers across the country, representing a variety of health care Read More

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